Disclaimer:
This is a matter of my own opinion with this topic. Please do not
take offense to it if you feel any different about it.
Recently,
I've been diving right into the horror books. Well, not necessary
horror novels, but more or less a mixture of horror, supernatural,
and suspense books that can tie to the Halloween spirit. As soon I
open up my latest book, I began to see a pattern with novels in young
adult fiction. Like the newest movie, “Miss Peregrine's Home for
Peculiar Children”, some books have been containing unique
photographs. In some cases, these photographs play a major part when
telling the story to various of readers. They bring out significant
clues and perhaps heightens the value of the good story when told
correctly.
Recommended for you
However,
I can't help, but notice the pattern in an annoyance sort of way.
Don't get me wrong, if it's done right, the photographs in novels
like Miss Peregrine's can be exciting and engaging to the reader's
eye with exciting visuals and a dynamic to connect with characters.
Yet at the same time, it can be a complete hit or miss to the reader
as well. An example of this is when I discovered the first novel to
the Asylum series by
Madeleine Roux. Now, I really enjoy novels with vibes of creep and
mystery such as this book with its realistic photos of the history
behind the building the protagonist enters into in the introduction.
In this book though, I got to explore the photos of the asylum's past
in the same way Dan and his two new friends do during their time at
the so-called 'school'; but I felt at odd about it in a 'end my
misery' way. The way the photographs were presented to me, I thought
it was a call of laziness. It didn't bring the scare factor to the
story like I really hoped it would. The cover and the log line
brought my attention to the series, but with the amazing photographs
and lack of direction with the story itself, it brought boredom to my
life too.
It
gave the author a freedom to be a small sloth and I'm not pleased
with it. I wanted to enjoy her book, but it was overloaded with it.
It didn't give her the ability to present the story to the readers.
In some ways, she didn't shine and either did the story itself. The
characters needed to grow more, the plot needed dire shifts of 'holy
crap!' twists in the most unexpected way. It was almost like a first
draft to the book, but with little to no additional work. I do want
to continue the series, but I want to feel the horror and the
psychological torture the characters endure; and I hope it happens in
the sequel, Sanctum.
Now coming us back to the question on hand, should we as writers include photographs in our story? As I see it, I'm not sure. While the idea is amazing with showing proof of inspiration to your readers; I feel as so we need to find the balance. We as writers, should understand the importance of balance. We should incorporate our compelling stories and perhaps include a photo or two to brighten our vision to our potential readers. If we lack one or two elements then I feel the horror or originality we want to bring into our creations would leave the building. In an personal opinion, if you want to have photographs in your story, please conducted the right amount of research and take your time with the story.
