Young Writers Society

I've just started writing a long, complicated and very dramatic horror story and I find myself in need of help. I've got all the plot outlined, along with the individual personalities of the characters, but I need help actually making the story scary. It's easy enough to do in films, but how do you do it in books?

Anyone have any tips out there?

Never reveal too much in one go.
Make subtle references to build up tension (noises, shadows etc.).
Take it slow & don't just convey emotion by "He was scared" but by actions, "He was curled up in the corner of the bleak room."

Hope some of these tips come in helpful, and I look forward to reading your story.

There's a thread on how to do scary here.

As with any type of fiction writing, I'd recommend reading the genre. I said it in the other thread, but Joe Citro's Shadow Child, in my opinion, is absolutely terrifying. The only other horror author that comes to mind is Stephen King - I don't read it often at all because it creeps me out.

I think one of the best horror fiction you can read is the kind that doesn't even sound horrific. For instance, the winner of Writer's Digest story had a thriller/horror story [close enough. >.<], and the first line was "Bean sang the blue-jingle while he ate his macaroni and cheese". Now, you wouldn't have known that this was a horror story until later, but what's bone-chilling about it is that you don't see the other side of the monster until it actually roars. A good horror story will lead you down, down, down, until you're practically creeped out in your sleep.

I'm no horror writer, but here's my advice: if you start out scary, people are going to expect the scary. If you start out nice, and progressively get scary, then it'll be horror, if you do it right.

I wrote a Soapbox on Horror Writing which you can find here: Something Wicked This Way Comes.

I'd type my tips here, but they are all in the soapbox.

Hope this helps.

Ta,
Cal.

Cheers everyone!