Dark Drama's?

The Dark - 'All Aboard for a ride to midnight'

I guess there is something so old and primordial about using night-time or darkness to enhance the fear factor in thrillers that it is hardly talked about as tool. Everyone knows that darkness can be a strange or anxious time, right? But is it really that scary? Darkness is, of course, the absence of the sun (light) and without light and heat, human life cannot exist. So darkness is stongly associated with death.

But it strikes me that the dark can be a source of so many fears that in and of itself it could be something to explore in depth in a novel.

Everyone is familiar with the notion that everyday familiar non-threatening things in the day time can take on a strong aura of menace at night. I know this can be attributed to something as simple as not being able to see well, but God ( or whatever you believe created us!) has equipped us with a certain amount of night vision. But there again, maybe it’s the fact that one can see in the dark to a certain extent (especially in good moonlight) but not with full acuity. This allows the imagination  to come into play to fill in the bits our senses are not able to pick up. And no matter how hard you try to neutralise it, the imagination it will have its day!

Many children are fearful of the dark as night-time/sleep-time is a time when they have to cope on their own, without the reassurance of others around them. No small wonder then, that they imagine bogeymen in the wardrobe and things crawling under the bed! 

So it is a well used vehicle in many horror/thriller stories where one wants to create an unsettling fearful atmosphere or simply to enhance the tension and fudge what’s real and what is not. There is always a feeling of relief for the reader when night turns to day and the plot can roll merrily along without the uncertainty of the dark interfering.

Dastardly deeds are also often committed under cover of darkness and it is easy to see how darkness is associated with evil and how day (light) with goodness. All extremely subjective, by the way, but that is how it is generally perceived.

I feel the dark is a very useful tool to use in supernatural, thriller stories and I use it frequently. In fact my latest book has ‘dark’ in its title and I notice that many more thriller/horror stories use the word in their titles too. It signals a certain kind of story to a read, does it not?

What do you think? Do thriller stories set in darkness conjure up feelings of fear and tension in you?

For samples of my novel writing please visit http://www.patricianewcombe.webnode.com/