Fictitious Musings

I’m pleased to welcome author Jody Kihara to Fictitious Musings Keepers of the Crypt event to talk about Why We Like To Be Scared. So get comfortable and feel free to share what scares you for a chance to win…BOOKS at the end of the post.

Welcome to Fictitious Musings Jody!

Are you a Scaredy Cat?

Why do we like to be SCARED?

Halloween is approaching, and many people I know are looking for scary books and movies to get them in the mood. This got me wondering… why do we enjoy being scared?

Most of us don’t like being scared in real life AT ALL! Being followed by a stranger, hearing a creak on the stairs in the middle of the night, seeing a huge spider web on the porch but no knowing where the spider is… no thanks!

Yet people love horror movies, paranormal books, and the haunted house at the fair. Why?

I have to admit that although I love thrillers, mysteries, suspense, and paranormal… I’m a total chicken when it comes to horror movies. (Emily Rose, anyone? Even the Sixth Sense had me scared to get out of bed at night!) Books seem to strike the better balance for me… but I’m not sure why.

The idea for my novel White Witch Pond came from just one scene: the opening scene, where Shaya is walking home from school, through a park with an eerie pond. And where did that idea come from? Well, I did have to walk home from school past such a pond! There was no witch-mystery attached, but that pond was still creepy! (You can check out photos of the real pond at http://www.jodykihara.com/books/whitewitch/). And so the story grew out of a what-if idea… what if that pond had a mystery attached?

I wrote the novel with mid-grade readers in mind, and was surprised to find that some kids found it too scary… I didn’t think it was THAT scary, especially as it’s written by a horror-movie wimp. But in the end, the book found a better home with YA readers!

So in the spirit of scare-factor research, I’d love to hear everyone else’s thoughts on this: Why do you like being scared? HOW scared do you want to be? When is a book or movie TOO scary? Or not scary enough? And if you have kids, how do you decide beforehand if a book or movie will be too scary for them? Share your thoughts below!

There’s also a White Witch Pond giveaway… to enter, head on over to my Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/JodyKiharaBooks. You can also enter to win a copy of Monsterzine!, a scary book for younger kids… and this time I promise not to scare them too much!

Happy Halloween from Jody!

About the Author

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Jody Kihara is an author of children’s and teen fiction. She writes for several age ranges, from chapter books to mid-grade to young adult. Her younger children’s books are humorous, and her mid-grade and YA books usually have a strong element of adventure or mystery.

Six of her books are now available via the Amazon Kindle store: MONSTERZINE, a humorous chapter book; WHITE WITCH POND, a mid-grade ghost story; THE GIRL ACROSS THE WATER, a young adult mystery/thriller; THE GOOB FACTOR, a humorous YA novel; THE FRANKINCENSE TRAIL, a YA historical novel set it pre-Islamic Arabia; and SWITCHING, Jody’s latest novel, a YA time travel thriller.

Tags:Contests, Giveaways, Jody Kihara, Keepers of the Crypt, Keepers of the Crypt event, Middle Grade fiction, Monsterzine, The Girl Across the Water, White Witch Pond, Young Adult fiction