FANTASTIC REALMS
Prose and cons
Using methods people use to send messages in fiction has a long tradition, but how can it work in your horror, fantasy and sci-fi stories? Alex Davis looks at epistolary storytelling in genre fiction.
Alex Davis
You may or may not have come across the term epistolary storytelling, but I’d say it’s good odds you’ve encountered it in either your reading or writing. If you’ve ever been through a book or a short story and found letters, emails, text messages or quotes and pages from books that only exist within a fictional setting, you’ve already seen it in action.
The terms applies to fiction that – usually in combination with traditional prose – uses alternative methods to get its plot over that also exist within the fictional world. So an author foreword or afterword isn’t an example of epistolary storytelling, though interesting in their own right. But when a character reads that letter, or you show the email a protagonist is sending to someone else, or you show the text that just arrived on your lead’s phone, all of those are very much relevant examples. And there are many more besides, of course – which we’ll explore in the context of genre fiction today, where I feel this format of telling a tale has a particular relevance.
Epistolatory storytelling in horror: Breaking down barriers of disbelief
If you’re anything like me, there are a few horror books and movies that have kept you awake at night. But, as I was reflecting before writing this piece, I came to realise that many of mine were those that used this epistolary approach, moving away from prose towards things that felt more real-world. I reference it numerous times, but Mark Z Danielewski’s House of Leaves is a book full to the brim with it – and all the more terrifying for it.