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How to write a horror story? (Tap into common fears (The most important…
How to write a horror story?
Tap into common fears
The most important part of any horror story is naturally going to be its fear factor. People don’t read horror for easy entertainment; they read it to be titillated and terrorized
Strike the right atmosphere
Depends on what kind of horror you want to write. To use cinematic examples again, The tone and atmosphere of your story will hang upon its subgenre.
Thriller-horror
Gross-out horror
Classic horror
Terror
Make the stakes obvious
In order for readers to truly thrill at your horror story, you need to make them aware of the stakes. Clearly establish the main problem or motivation for your character(s), and what they have to lose if they don’t figure it out.
Survival. The most basic objective of characters in any horror story is to survive.
Protecting loved ones. The more people the protagonist has to keep safe, the higher the stakes.
Cracking unsolved mysteries. Because some horror stories aren’t about escaping peril in the present, but rather about uncovering the terrors of the past.
Carefully consider
your point of view
Your reader should feel a kinship with your main character, such that when the stakes are high, they feel their own heart start to beat faster. This can be achieved through either first person or third person limited point of view.
To twist or not to twist?
Plot twists are exciting, memorable, and help bring previous uncertainty into focus, releasing tension by revealing the truth. However, they’re also notoriously difficult to come up with, and extremely tricky to pull off.
Don’t forget the basics
As you write, you need to stay
conscious of basic storytelling
techniques and not get carried
away with the drama of horror.
Answer this questions:
What fear or struggle must your protagonist overcome?
What decision do they make to put them in this situation?
How will they defeat or escape their adversary, if at all?
What are the ultimate consequences of their actions?
Look for something new
In order to stand out from the crowd, you need to think about overused trends in horror and make sure your story’s not “been there, done that.” For instance, the “vampire romance” plot is a dead horse with no one left to beat it after all the Twilight, Vampire Diaries, and True Blood hype.