# Paranormal or Horror?



## Andrew Kaufman (Jun 16, 2010)

Which do you prefer, and what makes one different from the other?


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## MariaESchneider (Aug 1, 2009)

The industry (when it comes to categorizing) doesn't distinguish these two very well.  You're either in romance (paranormal) or mystery (paranormal) or fantasy (paranormal) or...horror.  

Horror to me is more graphic, generally more violent and possibly gory.  The subject matter is*meant* to terrify or at least scare.


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## miss_fletcher (Oct 25, 2010)

If I _had_ to choose, it would probably be paranormal, simply because a good horror book will have me quaking. Example, I recently read Bram Stokers Dracula, and it was terrifying. Then I read Blood & Ice by Robert Masello, and again I let my imagination run away with me until I had to fall asleep with the light on.

To me a paranormal is anything that I would not encounter in my day to day life; vampires, zombies, ghosts, shifters, witches, etc. I could go on. There would usually be a strong protagonist, a love interest and a misunderstood bad guy.

Horror, is anything that is written to frighten, scare or disturb me. It could be the creatures i've listed above, but would probably have few characters that I could relate to, but many that I was intimidated or afraid of.

Hope that helps.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Reminder: this thread is in the Book Corner. . . .please, no discussion of your _own_ novels . . . . .thanks.


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## MLPMom (Nov 27, 2009)

Miss_Fletcher said:


> If I _had_ to choose, it would probably be paranormal, simply because a good horror book will have me quaking. Example, I recently read Bram Stokers Dracula, and it was terrifying. Then I read Blood & Ice by Robert Masello, and again I let my imagination run away with me until I had to fall asleep with the light on.
> 
> To me a paranormal is anything that I would not encounter in my day to day life; vampires, zombies, ghosts, shifters, witches, etc. I could go on. There would usually be a strong protagonist, a love interest and a misunderstood bad guy.
> 
> ...


I think that is exactly how I would describe and distinguish between the two. One would be something that could happen and the others something that wouldn't. I much prefer paranormal than I do horror. I don't even like to watch scary movies and reading something scary would make it seem even more real to me. My imagination is way too vivid to handle that.


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## R. M. Reed (Nov 11, 2009)

Paranormal can be anything from a comedy about a ghost (Topper, Here comes Mr. Jordan), to a sappy take on the afterlife (Ghost Whisperer, maybe Clint Eastwood's Hereafter, haven't seen it yet) to full out horror like Poltergeist or The Exorcist. It's very large category.

I think publishers made up the term "Urban Fantasy" after the horror boom collapsed and they didn't want to call anything horror any more. I guess it has its place, but it usually isn't scary, even if it uses horror tropes like vampires and werewolves. Besides, aren't there any suburban fantasies or rural fantasies? And what if the fantasy part was cute fairies that weren't the least bit scary? Is that Urban Fantasy?

I like real horror, and I want it to be called horror.


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## Nick Steckel (Sep 2, 2010)

To me, horror is anything that is intended to scare. Paranormal is anything that involves well, the paranormal (ghosts, vampires, etc). There's a lot of overlap between the two, but you can have a horror story without anything paranormal, and you can have a paranormal story that isn't horror.

I always preferred horror without anything supernatural or paranormal. Vampires, werewolves, etc don't exist, and that makes stories involving such elements less scary to me, since it couldn't actually happen in real life. I couldn't explain why I prefer more realistic stories, but I just do. I guess it's the idea that such a thing could really happen that makes it far more terrifying. When it comes to writing, I find that the world as science knows it is scary enough and thus there's enough to write about it without adding the paranormal into it.

Having said that, if someone else wants to write about the paranormal, more power to 'em. I'm just stating my personal preference for reading and writing.


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## Glenn Bullion (Sep 28, 2010)

Ann in Arlington said:


> Reminder: this thread is in the Book Corner. . . .please, no discussion of your _own_ novels . . . . .thanks.


Apologies, that was me. Wasn't trying to promote or anything. It is an interesting question as the lines between paranormal and horror tend to blur. Does someone have to die a horrific death in order to qualify as horror? What if it was about a haunted house, but not necessarily gore. Would that be paranormal or horror?


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## R. M. Reed (Nov 11, 2009)

I mentioned "Poltergeist." No one actually dies, though you have to think back to realize that. A lot of people were still really scared.


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## Laurensaga (Sep 29, 2010)

I agree with Miss Fletcher on paranormal being something I would not normally encounter in day to day life.  I have to say that I classify zombies as horror.  

Usually what makes me think of horror is the plot behind the book.  Is it meant to scare me?  I know there is a large grey area, but since I like both horror and paranormal I don't mind the overlap.


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## Jyl Scislow (Sep 27, 2010)

I think the trend is toward paranormal these days.  It seems to define a reality based story whereas horror conjurs images of gore and hack.  I personally like horror, but as I said, it seems to have been redefined.


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## lstrange (May 21, 2010)

Hi everyone-

I have trouble with this too, not just for reading, but for the classification of my series. I am put in the parnormal romance genre, but my books are a lot darker/gorier than most. I think it leans way closer to horror than straight paranormal.

It's a catch 22 because it may be too dark for fans of PR, and then horror enthusiasts may overlook the books because they think they are too light. 

Thoughts?

Liz Strange


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## Guest (Oct 25, 2010)

I don't like the "paranormal" disclaimer. It just seems cheesy to me, like someone trying to have their cake and eat it to. No offense to the paranormal romance writers out there, but get the heck our of my horror genre! (_said with much love_). I type "vampires" into the Amazon search engine, and the first ten pages are overrun by vampire romances. Adding a "horror" keyword doesn't help, because almost every paranormal romance novelist also tags their book "horror." You are either a romance or a horror. You can have a horror novel with romantic or sensual elements between the characters, you can have a romance with supernatural creatures or bad things happening, but don't pretend to be both...and that is what the paranormal romance strikes me as trying to do. The reason I say this is that the goals of the two genres are completely different. Romances are focused on the social emotions: love, companionship, lust, desire, etc. Horror is focused on the primal emotions: fear, survival, terror.

As far as primary classification, I think the author needs to decide what is the goal of the novel? Is the goal of the novel to leave the reader suffering nightmares for a week (horror), or to experience sweet dreams of a supernatural lover (romance)? Make a decision and market the book that way. Don't try to be both, because you just end up ticking people off.

I think _urban fantasy_ originally came into play for actual fantasy themed stories set in modern times. Urban fantasy often follows the same concepts of fantasy, but whereas traditional fantasy tends to have a more black and white view of good and evil, urban fantasy takes a grayer approach. Though again, I think it has sort of morphed into a phrase used to reference anything that has a supernatural element. And sometimes its used by people who don't want to be labeled paranormal romance even when half the book is the main character having sex with supernatural creatures.

A good example of an author that started off writing good horror and morphed into something else is Laurell Hamilton. Her early Anita Blake novels were amazing horror stories, but they slowly morphed into...paranormal porn. She somehow still gets labeled under horror, but she hasn't written a true "horror" novel for the last twelve books...


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## MariaESchneider (Aug 1, 2009)

> er early Anita Blake novels were amazing horror stories, but they slowly morphed into...paranormal porn. She somehow still gets labeled under horror, but she hasn't written a true "horror" novel for the last twelve books...


Oh, they are horror all right. Just a different type of horror. I was horrified to read them and they definitely disturbed.  

Re: Romance versus vampire. The problem is I see threads all the time -- lots of romance readers don't want the "paranormal romances" in their genre either!!! They want them under ANY other category than romance because of the inclusion of vamps, ghosts and so on. I guess no one wants them!!!


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## MLPMom (Nov 27, 2009)

I guess I see your point. Something can be both paranormal and horror. I remember reading King's _It_ and being terrified, yet the chances of that really happening....well I guess it would technically be paranormal as well.

Same with the Poltergeist movies, again both horror and paranormal.

Well great, now I am all confused! I guess it is a very fine line between them two that sometimes intermingles. 

lstrange at first glance of your book I would classify it as paranormal but I haven't read it yet. I did purchase it, maybe after I read it I can have a better idea.


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## Vianka Van Bokkem (Aug 26, 2010)

*"Paranormal" *has been in the English language since at least 1920.[7][8] It consists of two parts: para and normal. In most definitions of the word paranormal, it is described as anything that is beyond or contrary to what is deemed scientifically possible.[9] The definition implies that the scientific explanation of the world around us is the 'normal' part of the word and 'para' makes up the above, beyond, beside, contrary, or against part of the meaning.

Para has a Greek and Latin origin. Its most common meaning (the Greek usage) is 'similar to' or 'near to', as in paragraph. In Latin, para means 'above,' 'against,' 'counter,' 'outside,' or 'beyond'. For example, parapluie in French means 'counter-rain' - an umbrella. It can be construed, then, that the term paranormal is derived from the Latin use of the prefix 'para', meaning 'against, counter, outside or beyond the norm.'

*Horror* deal with the viewer's nightmares, hidden worst fears, revulsions and terror of the unknown. Although a good deal of it is about the supernatural, if some films contain a plot about morbidity, serial killers, a disease/virus outbreak and surrealism, they may be termed "horror".[2]

Plots written within the horror genre often involve the intrusion of an evil force, event, or personage, commonly of supernatural origin, into the everyday world. Themes or elements often prevelant in typical horror films include ghosts, torture, gore, werewolves, ancient curses, satanism, demons, vicious animals, vampires, cannibals, haunted houses, zombies and masked serial killers.

I enjoy paranormal and horror stories because they are among my favorite genres.

Vianka Van Bokkem


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## Andrew Kaufman (Jun 16, 2010)

I just tend to wonder if, as a whole, horror and paranormal readers are the same audience--if they cross over between the two or stay put within each genre.


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## julieannfelicity (Jun 28, 2010)

I'm going to be totally obvious when I say this but;

I think horror is, Stephen King.  He takes something absolutely normal, say a car, and twists it to make it an evil car.  Something that is bent on your destruction.

I think paranormal is, Stephenie Meyer.  She took something scary, like a vampire (you've got to admit vampires are scary), and made it wimpy, whiny and weak.  So paranormal, to me, is not something I'm going to be jumping out of my seat for (unless it's to grab a hold of Robert Pattinson because he's gorgeous!).

But what makes this not work is ... the new movies, Paranormal Activities.  While they may be cheesy films, they do make you jump out of your seat.  So there, I just contradicted myself.  Oops!


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## Monique (Jul 31, 2010)

julieannfelicity said:


> I'm going to be totally obvious when I say this but;
> 
> I think horror is, Stephen King. He takes something absolutely normal, say a car, and twists it to make it an evil car. Something that is bent on your destruction.
> 
> I think paranormal is, Stephenie Meyer. She took something scary, like a vampire (you've got to admit vampires are scary), and made it wimpy, whiny and weak. So paranormal, to me, is not something I'm going to be jumping out of my seat for (unless it's to grab a hold of Robert Pattinson because he's gorgeous!).


But, not all paranormal hero/villains are weak. Far from it. And, not all horror books are based on normal things, like a car.

I tend to agree with those who think it's about the overall goal of the book. If it's to scare the bejeepers out of you, it's horror.

Of course, there's lots of genre bleed, but for me, that's the basic litmus test.


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## Thalia the Muse (Jan 20, 2010)

To me, "horror" is frightening, eerie, uncanny ... paranormal just means that the supernatural is involved somehow.

I love supernatural horror, have zero interest in paranormal romance novels.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

I am someone that is completely befuddled at genre classifications. I mean I am totally clueless a lot of what is what  . I used to read Stephen King (in german), for a while it was all I read, I guess thats horror to me. 

Before King I read german pulp fiction about a Ghost Hunter named John Sinclair. It had ghouls and all kinds of monsters, so I guess thats paranormal? I have no clue. 

Now I read mostly romance and romance with Historical, paranormal, time travel, mysteries. I like a lot of the Paranormal romances that are out there, some are more gritty than others. I have no clue what is Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, Paranormal Romance, classic fantasy and so on. I read some and then I look up what it was under and its not what I thought. I just don't know the difference. I have no clue  . I love the Fever series By moning, I don't know if thats Paranormal, I read some call it Urban fantasy. Again, I have no clue. 

I either like or I don't. I am pretty simple that way. 

I do know that I don't think I will read brutal Horror anymore. Especially if its got eyeball stuff. I can't handle anything with hurting eyeballs.  

What I am trying to say is that even for some of us readers is hard to figure out genres. Or maybe I am just genre challenged  . I depend on websites and boards specific to certain genres so I know I am on the right track.

Stephen Kings "IT", is still one of the most scary things I ever read, and misery. I gave my mom Misery, her first King. She never touched another one and she said she was so freaked out she couldn't sleep for weeks  . And I thought it was a good choice for introduction


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## stuartneild (Sep 14, 2010)

I think paranormal is basically a sub genre of the horror genre. The horror genre is so vast, it's one hell of playing field for an author and a reader. Horror comedy, horror slasher, horror sci fi, it's all just a different layer of the horror cake, but still the same cake when all is said and done.


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## lstrange (May 21, 2010)

MariaESchneider said:


> The industry (when it comes to categorizing) doesn't distinguish these two very well. You're either in romance (paranormal) or mystery (paranormal) or fantasy (paranormal) or...horror.
> 
> Horror to me is more graphic, generally more violent and possibly gory. The subject matter is*meant* to terrify or at least scare.


I totally agree with this. My Dark Kiss Trilogy books are put in the paranormal romance category because there is a love story, but my books are much darker than most in the genre.

There needs to be clearer definitions, and maybe some new categories.


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## Darcia (Jul 16, 2010)

Andrew Kaufman said:


> I just tend to wonder if, as a whole, horror and paranormal readers are the same audience--if they cross over between the two or stay put within each genre.


I am a big paranormal fan (though not so much paranormal romance). I'm not a big horror fan, though I do read the occasional title that intrigues me. So, based on my own bias, I do think they can be two distinct target audiences.


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## James Everington (Dec 25, 2010)

Interesting discussion... did the term "paranormal" (in reference to genre) even exist 15 years ago? Seems like a new invention to me of the publishing industry to me...?

Horror to me is, as others have said, anything intended to scare - anything from slightly creepy to full gross-out. There's lots of books that aren't in the horror section in a bookshop that, basically, are.

For supernatural books I actually prefer the term 'weird fiction' which was applied to Lovecraft and others who came after him. 

James


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## Shelia A. Huggins (Jan 20, 2011)

I've read a lot of Stephen King. I guess I was too young at the time to realize that it was horror. I just thought it was strange, and at the time, I enjoyed reading strange stuff. Still do, actually. 

But I've had a hard time distinguishing horror from paranormal and some of you have summed it up pretty well in the discussion. I think I have a better understanding of the difference now. I know of plenty of books that have more than one element: horror, paranormal, suspense and I kept trying to figure out which one it was without realizing it could contain more than one. I think it can make for a much more layered or complex story if not overdone.


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## JFHilborne (Jan 22, 2011)

R. Reed said:


> I mentioned "Poltergeist." No one actually dies, though you have to think back to realize that. A lot of people were still really scared.


Poltergeist is the movie that turned me away from paranormal - it freaked me out so much I could never watch it again or let anyone else watch it in the house. The diff to me is: paranormal is of another world and challenges my beliefs in whether such a world exists. Horror is the atrocities I know exist and the result of the human behavior that defies my beliefs.


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