Writing authentic horror is a unique talent. Unlike film, where you can rely on sound design, visuals and jump scares, written horror fiction must unsettle the reader with words alone. That challenge requires a trained gift, and what authors sometimes uncover in their own minds ends up terrifying them most. Here are a few novels that scared their creators:
“The Cabin at the End of the World” by Paul Tremblay
“The Cabin at the End of the World” is a horror novel by Paul G. Tremblay that won the Horror Writers Association’s Bram Stoker Award for Novel in 2019. It was adapted into a film in 2023 and titled “Knock at the Cabin” by director M. Night Shyamalan. While writing this apocalyptic home-invasion thriller, Tremblay experienced intense anxiety. The themes he was writing about, irrational belief, violence, and uncertainty, became unsettling to him.
“Pet Sematary” by Stephen King
King has repeatedly said that this book has scared him the most. At first, King shelved the book, believing it was too bleak to publish. He felt disturbed by the emotional darkness and the questions it raised about death and grief.
“Lies and Bones” by RJ Law
RJ Law has mentioned in multiple interviews that his book’s killer became so real that it caused him to constantly check his locks and worry about his wife. The book was a huge success, but it came with the price of his sanity.
“Rage” by Stephen King
King wrote this book under the pseudonym “Richard Bachman” originally. The novel was published in 1977 and was collected in the 1985 hardcover omnibus The Bachman Books. The novel describes a school shooting and has been associated with actual high school shooting incidents in the 1980s and 1990s.
“A Clockwork Orange” by Anthony Burgess
Burgess has stated that he “should not have written” the book because of the ways in which its message, especially regarding violence, was misinterpreted. He found it distasteful that some readers and viewers, particularly in America, seemed to find the violence in the book attractive.
