Thread by @Rachel_Gutin

The first panel I attended at #Readercon this year was "Being Vague to Make Space for Horror" with Stephen Graham Jones, Sonya Taaffe, @paulGtremblay, @intelligentwat, and moderator @ShiningComic. Given that I don't write horror, I learned a surprising amount!

@paulGtremblay @intelligentwat @ShiningComic Here are some highlights. Most of these are paraphrases. If I think I have the exact words, I've put quotation marks around them, but they might not be exact.

@paulGtremblay @intelligentwat @ShiningComic On having disorientation in horror: "To be able to express horrors about being a black woman in an antagonistic world, I create worlds with that disorientation. We have to put on armor, and that's disorienting." - @intelligentwat

@paulGtremblay @intelligentwat @ShiningComic "Ambiguity needs to be there for a reason." - @paulGtremblay

@paulGtremblay @intelligentwat @ShiningComic According to Sonya Taaffe, there are many kinds of ambiguity:
- What just happened?
- Why did that just happen?
- Did that really happen?
- WTF just happened?

@paulGtremblay @intelligentwat @ShiningComic Sonya also said that real life doesn't have tidy explanations for everything or give evidence to prove it happened the way you said it did.

@paulGtremblay @intelligentwat @ShiningComic "Horror is a way for black women to not gaslight themselves." - @intelligentwat

@paulGtremblay @intelligentwat @ShiningComic Also from @intelligentwat (not sure whether this is a quote or a paraphrase): There's discussion within ambiguity. Being told takes away the power to think.

@paulGtremblay @intelligentwat @ShiningComic And @intelligentwat pointed out that horror makes you examine yourself because anyone could be the monster - including you.

@paulGtremblay @intelligentwat @ShiningComic From @paulGtremblay: Reality isn't solid. Memory and identity can change, and aren't under our control as much as we'd like. For example, parents tell us stories about our childhood that become memories for us.

@paulGtremblay @intelligentwat @ShiningComic From Sonya: Everyone is neutral to themselves, but that's not what others see when they look through your eyes. And that can be dislocating.

@paulGtremblay @intelligentwat @ShiningComic On the same topic, @intelligentwat noted that publishers are afraid to publish jarring, dislocating things, and lots of people are afraid to read them.

@paulGtremblay @intelligentwat @ShiningComic According to Sonya, ambiguity about whether or not there's a narrative, and whether there's a pattern, works well. You can have something almost take shape, but not quite. The ambiguity lets you *almost* name something - and naming it gives it power.

@paulGtremblay @intelligentwat @ShiningComic From @intelligentwat: ambiguity doesn't need an answer, but there needs to be some concrete rule.

@paulGtremblay @intelligentwat @ShiningComic And @paulGtremblay talked about ensuring more than one path the reader can follow - so there's a way to get to more than one explanation. For example, it could be supernatural or not, based on what's in the story.

@paulGtremblay @intelligentwat @ShiningComic On the source of ambiguity: @paulGtremblay noted that it can come from having too little information, but also from having too much.

@paulGtremblay @intelligentwat @ShiningComic And Sonya pointed out that in real life, you don't know what's signal and what's noise. You can look back at a clear path and it can turn out to be all red herrings.

@paulGtremblay @intelligentwat @ShiningComic Sonya also said there are spaces in every story about which she has no information. If she knew everything about everyone in the story, she'd be doing it wrong, because she doesn't know that in real life.