Tackling the Terrifying. How to Write Scary

I love the kinds of stories that make you look in the dark corners of your room or order a clear shower curtain so you know if a knife-wielding man dressed as a woman is going to stab you. (True story – I watched the movie Shutter Island while on the treadmill. I couldn’t stop looking behind me. You can see how that’s not a good idea, right?)

It’s no surprise I have thriller and horror stories lurking inside me. Do you want to try your hand at writing scary? A story that chills your reader to the bone? Well, turn on the lights and let’s get started.

There are many aspects of a story that can help add suspense, fear, and just plain creepiness. I broke them out to make it easier to incorporate into your story.

CHARACTER

Before readers can care about the characters, and feel what they do, they have to identify with them. Like all genres, characters need relatable struggles, goals, and emotions. Only then will readers fear what they fear.
Speaking of fear, what does your protagonist fear? Everyone is different so you must identify what terrifies yours, make it have purpose, and work with that.

Need a little help with that? Take a few minutes to think about your own fears. Did you find yourself on an empty street late at night and worry you were being followed? Were you attacked by a dog when you were young and all you remember are the fangs as they bit into your arm? Now dig deep and think about how you felt, the mental and physical changes in your body. Use that for your characters.

SETTING

Use your setting. When your protagonist is visiting a specific place (for example, an asylum or even a park), the excitement/fear can be in the journey not the final destination. Slowing down and adding detail as your character makes his or her way there can add suspense, anticipation, and anxiety.
Are there places your protag fears? Did something happen to him/her in a park for example? While most people see a park as a fun and relaxing place, can you use your character’s past experiences and fears to twist a normal setting into something terrifying?

WORD CHOICES

Ordinary situations, places, and objects can have new meanings with a few horrifying details. For example, the flowers in a bright sunny room are wilted and dying. A shirt isn’t just red, it’s blood red. And, then go further. It brings back memories of your best friend’s shirt after she was attacked by a monster.

PACING AND BREATHING

Adjusting sentence length brings out different emotions. Longer sentences help slow the action, but they can build the anticipation to the climax letting your character and the reader suffer in the terrifying situation.
Shorter sentences, which can be one word only, are great for more active scenes such as an attack or chase. Shorter sentences help create panic and urgency.

As readers, we are trained to stop when we see a period and take a breath. Longer sentences and paragraphs slow the reader’s breathing which increases feelings of anxiety, nervousness, and dread. Shorter sentences and paragraphs, on the other hand, makes the reader breathe in quick bursts. This helps create panic and fear and is great for times when a monster or killer reveals himself.

FORESHADOWING AND RED HERRINGS

Foreshadowing is a great way to increase tension and direct breathing. Dropping hints that a person, place, or object is dangerous puts the characters, and readers, on edge when they show up in the story.
However, we don’t want characters and readers to know what’s going to happen. Surprise and shock are crucial in thriller and horror stories. Red herrings are perfect in these stories so the scary situations aren’t predictable.

And example of this would be a man in dark glasses and big coat loitering in a park. We would all see him as suspicious, but what if he’s just enjoying the sunshine and first cold spell of the season? By worrying about him, we’re completely surprised when a woman pushing a stroller comes into the scene and is the real villain.

SETTING THE SCENE

Pulling these tips together can make any person, place, or object scary. A classroom or a park can be more terrifying than an abandoned, decrepit house because you don’t expect it to be. Who exactly is that smiling woman pushing the stroller? Does she have something hidden in the space below? And how does the protagonist’s past dictate how she feels about the situation?

GETTING HELP

Not sure how to get started? Of course I encourage, no, I expect you to read scary novels. See how other authors tackle the terrifying. Do their methods work for you or not? Both can be learning experiences. Another tip is to watch horror movies, but watch them through a creator’s eyes. Which scenes scare you? Why do the directors choose to emphasize specific scenes or shots? What details do they focus on? How do sounds and music play into your fears?

I will leave you with a few of my favorite horror novels and movies. I am always looking for more so please leave your favorites in the comments.

BOOKS