Fear is such a strange concept, but one we have all experienced in our own way. The most innocuous thing can evoke a fear response in some people, while others may need to encounter something more threatening before they feel fear. Although we all experience fear differently, it's generally an emotion most people try to avoid. Because of this, people often ask me why I am so attracted to the horror genre. They ask me what I could possibly get out of scaring myself by spending hours with no sleep or watching countless scary movies on Netflix, especially since I am so easily scared by the most ordinary things. Often, I don't know how to answer.

I've been drawn to stories of strange, frightening, or unexplainable situations since I was in grade school, especially when I came across a copy of "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" by Alvin Schwartz. A lot of what I read were stories from the folklore of various cultures, leading me to realize that every culture had its own stories of ghosts and other creatures. A phenomenon that was so universal seemed as though it had to be more than a coincidence, and led me to wonder if perhaps the paranormal was very real.

Over time, the genre grew to be a source of fascination, not something that could keep me up for hours terrified that there were ghosts in my closet or monsters under my bed. They were possibilities to ponder, allowing me to imagine how I would react if I were to encounter something so out of the ordinary. I could keep myself occupied for days entertaining the idea of the existence of ghosts, demons and other unexplained phenomena. It has always seemed to be so much more fun to consider the possibility of the supernatural existing than it is to search for a more scientific explanation.

Reading folk stories and present-day accounts of people who claim to have encountered paranormal phenomena inspired ideas of my own which allowed me to write. Reading horror stories has always been such a big part of how I entertained myself that being able to spend rainy days reading old favorites and new concepts has become a nostalgic affair. In fact, they have almost stopped evoking a fear response in me that many others would have, and it usually takes a well-placed movie jump scare to truly unsettle me.

I'm not sure that there was ever a reason why I first enjoyed horror stories. I didn't fear the paranormal, but it was always something I respected and wanted to understand from the time I read my first collection of horror stories until the present day. This interest in turn fostered my imagination and creativity, as well as providing a lasting source of entertainment. Horror stories have shaped me into the open-minded person and the writer I am now, both of which I take pride in, and if there is no other good reason, I love horror stories for that alone.