4 Things That Every Horror Story Needs
I’ve written over 100 stories, and it’s impossible to do
that without noticing trends about what works and what doesn’t. Whether you’re
new to writing horror or just burnt out and need a framework to help construct
your next idea, I recommend writing down these four steps before you start
every story.
1) Mystery.
The internet is a big place and ain’t nobody got time
for that.
You want to grip your reader within the first paragraph, and I
think the best (easiest) way to do that is by putting a burning question in
their mind that begs an answer.
“Is this real?”
“What happened next?”
“Why would someone write a
story about that?”
“How could someone survive to write
about it?”
These are the kind of questions that force people to read all the
way to the end. I love whimsical language and character exploration as much as
the next, but if you read the beginning of your story in isolation
without needingto know something that will come
next, then it’s time to edit.
2) Suspense.
What happens when you put the suspense before the
mystery? A lot of boring, out of context exposition.
Once you’ve given your reader a taste of what they want,
experiment with how long you can avoid giving it to them. Now that you have their attention, you can slow down to develop
your characters and give background information on the scenario. Suspense is
the anticipation of what will happen next, and the excitement of that
anticipation can be just as good or better than the reveal itself.
(For example: one of my
stories spends the entire time making the reader wonder what
the scariest imaginable drawing could be without ever revealing it, as nothing
explicit could be as scary as the infinite potential of the unknown).
Slow down too much however, and suddenly you’re Naruto’s 4th
cousin having an elaborate love affair (filler much?) and readers will get
bored. You want to continue to develop your main plot and reference the mystery
as you explore the other elements of your story.
Your suspense will increase in effect the closer you draw to your
climax as the reader’s need for resolution grows. Dedicating a paragraph to a
guy walking home can get tedious, but when the reader knows a monster is
waiting for him the second he walks in the door, every step of the exact same paragraph will be an adventure. His hand on the doorknob. His baited
breath. The creak of the wood. These are all boring without the anticipation
(suspense) of what’s inside.
3) Climax.
Urgency. Action. The big reveal.
Here’s where you find out what the monster is or see the serial
killer take another life. You’ve used up all your pondering and fancy getting
here, and now you want the reader on the edge of their seat. Short, fast,
action-packed sentences are ideal for this. Add more action to your
descriptions and dialogue as well. If you want to tell readers there’s an apple
on the table, have someone pick it up or toss it from hand to hand instead of
just noticing it. Add action to dialogue, making characters advance or retreat
or exchange blows between words.
Present tense adds the most immediacy to the situation. Cut down
all filer words, unnecessary descriptions, and even excess grammar that slows
you down.
Instead of “I noticed the cat stand up“, say “The cat
is standing”. Instead of “I immediately decided to turn around and sprint back through the
hallways until I got back outside,” say “I turn,
sprinting. The hallway, the door, and finally the clear night air.”
4) Twist.
And I would have gotten away with it if it wasn’t for
you meddling kids.
Readers are smarter than you give them credit for. Remember they
want their question answered so bad that they’re trying to cheat by guessing
what will happen the whole way through. A clue as small as a shifty-eyed glance
can turn the big reveal into a “huh, I figured.” See if you can’t throw a
little twist in at the end that gives context to the rest of the piece.
Maybe the narrator is actually the killer all along, or maybe the
killer has a secret benevolent motivation. A twist doesn’t even need to change
the main plot. It can be something as simple as a coward dying with dignity.
The goal is to simply give the reader a feeling of satisfaction, making him
glad that he read all the way to the end to see something he hasn’t already
anticipated.
I use these four phases of the story as bullet points when I’m
outlining, then I begin writing once I have a little blurb for each. Some
stories will put the mystery in the title, build suspense the whole time, and
then have the climax and the twist together in one sentence. Some will be all
climax, action-action-action, with the twist another amazing actiony-action.
There are infinite variations to allow the same structure to produce endless
unique stories, but however you decide to break the rules, keeping these in
mind will always help putting your ideas on paper
As you continue to practice, you’ll notice this structure can
apply to smaller increments like paragraphs or even sentences. Hook the
character on the first sentence (or word!) and repeat the rise and fall of
suspense/resolution, each little cycle adding another puzzle piece to the main
situation at stake.
An Example in Action:
I want to write a horror story.
1) Pick a topic. How about a good old-fashioned zombie story?
2)
Write down the steps: Mystery, Suspense, Climax, Twist.
3) Ask yourself
questions until you can fill in each step.
What could be mysterious about a zombie story? How about their
origin? I’m going to start writing about these zombies showing up, but there
haven’t been any undisturbed graves or missing bodies to produce them. Who are
these guys anyway?
What suspense can I have? How about a little boy trying to get
people to believe him? He keeps seeing these things, but he’s an unreliable
witness so no-one takes him seriously. Suspense builds as the zombies keep
getting closer/do worse things, and anticipation builds as the reader can’t
wait for people to find out the truth.
Climax? Well someone has to find out eventually. Maybe the boy
catches a zombie and lures it into his basement. His mom sees it and finally
believes him. Then the zombie breaks out and they follow it back to a secret
government lab. No wonder the police never reported any missing bodies!
Twist? What if the zombies were helpless victims just trying to
get away from the experiment? And the little boy made friends with one and
helps it escape to live in the woods?
4) Write that story!
Publisher: Haunted House Publishing LLC
Publication Date: February 1, 2019
The news said 33 miners were trapped when the mine collapsed.
And why wouldn’t they? 33 people were pulled out of the ground.
The men were buried 700 meters below the surface. There was no way in or out.
But the miners who were rescued all said the same thing:
They said there were only 32 miners during the cave in. That they counted and they counted—every day—every few hours to make sure everyone was taken care of.
Then one day they count again, and there were 33. A stranger was in their midst.
Something escaped from the earth during that rescue that never should have seen the light of day.
Demons, monsters, psychopaths, undead, mad-experiments, and terrifying paranormal encounters.
The last confession from a serial killer will take your breath away.
Why should you be afraid to leave an audio-recorder on overnight?
What could go wrong if you meet the Devil on Tinder?
Why does your reflection smile more than you do?
The Grim Reaper's scythe isn't to harvest you. He's there to protect you from what's waiting on the other side.
What could go wrong if you meet the Devil on Tinder?
Why does your reflection smile more than you do?
The Grim Reaper's scythe isn't to harvest you. He's there to protect you from what's waiting on the other side.
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Fast, exciting, satisfying stories, filled with compelling mysteries and shocking twists.
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Former neuroscience researcher, born again horror writer. During my studies, it struck me as odd that I could learn so much about why humans behave without understanding the intricacies of human nature. It occurred to me that I learned more about the depths of human experience from reading Dostoyevsky than I ever had from my text books, and I was inspired to write.
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