In Conversation with Emerging Horror Writer Dr Elmi Zulkarnain Osman

Elmi Zulkarnain Osman, PhD is an emerging supernatural – horror writer from Singapore. His debut novella,Dark Times in Kuching (a supernatural-horror novella about the Manananggal | Hantu Penanggal), was released in early 2019.
Many thanks to Dr Elmi Zulkarnain for taking the time, and for giving such thoughtful, considered answers.
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TELL US ABOUT AN EXPERIENCE THAT FRIGHTENED YOU GROWING UP.

I have just too many experiences I had growing up that really frightened me. I was not exactly a latch-key kid who liked to stay home and play video games. I loved exploring my neighbourhood. My friends and I explored old-abandoned houses and also visited the library to borrow books about ghosts and other paranormal related real-life encounters. I was a very high-strung, anxious child, so little things like weird noises when I was home alone, or strange people would quickly send me into a panic.

WHAT KIND OF REACTION DO YOU HOPE TO ELICIT IN YOUR READERS?

I tend to think about the end of my story first, and I know I have a good one when I can imagine someone’s heart sinking after reading the last sentence. I’ve always been drawn to the horror stories that elicit a helpless feeling. You know this character is going to have to deal with the effects of whatever happened to him or her for the rest of their life, and that’s not going to be pleasant for them.

DO YOU THINK THERE ARE CERTAIN TRAITS THAT HORROR FANS SHARE?

All the horror fans I’ve met have a unique perspective on everything. We’re not apt to take things as they are, or as we’re told they are. Most of the time, we want to explore a topic to the extreme, allowing for any and every possibility. Horror fans or ghost story fans are stereotypically thought of as pessimistic because we tend to look at new opportunities with a sidelong glance, but that’s really what makes us as a community so creative. The average customer looking for a new car won’t stop to think, ‘What if this car started murdering people?’, but a horror fan would.

WHAT QUALITIES DOES AN IMPACTFUL HORROR STORY HAVE?

What initially sparked my interest in horror, and what keeps me interested in writing it, is that a good horror story isn’t about the hantu (ghosts in Malay), or the demon cult, or even the graphic violence. It’s that these strange, evil, terrifying things are happening to regular people. We’ve all had that moment of What if I don’t make it home? So, we instantly relate. A good horror story allows for the reader/viewer to so easily put themselves in the plight of the main character that we can’t hide from our fears. Just look at how many horror stories are written in first-person, and how many times the movies use the character’s POV.

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY THINK ABOUT YOUR FONDNESS FOR WRITING PARANORMAL – HORROR FICTION?

Watching horror films still stirs up trauma in me, so I don’t think my friends or family expected me to write stories about Pontianak, Trunyan Cemetery or The White Lady Balete Drive. Even still, they seem to be fairly accepting of my work.

HAVE ANY REAL-LIFE EVENTS INSPIRED YOUR HORROR WRITING?
I spent most of my school holidays in the kampung (village). The villagers in my kampung located in Selangor (Malaysia) love supernatural-horror stories. After all, there’s no shortage of folk stories passed down generation to generation of ghastly creatures like the Pontianak, Orang Minyak, Langsuir and Hantu Kum Kum. All these ghost stories from the Malay folklores have shaped my life – as well as my understanding of what happens next. I had a few ghostly encounters that had happened to me personally when I was a young boy. All these spooky encounters helped me to craft my works of fiction better.

WHAT ARE YOUR TIPS FOR ASPIRING HORROR WRITERS?

Read and write a variety of material. The more versatile you are as a writer, in terms of what you can emotionally convey through your story, the more impact your stories will have.

DO YOU THINK IT’S IMPORTANT FOR HORROR WRITERS TO OCCASIONALLY BRANCH OUT AND EXPLORE OTHER STYLES OR GENRES?

Yes, I think it’s the most important. Horror is really a meta-genre. It can be layered on top of other genres, so I think writers who want to do horror are best served by reading and writing everything.

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Dr Elmi Zulkarnain’s Anthology of Supernatural – Horror Novellas and Short Stories will be available for purchase from Amazon Kindle Direct Publish, NOOK Press by Barnes & Noble and Booktango starting in June 2019. A few of Dr Elmi Zulkarnain Osman’s works of fiction can be found on his official sites, Wattpad – @ElmiZulkarnainOsman) and Instagram -@elmizulkarnain.