I would definitely copy how Poe establishes a bad gut feeling about the house. He did "not know how it was" but he already had a sketchy feeling about the House of Usher. Just looking at the house presented " a sense of insufferable gloom."
Another great technique Poe uses is the creation of a sickly, critical character. Roderick Usher is a lonely, mentally ill introvert that owns the haunted house. What's scarier, a haunted house or the freak that spends his whole life in it? Personally, Roderick freaks me out, and if he can make me feel some type of way, you can bet that I would create a character even more eccentric than my buddy Roderick.
Poe also uses imagery to describe the house as gloomy and sickly. The building had an "atmosphere of sorrow" that prevented the idea of happiness. Is it even possible to smile when "an air of stern, deep, and irredeemable gloom" fills the room with a mood of despair? A scary setting will definitely keep the readers interested in a scary story.
Another genius thing that Poe does is the use of an ignorant narrator. This creates suspense and and forces the readers to question what's really important and what's not.
The last thing I would copy is an unclear ending. The reader is not quite sure of what happened to the characters or plot; This leaves them wanting answers and hopefully raises awareness to my increasingly popular haunted house story.
I guess this "challenge" is not optional. I would introduce more characters to create complexity and I would not be so repetitive in imagery. We get it Poe the house is creepy.
Here's Lady Rainicorn to lighten up the mood of this post.
No comments:
Post a Comment