What exactly are you having trouble with? Are you doing psychological horror, an external threat (monsters, The Virus, creepy house), or something else?
A writer is a world trapped in a person— Victor Hugo
Ink is blood. Paper is bandages. The wounded press books to their heart to know they're not alone.
It would really help if you could give us some info about the story, CrazyGirl ^^ Is you cannibal the MC, male or female, is there some other character (who?), what kind of creepy places and why should they be creepy, and so on
• previously ChildOfNowhere - they/them - literary fantasy with a fairytale flavour
two best friends (female) go exploring NYC including a forrest and in that forrest a cannibal appears (male). creepy places like the forrest or the cannibal's house.
That's a bit vague still I think, but here's a few general tricks you can use for horror: -don't feel like you need to describe absolutely everything in full detail. Sometimes it's a lot scarier when the reader's given just enough details that they can fill in the blanks themselves, because our imaginations usually default to the worst possible things -on somewhat similar lines, focusing on setting the atmosphere by making it oppressive or dark or tense will help a lot to introduce the actual horror elements: slowly build up to it rather than make it sudden -more a general description tip, but: describe not just how things look, but how they feel or smell or sound like: it helps with the immersion and can add to the atmosphere effect I mentioned earlier
Lumi: they stand no chance against the JAG SAFETY BLANKET
2- Don't rely on gore, and don't rely on the fact they're a cannibal. That's all well and good as a start, but what else besides that makes them scary? Are they creepily polite? Do they only like certain kinds of people? Horror isn't quite as simple as taking something that is taboo and saying "be scared of it!" You have to give us a little more reason.
3- Study lots of horror. Read it, watch it. See what creeps you out. Read reviews of horror and see what people like and don't.
A writer is a world trapped in a person— Victor Hugo
Ink is blood. Paper is bandages. The wounded press books to their heart to know they're not alone.
Hey just kinda recapping what other's have stated,you dont need to explain every single thing in horror instead let the reader's mind do that,yet leave small hints in which direction you want the climate of the story to be. So basicly you partly have to relay on the person's ability to precieve these small notions of an atmosphere your building to which they can amplify it based on their personality.
I don't specialise in horror so I don't have any big tips, but for me when reading horror I tend to be freaked out by the things that aren't said, rather than the things that are.
For example; 'after his disappearance they cut him into pieces and dumped the remains in the river,' to me is not nearly as scary as 'the only part of him that made it home was the piece of a finger that the police fished out of the river.'
That's just a personal preference though, I guess everyone has different things that scare them. Some are scared of brute detail, others, like me, are scared of obscurity. I'd say like with everything balance is the key, and if you balance between the two then you'll hit a nerve whichever audiance you're looking at.
Yeah, if anyone have some tips for psychological horror, it would be very much appreciated. I am writing a zombie novel, but it's gonna be 90% psychological horror, and the rest gore
I'm pretty sure you've got your primary tips up in the thread, Bobby.
The biggest thing, it seems, is letting your reader's imagination finish the job. It's hard to predict what every person reading will consider scary, so by letting the fear linger, you get a much stronger effect.
One thing I have seen work very well in psychological horror stories is a long build up. Little things here and there that are mildly scary on their own, but there's a little twist at the end, things suddenly worse than they are, and it's terrifying.
A writer is a world trapped in a person— Victor Hugo
Ink is blood. Paper is bandages. The wounded press books to their heart to know they're not alone.
Not sure if anyone's mentioned this, but the best way to freak someone out?
Assure them of the reality of the threat.
On a more technical note, make the threat something you can't escape. Something hard to kill. Something almost inhuman. Something that is just seen out of the corner of the eye until it's too late. Think rats. (I've been inspired by an article on rats, see.)
Back to the reality part. You want to write a cannibal? Cool.
...Research actual cannibals. Find why they do it, how they do it, etc. In Soviet Russia, people ate people to survive. Some cultures have had a fondness for ritualistic sacrifice that may involve ingesting parts of the sacrifice, which may have been a person. Jesus and his blood-wine. I believe at least one culture had families eating their recently deceased family members as a way of strengthening the family line (but that may be untrue). Many serial killers have had a thing for, um, tasting their kills. There is at least one illness that causes a craving for human blood that is real (it also causes the gums to recede; it may have led to the vampire myth). Speaking of, vampires. Werewolves. Etc. Anything that used to be human but has 'changed' and now cannibalizes those who were their former brethren. I believe there was a Scottish family that lived in a cave that ate people. You have the Jersey Devil myth. And, of course, right now, you have the rumor that in North Korea parents are eating their children.
It's a real threat. Instead of going for goofy hijink horror movie, I suggest making that a focus. It's not something most industrial nations' residents would be used to, however, outside of horror movies. You have to note that, and make it into something that is there, something out of the corner of their eye, something that makes them afraid to go to sleep.
Because that's what writing horror is. Your job is to prompt fear. The easiest way to make someone scared is to insure their suspension of disbelief. Bring them down to being kids scared of the dark, and you're doing well.
And now I think I've used my quota of 'words used that make me sound like a serial killer', so I'm gonna sign off. Message me if you have further questions, though. Tomorrow I get to start again with the quota and such.
Thank you.
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