How to Write a Scary Story

Developing the Premise

Make a list of your greatest fears. The premise of the story is the underlying idea that drives your story. It is the foundation for the characters’ motivations, the setting, and the action. One of the best ways to come up with a premise for a scary story is to think about what scares you or revolts you the most. Tap into your fears of losing family members, of being alone, of violence, of clowns, of demons, or even of killer squirrels. Your fear will then come across on the page and your experience or exploration of this fear will also grip the reader. Focus on creating a story that feels personally terrifying to you. The fear of the unknown is one of the most powerful devices for a good scary story. People fear what they don’t know.

Add a “what if” element to your greatest fear. Think about different scenarios in which you might experience some of your greatest fears. Think too about how you would react if you were trapped or forced to confront these fears. Make a list of “what if” questions. For example, if you fear being trapped in an elevator, ask yourself, “What if I was stuck in an elevator with a dead person?” Or, “What if the elevator mirror was a door into an evil world?”

Work your fear into the setting of a story. Use the setting to limit or trap your characters in the story. Restrict your character’s movements so he is forced to confront his fear and then try to find a way out. Think about what kind of confined spaces scare you, such as a cellar, a coffin, or an abandoned town. Where you would you dread or fear being trapped in the most? Make sure to keep the climax of your story in mind as you develop the setting.

Try taking an ordinary situation and adding something horrifying. Look at a normal, everyday situation like taking a walk in the park, preparing lunch, or visiting a friend. Then, add a terrifying or bizarre element. You could come across a severed ear during your walk, cut up a piece of fruit that turns into a finger or a tentacle. Or, add a twist to a familiar horror trope, like a vampire who enjoys cake instead of blood, or a man trapped in a dumpster rather than a coffin.

Look for a story in the news. Check out the local section of your newspaper or go online and scroll through the day’s articles. Maybe a burglary in your neighborhood took place, tied to a larger string of burglaries in another area of the city. Use a newspaper story as a springboard to create a story idea. Another way to generate story ideas is to use writing prompts. These could be as simple as writing a suspenseful story about staying at a haunted hotel. You might use a prompt about an important party gone wrong or an envious friend who begins to act strangely towards you. Use the prompts to generate a story idea you connect with.

Developing Characters

Develop your central characters. To create a good scary story, you need to have characters who are relatable to your readers. The readers must empathize with your character(s) based on the character’s desire or internal struggle. The more your readers empathize with your characters, the closer their connection to the story will be. You’ll need at least one main character and, depending on your story, the following additional characters: Villain Other supporting characters (family member, best friend, love interest, etc.) Minor characters (postal worker, gas station attendant, etc.)

Make up specific details for each character. When you are beginning to develop your characters, you need to work out who they are, what they do, as well as their motivations. Make your character distinct with a certain character trait or tick. This will also help you be consistent with the details. Make lists for every major character that include the following information, and refer to this list while you’re writing: Name, age, physical description (include height, weight, eye color, hair color, etc.) Personality traits Likes and dislikes Family history Best friend and worst enemy Five things the character would never leave home without

Make the stakes for the character clear and extreme. The “stakes” of a character in a story is what your character has to lose if they make a certain decision or choice in the story. If your reader doesn’t know what is at stake for the character in the conflict, they cannot fear loss. A good horror story is all about creating extreme emotions like fear or anxiety in the reader. Be clear about what will happen if the character does not get what they want. The stakes of the story, or the consequences if the character does not achieve their desires, is what drives the story forward. The stakes also build tension and suspense for your reader.

Make your villain not quite right. Go for the strange when developing your villain’s appearance, personality, and gestures. Instead of making a person or creature “normal,” make this character a little off. For example, think about Dracula. He doesn’t have a mouthful of “normal” teeth; instead, the reader is told that he has two sharp, pointy teeth. Try giving your villain a distinguishing gesture that they use often, such as clenching their fists or twitching their nose. Give your villain a deep booming voice, a soft raspy voice, a creaky nasally voice, or a very mad voice.

Make life difficult for your characters. Most horror is about fear and tragedy, and whether or not your character is capable of overcoming their fears. A story where good things happen to good people is heartwarming, but it will likely not scare or terrify your reader. In fact, the tragedy of bad things happening to good people is not only more relatable, but it will also be full of tension and suspense. Give your character challenges and make some bad things happen for him or her. The tension between what the reader wants for the character and what could happen or go wrong for the character will fuel the story. It will also propel your readers through the story.

Allow your characters to make mistakes or bad decisions. It is not necessary for your characters to make mistakes, since horror often comes from suffering that happens without any reason or warning. However, you can incorporate some mistakes and bad decisions as a signal to readers that something bad is on the horizon. Have your character respond with the wrong move, while convincing themselves they are making the right move against the threat. However, don’t go overboard with these mistakes or bad decisions. They should be believable and not merely stupid or inane. For example, don’t have your character, a young babysitter, respond to a masked killer by running outside into the deep, dark woods.

Writing the Story

Create a plot outline. Once you find your premise, your setting, and characters, create a rough outline of the story. Follow a story structure such as the one suggested in Freytag’s pyramid to create your outline, or read Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Philosophy of Composition” for guidance on how to structure your story. The key elements may include: Exposition: Set the scene and introduce the characters. Inciting incident: Have something happen in the story to start the action. Rising action: Continue the story, building excitement and suspense. Climax: Include a moment that holds the most tension in the story. Falling action: These are events that occur after the climax. Resolution: Here, the character solves the main problem. Denouement: This is the ending in which the characters resolve any remaining questions.

Show, don’t tell, your story. The most effective scary stories use description to show the reader how the characters feel in a story. This helps the reader feel like he is stepping into the main character’s shoes and identifying with this character. In contrast, when you tell the reader exactly how to feel by describing a scene flatly and obviously, the reader will feel less connected to the story. For example, consider these two ways of describing a scene: ”I was too scared to open my eyes, even though I heard footsteps coming closer.” “I wrapped the blankets tighter around me and let out a sick whimper. My chest was tight, my stomach rotten. I would not look. No matter how close those shuffling footsteps came, I would not look. I would not, I would…not…” The second example gives the reader more of an insight into the character’s physical feelings.

Build tension as the story progresses. Allow the story to get more suspenseful as it goes on. For an effective suspenseful story, you need the reader to feel empathy and concern for the characters, and you need impending danger and escalating tension. Hint at the story’s direction and possible climax by providing small clues or details. You might briefly mention a label on a bottle that will later come in handy for the main character. There might be a sound or voice in a room that will later become a sign of an unnatural presence. Another effective way to build tension is to alternate from tense or bizarre moments to quiet moments. Allow your character to take a breath, calm down, and feel safe again. Then, amp up the tension by re-engaging the character in the conflict. This time, make the conflict feel even more serious or threatening.

Try foreshadowing. As you craft your story, use the foreshadowing storytelling device. Foreshadowing is when you give a hint that something will happen in the future. The reader should be able to find clues of the outcome or story goal. Foreshadowing also makes the reader anxious that the consequence will occur before the main character can succeed. Keep in mind that foreshadowing is most effective when the reader and characters are unaware of the significance of the clues until the end of the story.

Avoid certain words that are too obvious. Force yourself to describe what’s happening with words that evoke emotion in the reader. Don’t rely on words that tell your reader exactly how to feel. For example, avoid these words in your writing: Scared, scary Terrified, terrifying Horrified, horror Afraid Frightened

Avoid cliches. Like any genre, horror has its own set of tropes and cliches. Writers should avoid there if they want to create a unique, engaging horror story. Familiar images like a deranged clown in the attic to a babysitter alone in a house at night, are some of the clichés to avoid. So are familiar phrases like “Run!” or “Don’t look behind you!”

Use gore and violence with purpose. Too much gore or violence can have a desensitizing effect on the reader. If the same pools of blood keep happening over and over again in the story, the reader will grow bored. Of course, some gore or violence can be useful for setting a scene, describing a character or providing action. Use gore or violence in a spot in the story that is impactful or meaningful, so it can punch your reader in the gut, rather than numb them or bore them.

Writing a Good Ending

Build up to a climax. Raise the stakes and give your characters more than they can handle. Pile on the problems with minor battles, small losses, and small wins. The suspense will build up to a climax and before the reader realizes it, the characters are in grave danger.

Give your character a moment of realization. Allow your character realize how to solve the conflict. The revelation should be the result of a build-up of details in the scene or story and should not be jarring or feel random to the reader.

Write the climax. The climax is a turning point or crisis in the story. The climax in a horror story might be a danger or threat to the character’s physical, psychological, emotional, or spiritual well-being. In Poe’s short story, the climax of the story occurs at the very end. Poe applies more and more pressure to the narrator by having the police visit him. He uses the narrator’s internal struggle to keep his cool and achieve his desire of getting away with murder to create a climax. But by the end of the story, the narrator’s guilt pushes him over the edge and he reveals the body under the floorboards.

Add a twist ending. A good twist in a horror story can make or break the story. The twist is an action that the reader doesn’t expect, such as a character that we thought was a hero is actually a villain.

Decide how you want to end your story. The very end of your story is the time to wrap up loose ends. But scary stories often don’t tie up loose ends. This can be effective because it leaves the reader wondering about certain things. Did the killer get caught? Does the ghost really exist? Leaving the reader hanging can be a good plot device, as long as the reader isn’t confused by the ending. While you want to create a satisfying ending for the reader, you also do not want to make it too closed and settled. The reader should walk away from the story with a lingering feeling of uncertainty. Consider if the ending feels like a surprise or an obvious answer. The key to suspense if not to answer the dramatic question too soon. Poe’s short story ends on a high note because the outcome of the narrator’s dilemma is revealed in the last line of the story. The suspense in the story is sustained until the very end.

Finalizing Your Story

Revise the story. Once you complete a first draft, read over the story or read it out loud. Focus on areas that do not feel fast-paced or engaging enough. Cut down on long scenes. Or, think about how a longer scene benefits the overall story, adding to the suspense. Sometimes, readers may be aware of the answer or ending to the dramatic question upfront. But they may be willing to read the story until the end because the lead up to the ending is engaging and suspenseful. They care enough about the characters and the story to read about the events that lead to the climactic event.

Proofread your story. Before giving your story to anyone to read, proofread it carefully. Catch spelling and grammatical errors. This way, your reader will be able to focus on the story, instead of getting distracted by misspellings or misplaced commas. Print out your story and comb through it carefully.

Get feedback. Let others read your story. This can give you a good sense of how others react to what you’ve written. Ask for feedback on specifics about the story, such as: Characters: Are the characters believable? Do they engage in action that is realistic? Continuity: Does the story make sense? Does it follow a logical order? Grammar and mechanics: Is the language readable? Are there run-on sentences, misused words, etc.? Dialogue: Are conversations between characters realistic? Was there enough (or too much) dialogue? Pacing: Does the story move along at a good pace? Do you get bored in certain areas? Do you think too much happens too quickly in other areas? Plot: Does the plot make sense? Does the character’s objective make sense?

Make changes that you think are appropriate. Remember, this is your story. It’s full of your own ideas, and you don’t need to take anyone else’s suggestions. Sometimes, people who critique the written work of others may try to put their own stamp on the work. If the suggestions are good ones, then incorporate them. But if the suggestions don’t seem to make sense for your story, discard them. You might find it helpful to take some time away from your story before you try to revise it. Put it aside for a few days or more and then come back to it with fresh eyes.