1. Horror Notes
Creative Writing II

2. Refresher
What is the difference between Terror, Horror, and Revulsion? Which one do you often want the most of? Why?

3. Opinion: Jump Scares How do you all feel about jump scares?
Do you think they are effective?
Do you think you can put them into a story, and not a movie? Why or why not?

4. TERROR is SUSPENSE
Build suspense by putting off the revelation of the “truth” or the scary action.
If you start with a torture scene, then you don’t have any build up and you have “jumped the gun”.
Remember, the more you know about something, the less frightening it is. Once you understand what the monster is, or how it works, the suspense is lessened

5. HOWEVER You need to know that the “unknown” is worth fearing
If nothing happens, or there is no history of danger, then the suspense also dissipates
Other people’s fear can also work to accomplish this. Even if you don’t see any proof of the danger, if other people are afraid, either from experience or paranoia, it can work to add credibility to the fear

6. Gore is Good, but Dread is Better
If things get too bloody too often, then it loses some of its impact.
In fact, it can run the risk of becoming comic
Often times, references or hints of the gruesomeness can be enough to frighten since the audience can fill in some of the gruesome details themselves

7. Bad things happen to good people
Let bad things happen to good people that we CARE ABOUT. It is more frightening and horrifying if the bad stuff is happening to someone that we know and like, even a little bit, than to someone who is a complete stranger. It is a lot harder to care about someone that we don’t know. They just become a body.

8. Make Good People Make BAD Decisions
Rather than just letting bad things happen, give the character a reason for making a bad decision that puts them in danger.
For example: if there is a strange noise or the character suspects there’s someone outside at night, give them a REASON to go check it out. (example: their pet, child, sibling, etc is outside and they are worried)
Example: in Get Out, the character wants to leave, but his girlfriend puts it off

9. HORROR NEEDS HOPE
Unceasing and unflinching horror ceases to actually be horrific until we have its opposite present. Give your characters a glimmer of hope at escape, at beating the bad guy, etc.
That doesn’t mean that hope needs to win out. Horror always asks that question of which will win the day: the eyes of hope or the jaws of hell?

10. NEVER TELL YOUR AUDIENCE TO BE SCARED
SHOW DON’T TELL is extremely important here
If you say it was a “scary old house,” then it is no longer scary. It might be to the characters, but certainly not to the reader.

11. Write in an active sense
Words like “suddenly” and “quickly” or “out of nowhere” are like warning signs that slow down the writing. Example: “Suddenly, a man jumped out from behind the curtain.” Vs. “The curtain fluttered and a man leaped out”.

12. More on “Suddenly”
The moon rose above the hill, pale and serene. I sat on the roadside and watched it shed its light across the hay fields. From within the trees, the smoke from my brothers’ campfire wafted, blue-gray, to join the last cirrus clouds of the day. I settled onto a fallen log.
Suddenly, from within the trees, a branch cracked. I sat up straight and gooseflesh pimpled my skin.

13. When can you use “suddenly”?
“What are you doing?” Sam looked around, aware of how many people could overhear them.
Vs.
“What are you doing?” Sam looked around, suddenly aware of how many people could overhear them.

14. Break Your Flashlight
When you write horror, you’re trying to shine a light in dark corners. Key word there is “trying” — the flashlight needs to be broken. A light too bright will burn the fear away — the beam must waver, the batteries half-dead, the bulb on the verge of popping like a glass blister. It’s like, what the light finds is so unpleasant, you can’t look at it for too long. Look too long it’ll burn out your sanity sensors.
In this way, horror isn’t always concerned with the why or the how — but it is most certainly concerned with the what.

15. Horror Narration
There are four basic methods of narration for a horror story:
1) Let the reader in on a secret, so we know something other characters don’t (dramatic irony)
2) Hide a crucial piece of information from the reader until the end
3) Make the reader as unaware of what is going on as the characters
4) Make the narrator unreliable
Can you think of examples of each?
What are the benefits or disadvantages of each type?

16. Read the example:
Consider: How does it utilize the tips we have talked about in terms of writing horror? Do you think it is effective?

17. Watch an example:
Attack on Titan: Consider: How does it utilize the tips we have talked about in terms of writing horror? Do you think it is effective?