Do you like scary stories that make your hair stand on end? Are you scared when you read a suspenseful story? Scary stories, like other stories, follow a basic format that includes developing a premise, setting, and characters. However, spooky stories rely on suspense that builds throughout the story until it reaches a sinister or gruesome ending.
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Part 1 of 5: Developing the Premise
Step 1. List your biggest fears
The premise of the story is the basic idea on which your story is based. The premise is the reason behind the motivation of the characters, setting, and actions that occur in the story. One of the best ways to get a scary story premise is to imagine the things that scare you the most. Embrace the fear of losing a family member, of being alone and lonely, of violence, of clowns, demons, or murderous squirrels. Your fear will be poured into each page of the story. Your exploration or experience of dealing with these fears will captivate the reader. Focus on creating stories that really frighten you personally.
Fear of the unknown is one of the strongest ideas you can use to create a spooky story. People are afraid of what they don't know
Step 2. Add a conditional element to your story
Imagine various scenarios that allow you to feel that fear. Also imagine how you would react if you were trapped or forced to face the fear. Make a wish list.
For example, if you're afraid of being trapped in an elevator, ask yourself, "What would happen if I was trapped in an elevator with a body?" Or, “What would happen if the mirror in the elevator was the gateway to an evil world?”
Step 3. Make your fears the setting of the story
Use the setting to limit or trap the characters in the story. Limit the movement of the characters so that they are forced to face their fears and try to find a way out. Imagine what kind of enclosed space scares you, whether it's a cellar, a coffin, or an abandoned city. Where do you feel most scared if you get stuck there?
Be sure to think about the climax of the story as you develop the setting
Step 4. Try turning a mundane situation into a scary one
Imagine normal everyday situations such as taking a walk in the park, preparing lunch, or visiting friends. Then, add a spooky or weird element. You may find ear pieces while walking, or you may cut fruit that turns into fingers or tentacles.
You can also add surprises to familiar horror situations, like a vampire who likes cake instead of blood, or a man trapped in a trash can instead of a coffin
Step 5. Find stories from the news
Read local news from the newspaper, or surf online and skim through the articles of the day. There may be burglaries in the area where you live that are related to burglaries in other areas of your city. Use a story from the newspaper as a springboard to create story ideas.
Another way to generate story ideas is to use a writing prompt. There are various triggers that you can use, ranging from a tense story while staying at a sacred hotel, a messy party, or an envious friend who starts acting strangely towards you. Use these triggers to create story ideas you love
Part 2 of 5: Developing Characters
Step 1. Develop the main characters
To make a good horror story, you need some characters that the reader can understand. The reader must be able to empathize with the characters based on the character's desires or inner turmoil. The more empathetic the reader is with the characters, the greater the reader's connection with the story. You need at least one main character, and depending on the story, the following additional characters:
- Criminal
- Other supporting figures (family members, best friends, lovers, etc.)
- Extras (postman, gas station attendant, etc.)
Step 2. Create specific details for each character
When you start developing characters, you need to understand their identities, their jobs, and their motivations. Create a unique character with a certain distinctive behavior or attitude. It will also keep you consistent with other details throughout the story. Make a list for each main character that includes the following information, and refer to it as you write your story:
- Name, age, physical description (including height, weight, eye color, hair color, etc.)
- Personality
- Love and hate
- Family history
- Close friends and sworn enemies
- Five things characters can't leave on the go
Step 3. Make the bets of the characters clear and extreme
The stakes of characters in a story are things that the characters have to sacrifice when making a decision or choice in the story. If your readers don't know what bets the characters make during a conflict, they won't be able to understand the feelings of the characters who are afraid of losing something. A good horror story is one that can cause extreme emotions such as fear or anxiety when reading it.
Make it clear what will happen if the character doesn't get what he wants. The stakes in the story or the consequences if the characters don't get what they want are what push the story forward. Betting also builds tension and stress for the reader
Step 4. Create a somewhat unnatural villain
Make a weird villain. Instead of making a normal person or creature, create a slightly odd character. For example, imagine Dracula. His mouth does not contain normal teeth. Instead, the reader is told that he has two sharp, sharp teeth.
- Try giving criminals specific gestures, such as clenching their fists or frowning their noses.
- Give them voices that are deep and booming, or hoarse and harsh, or shrill like they're at their wits end.
Step 5. Make the characters difficult
Most horror stories are about fear and tragedy, and it's unknown whether or not the characters overcome their fears. Stories that tell good things happen to good people are touching, but won't frighten or horrify the reader. In fact, tragedies and bad things that happen to good people are not only more sympathetic, but also full of tension and stress. Challenge the characters and make bad things happen to them.
The tension between the reader's different desires for the characters and the bad events or things that might happen to the characters will make the story exciting. It will also keep the reader interested in continuing to read
Step 6. Allow the characters to make mistakes or make bad decisions
Have the characters respond to the situation in the wrong way while reassuring them that they are taking the right actions to address the threat.
However, don't go overboard with the characters' mistakes or bad decisions. Their actions must still be convincing and not appear stupid or unwise. For example, don't let your character, a nanny, respond to a masked killer by running into the dark and lush wilderness
Part 3 of 5: Writing Stories
Step 1. Create a plot overview
Once you've found the right premise, setting, and characters, make a rough outline of the story. Follow the story structure as suggested in the Freytag pyramid to create an overview. Key elements include:
- Exposition: Setting the setting and introducing the characters.
- Trigger scene: Make something happen early in the story to start the action.
- Increased action: Continue the story, building interest and suspense.
- Climax: Include the most tense moment in the story.
- Downhill action: This is the scene that occurs after the climax.
- Resolution: In this section, the character solves the main problem.
- End: This is the end when the character completes the remaining questions.
Step 2. Show, don't tell
The best horror stories use situational explanations to convey the feelings of the characters in the story to the reader. It helps the reader feel like they are in the main character's shoes and empathize with that character. On the other hand, when you tell a character's feelings to the reader by explaining the scene frankly and flatly, the reader will feel less indifferent to the story.
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For example, consider these two ways of describing a scene:
- I was too scared to open my eyes even though I could clearly hear footsteps getting closer.
- I wrapped myself in the blanket tighter and inadvertently I groaned. My chest tightens, my stomach twists. I won't see it. No matter how close the footsteps sounded, I wouldn't see them. I won't, I… won't…
- The second example tells the reader's physical feelings about the characters in more depth.
Step 3. Build suspense as the story progresses
Let the story get more and more tense as time goes on. In order to be a good suspense story, the reader must be able to feel and worry about the characters and you must present the dangers that threaten the characters and the increasing suspense.
- Give clues as to where the story is headed and how the climax might be by providing hints and small details. You can briefly mention the label on the bottle that the main character will be able to use later. There may also be the sound of objects or people in the room which will later be a sign of the presence of supernatural beings.
- Another effective way to build tension is to alternate tense and awkward moments with quiet moments. Let the characters breathe, calm down, and feel safe. Then, up the suspense by involving the characters in the problem. This time, make the conflict more serious and threatening.
Step 4. Try applying foreshadow
As you weave word by word, use foreshadow to make the story even more interesting. Foreshadow is when you give hints of future events. The reader should be able to find clues to the results of certain actions, or the purpose of the story. Foreshadow also makes readers nervous waiting for the consequences that will occur before the main character is successful.
Keep in mind that this method is most effective when the readers and characters don't understand the importance of clues until the end of the story
Step 5. Avoid words that are too obvious
Force yourself to explain the incident in words that provoke the reader's emotions. Don't rely on words that tell the reader what they should feel. For example, avoid the following words in your writing:
- Afraid
- Scary
- Germany
- Afraid
- Horror
Step 6. Avoid cliches
Like other genres, horror stories also have stereotypes and cliches. Writers should avoid it if they want to create an interesting and unique horror story. Familiar scenes such as a crazy clown in the attic or a sitter alone at home at night are examples of clichés to avoid. The same goes for commonly used phrases such as "Run!" or “Don't look back!”
Step 7. Use bloody and violent scenes where appropriate
Too many scenes of blood and violence can dull the reader's concern. If the same pool of blood keeps appearing throughout the story, the reader will feel bored. Of course, the right bloody and violent scenes can be useful for setting the setting, explaining the character's identity, or presenting action. Use bloody and violent scenes in appropriate places throughout the story so that they are influential and meaningful until the reader feels surprised, rather than bored and indifferent.
Part 4 of 5: Writing a Good Ending
Step 1. Build the climax
Increase the stakes of the characters and provide problems that can overwhelm the characters. Heaps of trouble with petty fights, fairly trivial losses, and small wins. The suspense will build to a climax and before the readers can realize it, the characters are already in danger.
Step 2. Give the characters a chance to be aware of the situation
Let the characters find a way out of the problem at hand. This revelation should be the result of the heap of detail in previous scenes and not shock or feel sudden to the reader.
Step 3. Write a climax
Climax is the turning point or crisis in a story. The climax in a horror story can be a danger or threat to physical, psychological, emotional, or spiritual conditions.
In Poe's short story, the climax of the story occurs at the end of the story. Poe puts more pressure on the narrator by getting the police to come to him. Poe uses the narrator's inner conflict to show that the narrator is trying to stay calm, and his desire to get off the murder charge to climax. However, at the end of the story, the narrator's guilt corners him and the narrator uncovers the body under the floor
Step 4. Add a surprise ending
A good surprise in a horror story can make the story either better or worse. Surprise is an action that the reader does not expect, such as a character that the reader thought was a hero, turns out to be a villain.
Step 5. Determine the ending of the story
The end of the story is the time to end all existing plots. However, scary stories don't usually end all plots. It's an effective way because the reader becomes curious about some things. Was the criminal caught? Do ghosts really exist? Keeping the reader intrigued is a good literary technique, as long as the reader doesn't get confused when the story ends.
- While you want to have a satisfying ending for the reader, you also don't want to make the story completely over and over. Readers should finish reading your story with some trepidation.
- Reconsider if the ending feels like a surprise or a definitive answer. The point of tension is not answering dramatic questions too early. Poe's short story ends in tension because the outcome of the narrator's dilemma is revealed in the last line of the story. The tension in the story is maintained until the end.
Part 5 of 5: Finishing the Story
Step 1. Fix the story
After completing the first draft, reread your story and read it aloud. Pay attention to the parts that still feel slow or not very interesting. Cut scenes that are too long. Or, extend certain scenes if it benefits the story because it builds suspense.
Sometimes, the reader can know in advance the answer or the end of a dramatic question at hand. However, readers will still read the story to the end because the scenes leading up to the ending are interesting and tense. The reader cares enough about the characters and the story so they want to read the scenes towards the climax
Step 2. Correct your story
Before giving your story to anyone to read, correct it carefully. Watch for spelling and grammatical errors. That way, readers will be able to focus on the story, instead of being distracted by misspellings or misplaced commas.
Print the story and read it carefully
Step 3. Ask for suggestions
Let others read your story. That can give you a pretty good idea of how other people will react to your writing. Ask for advice on specific parts of the story, such as:
- Character: Does the character make sense? Do the actions they face make sense?
- Continuity: Does the story make sense? Is the story in order?
- Grammar and mechanics: Is the language easy to digest? Are there hanging sentences, misspellings of words, etc.?
- Dialogue: Does the conversation between the characters make sense? Is the dialogue sufficient or even redundant?
- Plot speed: Is the storyline flowing fast enough? Is there a boring part? Are there too many parts that happen too quickly?
- Plot: Does the plot make sense? Does the character's purpose make sense?
Step 4. Change the parts that really need to be changed
Remember, this is your story. The story content is your own idea and you don't need to directly incorporate other people's suggestions into your story. Sometimes, people criticize other people's writing and try to incorporate their own characteristics into the story. If the suggestions are good, include them in your story. However, if the suggestions seem nonsensical to your story, throw them out.
It's a good idea to take some time off before trying to revise the story. Stop writing stories for a few days or so and then reread them with a new light
Tips
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Familiarize yourself with the horror story genre, which is usually a horror and suspense story. Read examples of effective and suspenseful horror stories, from classic ghost stories to modern horror stories. Some examples of stories worth reading include:
- "The Monkey's Paw", an 18th century tale by William Wymar Jacobs. Tells the story of three terrible wishes granted by the magical monkey hand.
- “The Tell-Tale Heart”, a horrific story by horror writer Edgar Allen Poe that tells of suspense and murder.
- Any horror story by Stephen King. King has written more than 200 short stories and uses a variety of techniques to terrify readers. Read “The Moving Finger” or “The Children of the Corn” for King's writing style.
- The horror story by modern writer Joyce Carol Oates, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” This story maximizes the use of psychological terror.
- Create a mysterious ending. It's a cliché, but it always appeals to the reader. Something like "The boy and his dog were never seen again. It's said that every month it dies in May, the werewolf howls are heard all night long." Come up with a creative ending, but be sure to keep it hanging, especially if your story is short.
