Tips for writing in the Horror genre

Before you begin writing Think of the things people are afraid of Why are those things scary? Harm Madness Things in the wrong place

Engage your reader’s imagination Don’t give them everything right away Scare them - tempt them with details What should you give them? Sound Smells Very little sight Hold things back until the right moment In a sense, torment your reader slightly

Establish your universe Give your story a setting with a set universe Within the first “act” of your writing, establish the rules of your stories universe Foreshadowing is a GREAT way to establish rules in your story’s universe Also - what’s the SETTING Fantastical Modern Gothic age

Suspension of Disbelief How believable is your plot? You can make your story as fantastical as you wish But make sure there’s logical sense to how your story progresses I.e. if you have a character described as having no special powers or skills, they are pretty uncoordinated, then you probably should not have them wielding a sword with great force

Get your reader invested in the protagonist Your reader needs to want your protagonist to survive - this ties into establishing what the FEAR is in the story Your reader is completely safe - so they need to fear for the protagonist’s life Spend some time at the beginning of the story to develop your characters Make them complex; flawed; relatable

The narrator should know everything You should know who or what the antagonist is Figure out why they are evil (psychotic; actually Satan; toxic chemicals) What powers do they have over the protagonist? As the writer, you should know ahead of time what you want the ending to be (or at least have an idea) Develop the “evil plan” Decide how you want to build suspense

Get “inside your body” (what?) It doesn’t matter what emotion you are trying to illicit… You want your reader to feel the emotions of the character Describe the emotions well Don’t just say “He was scared...things got intense…” Think about these things: The pounding of your heart in your ears The heaving of your lungs The sickness in the pit of your stomach The feeling of the hair on your arms standing straight up