History Sandbox / SoYouWantToWriteAFolkHorror

* Spy thriller, eh? You'll need to look at some [[GunsAndGunplayTropes weapons]]: I suggest either CoolGuns, but maybe RevolversAreJustBetter... and let's not forget some backup, like RazorFloss. Then you'll need equipment: a GrapplingHookPistol, a ShoePhone... and perhaps a CaperCrew.

* HeroicFantasy: Take up the tome of WeaponOfChoice and consider it well.

* Spy thriller, eh? You'll need to look at some [[GunsAndGunplayTropes weapons]]: I suggest either CoolGuns or RareGuns, but maybe RevolversAreJustBetter... and let's not forget some backup, like RazorFloss. Then you'll need equipment: a GrapplingHookPistol, a ShoePhone... and perhaps a CaperCrew.

Fortunately, there’s nearly universal agreement on the first key element of folk horror: landscape. The
landscape is always very important in folk horror, which makes SettingAsCharacter an important trope to employ.

Folk horror came to the attention of literary critics relatively recently. As a result, there’s still a lot of work being done to figure out which works belong in the genre, and what characterizes it. There is wide agreement that three films (known as ‘the unholy trinity’) serve as the defining examples ([[TropeCodifier Trope Codifier]]s): Film/TheWickerMan1973, Film/TheBloodOnSatansClaw, and Film/WitchfinderGeneral. However, different theorists

The first factor is agreed on by nearly everyone: landscape. The landscape is always very important in folk horror, which makes SettingAsCharacter an important trope to employ.

Folk horror comes in a wide variety of forms, but almost all of it is anchored to two roots: the ''landscape'', and the ''clash of old ways and new''. But those are two very abstract representations, so let’s study them in the concrete, looking at an example of folk horror deliberately written to be as archetypal as possible.

''[[center: On a long trip, John decided to turn off from the big highway and explore some back roads. To his delight, he found a quaint village obviously preparing for some great celebration. He stopped and asked the people he saw what the celebration was. “Why, it’s the annual Renewal, stranger,” they told him. “As the sun goes down tonight, we’ll feast and dance; when the full moon rises, we’ll perform the ceremony that renews the soil. We’d love nothing better than to have you there!” At the celebration, John was plied with so much food and drink, he became sleepy. He barely resisted as the townsfolk lifted him up, saying they were bringing him to a ‘place of honor’ for the ceremony. But perhaps because he was so groggy, they did not expect him to open his eyes and see that his ‘place of honor’ was a wooden pen, shared with scared-looking livestock. His eyes looked to the raised dais where the ‘ceremony’ was to be conducted, and fell upon an ancient stone trough, stained with the blood of centuries, and a freshly-sharpened sword leaning against the trough. The truth was suddenly obvious to him: they planned to sacrifice him as part of their Renewal festival.]]''

Notice how our story connects to the first ‘root’ of folk horror, the landscape. The farm fields of this rural community are more than just the setting of the story, they are the source of the conflict: the entire motivation of the villagers to conduct their ghoulish sacrifices is to keep the land fertile.

''[[center: John smiled at the feasting, dancing villagers all around him, and at the bounty of food and drink they’d laid out for this annual ‘Renewal Festival’ of theirs. When he’d turned off the interstate earlier in the day, he’d just expected to see some peaceful farmlands. He hadn’t expected to find this quaint town, whose residents insisted with delight that he must stay and take a ‘place of honor’ in tonight’s traditional ceremony.]]

[[center: An hour later, huddled against a scarecrow with the harvest moon shining above, John panted and tried to stop the bleeding from the long cut an ancient sword had made on his throat. He wanted nothing more than to find his car and make an escape back to civilization. ‘Why are you running?’ the villagers shouted after him, across the fields. ‘It is an honor to have one’s blood Renew the soil!’]]''

[[center: John smiled at the feasting, dancing villagers all around him, and at the bounty of food and drink they’d laid out for this annual ‘Renewal Festival’ of theirs. When he’d turned off the interstate earlier in the day, he’d just expected to see some peaceful farmlands. He hadn’t expected to find this quaint town, whose residents insisted with delight that he must stay and take a ‘place of honor’ in tonight’s traditional ceremony.]]

[[center: An hour later, huddled against a scarecrow with the harvest moon shining above, John panted and tried to stop the bleeding from the long cut an ancient sword had made on his throat. He wanted nothing more than to find his car and make an escape back to civilization. ‘Why are you running?’ the villagers shouted after him, across the fields. ‘It is an honor to have one’s blood Renew the soil!’]]

Right

The situation in which you’re most likely need advice on writing FolkHorror is when you already have a basic idea in mind, and when you realize it falls into folk horror territory, you look for ways to enrich that connection.

All the general advice about how to SoYouWantTo/WriteAStory and specifically how to SoYouWantTo/WriteAHorrorStory applies, so you may want to read up on that advice and then return here.

Notice how our story connects to the first ‘root’ of folk horror, the landscape. The farm fields of this rural community are more than just the setting of the story, they are the source of the conflict; the entire motivation of the villagers to conduct their ghoulish sacrifices is to keep the land fertile

Folk horror comes in a wide variety of forms, but almost all of it is anchored to two roots: the ''landscape'', and the ''clash of old ways and new''.

All the general advice about how to SoYouWantTo/WriteAStory and specifically how to SoYouWantTo/WriteAHorrorStory applies

However, it’s easiest to approach the subject as if we were starting from zero, knowing only that we wanted to write a folk horror and not having any part of it determined yet.

The most likely scenario in which you might need advice on writing FolkHorror is one in which you’ve actually already got a basic idea, which you’ve realized falls into folk horror territory.