What are the key points of the 'language of horror' that expresses fear and anxiety?

In horror works, it is important to vividly depict the emotions of fear and anxiety that the characters face and to have the reader or viewer feel the same fear and anxiety. Brian Evenson, an award-winning horror novelist, talks about the 'language of horror' that evokes the emotions that color horror.

Brian Evenson on Finding the Language of Horror ‹ Literary Hub

https://lithub.com/brian-evenson-on-finding-the-language-of-horror/

Evenson said that the reason he started writing horror was to 'imagine the worst-case scenario in a controlled space and try to understand how it could unfold.' Evenson said that he was prone to being scared as a child, and that he would often imagine things that were worse than necessary from the heights and dark places he experienced, and would often feel dizzy from the fear. From such experiences, he said that being able to verbalize, control, and direct his fear was what motivated him to write horror.

When you try to write horror, trying to 'scare the reader' usually doesn't work. On the other hand, it tends to be better if you get the reader to 'sympathize' with the things that you find scary or unsettling. Therefore, Evenson said that one of the tips for writing horror is 'writing horror is about touching things that resonate with you, things that make you feel that there is something strange, scary, or weird in the world.'

To write horror, it is important to recall the fear and discomfort you felt in your body, what it felt like, what your body felt like, and find the right words to share it with the reader. On top of that, Evenson says that to further enhance the effectiveness of horror, it is necessary to pay attention to the small stimuli and hooks that rhythm, sound, and small wording give to the reader. In Evenson's case, he often finds such small points intuitively during revision.

Evenson says of horror language, which is used to inspire fear and anxiety: 'You know the words are right because they feel right. If you've been through a door into darkness, there are words that you can intuitively use to take you back to a frightening landscape you didn't dare look into, or a room where something might be happening in the deeper darkness you could see through the crack in the door.'