Horror evokes many emotions; dread, fear, paranoia, suspense and terror. So why not try your hand at some Nightmare Fuel evoking stories?
Note that not even this can make you become the next Poe, Lovecraft or King. Try to learn a bit about writing stories first. Write a Story is a good place to start, and perhaps reading some horror stories would probably help.
To Start Off
Before and during writing, thinking these questions is a good idea.Who are you trying to scare?
Despite horror being a well-known genre today, that doesn't mean all types of horror will scare everyone. If you want to scare kids, don't make it as blood-curdling as you can. If you want to scare adults, don't make it as tame as you can. Try to find a balance.Is this diving into a genre, or is this trying to be realistic?
Again, not every horror work will scare the hell out of the reader and make them call for their brown pants. Some people may laugh at a zombie apocalypse story that tries to be scary. Do you want to fool people into thinking this was real, or stick with Zombies Everywhere Issue #14528: Electric Boogaloo? Keep in mind that both kinds can be scary, but that once you take a deep dive into genre, it's hard to make your readers accept heavy realism again.How are you trying to scare them?
This one is very important. There are many ways to disturb someone to the point of frequent nightmares. These are some tools that writers use.- Graphic violence/Blood and gore: If you've ever read Creepypasta, you'll see blood and gore everywhere like it's a Halloween party. But most professional writers would recommend avoiding graphic violence. To the reader, it starts becoming less effective the more they read it. You could have thick gooey blood all over the floor described in a very graphic way, but people will not start squealing like girls over it. Remember that pure horror is able to not have anyone die graphically and still make people quiver in fear.
- Pure mind-bending: Can be effective at times, but other times it can just get confusing. Especially if the reader starts losing track of what's happening. If you can pull it off, great, but for the basic writer, try not to do this.
- Creepy atmosphere: Arguably the most effective of all the tools in horror writer's arsenal. Something is out of place. Something is wrong. It's Quiet… Too Quiet. Did we just see something, or was it just wind playing with the leaves? Nothing Is Scarier, because it preys on our fear of the unknown. This kind of horror leaves a lot to reader's imagination, and the reader will fill in the blanks with what scares him the most.
- Warping the Familiar: This is the source of scares in tropes like Ironic Nursery Tune (a song meant to be comforting turns creepy) and Abandoned Hospital (a place dedicated to healing turned evil). It is also the source of the Uncanny Valley effect. A lot of common horror monsters look suspiciously like humans with only a few features that are slightly ... off. A Glasgow Grin, Creepily Long Arms, Undeathly Pallor, you name it (it is incidentally also why so many people fear clowns; their corpse-like faces and Uncanny Valley Makeup make people's subconscious flinch away from them). Of course, a lot of these tropes are heavily overused and can play into ableist Unfortunate Implications if the author isn't careful. However, if a horror author understands this effect and how it works, it can be leveraged to great advantage.
Ideas
Turn the lights off
- If you've ever seen a horror film, you'll notice that a lot of the scenes that are intended to scare people use less light than scenes that intend to establish the setting. That's because in the dark, there's more chance for the monsters to hide, and there's more chance for the intensity to ramp up. Even in scenes without any threat, the darkness can still instill fear into the reader because they aren't even sure if there's anything in the darkness. But don't let this allow you to plunge every scene in darkness. It's not as if scenes can't be creepy if they're shot in daylight.
Engage the Senses
- As noted above, what you can't see is often scarier than what you can. But why stop with sight? Don't forget sound (fingernails on a blackboard, wind in the trees, voices just low enough to be indistinguishable), touch (cold winds in a closed room, something brushing by unseen), smell (an odor of decay, or a chemical, medicinal stench), even taste if you can manage it.
Timing is Everything
When the characters go down to the basement to investigate that noise, it shouldn't be over and done with quickly. Draw out the scary experiences to maximize impact — the unsteady tread down the stairs, fumbling for the light switch, looking around, and the slow reach for the sheet-covered object... You get the idea.Humor can be a great tool to relieve tension, such as when that scary noise turns out to be something not scary at all. But be careful: One laugh line in the wrong place tells the audience that their fear means nothing.
Things That Go Bump in the Night
Pick your monster. Will it be demons, creatures from the black lagoon, ghosts with Unfinished Business, vampires? What monsters scare you the most? Most monsters have some kind of metaphorical meaning, and touching on that can lend more depth to your story — zombies, for instance, connote apathetic consumption. Of course, one can always go for the scariest hunter of them all... human beings.Writer's Lounge
Suggested Themes
Potential Motifs
Suggested Plots
Departments
Setting/Location Scout
Costume Designer
Casting
Stunt Department
Extra Credits
The Greats
The Epic Fails
Supplemental Reading
Immersion and Horror
by C.T. Phipps at The United Federation of Charles discusses how to get your audience prepared to be scared.
