So... You like to read creepypastas, don't you?
You like the idea of horror evolved, translated from campfires or dusty books in old dark basements at night into something you can tangibly browse on your computer in the depths of the night.
A creepypasta itself can appeal for the simple fact that it is something anyone could feasibly type up and post upon the web. With this in mind one could become the next Stephen King or H.P. Lovecraft based on a measly little tale or two. Unfortunately, this is not the case, you are most likely to remain anonymous whether or not you do actually proceed to create an intriguing and widely circulating creepypasta. As such writing for fame or fortune is pointless.
There is of course only one reason to post a creepypasta, and that is simply to write a story, something to share to others in an age where online forums and the glow of a computer screen takes the place of a campfire gathering or a peculiarly quiet night in a dusty abandoned cellar.
Still, if you want to make sure you can write a decent creepypasta, don't be afraid to investigate Write a Story and Be Original if you want to know how to bring your own stories to life.
To get a summary of what it is as a whole, please see the Creepypasta page.
Necessary Tropes
A creepypasta is confined only by genre; location, setting, characters, and threat are yours to play with, leaving a lot of wiggle room with tropes. A glance down just the names of Horror Tropes should get gears turning for a creative writer.
In the modern day and age, it may seem like every horror story idea has been exhausted beyond recognition. If you're fond of the idea of using a stock monster for your story, look down the Our Monsters Are Different page to see what new ideas you can bring to the table.
The best use of this page is to combine it with the lessons of another, like Write an Alien Invasion Story or Write a Cosmic Horror Story. These can help you nail down the feel of your story and how high and far reaching you want the stakes- a worldwide conflict and a home invader are both viable opportunities.
All this vagueness can seem intimidating, but there are a few things modern readers enjoy seeing to separate the evolved from the classic- Rational Protagonists, Nothing Is Scarier, Mind Screw, Eldritch Abomination and Eldritch Location, for example.
And of course, there's the ending- assuming the protagonist gets anything outside a Downer Ending or a Pyrrhic Victory, readers will expect them to Earn Your Happy Ending.
Choices, Choices
Creating a believable atmosphere
It is vitally important to maintain the willing suspension of disbelief of your audience, otherwise the story itself will either be dismissed at best or ridiculed at worst. This is perhaps the greatest pitfall of many "Most Dangerous Video Game" stories as it is hard to find suspense or terror when even the narrator of the story himself is seemingly protected by the fourth wall. A much better option would be to instead consider a horror story in a more traditional real-time setting such as:
- A group of friends visiting a local forest
- Waking up in an unfamiliar room
- Waking up from a disturbing vision
- Walking somewhere and getting the feeling that you're being stalked
- Stories that delve into mental illness (though this might require extra work to make it as believable as possible)
The Horror
The biggest part of a creepypasta is, as the name suggests, the creep factor. However, what exact type of horror we are dealing with varies from story to story, ranging from Death of a Child to Zombie Apocalypse. You must first determine what frightens you the most. The boogeyman, lurking under the bed? A businessman with no face? Inexplicable stairways to nowhere in the middle of the forest? Forgetting your child in the car on a hot day? Ghosts? The end of the world? The devil himself? Or the possibility that you're already dead and this is your Dying Dream? Horror is as varied and diverse as humanity, and as the author of that horror, you must tell us where we are in the Twilight Zone.
Read up on Horror Tropes for possible ideas.
Pitfalls
One of the things that can make or break a creepypasta is how the story is written as a whole. Depending on the subject, mistakes can be made that would dampen the reception of the readers. And there's a solid number of factors that can ensure the pasta receives more hate than love.Tips to Avoid Pitfalls
Making the characters believable
When it comes to creating characters (Be it Villain Protagonist OC or otherwise), it's crucial to try and make them interesting. Perhaps the POV character is a Lead You Can Relate To struggling to survive the horrors thrown at them, or the main character goes through a gradual process of Protagonist Journey to Villain due to circumstances that pushed them too far.
If the protagonist isn't believable or relatable, you usually end up not caring about them. This means that Mary Sue characters are even worse than usual, because nobody's perfect and that includes the reader. As such, you should give the protagonist flaws, interests, motivations, and/or redeeming qualities.
For further tips on creating a character, see Make Interesting Characters and Develop Character Personality.
Words to watch out for when writing
Among other things in creepypasta to watch out for is what words have been overused to the point where it makes the story redundant or cliché. From a narrative standpoint, words such as 'hyper-realistic' became a constant in poorly written creepypasta with little understanding to the meaning behind it. From the profiling of a character standpoint, one of the most common titles used on characters is 'the Killer', which only serves to create a Self-Insert Character clone of pre-existing OCs.
Potential Subversions
Alternative Considerations
Since the "haunted video game" and "lost episode" classes have been done to death, there are various alternative settings you might want to consider. A demonstrative backstory takes the perspective of a character from a game itself, examining the events of the in-game world from their perspective, establishing a backstory for them, before eventually revealing who they are and their motivations within the game world.
Traditional horror allows one the simple ability to imagine a psychological or cosmic horror story and post that over the web. For advice on these types of stories a simple look into the "How to Write a Horror Story" page would be recommended.
Writer's Lounge
Suggested Themes
The world is getting scary, and your readers know that. Perhaps Science has wrought something it should not, our herd mentality becomes more dangerous than the monster- the more likely it is that it could happen, the more your reader will think.
During the COVID 19 shutdown, many pastas were penned inspired by the events people saw happening around them- societal unrest, a failure to act on behalf of the government, and a formless evil that reshaped society around it. Similarly capitalizing on the fears of not only you, but your community can make for a very real horror. Just be sure not to date your story too much.
And of course, Horror as a Metaphor- your monster doesn't just have to be an STD anymore. Old regrets, mistakes, and grief can manifest in a mysterious figure or hulking beast. Get artistic.
Potential Motifs
The internet. That's where you're writing it, isn't it? Decrepit old sites, files containing incriminating evidence, mysteriously sentient chatbots, forums where the scum of the Earth congregate- the topsoil is only a small part of the larger web, and history has proven again and again just how dark the underbelly can be when pulled up.
Your readers know it best, after all- Creepypastas have even sprung up about the very website they're written on.
Ideas
Setting/Location Scout
Anywhere on Earth at all. Popular are forests, old infrastructures, creepy towns... And if you're crafty enough, you can set a story entirely within one man's house.
Eldritch Location or Genius Loci can be the monster in and of itself, be it the No End House or Hell itself. Twisting the familiar is a tried-and-true literary technique - THE MONUMENT MYTHOS ' bread and butter is warping the famous American landmarks into creepshows.
And if you're set on a Videogame creepypasta, for the love of God, learn the videogame you're referencing. Fans will recognize your mistake, and nothing breaks an immersion more than seeing, say, an unacknowledged Dry Bones in the original Super Mario.
Costuming
Stop me if you've heard this one before - Heavily scarred teenage serial killer in a hoodie, wielding a bladed weapon and a Healing Factor of some sort, usually white and male with a catchphrase they say on each kill. If you thought of Jeff the Killer, Ticci Toby, X-Virus, Masky and Hoodie...
When the genre began it was all about mascots - cute anime boys for fanart to Woobify into a misunderstood Draco in Leather Pants. Nowadays, while mascots are perfectly fine (certain ones like Smile Dog and Slenderman have indeed stood the test of time), there are only so many creepy photographs in the world you can spin a story around. The face of your Pasta should be yours, be it a shambling shoggoth or pony cannibal.
Just remember that real life serial killers aren't supervillains - To quote Wednesday Addams, "They look just like everyone else."
Casting
Your readers are The Everyman - and they have quite the ego about themselves. Adapt your character to the setting and time, but remember that slashers have among the most made fun of protagonists of any genre. Any subversion of its idiot ball tendencies is good. What would you do in this situation? Most Writers Are Human, after all.
Then, of course, comes the fun part - Designing a monster. Uncanny Valley, Glasgow Grin, shrunken features and perversions of the natural order a beastie make. Determine where you want to sit on the scale from realistic to Cosmic Horror, from Scream to The Mist. If your threat is particularly corruptive, your very protagonist may become Was Once a Man.
Your threat is the core of your story in most cases. Don't make it boring.
Extra Credit
The Greats:
- Any pasta written by SlimeBeast
. The man has been known for writing some of the more memorable and creepy pastas during his time as a writer.
- Kris Straub's Candle Cove, considered by many to be one of the most brilliant 'lost-episode' creepypastas.
- r/nosleep and the Creepypasta Wiki routinely sort their stories by the most critically acclaimed. Finding the best of the best on them is an easy process, and the latter contains in its Historical Archive category all of the most famous (or infamous) stories across the internet's lifespan.
- The Slender Man Mythos is one of the shining examples of the readers making the monster and Nothing Is Scarier.
Proceed With Caution:
- Lost Episode and Haunted Game stories. Those two have been genres that have been done to hell and back, with very poor execution as a result, although not all video game or lost episode creepypastas are bad.
The Epic Fails:
Creepypasta is a frequently ridiculed genre. It's beginning to shake the reputation it once had, but a particularly bad story will never be forgotten- the Internet loves a punching bag.
- Bad Creepypasta chronicles these, as well as pointing out for each one just why it doesn't work.
- Jeff the Killer (more specifically the 2011 version), to the point where the story was moved to the Trollpasta wiki.
- Sonic.exe, another pasta so bad it was moved to the Trollpasta wiki.
