How To Write Horror Story, If you love to read horror stories, you might have wondered how to write one yourself. Horror is a genre that taps into our primal fears and emotions, and can keep us awake at night with its terrifying scenarios. But how do you create a horror story that will make your readers shiver and scream? Here are some tips to help you craft a spine-chilling horror story.
1. Choose Your Fear Factor.
What scares you the most? Is it ghosts, zombies, serial killers, or something else? Think about what kind of horror story you want to write and what kind of fear you want to evoke in your readers. You can use instinctive fears, such as darkness, heights, or spiders, that are common to many people. You can also use monsters and supernatural entities, such as vampires, werewolves, or demons, that create a sense of the unknown and the uncanny. Or you can use societal tensions, such as racism, mental health, or sexual violence, that reflect real-world issues and anxieties.
2. Pick a Horror Story Subgenre.
Horror is a broad genre that can be divided into many subgenres, each with its own conventions and expectations. For example, you can write a gothic horror story, which is set in a dark and gloomy atmosphere and often involves haunted houses, curses, or madness. You can write a cosmic horror story, which is inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft and deals with ancient and incomprehensible forces that threaten humanity. You can write a slasher horror story, which is influenced by movies like Halloween and Scream and features a masked killer who stalks and kills a group of teenagers. Or you can write a psychological horror story, which focuses on the inner turmoil and madness of the characters rather than external threats.
3. Let Readers Experience the Stakes.
A horror story needs to have high stakes for the characters and the readers. You need to make your readers care about what happens to your characters and feel the danger they are in. One way to do this is to show the consequences of the horror on your characters' lives. For example, you can show how the horror affects their physical health, mental state, relationships, or goals. Another way to do this is to make your readers empathize with your characters by giving them relatable traits, flaws, motivations, or backgrounds.
4. Create Suspense Through Point of View.
Suspense is the key element of any horror story. You want to keep your readers on edge and curious about what will happen next. One way to create suspense is to use an effective point of view for your story. You can use a first-person point of view, which puts the reader in the shoes of the main character and makes them feel their fear and confusion. You can use a third-person limited point of view, which follows one character closely but also allows for some distance and objectivity. Or you can use a third-person omniscient point of view, which gives you access to multiple characters' thoughts and feelings but also creates a sense of irony and foreshadowing.
5. Consider Plot Twists to Surprise Your Audience.
A good horror story should have some unexpected twists and turns that shock and surprise your readers. You can use plot twists to reveal new information, change the direction of the story, or subvert the expectations of the genre. For example, you can reveal that the killer is someone the characters know and trust, that the monster is not what it seems, or that the protagonist is actually the villain. However, you should make sure that your plot twists are logical and consistent with the rest of the story and not just thrown in for cheap thrills.
6. Put Your Characters in Compelling Danger.
A horror story needs to have some scenes where your characters are in peril and have to face their fears. You need to put your characters in situations where they have to make difficult choices, fight for their survival, or escape from their enemies. You can use different types of conflict to create tension and drama in your story, such as man vs man, man vs nature, man vs self, or man vs society. You can also use different types of violence to create horror and disgust in your readers, such as physical violence, psychological violence, sexual violence, or supernatural violence.
7. Use Your Imagination.
Finally, a horror story needs to have some originality and creativity to stand out from the crowd. You need to use your imagination to come up with new ideas, scenarios, characters, or monsters that will intrigue and terrify your readers. You can draw inspiration from your own experiences, fears, dreams, or fantasies. You can also research different myths, legends, folklore, or history to find interesting sources for your horror story.
Writing a horror story can be a fun and rewarding challenge for any writer who loves to scare people. By following these tips, you can create a horror story that will haunt your readers' nightmares for a long time.
FAQ
1. What makes a story scary?
Key elements that make a story scary include atmosphere and setting, suspense and tension, a credible threat or danger, psychological fear, character vulnerability, gore and violence (if used appropriately), subverting expectations, supernatural or unexplainable elements, emotional engagement, and a dreadful climax.
2.What type of story is horror?
A horror story is a type of story that aims to create a feeling of fear in the reader or viewer. Horror stories often involve supernatural elements, such as ghosts, witches, or vampires, but they can also deal with realistic psychological fears. Horror stories have been part of folk literature for a long time, and they became popular in Western literature with the Gothic novel in the 18th century. Some famous writers of horror stories are Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, and Stephen King.
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