Erinn L. Kemper

To me writing, writing horror, is  all about emotion. Usually the heavier, darker ones, things that make me uncomfortable. Grief, loss, hurt. Sometimes I get into things I regret, mistakes I made, what I’m ashamed of.

And I write about what scares me, gets me riled or upset, or is just plain gross. Not all my stories end up being horror stories. Some are scifi, some dark fantasy, weird, magic-realism, even a little literary. But they all dig around in that tickle trunk of my dark side.

Here are some of the things that freak me out:

Big Brother, group think, cultish behaviour of any kind, parasites, paralysis, pile worms (come on, they puke out their guts and suck ’em back in instead of wriggling), shit-crazy hillbillies, censorship, genocide, killing someone by accident, being swarmed by rabbits, being stuck deep underground, did I say hillbillies?, kids with soft creepy voices, people all dressed the same and acting the same (and pod people), oompa loompa’s, living without love, raw meat, killing someone on purpose, not being able to breath, pregnant women (sorry … only sometimes. One day I saw six or seven in a row and I got a little creeped out), rampage killers, guns, dictators, mob mentality, being massively burned, being taken over and knowing it and watching the ‘new me’ live my life … especially if they do a better job than me or go psychotic, hurting someone I love and not being able to make it better, the word phlegm (but only when type it, not when I say it), that when I am old I will look back and regret my entire life, when someone’s eyes turn totally black, things coming in too close to my eyes (especially sharp things), when my finger gets stuck in a wee teacup handle (will it ever come out? will I break the teacup trying to get it to let go?).

I’m sure there’s more, but that’s a start.

What scares/upsets/disturbs/gives you the heebies?