In a post on Writers in the Storm, Eldred Bird examines the difference between horror and terror. “I often hear the terms terror and horror used interchangeably,” he says. “While both are close relatives and seek to create emotional responses, they are in fact quite different.”
Terror is a feeling of intense fear or dread, whereas horror is defined as an overwhelming feeling caused by a scary, shocking, or revolting event, Bird explains. Those definitions sound similar, but there are some distinctions.
“Terror is all about emotions like fear and dread,” Bird says. “It’s an intellectual thing.” Terror describes what happens in your character’s head as they dread what’s coming as they get closer to danger. Like Schrodinger’s Cat, a house may be haunted or not, but your character can’t know what they’ll find until they enter. The terror arises from the character’s anticipation, rather than an actual event.
Horror is the opposite. “It’s about the gut reaction. It’s the no-thinking, fight-or-flight response,” Bird writes. “If terror is the anticipation of what’s behind the door, horror is opening it and seeing the monster on the other side, be it human or otherwise.
The lines between the types are blurry, and in fact most scary stories will include elements of both. “It’s hard to imagine a shocking reveal and payoff in horror without the building fear level offered by terror,” Bird says. “Likewise, what’s the point of fear and anxiety if it was all for naught in the end.”
Nonetheless, it’s important to understand the difference, because you probably want to evoke both horror and terror in your story. Your particular story might emphasize one or the other, but you’ll likely need skill with both. “The key is to ask yourself what is the main emotion you’re shooting for, shock or fear?” Bird says. “The answers to those questions will point you down the right path.”
