Resident Evil

I was going to make this exclusively about ‘Survival Horror’, but I thought I would branch out here.  Most people don’t get into that type of story while they may be interested in other types of survivals.  ‘Hatchet’, ‘Lord of the Flies’, ‘Castaway’, and the like would fall into this category without being horror.  So, what makes up a survival story?

I think it’s a person struggling to stay alive.  That seems simplistic, but it’s what you find at the center of these stories.  I mean, it’s also in the genre title.  Whether it be getting out of a zombie-infested city or finding supplies on a deserted island, the main character is in a deadly situation.  One wrong move and bad decision means their story is over.  Sounds pretty easy when you boil it down, but you just know there are more tricks.  If not, people would be writing amazing versions of it all over the place.

Survival stories require the ultimate stake, which is the main character’s life.  General action stories have heroes protecting others, but here we have someone who is simply trying to keep themselves alive.  They don’t typically have the skills, strengths, powers, and knowledge of those from the other action subgenres.  This is why they are struggling to survive instead of skipping along with a machinegun in each hand.  Even if they had the training, they won’t have the equipment and will need to handle their obstacles with whatever is around.  The stakes remain the same and repeatedly come to the edge of being lost.  This is what builds and maintains tension.

I think it helps if a survival hero is alone as the focal point of the story.  Even if they are part of a group, the reader should be concerned with their survival.  This way, other characters can die and have more impact on the tension.  Slasher horror does this with a central target of the killer who avoids getting murdered while the others are taken out over the course of the story.  As other targets are eliminated, the survival of the main character becomes less and less assured.  By the time it’s at the climax, they don’t have a large group to help with a plan and might even be trapped in a one-on-one fight against an opponent who has proven to be powerful and deadly.  This wouldn’t work if you have 10 survivors piling onto the killer at the end.  It’ll be either an embarrassing defeat of the bad guy or a rapid slaughter that wouldn’t feel entirely right.

The obstacles are something to consider as well.  Too easy and there is no doubt that the character will survive outside of a ridiculous contrivance.  If you make them too difficult, which is more likely, the success of the hero becomes fairly unbelievable.  They are no longer viewed as someone in peril, but a lucky character who is surviving due to plot armor.  For example, an young, lost girl surviving in the jungle is being hunted by a jaguar and ends up killing it with her bare hands.  Over the top example there, but you get the picture of how an obstacle needs to be a challenge while not being impossible for the survivor.  They need to have a way to get through without shattering a reader’s ability to disbelieve.

I’m going to be going into more ‘how to’ stuff come Wednesday, but I think this is a really tough subgenre to pull off in written form.  It’s certainly easier for movies, TV, and video games because it depends on tension.  Music and lighting can set the stage while proper use of jump scares can keep the audience at the edge of their seats.  For a book, you need the reader to get drawn into the fight for survival and use their imagination to do the heavy lifting.  It’s not impossible, but it depends a lot on pacing and descriptive language.  You can’t rush or take too long between obstacles.  There needs to be points of victory and failure to keep the hero moving forward, but still be human.  As I’ve been saying for years about many things, it’s a juggling act.

So, what do you think about survival stories?