how to start a scary story essay example

How to Write a Horror Story (Haunt Your Readers Forever)

You’ve decided to write a horror story. You want to keep your readers up at night, checking under their beds and swearing off dark basements forever.

But where do you start? How do you turn a simple idea into a full-blown nightmare on the page?

In this post, I’m going to walk you through everything you need to know about writing a horror story that grips your readers from the first word to the last. By the end, you’ll have all the tools you need to craft a tale of terror that will leave your audience screaming for more.

What Is a Horror Story?

Table of Contents

At its core, a horror story is about fear—fear of the unknown, fear of the monster under the bed, fear of what lurks in the dark corners of our minds.

But horror is more than just scares and gore.

It’s a genre that explores our deepest anxieties and taps into the primal instincts that drive us.

Whether it’s a supernatural thriller, a psychological horror, or a good old-fashioned ghost story, the best horror stories make us confront what we fear most, and they do it in a way that’s impossible to forget.

Types of Horror Novels

Horror comes in many flavors, each with its own unique way of getting under your skin. Here are a few of the most popular types:

• Psychological Horror: Focuses on the mental and emotional state of the characters, often blurring the lines between reality and madness. Example: “The Shining” by Stephen King.
• Supernatural Horror: Involves otherworldly elements like ghosts, demons, and curses. Example: “The Haunting of Hill House” by Shirley Jackson.
• Gothic Horror: Combines horror, romance, and death, often set in gloomy castles or ancient mansions. Example: “Dracula” by Bram Stoker.
• Slasher Horror: Centers on a killer who systematically hunts down and kills the characters, usually in gruesome ways. Example: “Halloween” (1978) directed by John Carpenter.
• Cosmic Horror: Deals with the idea that humanity is insignificant in the grand scheme of the universe, often featuring ancient, incomprehensible beings. Example: “The Call of Cthulhu” by H.P. Lovecraft.

But the beauty of horror is that it’s incredibly versatile. You can mix and match elements from different subgenres to create something entirely unique.

Which brings us to our step by step blueprint for how to write a horror story.

How to Write a Horror Story That Will Haunt Your Readers Forever

Here are the seven steps I use to write a horror story.

Step 1: Come Up with an Original and Compelling Horror Idea

Every great horror story starts with a spark—an idea that gets your heart racing and your mind churning. But how do you come up with something original and compelling? Start by asking yourself a few key questions:

• What scares you the most?
• What’s the worst thing that could happen in a given situation?
• How can you take a familiar horror trope and twist it into something new?

For example, in The Whispering Pines, the idea began with a simple question: What if a group of childhood friends returned to their hometown and discovered that the forest they once played in was haunted by an ancient, malevolent force? From there, the story grew into a tale of guilt, redemption, and supernatural terror.

Pro Tip: Keep a journal or a note-taking app handy to jot down any ideas that come to you throughout the day. Inspiration can strike at any time, and you don’t want to lose it!

Step 2: Create a Strong Premise

Once you have your idea, it’s time to turn it into a compelling premise. A good horror premise includes:

• Characters: Who are they? What are their fears and motivations?
• Conflict: What external and internal challenges do they face?
• Consequences: What’s at stake?
• Setting: Where does the story take place, and how does it contribute to the horror?
• Ticking Clock: What’s the urgency?
• Escalation: How does the tension build?

Take The Whispering Pines as an example.

The premise could be summarized like this:

In the remote town of Pine Hollow, a group of estranged childhood friends returns for a funeral, only to discover that the forest they once played in is haunted by a malevolent force. As the days pass, they must confront their deepest fears and darkest secrets, or be consumed by the forest forever.

This premise includes all the key elements: compelling characters with a shared history, a haunting setting, a ticking clock (seven days to break the curse), and escalating tension that leads to a climactic showdown.

Step 3: Develop Your Characters

In horror, your characters are everything. If readers don’t care about your characters, they won’t care what happens to them.

So, spend time developing complex, relatable characters with fears, flaws, and desires.

Creating Multi-Layered Characters

Each of your main characters should have:

• A Fear: What terrifies them? This will drive their actions and reactions throughout the story.
• A Flaw: What is their Achilles’ heel? This could be a moral failing, a past mistake, or an emotional vulnerability.
• A Desire: What do they want, and how far are they willing to go to get it?

For example, in The Whispering Pines, Sarah’s fear is losing control, her flaw is her unresolved guilt over her brother’s death, and her desire is to make amends and protect her friends.

These traits make her a compelling character whose actions drive the plot forward.

Example from The Shining :

In Stephen King’s The Shining, Jack Torrance’s fear is losing his sanity, his flaw is his alcoholism, and his desire is to succeed as a writer and provide for his family. These elements create a character who is both sympathetic and terrifying, as his internal struggles are mirrored by the external horrors of the Overlook Hotel.

Step 4: Create a Captive Setting (The Cauldron)

A good horror story often takes place in a setting that is both isolated and claustrophobic—a place where the characters can’t easily escape, and where the environment itself becomes a source of fear.

This is known as the “cauldron” in writing.

Example from The Whispering Pines :

In The Whispering Pines, the cauldron is the forest itself—a dense, labyrinthine place where the trees seem to whisper secrets and lost travelers are never seen again. The forest is not just a backdrop; it’s a living, breathing entity that traps the characters and forces them to confront their fears.

Example from The Haunting of Hill House :

In Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House, the cauldron is the house—a twisted, malevolent structure that preys on the vulnerabilities of its inhabitants.

The house isolates the characters, amplifying their fears and pushing them toward madness.

Step 5: Establish the Conflict and Consequences

Horror thrives on conflict—both external (the monster, the curse, the killer) and internal (guilt, fear, trauma).

But to make the conflict meaningful, there must be real consequences. What happens if your characters fail? What’s at stake?

External vs. Internal Conflict

• External Conflict: This is the immediate danger your characters face, whether it’s a ghost, a serial killer, or an ancient curse.
• Internal Conflict: This is what makes the horror personal—your character’s own fears, guilt, or desires that complicate their actions.

The external conflict in The Whispering Pines is the malevolent force in the forest that hunts the characters.

The internal conflict is their unresolved guilt over a childhood accident that fractured their friendship.

The stakes? If they don’t confront their guilt and break the curse, they’ll be consumed by the forest forever.

Example from The Babadook :

In The Babadook (2014), the external conflict is the terrifying monster that haunts a mother and her son.

The internal conflict is the mother’s grief and guilt over her husband’s death, which the Babadook exploits. The stakes are both physical and psychological—survival and sanity.

Step 6: Build Tension with a Ticking Clock

Nothing ramps up the tension in a horror story like a ticking clock—a looming deadline that forces your characters to act quickly, often under extreme pressure.

In The Whispering Pines, the characters have seven days to break the curse before the forest consumes them.

Each day brings new horrors, escalating the tension and pushing the characters to their limits.

Example from The Ring :

In The Ring (2002), the ticking clock is the seven days the protagonist has to uncover the mystery of the cursed videotape before it kills her. The countdown adds a layer of urgency to the investigation, making every scene more intense.

Step 7: Escalate the Horror

A good horror story doesn’t start at full throttle—it builds, slowly and inexorably, until the tension is unbearable.

Escalation is key to keeping your readers on the edge of their seats.

How to Escalate the Horror and Dread

• Start Small: Begin with subtle, unsettling events that hint at the horror to come.
• Raise the Stakes: As the story progresses, increase the intensity and frequency of the terrifying events. Introduce new dangers, reveal hidden secrets, and force your characters into increasingly desperate situations.
• Push the Characters: Escalation should also involve your characters’ internal struggles. As the external horror ramps up, so should their internal conflicts. The pressure should force them to confront their deepest fears, flaws, and desires.
• Build to a Climax: All of this escalation should lead to a climactic moment where everything comes to a head—where the characters must face the ultimate terror and make impossible choices.

In The Whispering Pines, the escalation begins with eerie whispers in the forest and strange visions, but quickly ramps up as the forest itself seems to come alive. The characters are hunted by malevolent forces, their own guilt driving them to the brink of madness.

Each day brings new horrors, leading to a final, desperate ritual to break the curse.

Example from Hereditary :

In Hereditary (2018), the escalation is masterful.

The film begins with subtle hints of something wrong—a family tragedy, strange behavior, unsettling dreams. But as the story progresses, the tension builds relentlessly, leading to a horrifying climax where the true nature of the family’s curse is revealed.

Step 8: Create Fear in Your Reader

Fear isn’t just about what happens on the page—it’s about what happens in your reader’s mind.

The best horror stories know how to play with expectations, use the reader’s imagination against them, and deliver unexpected, bone-chilling moments.

Techniques to Create Fear

• Imply, Don’t Show: Sometimes what you don’t show is scarier than what you do. Let your reader’s imagination fill in the blanks.
• Play with Atmosphere: Use setting, weather, and sensory details to create a mood of dread and unease.
• Subvert Expectations: Lead your readers down one path, then shock them by revealing something they never saw coming.
• Build Psychological Tension: Fear often comes from within. Use your characters’ mental states to create psychological tension that resonates with your readers.

In The Whispering Pines, fear is created not just through the supernatural elements, but through the psychological torment of the characters. The forest whispers secrets, distorts reality, and forces the characters to confront their darkest memories.

The tension is heightened by the claustrophobic setting and the ticking clock, making every moment fraught with dread.

Example from Psycho :

In Psycho (1960), Alfred Hitchcock creates fear by playing with audience expectations.

The infamous shower scene is terrifying not just because of the violence, but because it’s so unexpected—it comes out of nowhere, shattering the viewer’s sense of safety. The film also masterfully uses atmosphere, with the isolated Bates Motel and the eerie, looming house creating an unsettling mood that permeates the entire story.

Step 9: Craft a Satisfying Ending

A horror story is only as good as its ending.

After all the tension, fear, and escalation, your readers need a payoff that feels earned and leaves them thinking long after they’ve finished the last page. Whether it’s a twist ending, a tragic resolution, or a hard-won victory, make sure your ending ties back to the themes and conflicts you’ve built throughout the story.

In The Whispering Pines, the ending is bittersweet. The characters succeed in breaking the curse, but not without sacrifice.

The forest is defeated, but the characters are forever changed, marked by the horrors they’ve endured.

The final scene, where Sarah and Emma walk away from the forest with the dawn breaking, symbolizes both an end and a new beginning.

Example from The Sixth Sense :

In The Sixth Sense (1999), the ending is a perfect twist that recontextualizes the entire story.

The revelation that Dr. Malcolm Crowe has been dead all along is shocking, but it also ties back to the themes of loss, grief, and communication. It’s an ending that feels both surprising and inevitable, which is the hallmark of a great horror story.

Step 10 (Optional): Use AI to Enhance Your Horror Writing

While horror writing is ultimately a personal and creative endeavor, AI tools like ChatGPT, Jasper, Rytr, Grok, and Gemini can be powerful allies in the writing process.

Here’s how to use AI to your advantage.

• Idea Generation — AI can help you brainstorm unique and compelling horror ideas by generating prompts and scenarios based on specific themes or elements you input. For example, you might ask AI to generate five unique horror plot ideas centered around psychological terror and supernatural elements.
• Character Development — Struggling to flesh out your characters? Use AI to create detailed character profiles, complete with fears, flaws, and motivations. This can give you a solid foundation to build on and ensure that your characters are well-rounded and believable.
• Scene Creation — Need help with a particular scene? AI can generate scene ideas, descriptions, and dialogue that fit your story’s mood and tone. You can then tweak and refine these suggestions to match your vision.
• Overcoming Writer’s Block — If you’re stuck on a particular section, AI can help you get unstuck by offering fresh perspectives or alternative ways to approach a scene. Sometimes all it takes is a little nudge to get your creativity flowing again.

Check out these AI tools that I like:

Here’s a complete video I made about how to write a horror novel with AI:

How to Write a Good Horror Story

Writing a good horror story is all about creating an experience that sticks with your readers.

It’s not just about scaring them—it’s about making them care, then making them terrified.

Here’s how to do it:

• Start with a Unique Idea: A good horror story begins with a concept that stands out. Whether it’s a fresh take on a classic monster, a psychological thriller with a twist, or a setting that oozes atmosphere, your idea should grab attention from the get-go.
• Develop Deep, Relatable Characters: Your readers need to care about your characters if they’re going to fear for them. Build characters with real emotions, flaws, and fears. Give them a reason to face the horrors that lie ahead, and let their personal struggles be as compelling as the external threats they face.
• Create a Setting that Breathes: A great horror setting isn’t just a backdrop—it’s a character in its own right. Whether it’s an isolated mansion, a cursed forest, or a desolate town, your setting should enhance the mood, contribute to the tension, and trap your characters in a place they can’t easily escape.
• Build Suspense and Tension: Don’t give away all your scares at once. Build tension slowly, dropping hints and unsettling details that make your readers feel increasingly uneasy. Use pacing to your advantage, alternating between calm moments and bursts of terror to keep your audience on edge.
• Use Fear Wisely: Fear is subjective, so think about what terrifies you and how you can translate that onto the page. Whether it’s the fear of the unknown, fear of loss, or fear of something lurking just out of sight, tap into the primal instincts that drive us.
• Craft a Satisfying Conclusion: Endings in horror are crucial. Whether your story ends in victory, tragedy, or a twist that redefines everything that came before, make sure it’s a conclusion that feels earned and leaves an impact.

Common Horror Story Tropes and Mistakes to Avoid

Horror is a genre rich with tropes, but while some are timeless, others can feel overused or cliché if not handled with care.

Here’s how to navigate these common pitfalls:

• The Overpowered Villain: While a formidable antagonist is key to horror, making them too powerful or invincible can make the story feel hopeless or repetitive. Ensure your characters have a fighting chance, even if it’s slim.
• The “It Was All a Dream” Ending: This trope can feel like a cop-out, undermining the stakes of the entire story. If you’re tempted to use it, consider instead how you might ground the horror in reality, or twist the dream concept into something more unique.
• Jump Scares on the Page: In film, jump scares work because of the sudden visual or auditory shock. On the page, these can feel forced or ineffective. Instead, focus on building a creeping sense of dread that lingers.
• Characters Making Dumb Decisions: If your characters repeatedly make foolish choices that lead them into danger, readers will lose patience. Make sure their actions, even when misguided, are motivated by fear, desperation, or believable flaws.
• Relying Too Heavily on Gore: Gore has its place in horror, but over-relying on it can desensitize readers and detract from the psychological aspects of fear. Balance visceral horror with emotional and psychological tension.

How to Start a Horror Story

The opening of your horror story is critical—it sets the tone, introduces key elements, and hooks your reader.

Here’s how to start your tale of terror:

• Begin with a Hook: Start with something intriguing or unsettling—a mysterious event, a shocking revelation, or an eerie atmosphere. Your opening line should make the reader want to know more. In The Whispering Pines, the story opens with the characters returning to their abandoned hometown, immediately setting a tone of unease and hinting at the darkness that awaits.
• Introduce Your Main Character(s): Quickly establish who your story will focus on. Give a glimpse into their life, personality, and perhaps a hint of the fear or flaw that will be central to their journey. In The Shining, Stephen King introduces Jack Torrance as a struggling writer with a troubled past, setting up the internal conflict that will be central to the story.
• Set the Atmosphere: Use sensory details to create a mood. Whether it’s a dark and stormy night or a quiet, seemingly peaceful day, the atmosphere should give the reader a taste of what’s to come. In The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson opens with a description of the house itself, immediately establishing it as a malevolent presence.
• Hint at the Conflict: Give the reader a sense that something is wrong, even if it’s just a small detail. This creates suspense and makes them eager to see how the story will unfold. In It by Stephen King, the opening scene with Georgie and the paper boat quickly spirals into horror, hinting at the dark force lurking beneath the surface of the town.

Horror Story Plot Templates

While every horror story is unique, there are some common plot structures that have proven effective time and again.

Here are three classic horror plot templates to consider when learning how to write a horror novel:

1. The Haunted House/Location

Plot Structure:

• Setup: A group of people (often strangers) arrives at a haunted location, unaware of its dark history.
• Rising Action: Strange occurrences begin—objects move on their own, shadows flicker, whispers are heard. The group tries to rationalize or dismiss these events.
• Climax: The haunting intensifies, revealing the true horror—whether it’s a malevolent spirit, a cursed object, or the house itself.
• Example: The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson follows this template, with the house as the malevolent force that preys on the characters’ vulnerabilities.

2. The Monster in the Shadows

• Setup: A community or group is living in fear of an unseen monster. The monster could be anything from a serial killer to a supernatural entity.
• Rising Action: The monster begins to strike, picking off victims one by one. The protagonists must figure out what the monster is, how it operates, and how to stop it.
• Climax: A direct confrontation with the monster, where the characters discover its weakness or face a terrible choice.
• Resolution: The monster is defeated—or not. The resolution can be a triumphant victory, a tragic loss, or a cliffhanger.

Example: It by Stephen King follows this template, with Pennywise the Clown as the monster that terrorizes the town of Derry.

3. The Descent into Madness

• Setup: A character begins to experience strange phenomena—either real or imagined—that cause them to question their sanity.
• Rising Action: The character’s grip on reality starts to slip as the phenomena become more intense and disturbing. They may become isolated or begin to distrust those around them.
• Climax: The character reaches a breaking point, where the line between reality and madness is completely blurred. They must confront the source of their fear, which may be internal, external, or both.
• Resolution: The character either succumbs to madness, finds a way to restore their sanity, or discovers a horrifying truth that changes everything.

Example: In The Shining, Jack Torrance’s descent into madness is both psychological and supernatural, driven by the Overlook Hotel’s malevolent influence.

Final Thoughts: How to Write a Horror Novel

Writing a horror story is no small feat, but with the right tools and techniques, you can craft a tale that grips your readers.

Go ahead—explore the darkest corners of your imagination, push your characters to their limits, and create a story that will haunt your readers long after they’ve turned the final page.

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Primer on the Construction of a Scary Story Essay

Welcome to The Knowledge Nest's comprehensive guide on how to construct a bone-chilling and captivating scary story essay. In this primer, we will delve into the art of storytelling, the elements of suspense, and the techniques to engage your readers with spine-tingling narrative experiences. Whether you're a student or a curious writer, this guide will equip you with the knowledge and expertise to craft a truly remarkable and unforgettable scary story essay.

Understanding the Genre

Before embarking on your journey to writing a scary story essay, it's crucial to gain an understanding of the genre itself. Scary story essays are a unique form of literature that seeks to engross and terrify its readers simultaneously. The goal is to craft a narrative that elicits fear, suspense, and a sense of unease. To achieve this, one must employ various literary techniques to create an eerie atmosphere and deliver spine-chilling moments to the readers.

Elements of a Scary Story Essay

A well-crafted scary story essay requires careful attention to several key elements. These elements work together seamlessly to heighten the sense of fear and tension in the narrative, captivating the reader's imagination from beginning to end.

The Setting

Creating an atmospheric setting is essential in a scary story essay. By vividly describing the surroundings, you can immerse your readers in a haunting world filled with darkness, isolation, and unknown terrors. Use your words to paint a detailed picture and let the setting become a character in its own right, contributing to the overall sense of dread and anticipation.

Characters and Characterization

Well-developed characters are integral to a compelling scary story essay. The protagonist should be relatable and vulnerable, allowing the reader to empathize with their fears and struggles. Additionally, introducing intriguing and mysterious secondary characters can add depth and complexity to the narrative, leaving readers to question their motives and trustworthiness.

Tension and Suspense

The heart of any good scary story essay lies in the art of building tension and suspense. Through carefully structured plot twists, foreshadowing, and unexpected revelations, you can keep your readers on the edge of their seats, eagerly turning the pages to uncover what lies ahead. Harness the power of pacing and timing to ensure every moment is infused with an unsettling and captivating vibe.

Moments of Horror

A successful scary story essay relies on its ability to deliver moments of horror that will leave a lasting impact on the reader. These moments can manifest through vivid and unsettling descriptions, blood-curdling twists, or encounters with the supernatural. Use your words to elicit genuine fear, making every page an exhilarating and chilling journey for your audience.

Techniques for Engaging Your Readers

Now that we've explored the essential elements, let's delve into the techniques that will help you engage your readers and keep them hooked throughout your scary story essay.

Mystery and Intrigue

Creating an air of mystery and intrigue will captivate your readers, compelling them to continue reading in search of answers. Use subtle clues, enigmatic occurrences, and unresolved questions to pique their curiosity and keep them invested in the story's unfolding.

Imagery and Description

Utilizing vivid imagery and descriptive language will allow your readers to vividly imagine the haunting scenes you're depicting. Engage all their senses as you describe eerie sounds, ominous visual details, and chilling atmospheric conditions.

Character Development

Investing time in developing your characters will create a stronger emotional connection between your readers and the narrative. Develop their fears, desires, and motivations, allowing your audience to relate and empathize with their experiences.

Plot Twists and Surprises

Unpredictability is a powerful tool in a scary story essay. Strategically place plot twists and surprises to keep your readers guessing and constantly on edge. These unexpected elements will heighten the suspense and deliver a rollercoaster ride of fear and anticipation.

Writing a scary story essay is a thrilling endeavor that allows you to explore the depths of your imagination and engage readers with an unforgettable narrative experience. By understanding the genre, incorporating the essential elements, and employing effective techniques, you can craft a truly bone-chilling masterpiece that will keep readers up at night.

At The Knowledge Nest, we are passionate about providing comprehensive guides and resources to help you unlock your writing potential. Whether you're a student, an aspiring writer, or simply someone who enjoys captivating stories, our aim is to empower and educate. Explore our website to discover more valuable insights and embark on your journey to becoming a masterful storyteller.

Embark on the construction of your scary story essay now and let the chilling tale unfold!

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How to Craft a Scary Story - Step by Step Analysis

By: Henrique Bertulino

Very few things capture the human imagination quite like a scary story. The horror genre forms a vital part of English literature and has been the subject of many research papers over time. Great names like Edgar Allan Poe, Algernon Blackwood, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, M. R. James, and even more contemporary writers like Susan Hill, Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, and Anne Rice have advanced the art of horror short story beyond what we usually got before.

Scary Experience Essay Example

Make your main character easy to empathize with, pit them against things they cannot realistically win against, let your readers put their own fears into the text.

In this narrative essay, we will show you how a ghost story works. From a list of writing prompts, we have selected one for this sample essay, and though it doesn't feature serial killers stalking children during Halloween through flickering streetlights, we hope you will enjoy the roller coaster regardless.

My mother always told me that going up to the second floor was a bad idea. She had lived on the ground floor flat for twenty-two years, she told me, but people living overhead came and went. Had been for as long she had lived there. Not a single family in her recollection had ever stayed there for more than six months.

At least five families in her memory, and two in mine, had come and gone. The only person who stayed more than six months was a lone lady. From what my mother told me, she lasted so long because she had her own rituals she performed. But even she couldn't stay for longer.

What exactly haunted the second floor of our house, I didn't know. But it was a well-known fact that it was haunted. The entire neighborhood knew. Nothing ever happened on the ground floor, but when we went to bed at night, we could hear the sound of furniture being moved.

Oddly enough, the flat was untenanted at the time.

And so, I got curious. I wanted to find out exactly what was going on up there. The stories told by former tenants were much the same. Furniture being thrown about, windows and doors slamming open and closed. One woman was almost strangled in bed. Needless to say, that family moved away immediately afterward. I was deathly afraid of going upstairs. When I was little, the thought of a ghost living upstairs was enough to stop me from going to the toilet at night.

By the time I was twelve, though, these fears had been laid to rest. Most of my friends in the neighborhood were also rather curious about the haunting, and a friend of mine asked me if we could go up. The landlord always kept the keys to that flat with us, and I knew exactly where it was. So, smelling an adventure, I said yes.

On a weekend afternoon, we decided to put our little plan into action. Too many cooks spoil the broth, so it was only my friend and I. My mother was asleep after having lunch, so that made nicking the keys easier.

Tools of our trade in hand, my friend and I snuck up the stairs. He was ahead of me, climbing the stairs enthusiastically. There was nobody living up there at the moment, so there was no electricity. No lights to push the darkness of the staircase away. Our nerves were being canceled out by our excitement.

Suddenly, however, my friend stopped in his tracks. I stopped too and asked him why he had stopped. At my question, he started. He immediately whirled around, eyes wide.

"Didn't you just run past me up the stairs?" he asked, voice very quiet. "I stopped to let you pass…"

I said nothing. The look on his face did not make it seem like he was bluffing. The terror in his eyes was enough. We sprinted down the stairs faster than human feet have ever run downstairs, and shot out of the house and into the afternoon sun.

The adventure was never fully realized. To this day, that first-floor flat remains untenanted.

Why It Works

Horror stories don't all have to involve the main character moving into a haunted house. The secret to a good story is to make the main character be as sympathetic and likable as possible. A mother feeding her son, a sister playing with her brother, school friends - bonds of love and friendship are at the heart of every good scary story.

Of course, a true story beats out everything, but that's beside the point. Having the main character you can get behind and support sells a horror story. You do not want bad things happening to them. You want them to pull through and survive. The bigger the odds they face, the more you want them to come out on top.

This is what makes Bram Stoker's Dracula such a towering success. Even today, the struggles of Jonathan Harker to escape from the dreaded castle, of Dr. John Seward and Abraham Van Helsing's putting together of the disparate events connected to the Count, and Mina Murray's bravery while facing down a fate worse than death can't help but strike a chord in anyone's heart.

However, you are not writing an action story. Or an adventure tale. You're writing horror. So, the hero should never be able to fight the foe directly. The terror they face must be unimaginably stronger and stranger than they can imagine. That is the essence of horror - even the most chiseled bodybuilder is helpless against a street filled with flickering streetlights and shadows slinking past.

This is what makes the works of H. P. Lovecraft so widely loved. He left the ultimate horror up to the interpretation of the reader. The greatest source of dread in his stories comes from beings we cannot understand, and the feeling of alienness is what allows him to twist our emotions as per his command.

And that is what it comes down to, at the end of the day. You might love the horror genre, but to really understand it and how it works, you need to seep yourself in it. You have to read and watch everything of quality that you can get your hands on. Only then will you understand enough about the craft to be able to make your own mark. And that, we hope, is where this narrative essay leads you.

Whether you got your first taste of horror by watching horror films or picking up a copy of Goosebumps, take solace in the fact that the horror bug never truly leaves you. You will always be connected to the spooks, whether you like it or not.

We hope you got what you wanted out of this free essay. If you want your own essays to stand out, you should look into Studybay's assignment writing service. Get professionally written essays complete with masterful proofreading - nothing will stop you from achieving the grade you want. Give us your ESL essay topics, and watch us give you the best edited essay you will ever see.

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How to Write a Horror Story in 12 Steps

Spooky times are on their way! In this post, you’ll learn how to write a horror story in 12 easy steps. From the very beginning to the very end, you’ll be a horror writer in no time. Writing a horror story is easy, provided you know how to do it in the right way.

A horror story is usually about a particular issue or theme. It might be about the horrible nature of life, the evil of humans, or the beast inside us. It might even be about fear, or about the various ways in which we face fear. The one thing that all horror stories have in common is that they are “stories of fear.”

The best horror stories are about fear, whether it’s fear of death, fear of disease, fear of the unknown, fear of loneliness, or fear of pain. The main problem with horror stories is that most people don’t like to be scared. Our minds prefer the familiar, the comfortable, and the easy. So how do we get around that?

The answer is that we have to tap into our inner horror. We have to get inside our minds and into our souls to write about horror. It’s not easy, but it’s not hard either. If you’re willing to put in the effort, you’ll be amazed at the results you can achieve.

10 Tips for Writing Horror Stories

Step 1: brainstorm some ideas, step 2: develop your idea, step 3: make a list of main characters, step 4: develop a horrific setting, step 5: outline the opening paragraph, step 6: plan the major climax, step 7: write a twisted ending , step 8: choose a scary writing style, step 9: write the first draft, step 10: edit and review your draft, step 11: choose a chilling book title , step 12: publish the book, how do you start a horror story, what are the 5 elements of a horror story, what makes a good horror story, how do you write in creepy writing, how do i make my character terrifying.

Before you begin writing a horror story, here are 8 tips to help you create the perfect, chilling tale:

• Make it realistic: Don’t be afraid to make the story feel real and genuine so that the reader doesn‘t get lost in the atmosphere of the book. Try to use real-life situations as the base of the story, and then you can add the gore afterwards.
• Include plot twists: The more twists you can add to the tale, and the more surprises that will occur, the stronger the plot. 
• Avoid stereotypical characters: Just because it’s horror doesn’t mean you have to have a serial or a cannibal in your story. Go beyond the norm with your characters – remember anyone can be a serial killer, especially the least suspected person!
• Pace yourself: Don’t just jump to the scariest moment in the beginning, slowly build up the suspense. Start by giving the reader hints of danger, and then bang when they least suspect bring in the gore.
• Play on common fears: Common fears that people face every day. Such as being alone in the dark, being chased by a monster, having a bad dream, etc. Fears are icky, but they can be made into something interesting if you play with them.
• Choose a writing style: There are many ways to write horror and some people find that they have an easier time in a journalistic style or in 1st person narrative. Think about what you’re most comfortable with and try it out.
• Increase the stakes: The best horror stories involve a sense of fear and dread, so make sure to increase the stakes as you go. If your main character is at a party, maybe there’s something bad lurking in the back room or someone is trying to kill them. Make sure there’s something at stake for your characters and don’t forget to give them something to do besides running away.
• Read popular horror stories: Horror can be a very dark genre, so you might want to check out other scary tales to get inspiration. For instance, Stephen King has written some of the most terrifying stories ever created and you might even learn a few things from them. 
• Pick a horror sub-genre: Horror is very broad and can be done in many different styles and genres. I recommend going for a sub-genre like Gothic Horror, Zombie Horror, or Psychological Horror. You may find that you are more comfortable in one of these areas than in others.
• Be imaginative: Your story should be as unique as possible so use your imagination and go crazy! Do not hold back when it comes to creativity, as this is how true horror is born.

How To Write a Horror Story in 12 Steps

Follow these 12 easy steps to create a spine-chilling story that will leave your readers in awe and fear.

Here’s a simple little trick that we can’t recommend enough: start with writing down all of the words and phrases that come to mind when you think about horror. Horror is much more than just scary stories; it’s about fear. So start thinking about the horror you see around you, and what keeps you up at night. The trick is to get into your mind, even if it doesn’t feel comfortable. Try listing your biggest fears, and all the things that make you feel scared. You can also check out this list of over 110 horror story prompts to get you started.

We also recommend keeping a nightmare journal  – Which is like a dream journal but filled with notes about your nightmares instead. After you had a really scary dream write down everything you remember from that dream. This can include what you saw, heard and felt during the dream. You can then use these notes as a source of inspiration for your horror story. 

Check out these Halloween writing prompts and Halloween picture prompts for more ideas.

What keeps you up at night? The evil monsters in the monsters movies? The epidemic of a deadly virus? A tragic unsolved crime? Whatever your issue is, it can be used to create a horror story that will have your readers sweating bullets. Take your ideas from the previous step and develop them into a truly horrific story idea. Once you have written down the basic idea, try to think about how that idea can be made scarier. 

For example, if you’re writing about a deadly disease, you could use the theme of death to make it scarier. Have the characters die in the story in a mutated sort of way or from some weird side effect that leads to death. There are plenty of ways to make the story more horrible:

• Try thinking about an ordinary situation that everyone goes through and add something horrific to it. The trick to making your story scary is to make it believable. In other words, you want to make your story as true to life as possible.
• Focus on some terrifying emotions, fear being the obvious one. But you can also think about crudeness, disgust, as well as anger, regret, paranoia and shock factor. 
• Add in some unnatural details, such as spaghetti turning into worms or blood coming out of solid, unliving objects.

Write down all of the main characters in the story. If you have more than one, give each character a distinct personality. Make sure that each character has a certain reason for their actions and be sure that they reflect their personality.

Whatever your horror is, you should probably have a main character that will be a part of the story. When you write the story, it’s going to be easier to create a tense atmosphere if you have a character to relate to. Also, you may want to make sure that you have a few supporting characters that you can add to the story. The supporting characters might also become the main characters in any sequels you plan on writing.

The other characters in the story should be the antagonists. These are the evil people or creatures that are keeping you up at night. They might be the killer, the ghost , the werewolf , the zombie, the villain, the monster , the demon, or the bad guy. Whatever the issue is, that’s what the antagonist will be in the story. They might start out as just an ordinary person, but they’ll end up being more evil than the main character.

Check out this guide on character development to help you develop a powerful character.

When writing a horror story, it’s very important that you get the setting right. Think about some scary places that you know of in real life or places that you’ve seen in your nightmares. You could also link your main setting choice to a common fear explored in your story. For example, if the core concept of your horror story is related to the fear of heights, then the main setting may be a high-rise building that’s filled with monsters. 

Other common horror story settings may include a haunted house , a creepy old mansion, graveyards and even quiet suburban towns. Whatever your choice of setting, try to write a detailed description of the main setting in this step. Think about the appearance of the location, the weather, the feeling someone has when standing in this location, as well as what kind of people live here, along with the beliefs they hold.

Interested in creating a whole new world for your horror story? Check this master list of over 100 world-building questions .

The opening paragraph will be the first thing your readers see. It should be a teaser that sets the tone for the story. In other words, the first paragraph should be intriguing enough to make your readers want to keep reading. You should ideally include the main character’s name, the setting, the antagonist, the fear of the story, and the main character’s problem. 

If the story is about a haunted house, then the outline of the opening paragraph could say something like this:

The house is empty. It has been for a long time. It’s been vacant for years and years. It sits in the middle of a quiet, suburban neighbourhood. The grass is green and the trees are tall. The neighbourhood is quiet, but the town is not as quiet as everyone thinks. There are whispers, rumours, and stories. But the truth is, no one has ever seen or heard anything unusual here. Not until Wendy Williams and her daughter moved in. 

During this step, it is important to try to write an opening that gives the reader a taste of the entire story. But of course, don’t give too much away – Just a hint of fear will do! Your goal here is to have the reader wanting more. 

See this list of over 150 story starters to help you get started with your spooky tale.

This step is basically the big bang. It’s where your main character goes head-to-head with the antagonist in the story or has to face their greatest fear. It’s also when your main character learns the truth about the antagonist. The goal of this step is to keep your readers on the edge of their seats. 

When writing the climax, think about what will happen, who will be in danger, and what the outcome will be. If you’re struggling with the climax, then you should start with a smaller problem and work your way up to the big one. For example, you could start with a little bit of trouble with a character, such as a bad dream or the main character getting hurt. This will get your readers involved in the story. You may find that once you start writing, you’ll come up with a more complicated problem that your main character will have to solve.

Here’s an example of what a potential climax scene sounds like in a horror story:

The sound of footsteps is heard coming down the stairs. The footsteps are too heavy, and they seem to be coming from the basement. The door to the basement creaks open. Then a face is seen in the door frame. It’s a face with large, red eyes, and it’s full of hate.

In horror stories, the twist ending is almost always a shock reveal of some kind. Whether the true murderer is revealed, or the identity of the antagonist is revealed, it should always be a surprise. 

There are several ways to write a twist ending, but you’ll probably want to start with a twist that’s a little more obvious. You could reveal who the antagonist really is, or even what the main character has been hiding. Or you could have the main character learn some shocking information that sends them in a completely different direction. 

The unique thing about the horror genre is that even after the mystery or problem is solved, it’s not always 100% solved. There’s always some darkness lurking somewhere. Was he really the murderer? Maybe there’s more than one monster? Give this final hint of darkness to keep your readers second-guessing even after the book is over. Now that’s where the true horror lies!

Of course, horror stories are written in a more darker and dramatic style compared to other genres. But there’s more to horror writing than just using dark words and descriptions of gory scenes. In this step, you want to think about the actual writing of your horror style. Will it be written in the first person, second person or third? Do you want to take a more journalistic approach where you report horrific events? Or will you take a more narrative approach, where the reader is on the outside looking in?

In our opinion, a horror story written in the first person has a much more powerful effect. There’s something about having the perspective of the main character that makes them more vulnerable. There’s also something about being told a story by another character that makes the story more real.

While the third person is great for taking the reader through a story, it doesn’t allow for the depth of emotion that can be found in the first person. If you choose to write in the third person, then you’ll want to stick with the voice of an objective narrator who is reporting on the events of the story. 

Either way, you’ll want to try to avoid too many descriptions of gruesome scenes. You want to keep the focus on your main character’s emotions and how they feel, and their problem. 

Finally, it’s time to start writing your story! Hopefully, after all these steps, you now have a rough outline for your story. But even if you don’t, just start writing! The first draft is usually the most important one. So even if you don’t have a complete outline, get started on your story. Just start writing and don’t worry about anything else! You might also want to read this post on how to outline a book for more guidance.

While writing your draft, you’ll want to keep these things in mind:

• Make sure your story is believable to a certain extent. Of course, you might think that vampires aren’t real – But make them real for your readers! This is the most important thing. If your story is impossible or unbelievable, then no one will want to read it.
• Avoid using clichés. These are words or phrases that are overused in stories and don’t really add anything to your story.
• Use active voice instead of passive voice. Passive voice is when a sentence starts with “someone” or “something”. Active voice is when the sentence starts with “I” or “we”.
• Use short sentences and paragraphs. Long sentences make it difficult to read, and paragraphs look heavy. 
• If you’re struggling to get anything written down, then start with the easiest or shortest scenes first. You can always come back to the more complicated areas of your story later when you’re ready. 

And finally, have fun with it! Writing is supposed to be a fun hobby, so don’t take yourself too seriously! 

The hard part is done, now you’re ready to start editing your story! Start by reading the story to yourself a couple of times. Each time you read your story highlight areas that you are unsure of, or would like to improve. At the same time look out for spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and sentences that sound a bit off. Once you’re done with this review, you can go back and make the relevant edits to your story.

Next, you’ll want to gather some feedback. This is where you’ll want to have a second or third person read your story. It’s not a good idea to let one person read your draft, as they’ll be biased towards what they like. So get a few different people to read your story, and make sure they have a different perspective. They can be family members, teachers, or even a friend that’s not familiar with your writing style. 

When asking for feedback, you can ask the following questions:

• What are the most important parts of the story?
• Are there any parts of the story that don’t make sense or are confusing?
• What did you like most about the story?
• Can you think of anything that could be improved?
• Did you like the main character?

Once you have the feedback, you can go back and make the changes. It’s important to make the edits, but don’t obsess over it. In the end, you want to make the story the best that it can be. And by doing this, you’ll be on your way to writing a great horror story! 

It’s time to choose a book title. This is a very important part of a horror story. Not only does a good title help to give your story an identity, but it also helps to tell the reader what kind of story they’re about to read. The title should have a great hook. It should be intriguing and a little bit scary. If you’re struggling to think of a great book title, then you can try to think about what you’d like to read. Would you like to read a book that scares you? Or would you rather read a book that’s about someone’s struggles? 

If we look at some popular horror book titles, we can see that most of them are quite descriptive:

• The Woman in Black
• Bram Stoker’s Dracula
• The Haunting of Aveline Jones
• The Haunting of Hill House
• The Graveyard Book

Essentially, they either describe the antagonist of the story or the main setting in the story. Based on this try to summarise your horror story in as little as 3 to 5 words. Think about the main setting or the main villain/monster of your tale and come up with some book title ideas. If you’re still struggling, check out this horror book title generator for some more interesting ideas. 

An important thing to note here is that you should make sure that your book title is not already in use or taken by another author. Try doing a quick Google search or a search on Amazon to see if your title is available for the taking! 

Your book is now finished! You’ve written the first draft, edited it, gathered feedback, and now it’s time to publish it! There are many ways to publish your book. The most popular method is to publish it on Amazon as a self-published author. You can also work with a professional publisher to get your book to market.

Remember that if you’re a new writer, then it’s not a good idea to start by publishing your book on Amazon. It’s better to start slow and work your way up. You don’t want to rush your writing and end up with a book full of mistakes! Start by publishing your book using a free tool like the Imagine Forest story creator , then later work your way up to publishing on Amazon. 

That’s it! Now you should be ready to write your own horror story! Give it a go and see what you can come up with!

Frequently Asked Questions

There are a number of ways to start writing a horror story:

• Focus on your own fears. Start by listing your fears and develop your story idea from there. 
• Introduce the character. You can describe your main character in the first few scenes. Make them as normal, and relatable as possible
• Describe a setting. If the setting is key to your story, then describe every inch of it. Make your readers feel like they are right there with you. 
• Start with some action. This could be a bloody murder, someone screaming and running or anything else that makes the reader feel uncomfortable.
• Picture a harmonious place. You can describe a calm and happy place. Somewhere taken from a romantic rom-com type story or a happy family movie, which all suddenly changes.
• Start at the end. Rewrite your potential ending as the beginning, and then work your way backwards. 

The 5 elements of horror include Character, Setting, Action, Horror, and Resolution. All these elements are crucial in developing a gruesome horror story.

See our guide on the 5 elements of story-telling for more information.

A good horror story has fear at its core. The reader must be scared as they read the story. If not then you missed something important in your novel. A good horror story must be scary, but it should also have an element of realism to it. The story should include relatable main characters, a scary antagonist, a creepy setting and of course a shocking reveal at the end. 

Your first step is to try to think about the creepiness of the setting. Is it a dark and scary place? Is it full of secrets? If it is, then you have a good place to start. Try to be very detailed, and specific when describing the setting. Describe the blood on the wall as it drips down, or the lock on the door that won’t turn. Make the reader feel as if they are right there. Use descriptive words and metaphors to bring your gory details to life.

To make your character as terrifying as possible, you could try the following techniques:

• Make your character an outcast. They don’t fit in with the main group of characters and can’t be trusted.
• Give them a story to tell. A dark and bloody past.
• Make them a loner. They can’t trust anyone else and have no friends.
• Make them a survivor. The main character of your story has been through a lot and can’t be stopped.
• Give the character an important title. Someone who is important in a society that has deadly plans. You can’t trust them, but have no choice but to follow their rules.

Did you find this guide on how to write a horror story useful? Let us know in the comments below.

Marty the wizard is the master of Imagine Forest. When he's not reading a ton of books or writing some of his own tales, he loves to be surrounded by the magical creatures that live in Imagine Forest. While living in his tree house he has devoted his time to helping children around the world with their writing skills and creativity.

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Last updated on Jun 20, 2022

How to Write a Horror Story: 7 Tips for Writing Horror

About the author.

Reedsy's editorial team is a diverse group of industry experts devoted to helping authors write and publish beautiful books.

About Savannah Cordova

Savannah is a senior editor with Reedsy and a published writer whose work has appeared on Slate, Kirkus, and BookTrib. Her short fiction has appeared in the Owl Canyon Press anthology, "No Bars and a Dead Battery". 

In our era of highly commercialized crime and thriller novels, it may seem like zeitgeist-defining horror books are a thing of the past. Indeed, Stephen King was once the perennial bestselling author in the world, and children in the 90s devoured Goosebumps books like The Blob devoured, well, everything.

But let’s not forget there’s a huge base of horror fans today, desperate for their next fix . So if you’re hoping to become the next Crown Prince of Dread, your dream can still come true! Here are seven steps to writing truly chilling horror:

1. Start with a fear factor

2. pick a horror story subgenre, 3. let readers experience the stakes, 4. create suspense through point of view, 5. consider plot twists to surprise your audience, 6. put your characters in compelling danger, 7. use your imagination.

The most important part of any horror story is naturally going to be its fear factor . People don’t read horror for easy entertainment; they read it to be titillated and terrorized. That said, here are a few elements you can use to seriously scare the pants off your reader.

Instinctive fears

Fears that have some sort of logical or biological foundation are often the most potent in horror. Darkness, heights, snakes, and spiders — all these are extremely common phobias rooted in instinct. As a result, they tend to be very effective at frightening readers.

This is especially true when terror befalls innocent characters apropos of nothing: a killer traps them in their house for no apparent reason, or they’re suddenly mugged by a stranger with a revolver. As horror writer Karen Woodward says, “The beating undead heart of horror is the knowledge that bad things happen to good people.”

Monsters and supernatural entities

These stretch beyond the realm of logic and into the realm of the “uncanny,” as Freud called it. We all know that vampires , werewolves, and ghosts aren’t real, but that doesn’t mean they can’t shake us to our core. In fact, it’s the very uncertainty they arouse that makes them so sinister: what if monsters are really out there, we’ve just never seen them? This fear is one of the most prevalent in horror, but if you decide to write in this vein, your story has to be pretty convincing.

Societal tensions

Another great means of scaring people is to tap into societal tensions and concerns — a tactic especially prevalent in horror movies. Just in recent memory, Get Out tackles the idea of underlying racism in modern America, The Babadook examines mental health, and It Follows is about the stigma of casual sex. However, societal tensions can also easily be embodied in the pages of a horror story, as in Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery .

The right atmosphere for your story depends on what kind of horror you want to write. To use cinematic examples again, are you going for more Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Silence of the Lambs? The tone and atmosphere of your story will hang upon its subgenre.

• Thriller-horror employs psychological fear, often occurring near the beginning of horror stories before very much has happened
• Gross-out horror involves vivid descriptions of spurting blood, hacked-up flesh, and gouged-out organs in order to shock the reader; think gore movies of the 70s
• Classic horror harks back to the Gothic (or Southern Gothic) genre , with spooky settings and bone-chilling characters like those of Dracula and Frankenstein
• Terror provokes a feeling of all-pervasive dread, which can either serve as the climax of your story or be sustained throughout

It’s also possible to combine subgenres, especially as your story progress. You might begin with a sense of thrilling psychological horror , then move into gothic undertones, which culminates in utter terror.

But no matter what type of horror you’re working with, it should be deeply potent for your reader — and yourself! “If you manage to creep yourself out with your own writing, it's usually a pretty good sign that you're onto something,” editor Harrison Demchick says.

PRO-TIP : Ever wanted to find out which book genre  you  are? Take our 1-minute quiz below to see! 

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In order for readers to truly thrill at your horror story, you need to make them aware of the stakes. Clearly establish the main problem or motivation for your character(s) , and what they have to lose if they don’t figure it out. These stakes and motivations might involve: 

Survival. The most basic objective of characters in any horror story is to survive. However, there are nuances that accompany that goal. Perhaps their objective isn't just to stay alive, but to defeat their murderous nemesis while doing it — whether that’s another person, an evil spirit, or even themselves, if it’s a Jekyll and Hyde-type scenario.

Protecting loved ones. The more people the protagonist has to keep safe, the higher the stakes. Many horrific tales peak with a threat of death not to the main character, but to one or several of their loved ones (as in Phantom of the Opera or Red Dragon ).

Cracking unsolved mysteries. Because some horror stories aren’t about escaping peril in the present, but rather about uncovering the terrors of the past. This especially true in subgenres like cosmic horror , which have to do with the great mysteries of the universe, often involving ancient history.

Again, as with atmosphere, you can always merge different kinds of stakes. For instance, you might have a character trying to solve some mysterious murders that happened years ago, only to find out that they’re the next target!

The main thing to remember when it comes to horror — especially horror stories — is that straightforward stakes tend to have the greatest impact. Says author Chuck Wendig, of his perfect recipe for horror: “Plain stakes, stabbed hard through the breastbone.”

Bonus tip! Need help conjuring stakes and suspense? Try reading some masterfully crafted true crime — which can be even scarier than bone fide horror, since it actually happened.

Your reader should feel a kinship with your main character, such that when the stakes are high, they feel their own heart start to beat faster. This can be achieved through either first person or third person limited point of view. (When writing horror, you’ll want to avoid third person omniscient, which can distance your reader and lessen their investment in the story.)

We'll get into only the major POV's to consider in this post, but if you want a full point of view masterclass, check out our free course below.

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First person POV

Speaking of beating hearts, for a great example of first person narration in horror, look no further than The Tell-Tale Heart . Many of Poe’s stories involve deranged first-person narrators ( The Black Cat , The Cask of Amontillado ) but none are more notorious than this one, in which the main character is driven to murder his elderly housemate. Notice Poe’s chilling use of first person POV from the very first lines of the story:

It’s true! Yes, I have been ill, very ill. But why do you say that I have lost control of my mind, why do you say that I am mad? Can you not see that I have full control of my mind? Indeed, the illness only made my mind, my feelings, my senses stronger… I could hear sounds I had never heard before. I heard sounds from heaven; and I heard sounds from hell!

First person POV is excellent for hooking your reader at the beginning, and keeping them in suspense throughout your story. However, it might be too intense for longer, more intricate pieces, and may be difficult to execute if you’re trying to conceal something from your readers.

It’s also worth thinking about the implications of first person, past tense POV in a horror story — it suggests they’ve lived to tell the tale, which might ruin your dramatic ending. Therefore if you do decide to use first person narration, you should probably keep it in present tense.

Third person POV

If you find yourself struggling to make first person POV work, consider a third person limited perspective instead. This kind of narration is often used in longer-form horror, popularized by the likes of Stephen King and Dean Koontz . Look how it’s used here in King’s 1974 novel Carrie , in the description of its eponymous character:

Carrie stood among [the other girls] stolidly, a frog among swans. She was a chunky girl with pimples on her neck and back and buttocks, her wet hair completely without color… She looked the part of the sacrificial goat, the constant butt, believer in left-handed monkey wrenches, perpetual foul-up, and she was.

This narration paints an intimate picture of the character, while still allowing the freedom for commentary in a way that first person narration doesn’t as much. Third person limited narration also works well for building to a certain atmosphere, rather than jumping right into it, as Poe’s narrator does — which is part of why third person is better for lengthier pieces. (See more of King's masterful use of POV to wrack up tension in our Guide to King! )

Unreliable narrators

Alternately, if you’re committed to having a first person narrator but you don’t want to reveal everything to your readers, an unreliable narrator could be your perfect solution ! Many mystery and thriller novels employ unreliable narration in order to work up to a big twist without giving away too much. So whether or not you’ll want an unreliable narrator probably depends on how you end your story: straight down the line or with a twist.

Plot twists are exciting, memorable, and help bring previous uncertainty into focus, releasing tension by revealing the truth. However, they’re also notoriously difficult to come up with , and extremely tricky to pull off — you have to carefully hint at a twist, while making sure it’s not too predictable or clichéd.

So: to twist or not to twist? That is the question. 

Big plot twists in horror writing tend to follow the beaten path: the victim turns out to be the killer, the person who we thought was dead isn’t really, or — worst of all — it was all in their head the whole time! But keep in mind that small, subtle plot twists can be just as (if not more) effective.

Take William Faulkner’s short story A Rose for Emily . After Emily dies, the villagers discover the corpse of a long-vanished traveler in one of her spare beds — along with a strand of silver hair. While the discovery of the body might be gruesome, it’s the presence of Emily’s hair (suggesting she enjoyed cuddling with a cadaver) that really haunts you.

Not to twist

The ending of your story doesn't have to come out of left field to shock and horrify readers. The classic horror approach leaves the reader in suspense as to precisely what will happen, then concludes with a violent showdown (think slasher films).

In this approach, while the showdown itself might not be a surprise, the scenes leading up to it build tension and anticipation for the climax. That way, when the big moment does arrive, it still packs a dramatic punch.

“A horror novel, like any story, is about a character or characters trying to achieve a goal based upon their individual wants and needs,” says Demchick. “If you let concept overwhelm character, you'll lose much of what makes horror as engaging as it can be.”

To scare your characters, you need to have a solid understanding of their psyche. Filling out a character profile template is a great start to fleshing out believable characters, so give ours a try.

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Reedsy’s Character Profile Template

A story is only as strong as its characters. Fill this out to develop yours.

As you write, you need to stay conscious of basic storytelling techniques and not get carried away with the drama of horror. It might help, before you begin, to answer these questions about your characters and plot:

• What fear or struggle must your protagonist overcome?
• What decision do they make to put them in this situation?
• How will they defeat or escape their adversary, if at all?
• What are the ultimate consequences of their actions?

This will help you create a basic outline for your horror story , which you can embellish to create atmosphere and suspense. In plot-driven genre stories, a thorough outline and emotionally resonant elements are vital for keeping your reader invested.

A great horror story balances drama with realism and suspense with relief, even with the occasional stroke of humor. Gillian Flynn is the master of this technique — as seen in this excerpt from her horror story The Grownup , wherein the narrator is scheming how to capitalize on her “spiritual cleansing” services:

I could go into business for myself, and when people asked me, “What do you do?” I’d say, I’m an entrepreneur in that haughty way entrepreneurs had. Maybe Susan and I would become friends. Maybe she’d invite me to a book club. I’d sit by a fire and nibble on Brie and say, I’m a small business owner, an entrepreneur, if you will.

In order to stand out from the crowd, you need to think about overused trends in horror and make sure your story’s not “been there, done that.” For instance, the “vampire romance” plot is a dead horse with no one left to beat it after all the Twilight, Vampire Diaries, and True Blood hype.

However, that doesn’t mean you can’t use certain elements of popular trends in your writing. You just have to put a spin on it and make it your own!

For example, zombie horror was already a well-worn genre when Seth Grahame-Smith’s Pride and Prejudice and Zombies came out in 2009. But by setting it in the regency era and featuring Jane Austen’s well-loved characters, he created a brilliant original work and carved out a brand new audience for zombie fiction. You can also pay homage to well-known horror tropes, like the Duffer brothers of Stranger Things   did for Stephen King and Steven Spielberg — and which savvy audiences are sure to appreciate.

It certainly feels sometimes like all the good horror stories have already been written, making your own ideas seem  trite. But don’t forget that new horror comes out all the time, and it only takes one great idea to be a hit! So try not to stress out about it, and remember: just by having read through this guide, you’re already that much closer to becoming a literary graveyard smash .

11 responses

Sawan says:

04/11/2018 – 19:34

Thank you so much for writing this article. I am currently writing a short horror story. Sometimes when I write a horror scene, I get really terrified, but after some days it all feels shitty.

↪️ dilinger john replied:

08/05/2019 – 12:28

it happens with everyone don't stress over it and pass your work to someone who will review it. you are a writer and can not be a critic at the same time.

↪️ Shane C replied:

28/09/2019 – 21:15

Sawan -- been writing for 22 years... NEVER judge your own work. You write it -- finish it off -- then have some friends that enjoy horror and reading read your work and give you honest critique. Record their critique or take accurate notes. Repeat this with several friends (but only those you can trust not to try to steal your work, Creative Commons and/or Registered Mail can be your best friend BEFORE this stage). Pick the best one you like, that makes the most sense -- but if several people say "blah blah blah should have happened," or a really close variation throughout reader opinions... Go with it! I know most people hate that, feels like butchering your art (I know I hate it), but use it anyway. It'll likely be more widely received... Just a few pointers.

Annabelle says:

21/05/2019 – 01:51

This is awesome I love this! I’m writing my own horror novel too.🙂

↪️ Andrew replied:

31/10/2019 – 20:23

what is it?

NAVEEN says:

29/07/2019 – 15:22

i am at the age of sixteen and i decided to write a horror story. thanks a lot!!

Bobette Bryan says:

27/08/2019 – 19:09

Ghosts are real. I've seen many in my lifetime and have had some very terrifying experiences with some.

↪️ smr replied:

03/01/2020 – 13:25

what the hell ??

↪️ John Brown replied:

16/01/2020 – 02:28

Me too! And I think it actually helps with writing horror stories, because you have more experience than most.

John Brown says:

16/01/2020 – 02:27

I’m 14 and I love writing horror novels, but I usually freak my self out too much to keep writing... 😕

Comments are currently closed.

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How to Write a Scary Story: 3 Strategies for Terrifying Scenes

by David Safford | 0 comments

For many of you, Halloween is a time to dream up frightening stories with scenes that thrill and startle your readers. It's the perfect moment to practice how to write a scary story.

Yet writing a scary scene is easier said than done. To truly scare your readers, you need to be one step ahead of them. If they can predict what's coming, or if the story doesn't  feel  scary, then your writing won't work.

Here's how to write a truly scary scene that your readers will love!

How to Write a Scary Story: 3 Keys for Frightful Scenes

The key to a well-written scene that frightens your readers isn't just about gore or shock value. And despite the popularity of modern horror movies, jump-scares don't really work in book form. (I personally find them to be cheap, poor storytelling tricks.)

Rather, you need to capture the essence of the fear and portray it with authenticity. Gore for gore's sake inspires disgust, not fear. Jump scares cause the fight-or-flight reflex, not terror. And monsters are a dime-a-dozen these days, as computer graphics can render practically any nightmare in stunning high-definition.

So let's look at three aspects of fear, and how to use it in your scary scenes.

1. Trust Betrayed Is Terrifying

If your goal is to create fear, what is the  opposite  of fear?

Perhaps the most fertile ground for a scene of terror is a trusting relationship. Spend time in your story creating a relationship between characters where trust is a key ingredient, and then use your scary scene to betray that trust.  That's how to write a scary story that truly delivers .

Avoid the predictable (or frustratingly unpredictable) betrayal twist (think Hans from  Frozen ), and instead look at ways that the horror can undo this trust from within. The more your monster, disease, haunting, or murderer can fray the trust between characters, the more genuinely frightening your scenes will be.

A story that does this better than practically any other is  The Shining.  At its heart,  The Shining  is a story about a family riddled with mistrust. Each relationship is made or broken by trust, including relationships within each character's own mind. There are almost no cheap jump-scares in  The Shining,  either, and the film leaves the viewer horrified not just because of the violence or creepy imagery, but because of the frailty of the human psyche.

So build your scary story relationships on trust and find clever, creative ways to make them unravel. A killer from within is much more frightening than one from without.

2. Fear the Patient Killer

One of my favorite villains is the T-1000 from  Terminator 2: Judgement Day.  Slow, methodical, and patient, this murder-machine knows it has an eternity to fulfill its mission. He watches, studies, and inexorably paces forward. And when he skewers his victims to interrogate them, he asks his questions with dreadful patience.

This is  terrifying. 

While the chaos of a drooling, ravenous monster is certainly frightening, there's something about the patient killer that works on a psychological level to produce  dread.

The patient killer isn't just a force of death — it's a force of death that's morbidly curious about it. 

As the Joker, another powerfully written monster, says in  The Dark Knight,  “Do you want to know why I use a knife? You see, guns are too quick. You can't savor all the little . . . emotions.”

This is why jump-scares feel so cheap to me. There is definitely a time and place for them, and they work best when used rarely. But for my money, nothing is more terrifying than a killer, monster, or pestilence that creeps slowly toward its prey, or waits in the darkness, and delights in studying the heinous act it's about to commit.

Wondering how to write a scary story? Make your killer patient and menacing, forcing your protagonist — and your readers — to endure their impending doom for an age rather than a moment.

3. Don't “Tell” the Fear

When the big scary moment in their story arrives, many writers make the mistake of leaving their protagonists behind. They've been dreaming of this moment, when the monster or killer reveals itself in all its horror, and forget about the needs of their reader.

I've read a lot of these scenes as a contest judge, and it's disappointing to see so much potential wasted.

The key for how to write a scary story is stay intimately focused on the protagonist's experience, and to pace the scene in a way that the reader can follow and feel fear with  your protagonist.

Start with the moment of revelation . What does the protagonist see, hear, or feel as the scary event begins to happen? What does he or she think, and want to do in order to learn more to begin escaping?

Then escalate the situation  hard.  This is where things can get really horrifying. Someone's head pops off. Blood gushes from the air ducts. Flesh melts away. A lover unveils an ax. You get the idea.

But show it from the point of view of the protagonist , and don't use any adjectives or descriptions that are inconsistent with your protagonist's character in the rest of the story.

Finally, show the protagonist's choice or action to deal with the situation. Like before, keep the point of view with the protagonist.

This advice seems obvious until you actually sit down to write the scene. It's easier said than done because the temptation to “tell” these details, and to bust out your MFA with shiny imagery and such, is overwhelming. We forget the most important job of a writer: To tell a story  for  your reader.

And one way to ruin an otherwise scary scene is to abandon your protagonist and simply make him or her an observer, watching something gory or disturbing. Don't fall victim to this amateur trap. Keep the scene intimate to your protagonist's experience to produce something truly horrifying!

Go Scare Somebody!

Practically every great scary story has these three things in common.

The story focuses on a situation or relationship where everything seems fine and trustworthy, but slowly erodes into horrifying chaos. The best monsters, from the creature in  Alien  to the serial killer John Doe in  Se7en,  are patiently cunning in their evil deeds. And these stories stay close to their protagonist, forcing the reader or viewer to experience everything through this character's eyes and ears.

Now, it's your turn to practice how to write a scary story. Skip the cheap jump-scares and dodge the gratuitous gore. It's time to scare somebody!

Have fun, and Happy Halloween!

Do you have any tips for how to write a scary story? What frightens you most in a scary scene? Let us know in the comments .

Take fifteen minutes to practice the third principle, protagonist intimacy. Write a scary scene where your protagonist is in a terrifying and dangerous situation. Remember to focus on the details your protagonist would notice, keeping the scene entirely in their point of view.

Here's a prompt to get you started: Jane knew she was alone in the house. So where was that long, slow creak coming from?

When you're done, share your writing in the comments below . Then, be sure to leave feedback for your fellow writers! What scared you about another writer's scene?

David Safford

You deserve a great book. That's why David Safford writes adventure stories that you won't be able to put down. Read his latest story at his website. David is a Language Arts teacher, novelist, blogger, hiker, Legend of Zelda fanatic, puzzle-doer, husband, and father of two awesome children.

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Home » Blog » 132 Best Horror Writing Prompts and Scary Story Ideas

132 Best Horror Writing Prompts and Scary Story Ideas

Generate Full-Length AI Horror Novel Instantly

Table of contents.

Horror stories send shivers down our spines. They are gruesome, shocking, and chilling. Scary stories are meant to horrify us, and there are many ways to make a powerful impact on the reader. The element of surprise is crucial to make the readers’ blood freeze.

There are different types of horror stories. They often deal with terrible murders, supernatural powers, psychopaths, frightening human psychology, and much more.

Horror Writing Prompts List

Although many horror writing prompts and scary ideas have been written, the following 132 horror writing prompts can spark great creativity in aspiring writers of the horror genre.

• A family is on a camping trip. The parents are walking with their two children, a daughter and a son. The little boy trips and falls into a dark river. His father jumps to rescue him. Somehow, the boy manages to swim to the surface. The father is nowhere to be found. When the mother gets a hold of the boy, she can’t recognize him. She tries holding him, but the moment she touches his wet body, her hands start burning.
• A young girl goes missing in a nearby forest. The whole town is searching for her. Her parents find her sitting and smiling in a cave. Her eyes are completely white.
• A woman starts watching a movie late at night. The movie seems all too familiar. Finally, she realizes that it is a movie about her own life and that she might be already dead.
• A house finds a way to kill every visitor on its premises.
• A child makes her own Halloween mask. She glues a lock of her own hair on her mask. The mask comes to life and threatens to take over the girl’s body.

• While digging in her backyard, an old lady discovers an iron chest. She opens it and finds a pile of old photographs of her ancestors. All of them are missing their left eye.
• A priest is trying to punish God for the death of his sister. He is getting ready to burn down the church when supernatural forces start to torture him.
• Every year, a woman goes to the cemetery where her husband is buried, and when she looks at his tombstone, she notices her own name carved into it.
• A woman puts a lipstick on in the bathroom when she hears a demonic voice saying to her: “Can’t you see?”
•  A mysterious child psychiatrist promises parents to cure their children if they give him a vile of their blood.
•  A group of 10 friends decide to rent an old English castle for the weekend. The ghosts are disturbed and seek their pound of flesh.
•  A photographer travels to an Indian reservation for his next project. He starts taking photos, but there are only shadows in the places where people should have been.

•  A young married couple decides to renovate an abandoned psychiatric hospital and turn it into a hotel. Everything is going well until their first guest arrives.
•  Three sisters are reunited for the reading of their grandmother’s will. She has left them a diamond necklace, but they have to fight psychologically and physically for it.
•  An old woman pretends to be lost and asks a young woman to help her get home. She offers them a cup of tea and drugs them. When the women wake up, they are chained in the basement. The old woman gives them tools and boards so that they can build their own coffin. If they refuse, she inflicts pain on them.
•  A mysterious stranger with a glass eye and a cane commissions a portrait. When the portrait is finished, the painter turns it into stone.
•  A little girl’s sister lives with a monster in the closet. She exits the closet on her sister’s birthday.
•  The demons under the nuclear plant get released after an explosion and start terrorizing the families of people who work at the plant.
•  A woman gets trapped in a parallel universe where every day, she dies horribly in different ways.
•  A cannibal hunts for pure children’s hearts, hoping they will bring him eternal youth.
•  A politician hides his weird sister in the attic. She’s had her supernatural powers after their family home burned to the ground.
•  A 16-year-old girl wakes up on a stone-cold table surrounded by people in black and white masks. They chant and start leaning forward. All of them carry carved knives.

•  A boy hears screaming from his parents’ bedroom. He jumps and hides under his bed. Suddenly, everything becomes quiet. A man wearing army boots enters his room. He drags the boy from under the bed and says: “We’ve been searching for you for 200 years.”
• A husband and his wife regain consciousness only to see each other tied to chairs, facing each other. A voice on the radio tells them to kill the other. Otherwise, they would kill their children.
•  A mysterious altruist gives a kidney to a young man who has the potential to become a leading neuroscientist. After a year, the altruist kills the young man because he proves to be an unworthy organ recipient. The following year, the mysterious altruist is a bone marrow donor.
•  A group of friends play truth or dare. Suddenly, all the lights go out, and in those ten seconds of darkness, one of the group is killed.
•  A young man becomes obsessed with an old man living opposite his building. The young man is convinced that the old man is the embodiment of the devil and starts planning the murder.
•  Concerned and grieving parents bring their 8-year-old son to a psychiatrist after their daughter’s accident, believing that the boy had something to do with her death.
•  A woman is admitted to a hospital after a car crash. She wakes up after three months in a coma, but when she tries to speak, she can’t utter a sound. When the nurse sees that she is awake, she calls a doctor. The last thing the woman remembers is hearing the doctor say: “Today is your lucky day,” right before four men in black robes take her out.
•  A small-town cop becomes obsessed with a cold case from 1978. Three girls went missing after school, and nobody has seen them since. Then, one day, in 2008, three girls with the same names as those in 1978 went missing. The case is reopened.

•  After his parents’ death, a cardiologist returns to his small town, where everyone seems to lead a perfect life. This causes a disturbance in the idyllic life of the people since none of them has a heart. 
•  A man is kidnapped from his apartment at midnight and brought to a large private estate. He is told that he will be a human prey and that ten hunters with guns will go after him. He is given a 5-minute head start.
•  A strange woman in labor is admitted to the local hospital. Nobody seems to recognize her. She screams in agony. A black smoke fills in the entire hospital. After that, nobody is the same. A dark lord is born.
•  A young girl finds her grandmother’s gold in a chest in the attic, although she isn’t allowed to go there by herself. She touches the gold, and she starts seeing horrible visions involving her grandmother when she was younger.
•  An anthropologist studies rituals involving human sacrifice. She slowly begins to accept them as necessary.
•  A family of four moves into an old Victorian home. As they restore it, more and more people die suddenly and violently.

•  An old nurse has lived next door to a family that doesn’t get older. Their son has remained to be a seven-year-old boy.
•  A girl wakes up in her dorm and sees that everybody sleepwalks in the same direction. She acts as if she has the same condition and follows them to an underground black pool where everybody jumps.
•  A bride returns to the same bridge for 50 years, waiting for her husband-to-be to get out of the water.
•  An old woman locks girls’ personalities in a forever-growing collection of porcelain dolls. Parents of the missing girls are in agony, and they finally suspect something. When they tell the police, their claims are instantly dismissed.
•  A chemistry teacher disfigures teenagers who remind him of his childhood bullies. One day, he learns that the new student in his school is the son of his childhood archenemy.
•  A girl starts digging tiny holes in her backyard. When her mother asks her what she is doing, the girl answers: “Mr. Phantom told me to bury my dolls tonight. Tomorrow night I am going to bury our dog. And then, you, mother.”

•  Twin brothers were kidnapped and returned the next day. They claim that they can’t remember anything. The following night, the twin sisters disappear.
•  A boy has a very realistic dream about impending doom, but nobody believes him until, during a storm, all the birds fall dead on the ground.
•  Room 206 is believed to be haunted, so hotel guests never stay in it. One day, an old woman arrives at the hotel and asks for the key to room 206. She says that she was born there.
•  A genius scientist tries to extract his wife’s consciousness from her lifeless body and insert it into an imprisoned woman who looks just like his wife.
•  Two distinguished scientists developed a new type of virus that attacks their brains and turns them into killing machines.
•  A woman steps out of her house only to find four of her neighbors dead at her doorstep. Little does she know that she isn’t supposed to call the police.
•  A bachelor’s party ends with two dead people in the pool. Both of them are missing their eyes.
•  A young woman wearing a black dress is holding a knife in her hand and threatening to kill a frightened man. She is terrified because she does not want to kill anybody, but her body refuses to obey her mind.
•  A strange religious group starts performing a ritual on a playground. The children’s hearts stop beating.
•  A woman discovers that her niece has done some horrible crimes, so she decides to poison her. Both of them take the poison, but only the aunt dies.

• A man encounters death on his way to work. He can ask three questions before he dies. He makes a quick decision.
•  An older brother kills his baby sister because he wants to be an only child. When he learns that his mother is pregnant again, he decides to punish her.
•  A husband and his wife move to a new apartment. After a week, both of them kill themselves. They leave a note saying: “Never again.”
•  A man is trying to open a time portal so that he can kill his parents before he is ever conceived.
•  A famous conductor imprisons a pianist from the orchestra and makes him play the piano while he tortures other victims as musicians. Every time the pianist makes a mistake, the conductor cuts of a finger from his victims.
•  A popular French chef is invited by a mysterious Japanese sushi master for dinner. A powerful potion makes the French chef fall asleep. He wakes up horrified to learn that he is kept on a human farm, in a cage.
•  A nuclear blast turns animals into blood-thirsty monsters.
•  A mysterious bug creeps under people’s skin and turns them into the worst version of themselves.
•  A kidnapper makes his victims torture each other for his sheer pleasure.
•  Four friends are invited to spend the afternoon in an escape room. A man’s voice tells them that they have won a prize. They happily accept and enter the escape room. They soon realize that the room was designed to reflect their worst nightmares.

• Two sisters have been given names from the Book of the Dead. Their fates have been sealed, so when they turn 21, dark forces are sent to bring them to the underground.
•  A mother-to-be starts feeling severe pain in her stomach every time she touches a Bible. Despite the fear for her own life, she starts reading the New Testament out loud.
•  A literature professor discovers an old manuscript in the college library. He opens it in his study, and suddenly, a black raven flies through the window.
•  You are the Ruler of a dystopian society. You kill every time your control is threatened.
•  You are an intelligent robot who shows no mercy to humanity.
•  You are a promising researcher who discovers that all the notorious dictators have been cloned.
•  A nomad meets a fakir who tells him that he will bring agony to dozens of people unless he kills himself before he transforms into a monster.
•  A most prominent member of a sect goes to animal shelters to find food for the dark forces.
•  A man hires unethical doctors to help him experience clinical death and then bring him back to life after a minute. Little does he know that one minute of death feels like an eternity full of horrors.
•  You travel home to visit your parents for the holidays. Everything seems normal until you realize that demons have taken over their consciousness.
•  A mysterious woman moves into your apartment building. One by one, all of the tenants start hallucinating that monsters are chasing them and jump to their own deaths.
•  Divorced parents are kidnapped together with their son. Both of the parents have been given poison, but there is only one antidote. The boy needs to decide which parent gets to be saved. He has 30 seconds to make that decision.
•  A patient with a multiple-personality disorder tells you that you are one of six characters.
•  You wake up in bed that is a bloodbath.

• The Government abducts children with genius IQ and trains them to fight the horrors in Area 51.
•   A woman who has just given birth at her home is told that the baby is predestined to become the leader of the greatest demonic order in the country.
•  A man signs a document with his blood to relinquish his body to a sect.
•  A woman enters a sacred cave in India and disappears for good.
•  A man opens his eyes in the middle of his autopsy while the coroner is holding his heart.
•  You look outside the windows in your house only to see that the view has changed and there is black fog surrounding you.
•  The gargoyles from Notre Dame have come to life, and they start terrorizing Paris.
•  Somebody rings your doorbell. You open the door, and a frightened girl with bloody hands is standing at your doorstep. “You’re late,” you reprimand her.
•  You wake up in the middle of the night after a frightful nightmare, so you go to the kitchen to get a glass of water. You turn on the light, and a person looking like your identical twin is grinning and pointing a knife at you.
•  A renowned book editor receives a manuscript elegantly written by hand. The title grabs her attention, and she continues reading page after page. When she finishes, the manuscript spontaneously starts burning, and the editor is cursed forever.
•  The last thing you remember before losing consciousness is fighting a shady Uber driver.
•  You find yourself in a cage in the middle of a forest and black mythological harpies hovering above the cage.
•  A woman wants to quit smoking, so she visits a therapist who is supposed to help her with the use of hypnosis. She goes under, and when she wakes up, she feels like a born killer.
•  Five hikers get stranded during a horrible storm. One of them kills the weakest and starts burning his body.
•  A mother goes in to the nursery to check up on the baby and discovers that the baby is missing and, in her place, there is a baby doll.

•  A killer is willing to pay a large sum of money to the family of a volunteering victim. A cancer patient contacts the killer. The killer ends up dead.
•  The sacred river in a remote Asian village fills up with blood. The last time that happened, all the children in the village died.
•  A tall, dark, and handsome stranger invites a blind woman for a romantic date in his botanical garden. The garden is full of black roses in which women’s souls have been trapped. He tells her that she will stay forever with him in his garden.
•  A frightened man is trying to lead a werewolf into a trap and kill him with the last silver bullet.
•  An architect designs houses for the rich and famous. What he doesn’t show them is that he always leaves room for a secret passageway to their bedrooms, where they are the most vulnerable.
•  A man’s DNA was found on a horrible crime scene, and he has been charged with murder in the first degree. He adamantly negates any involvement in the crime that has been committed. What he doesn’t know is that he had a twin brother who died at birth.
•  Every passenger on the Orient Express dies in a different and equally mysterious way.  
•  A magician needs a volunteer from the audience in order to demonstrate a trick involving sawing a person in half. A beautiful woman steps on the stage. The magician makes her fall asleep, and then he performs the trick. In the end, he disappears. People in the audience start panicking when they notice the blood dripping from the table. The magician is nowhere to be found. The woman is dead.
• A mother discovers that her bright son is not human.
• Specters keep terrorizing patients in a psychiatric hospital, but nobody believes them.

• A man’s mind is locked into an immovable body. This person is being tortured by a psychopath who kills his family members in front of him, knowing that he is in agony and can’t do anything to save them.
• A bride-to-be receives a DVD via mail from an unknown sender. She plays the video and, disgusted, watches a pagan ritual. The people are wearing masks, but she recognizes the voice of her husband-to-be.
• A man turns himself to the police, although he hasn’t broken the law. He begs them to put him in prison because he had a premonition that he would become a serial killer.
• Jack the Ripper is actually a woman who brutally kills prostitutes because her own mother was a prostitute.
• A ticking noise wakes her up. It’s a bomb, and she has only four minutes to do something about it.
• After a horrible car crash, a walking skeleton emerges from the explosion.
• A world-famous violinist virtuoso uses music to summon dark forces.
• A philosopher is trying to outwit Death in order to be granted immortality. He doesn’t know that Death already knows the outcome of this conversation.
• A beautiful but superficial woman promises a demon to give him her virginity in exchange for immortality. Once the demon granted her wish, she refused to fulfill her end of the deal. The demon retaliated by making her immortal but not eternally youthful.
• A voice starts chanting spells every time somebody wears the gold necklace from Damask.
• Three teenagers beat up a homeless man. The next day all of them go missing.

• Thirteen tourists from Poland visit Trakai Island Castle in Vilnius. Their bodies are found washed up the next morning. They are wearing medieval clothes.
• A group of extremists ambush the vehicle in which the head of a terrorist cell is transported and rescue him. They go after anybody who was involved in his incarceration.
• A hitman is hired to kill a potential heart donor.
• A man is attacked by the neighbor’s dog while trying to bury his wife alive.
• A woman disappears from her home without a trace. He husband reports her missing. The police start to suspect the husband when they retrieve some deleted messages.
• After moving to a new house, all the family members have the same nightmares. Slowly, they realize that they might be more than nightmares.
• A psychopath is drugging his wife, pushing her to commit suicide so that he can collect the life insurance.
• A woman loses her eyesight overnight. Instead, she starts having premonitions.
• A vampire prefers albino children.
• A man commits murders at night and relives the agony of his victims during the day.
• A black horse carriage stops in front of your house. A hand wearing a black glove makes an inviting gesture. Mesmerized, you decide to enter the carriage.
• Demons rejuvenate by eating kind people’s hearts.
• People are horrified to find all of the graves dug out the morning after Halloween.
• Men start jumping off buildings and bridges after hearing a mysterious song.
• A voice in your head tells you to stop listening to the other voices. They were not real.
• A severed head is hanging from a bridge with a message written in the victim’s blood.
• A delusional man brings his screaming children to a chasm.
• A 30-year-old woman learns that a baby with the same name as her died at the local hospital 30 years ago.
• A vampire donates his blood so that a child with special brain powers can receive it.
• A teenager is determined to escape his kidnapper by manipulating him into drinking poison. He doesn’t stop there.

If you want to streamline the horror novel creation process, you can also generate a custom book template with AI:

Final Words

The 132 scary story ideas will help you take a deep dive into the human psyche. These horror story prompts will make you a seasoned writer and help you captivate readers. So, get ready to write a good horror story with unique writing prompts.

Frequently Asked Questions

Let’s take a look at the following questions and answers:

What is a good way to start horror writing prompts?

To grab readers’ attention, craft the beginning of your horror story around an active scene featuring characters in the thick of an action. Introduce the central conflict and sprinkle tantalizing hints of danger or the unknown, such as clues about an accident or murder, to create an air of suspense and intrigue.

What are some good scary story ideas?

Effective horror story ideas delve into innate human fears and weaknesses. These fears can manifest as physical threats like monsters or ghosts or as psychological anxieties such as uncertainty or the unraveling of reality.

How can I start writing unique horror stories?

To craft a spine-tingling horror story, delve into the emotions that haunt your audience. Fear thrives in the unknown and the unforeseen, so weave these aspects seamlessly into your narrative. Craft a haunting atmosphere or chilling plot through vivid descriptions that linger in the reader’s mind. Gradually intensify the tension to keep them captivated and quivering on the brink of terror.

Is it easy to write on scary story prompts?

If you’re a horror enthusiast, you likely have some scary story ideas for your own screenplay. However, crafting effective horror stories isn’t straightforward. To truly scare your audience, your scary story must connect with their most primal fears.

What are cliches to avoid while writing scary story ideas?

To create effective horror stories, don’t rely solely on common tropes like haunted houses or creepy children. Instead, find unique angles or reinterpretations to keep your readers engaged in your scary story. Avoid overused scary story ideas unless you can add a novel twist. Remember that the goal of a horror story is to surprise and disturb the audience, making it crucial to avoid predictability and create an unsettling experience for your readers.

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How to write a horror story: Telling tales of terror

Learn how to write a horror story, with insights from Stephen King, John Carpenter, the script opening for The Exorcist, and more, and discover ideas for telling a more chilling tale.

• Post author By Jordan
• 71 Comments on How to write a horror story: Telling tales of terror

Learning how to write horror is a useful for any writer. The genre contains storytelling elements that are useful beyond it. Read a concise guide to horror. We explore what horror is, key elements of horror, plus tips and quotes from masters of horror film and fiction.

What is horror? Elements of horror

The horror genre is speculative or fantastical fiction that evokes fear, suspense, and dread.

Horror often gives readers or viewers the sense of relief by the end of the story.

Stephen King calls this ‘reintegration’. Writes King in his non-fiction book on horror, Danse Macabre (1981), about the release from terror in reintegration:

For now, the worst has been faced and it wasn’t so bad at all. There was that magic moment of reintegration and safety at the end, that same feeling that comes when the roller coaster stops at the end of its run and you get off with your best girl, both of you whole and unhurt. I believe it’s this feeling of reintegration, arising from a field specializing in death, fear, and monstrosity, that makes the danse macabre so rewarding and magical … that, and the boundless ability of the human imagination to create endless dreamworlds and then put them to work. Stephen King, Dance Macabre (1981), p. 27 (Kindle version)

A brief history of the horror genre

Horror, like most genres, has evolved substantially.

Modern horror stories’ precursors were Gothic tales, stretching back to the 1700s. Even stretching beyond that, into gory myths and legends such as Grimm’s folktales.

In early Gothic fiction, the horrifying aspects (such as ghostly apparitions) tended to stem from characters’ tortured psyches. For example, the ghostly shenanigans in Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw (1898). It was often ambiguous whether or not supernatural events depicted were real or imagined by a typically unreliable, tortured narrator.

More modern horror turned increasingly towards ‘psychological horror’. Here, the source of horror is more interior. Or else an external monster or supernatural figure is no figment but completely real.

See Noël Carroll’s The Philosophy of Horror : Or, Paradoxes of the Heart for further interesting information on the genres history, as well as Stephen King’s Danse Macabre.

8 elements of horror

Eight recurring elements in classic and contemporary horror, from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) to the contemporary horror films of Ari Aster, are:

• Suspense (the anticipation of terror or bad things). Horror builds suspense by evoking our fear of the known (for example, fear of the dark). Also fear of the unknown (what could be lurking in said dark).
• Fear. The genre plays with primal fears such as fear of injury, accident, evil, our mistakes, whether evil faces accountability (see Thomas Fahy’s The Philosophy of Horror for more on the philosophy of horror and moral questions horror asks).
• Atmosphere. Horror relies extensively on the emotional effects of atmosphere. Just think of the claustrophobic atmosphere of the ship, the aliens’ human-hunting paradise, in the Alien film franchise.
• Vulnerability. The horror genre plays with our vulnerability, makes us remember it. Horror often asks ‘what if the other is overtly or insidiously malevolent? In asking this, it reminds us of the values of both caution and courage.
• Survival . Many horror subgenres explore themes of survival, from zombie horror to slasher films. Like tragedy, survival stories explore the rippling-out consequences of making ‘the wrong choice’.
• The Supernatural. Horror stories also plumb the unseen and unknown, terrors our physics, beliefs and assumptions can’t always explain.
• Psychological terror. Horror typically manipulates the perceptions of readers/viewers (and characters) to create a sense of unease. ‘What’s thumping under that locked cellar door?’
• The monstrous. Whether actual monsters or the monstrous possible in ordinary human behavior, horror explores the dark and what terrifies or disgusts.

Further elements and themes that appear often include death, the demonic, isolation, madness, grief and revenge.

What does horror offer readers/viewers?

In The Philosophy of Horror (2010), Thomas Fahy compares horror to a reluctant skydiving trip taken with friends, referencing King’s concept of reintegration, the ‘return to safety’:

In many ways, the horror genre promises a similar experience [to skydiving]: The anticipation of terror, the mixture of fear and exhilaration as events unfold, the opportunity to confront the unpredictable and dangerous, the promise of relative safety (both in the context of a darkened theater and through a narrative structure that lasts a finite amount of time and/or number of pages), and the feeling of relief and regained control when it’s over. Thomas Fahy (Ed.), ‘Introduction’, The Philosophy of Horror (2010).

Horror also appeals to the pleasures of repetition. The darkly amusing absurdity and existentialism of how characters are bumped off one by one in a slasher film, for example.

Audiences also flock to horror for tension (produced by suspense, fear, shock, terror, gore and other common elements), personal relevance (the way horror explores themes we can relate to), and the pleasure of the surreal or unreality.

What do you love about the horror genre? Tell us in the comments!

How to write horror: 10 tips (plus examples and quotes)

Explore ten ideas on how to write a horror story:

Jump scares and sudden gore might punctuate the story, but if they appear every page they risk becoming predictable.

Who in your ensemble will your reader or viewer want to survive or triumph over horrifying events, and why?

Often horror flips between everyday fears (a young couple’s fears about becoming parents, for example) and a symbolic, scarier level.

Great horror stories often live on in reader/viewer debate about what ‘really’ happened. They reward rewatching.

Horror stories make terrifying events (such as an author being abducted by a homicidal superfan in King’s Misery ) seem plausible. We believe their worlds.

Who can forget the infamous shower scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho ? Horror often scares us where we think we’re safest.

Play with multiple layers and levels of fear – fear of the known, unknown, of real monsters and the make-believe monsters of perception.

What will create that feeling that something’s just a little off, unexpected?

Some horror subgenres (e.g. splatterpunk or slasher horror) go all-out on gore. Violence isn’t the only way to unsettle your reader, though. Play with the fear of the unseen – imagination can supply the possibilities.

Focusing solely on scaring readers may end up with a story that is more style and provocation than substance. Think about character and story arcs, using setting to create tone and atmosphere, other elements that make up good stories .

Pace the big horror scares for suspense

Let’s explore each of the preceding ideas on how to write horror. First: Pacing.

As in suspense, pacing is everything in horror. Good pacing allows the build-up, ebb and flow of tension.

See how the script for the classic 1973 horror film The Exorcist (adapted from William Peter Blatty’s 1971 novel of the same name) begins? Not with immediate, obvious demonic possession, but the suspense of an archaeological dig. There are no jump scares, and no gore – just quiet unease.

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Pacing in horror-writing example: Slow-building tension in The Exorcist

EXTERIOR- IRAQ- EXCATVATION SITE- NINEVEH- DAY Pickaxes and shovels weld into the air as hundreds of excavators tear at the desert. The camera pans around the area where hundreds of Iraqi workmen dig for ancient finds. […] YOUNG BOY (In Iraqi language) They’ve found something… small pieces. MERRIN (In Iraqi language) Where? The Exorcist screenplay. Source: Script Slug

This is a long way – geographically and tonally – from a young girl walking backwards downstairs or her head turning around like an owl’s.

A seemingly innocent archaeological dig turns into something more sinister. A link is implied between the statue of a demon unearthed in the dig and two dogs starting to fight:

EXTERIOR – IRAQ- NINEVEH- DAY […] The old man walks up the rocky mound and sees a huge statue of the demon Pazuzu, which has the head of the small rock he earlier found. He climbs to a higher point to get a closer look. When he reaches the highest point he looks at the statue dead on. He then turns his head as we hear rocks falling and sees a guard standing behind him. He then turns again when he hears two dogs savagely attacking each other. The noise is something of an evil nature. He looks again at the statue and we are then presented with a classic stand off side view of the old man and the statue as the noises rage on. We then fade to the sun slowly setting as the noises lower in volume. The Exorcist screenplay. Source: Script Slug

The suspense in this opening builds up a sense of something horrifying being unleashed on the world unwittingly.

Use characterization to make readers care

Great horror stories may use stock character types, flat arcs. For example, in slasher films where some characters’ main purpose is to die in some creative, absurd way.

Yet subtler horror writing uses characterization to make the reader care.

Part of the truly horrifying aspect of The Exorcist , for example, is knowing that an innocent child is possessed. Tormented by evil through no fault of her own.

The care is palpable in her mother Chris’ (Ellen Burstyn) horror and anxiety in reaction. Empathy is a natural response to having an unwell child (and ‘unwell’ is putting it mildly, in this case).

We empathize with characters grappling with dark forces beyond their control. Life tests everyone with destructive or painful experiences at some point in time. The sense of powerlessness (and tenacity that emerges through that) is a testament to the human spirit, to perseverance.

A horror story itself may have a bleaker reading, of course. Yet we struggle on with the intrepid heroines in their attempts to overcome.

Three horror character archetypes that make us care

In Danse Macabre , Stephen King discusses three common character archetypes in horror and Gothic fiction:

• The Thing – for example, Frankenstein’s monster in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein , which expresses pain at having been created.
• The Vampire – often represented as suffering eternal life/return (similar in this regard to ghosts and poltergeists).
• The Werewolf – a horror character who transforms, typically against their will and usually with great suffering, into a beast.

King explores examples of these three horror archetypes from books and films such as Robert Louis Stevenson’s Gothic novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886) and Alfred Hitchcock’s seminal psychological horror film, Psycho (1960).

Writes King:

It doesn’t end with the Thing, the Vampire, and the Werewolf; there are other bogeys out there in the shadows as well. But these three account of a large bloc of modern horror fiction. King, Danse Macarbre, p. 96.

Why horror character archetypes make us care

Horror lovers care about ‘the thing’ archetype often because ‘the thing’, the monster, is misunderstood or blameless for its creation. Think of Frankenstein’s monster, who bargains with his creator for release and freedom.

‘The vampire’ is often a relatable figure because of the inevitable loneliness of eternal life. The vampire is imprisoned by limitations such as not being allowed the rest of death (or even natural pleasures such as sunlight – as glamorous as it might be to sparkle like Stephenie Meyer’s diamante vamps).

King writes about the werewolf and how it represents human duality. The respectable public persona or façade, on one hand, and a world of hidden, private horror on the other. A duality many who carry private trauma can relate to.

Each archetype is relatable on some level. This empathic element makes one care for (or at least understand) the monstrous and inhuman in more literary horror stories. Evil (though some don’t like to admit it) has a face and a backstory, a history of becoming, most of the time.

Read more about how to create characters readers can picture and care about in our complete guide to character creation .

Make the known scary (not just the unknown)

Many horror movies tap into the terror of the known, the common human experience, and not only absurd (but campy and fun) nightmares like clowns hiding in stormwater drains.

Common, relatable parts of familiar human experience to mine for horror and terror include:

• Birth and death (e.g. Rosemary’s Baby )
• Loss and grief (e.g. Hereditary )
• Childhood fears (e.g. It )
• Loss of control (e.g. An American Werewolf in London )
• Ritual and community (e.g. Midsommar )
• Exploring the unknown (e.g. Alien )

Filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan writes in the script for the 2000 film Unbreakable:

Do you know what the scariest thing is? To not know your place in this world, to not know why you’re here. That’s – that’s just an awful feeling.

Often, it is this mundane, relatable element of horror – such as the horror of not having a place in the world – that supplies the psychological or inner aspect.

For example, a bereaved family’s struggle with an occult family history (the outer horror) provides the figurative, metaphorical means to explore the painful reality of grief and intergenerational trauma (inner horror) in Ari Aster’s psychological horror film, Hereditary .

Don’t feel you have to explain everything

Although King’s concept of ‘reintegration’ applies in many horror stories where a sunnier ending promises relief, many modern horror narratives eschew tidy resolution.

It’s a classic ploy in horror series, for example, for there to be troubling alarm bells at the end, inferring that a persistent terror lives on. For example, the jump scare at the end of the original A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) [warning: implied violence, spoilers].

The shock comes through the juxtaposition of an ‘everyone’s safe at last moment’ and terror striking from inside the house without warning, undoing the sense of resolution attained. The main character having woken from the dreams where the bulk of terrifying events occur adds to this false sense of security.

There is no graphic gore or violence. The scene doesn’t show or tell every detail. Instead, the audience has to interpret the event and what it implies about the the status of the conflict between the main characters and the supernatural villain, Freddy Krueger – whether it is truly over.

Play with the terror of plausibility

What is most terrifying is often what is plausible. For example, the crazed fan who abducts her favorite author in Stephen King’s Misery (1987), for hobbling instead of autographs. Celebrity stalking is a well-documented modern cultural phenomenon. It is hard to eyeroll at after John Lennon.

Why is plausibility worth thinking about when exploring how to write horror?

• Suspension of disbelief. If events in a horror story seem plausible (at least for the horror world created), the audience is less inclined to roll their eyes and groan, ‘That would never happen’.
• Relatability . A novel and film such as The Exorcist plays on the natural fear many have that loved ones will fall unwell or depart, in body, spirit or mind.
• Tension and unpredictability: It is more tense and unpredictable when everything is ‘normal’ to start. Ruptures in the fabric of this normalcy create tension, the sense ‘anything could happen’ (that sense requires the bedrock of plausibility first ).

Scare horror audiences when they least expect

Like that jump scare in the final scene of A Nightmare on Elm Street , horror often scares the shoes off us when we least expect it.

Take, for example, the infamous shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960), where Marion Crane is attacked in the shower.

The shower, usually associated with privacy, relaxation, is nothing like an abandoned side street, dark wood at night, or other traditionally ‘creepy’ setting. This coupled with the intensity of Hitchcock’s shots – the raised hand clutching a knife – creates a chilling scene.

Horror mastery lies in a push and pull, lulling your audience into a false sense of security, then pulling the rug out from under them when they least expect it. Tweet This

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Deepen the story with layers of fear

Horror, like other fantastical genres, deals in layers and dualities. In fantasy fiction , we often have a primary world and a secondary one. In horror, the duality is often an internal horror doing a ‘danse macabre’ with an external one.

Says horror filmmaking veteran John Carpenter in conversation with Vulture :

There are two different stories in horror: internal and external. In external horror films, the evil comes from the outside, the other tribe, this thing in the darkness that we don’t understand. Internal is the human heart. Simon Abrams, ‘The Soft-Spoken John Carpenter on How He Chooses Projects and His Box-Office Failures’, July 6 2011.

In a story using the ‘werewolf’ archetype, for example, the rational, untransformed side of a protagonist may fear the revelation of their monstrous side, the consequences this would have for their daily life (whether they are a literal werewolf or this is figurative). Transformed, the werewolf, like the ‘elephant man’, may experience the external horror and fear of others’ revulsion or animosity (which then feeds the internal, in a vicious cycle).

Having both internal and external conflicts in a horror story moves horror beyond simple disgust and shock tactics. The audience can connect deeper with characters, the cycles of violence they endure or triumph over.

Tapping into common fears for horror writing

If the point of horror writing (and horror elements in other genres such as paranormal romance) is to arouse fear, shock or disgust, think of the things people are most commonly afraid of.

Live Science places an interest choice at number one : The dentist. It’s true that you can feel powerless when you’re in the dentist’s chair. Couple this with the pain of certain dental procedures and it’s plain to see why a malevolent dentist is the stuff of horror nightmares.

Making readers scared creates tension and increases the pace of your story. Even so there should be a reason for making readers fearful.

Here are some of the most common fears people have:

• Fear of animals (dogs, snakes, sharks, mythical creatures such as the deep sea-dwelling kraken)
• Fear of flying (film producers combined the previous fear and this other common fear to make the spoof horror movie Snakes on a Plane)
• The dark – one of the most fundamental fears of the unfamiliar
• Perilous heights
• Other people and their often unknown desires or intentions
• Ugly or disorienting environments

Think of how common fears can be evoked in your horror fiction. Some are more often exploited in horror writing than others. A less precise fear (such as the fear of certain spaces) will let you tell the horror story you want with fewer specified must-haves.

Add subtler hints of something wrong

Returning to core elements of horror – fear, suspense, and atmosphere – how do you make horror scary even when Freddy isn’t dragging anyone through a solid wood door?

Tone and atmosphere emerge in the subtle hints and clues something is wrong.

Hints and signs of horrors to come could include:

• Unsettling sounds. Dripping, humming, chanting, singing, banging, knocking, drumming. What are sounds that imply trouble and the ghastly unknown coming to visit?
• Creepy imagery. What are images and signs that suggest comfort (for example, a lamp burning in a window to signal someone’s home)? Blow those candles out, play with the unhomely.
• Unsettling change. Changes in light, a companion’s tone, a pet’s behavior. Small harbingers of trouble add tension.
• Missing objects. What is not continuous in a way that unsettles and defies expectations? For example, in the reboot of Twin Peaks , an attempt to go home again leads to the dread of everything being different, that sense of ‘you can’t go home again’.
• Discomforting communication. Sometimes horror hinges on a repeated word or phrase (‘Candyman’), or someone saying something creepily unexpected.

The above are just a few ways to imply that something is very wrong.

Balance gore with the unseen (subgenre depending)

Gore in horror has the capability to shock, disgust, make your audience squeamish. Yet a relentless gore-fest may quickly desensitize readers or viewers to the element of surprise.

How much gore you include in a horror will of course depend on your subgenre and story scenario. Slasher stories and subgenres such as splatterpunk (a horror subgenre characterized by extreme violence) will have audiences who demand gore and may lament something tame.

Reasons to balance gore with the terror of the unseen, otherwise:

• Maintaining tension. Periods of calm between violent scenes create suspense, nervous tension for when there’ll be blood again.
• Deepening the story. Great stories with broad appeal take more than blood and guts – meaningful character arcs and genuine scares and horrifying scenes can coexist.
• Artful storytelling. Relying on inference, plot twists, atmosphere, tension for fright and shock is arguably more artful than leaping straight for shock-value. Critical succcesses in the horror genre often don’t rely solely on the cheapest, easiest scares. The story often earns them by building plausibility or deeper symbolic and metaphorical resonance.

Tell a good story first, scare readers second

That last idea boils down to this: Focus on telling a good story, first.

If your sole focus is how most you can shock and manipulate your audience, some may critique this as cheap exploitation.

Some authors – deliberate provocateurs – may wear that label as a badge of pride, of course. Careers are sometimes made in attracting controversy, even bans and censorship for extreme shock value.

Yet the stories that endure often make excellent uses of all the parts of storytelling and encapsulate some of the qualities that make storytelling universal – humanity, insight, the empathy and truth-finding that imagining and exploring ‘dreamworlds’ offers.

Are you writing horror? Join the Now Novel critique community for free and get perks such as longer critique submissions, weekly editorial feedback and story planning tools when you upgrade to The Process.

Now Novel has been invaluable in helping me learn about the craft of novel writing. The feedback has been encouraging, insightful and useful. I’m sure I wouldn’t have got as far as I have without the support of Jordan and the writers in the groups. Highly recommend to anyone seeking help, support or encouragement with their first or next novel. – Oliver

Related Posts:

• Showing vs telling: 'Show don't tell' in narration
• How do you write a story using three-act structure?
• How to write the middle of a story: 9 tips
• Tags horror fiction

Jordan is a writer, editor, community manager and product developer. He received his BA Honours in English Literature and his undergraduate in English Literature and Music from the University of Cape Town.

71 replies on “How to write a horror story: Telling tales of terror”

[…] Similarly, the always awesome Now Novel blog has 6 Terrific tips on How to write a horror story that are worth a look. The most important piece of info there, in my opinion is # 5: Write scary […]

Great and helpful post. Its difficult to find helpful, informative posts on horror writing. Thanks.

It’s a pleasure, Alice. I’m glad you found this helpful.

I agree with Alice. This was very useful. Thanks, Bridget.

It’s a pleasure, Melissa, thanks for reading.

As always, an insightful and helpful post, especially regarding the distinction between terror and horror. Love the SK quote! 🙂

Thank you! Thanks for reading. It is a good quote, isn’t it?

Im 11 and working on a horror story with 100 or more pages. this is very helpful. 🙂

I’m impressed, Ethan. Keep going! I’m glad you found it helpful 🙂

Okay, I’m EXACTLY the same age and also working on a horror novel!! I already have 241 pages, though.

Update* im now 13 yayayayyaa owo I lost the pages and have then finished writing a script for something i cant loose. SO HAPPY ABOUT THIS

Omg hey Ethan and Malachi I’m twelve (right in the middle IG) and working on novels that are going to be between 100 and 300 pages! Good luck guys 😀

Great article. You helped me realise that the short I was working on is actually a novel. Not sure how mind you, but thanks all the same. I’ll sign up now.

Thanks, Gareth! Glad to help.

The article is useful, except for the last part, which totally messed up the beauty of the article. It’s POINTLESS trying to differentiate two things that are mostly used interchangeably. Moreover, Terry Heller’s point makes the whole sense, SENSELESS, because her definition of terror and horror are actually the same except for the subjects to where such emotion is concerned about. Terror is one’s fear for oneself, and horror is one’s fear for others? Are you kidding me? Both can be subjected to either oneself or to others. Dictionaries and encyclopedias never indicate that horror is what one fears for others alone, because it can be for oneself, too. If Terry cannot differentiate two things, which are not really meant to be differentiated because they are the ultimate synonym for each other, then she doesn’t have to make such an effort. She’s making everyone a fool.

Thank you for your engaging response. You raise valid points, and sometimes academic treatments of subjects do over-complicate matters. In light of your comment I’m updating the post since I see now that the distinction isn’t perhaps particularly useful here.

Thanks for the tips. Writing a horror novel for my 1st NaNoWriMo project. This was extremely helpful 🙂

I’m really glad to hear that, Ashley. I hope NaNoWriMo is going well.

I am 12 and have been working on horror since I was 7! So exited to actually get some good info! Thanks!

It’s a pleasure, Aurelia. It’s great that you’re already so committed to your love of writing, keep it up.

Thanks! I am exited to do Nanowrimo and I am am hoping to write a long novel this November. This really helped and extra thanks to the helpful comment!

It’s a pleasure! I hope your NaNoWriMo is going very well.

This has given me more quality advice on the genre than a three year creative writing degree. Best start reading the stuff first then! Thank you.

Thank you, Neil, high praise indeed. Good luck with your horror book!

… How does one get rid of writers block? My brain always blanks out when I try and start writing. So annoying! >:c

Sometimes listening to songs with a creepy tone helps

Great advice, Allee. I love listening to music while I work myself.

My advice is to literally just write what comes into your brain, it doesn’t matter if it makes sense or not, that’s what first drafts are for, as long as you’re writing in some shape of form, be it poor or good quality, it’s practice

Thank you. … My brain is weird. Just now, I’ve been shaken out of my sleep by an intense dream. Seriously. I don’t know what goes on up there, but it’s mad.

Good advice! Maya Angelou said similar about her writing process. Here are some additional tips on moving past a block: https://www.nownovel.com/blog/banish-writers-block/

I’m so happy I ran across this article. I’ve read from more than one story editor that the horror genre is the most difficult genre to master.

I’m glad to hear that, JP. All genres have their challenges but I’d say the best, best, best approach is to read widely in said genre (and others). Thanks for the feedback!

Yeah, if Stephen King can’t terrify or horrify, he’ll gross us out. And he says he’s not proud. In other words, he’ll stoop to the disgust level if he can’t get the others. But this is precisely the problem with the “gross” or “disgusting.” Disgust is not fear. When we are disgusted, we know TOO much. When we are horrified, there is always something we DON’T know. I’m amazed he doesn’t know that. An autopsy gives us disgust because nothing is held back from the viewer. It is not frightening. No one believes, for example, that the body is going to get up from the autopsy table and start attacking the doctor. But if I walk into the autopsy room all by myself and see a dead body on a table, turn away from the body to shut the door, turn back to it, notice it gone, and then have the lights start dimming? Yes. Now I am scared. Why? Simply because I don’t know certain things. I don’t know why the body has suddenly disappeared. I don’t know how a dead person could have moved. I don’t know where the body is right now. I don’t know if that body (if it is actually alive) has good or bad intentions toward me. I don’t know who is dimming the lights and why. It is so much easier to disgust the reader than to horrify him. It takes more cleverness to hold back information from the character and the reader than to let everything gush forth in blood and guts. In The Hound of the Baskervilles, for example, there is more fear to be found in the inscrutable nightly crying of the butler’s wife than in many of our modern horror films put together. Why is she crying? Why only at night? Why is she doing looking out of the window into the dark each night? The source of fear is in the unknown.

Ultimately, King does know and it is a show vs tell metaphor. You have to read his biographical On Writing because no one explains it correctly. Terror is the psychological aspect of the story. Horror is the stories physical manifestation of the terror. Disgust is the actions of horror. Showing the actions of horror kills all suspense immediately. I like to explain it to my students and listeners as if Terror and Horror are the brake and Disgust is the gas. It’s like the old story of the escaped lunatic with a hook were a young couple go out on a date. While driving to Make Out Lane there is a report on the radio about an escaped killer with a hook running around killing people that the only the girl hears. As the girl and boy are making out she sees a shadow and the boyfriend sees nothing. Then there is the screeching sound on the outside of the car. That’s terror. The boyfriend gets out and inspects his car in the dense fog. The girl loses sight of the boy as he walks toward the rear, building on the terror. There is another screech along her door, terrorizing her. She calls out the boys name and he doesn’t respond, building on the terror, possibly toward horror if the boy doesn’t return. Then he does. He leaps into the car and jerks it into reverse and pulls away from the scene at mach-5. When they arrive back at her house, they find a hook dangling from the passenger door handle, the horror. King describes this little story as the perfect short horror story. However, in some later versions of the story the girl jumps in the driver’s seat and pulls off without the boy. When she gets to her home she finds a bloody hook dangling from the door with a bit of gut on it, leaving the girl and the audience disgusted. as the tension and suspense are deflated.

This is very helpful. My 8th grade English teacher is holding a contest for writing a short (750 to 3,000 word) horror story, so I am researching the elements of horror and how to incorporate them into my work. This article is by far one of the more helpful ones I have found in finding ways to create fear, shock or disgust in the mind of the reader. Thank you!

Hi Margaret,

Thank you for this feedback. I’m glad to hear you found this article useful. I hope you won the contest 🙂

“…his skin distinctly yellowish in colour.” Far from being exemplary in any way, this is actually terrible, hack writing. If something is “yellowish,” it cannot be “distinctly” so. It’s either distinctly yellow, or “yellowish.” Likewise, “in color” is flabby and redundant. Could the skin be “yellowish” in shape or size? Could it be “yellowish” in cost or weight? This page is distinctly whiteish in color. See how weak and flabby that is?

To be fair, there is a lot of good information on this page. But Clive Barker is a dreadful writer, and should never be cited as an exemplar of good prose.

Hi Sharkio, you raise a very good point. I second your edit of just saying ‘yellowish’ and cutting in colour and am tempted to add a note on not taking the letter of his prose as exemplary, but rather the spirit 🙂 I agree that although the atmosphere and tone are there, the prose is weak in places. There’s also the question, though, of whether we can/should apply ‘literary’ standards to genre fic where these and other ‘sins’ are more widely accepted 🙂 Thanks for the thoughtful engagement with this detail.

Are you crazy? There is no writer at the top of their game as Barker was in the 70-90s. His influence is on everything today.

Thanks for sharing your perspective, H Duane 🙂 Just goes to show that everyone has different preferences. He is regarded as one of the modern masters of horror. I suppose genre fiction readers might also be more forgiving of certain stylistic choices than literary readers.

Some good tips after writing 2 love stories and a mystery now I am trying for some horrer story and this will help me such a good information

Thanks, Sidhu. That’s an interesting genre leap, but many horrors do have both elements. It’s a weird trope to me how often the romantic leads are the first to go in slasher flicks. You’d think writers would keep them to add romantic tension to the mix. I hope your story’s coming along well.

I just finished writing my first horror script/ screenplay… I checked this list just to see if I maybe left elements out that I should include or if I was on the right track and I’m proud to report that my script has it all… Once my film finally sees the light of day, I hope all horror fans are satisfied…

Hi Timothy, I hope so too! Best of luck with the next steps, please update us about what comes of it.

I am attempting to write a horror story where the main character is possessed and is writing in a diary like format as it occurs, and begins committing murders, how do I accurately capture the descent into madness?

Hi Evan, thank you for sharing that. It’s an interesting challenge. I would suggest a shift in style and tone in his writing. For example, perhaps they use stranger metaphors, repeat themselves more, their sentences become more fragmented, there’s the occasional odd word by itself on a line, lines or sentences that don’t make complete semantic sense but have an eerie undertone (I think of the classic phrase ‘The owls are not what they seem’ in David Lynch’s Twin Peaks).

I hope this helps! Good luck.

Thank you, this was very useful. I appreciate your enthusiasm and encouragement.

It’s my pleasure, Evan, glad to help. Have a great week.

Wow this was really helpful thanks

I’m glad to hear that, Rene. Thank you for the feedback!

I wanted to write a psychological thriller story for a youtube channel. I am glad I found help from here. Thank You.

It’s a pleasure, Suyasha! Thank you for reading and good luck creating your story for YouTube.

I appreciate the reference to ’cause and effect’ for any level of villainy. The more complex the villain, the more interesting the story. Anything that steps out of the dark and says, “Hi, I’m evil. I’m here to destroy everything for no apparent reason,” flattens the scene. I think your point about motivation is key to getting people engaged in the fantasy. I think that this will heighten the tension in my current story. Thank you.

Hi Deborah, thank you for sharing your thoughts. Agreed, a complex villain also tends to be less predictable which inherently builds more suspense, as (compared to a Bond villain, for example), they’re more textured and unknowable, less of a trope or archetype. I’m glad you found these ideas helpful to your current story, good luck as you proceed further!

Totally agree with you Joseph Pedulla. You summed it up perfectly! Gross is not scary. I like scary. Stephen King is talked about all the time like the all-time best horror writer. I have tried reading some of his work and I find it mind-numbingly boring. I like the story to move along; don’t give me a whole bunch of description!! Read Darren Shan’s ‘The Cirque Du Freak Series.’ Absolutely amazing!

Thank you. I appreciate the elaboration on each hint. I also think your arguments make sense AND can be helpful to many indie-authors & startup writers alike.

Thank you for your feedback, Andre. I’m glad you found our article helpful!

Was looking for some takes regarding this topic and I found your article quite informative. It has given me a fresh perspective on the topic tackled. Thanks!

Please see also my blog, Getting to Know the 4 Incredible Authors of Horror Fiction

Hope this will help,

Thank you, Joab. Thanks for sharing your horror writing blog.

[…] How to Write a Horror Story: 6 Terrific Tips […]

This is quite interesting and I can see how it relates to film more readily than to a novel – perhaps due to the many film examples and the visual quality of the ‘jump scare’, etc. I can see that film examples are very useful, however, I’m having trouble relating this to crafting words on a page as opposed to images on a screen.

Hi Rachel, thank you so much for this useful feedback. It’s interesting how much film and narrative fiction have influenced each other in this specific genre, but this is useful to me – I will work in more examples from horror lit in an additional section when I have a moment. Thanks for helping me make this article better and for reading.

Interesting! I may add some horror prompts to Craft Challenge. You did forget to mention the terror of never finishing a book, missing tons of errors, writing something right after someone else does it, and getting your book idea stolen 😉 Although I suppose they’re preferable to a gruesome death, or drowning, or grasshoppers (don’t judge me) 🕷️🪓🩸

I’m now trying to remember which of those fears horror authors’ writer characters (e.g. in Misery ) have 🙂 I’m going to have to have a look at that. OK, I’m with you on the grasshoppers. My aunt lives near the mountain and they get these very angry-looking green ones my aunt calls ‘Green [redacted]s’ 😉

Also please do, I’ll also think up some horror prompts to share as well (another section for this article in version 2.1).

Oh, I forgot one! The fear of every critique starting with “I don’t like this genre.” 😳

Haha I love that, Margriet. A relatable fear, I would say.

How much room for humor do you think there is in the horror genre? Do you think you could write a horror novel that has a high percentage of humor Vs. horror/gore and still call it a horror novel?

This is a great question, Scott. I really am not a horror expert myself (sometimes I write far out of my comfort zone here which requires a little more research). But if I think of Tim Curry’s performance as It , for example, how he fills the character with this wild humor and characterization that made many prefer the original to the remake, I would say horror has as much capacity for humor as you want it to have. Comedy horror is a thing, with zombie spoofs and the like produced, so you could always market a comedy horror title in both categories. I think part of the natural crossover is that jump scares, campy villainous dialogue, or see-it-coming-from-a-mile tropes often make audiences laugh, too.

I’m working on one to it’s very wierd and it’s called Toony and The Ink Machine Yes I know kind of ripoff of Bendy and The ink machine.

Fabulous title, Silas! Wishing you the best with the writing process.

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How to Write a Scary Story

How to write a scary story in 5 Easy Steps

 Most of us love a good scare!

From our first game of peek-a-boo as a child through those ghost stories around a campfire as a teen, surprises and a little fright never lose their appeal. It’s why horror movies remain big business at the box office and on streaming websites.

•  Even those who profess not to read much will likely have read a Stephen King book or two.
• Gamers aren’t immune either, as the popularity of games such as Resident Evil and Silent Hills will attest.
• Horror is one of the best-selling fiction genres in any medium. 

In this article, we’ll look at spine-chilling tips to help students write spooky stories that will rattle readers to their core. If scary is not your thing, then check out our complete guide to writing a narrative here.

So, pull the curtains, dim the lights and let’s learn how to write a horror story for school.

THE STORY TELLERS BUNDLE OF TEACHING RESOURCES

A MASSIVE COLLECTION of resources for narratives and story writing in the classroom covering all elements of crafting amazing stories. MONTHS WORTH OF WRITING LESSONS AND RESOURCES, including:

1. Write about what scares you.

The old writer’s mantra states, ‘write about what you know. While it’s most unlikely that your students know any killer clowns or lunatic killers who haunt campsites frequented by teenage couples, they can still write about the things that scare them.

This is the best place to start. A student has little hope of frightening the reader unless they choose to write about something they find disturbing.

The more specific the subject, the more personal the writing can become. Horror is filled with tropes and cliches. The world doesn’t need another axe murder chasing teens through the woods or another foolhardy ouija board misadventure – unless there’s a new spin put on things.

Avoiding tired clichés like those mentioned above will help maintain the element of surprise in the writing, which, as we shall see more of later, is essential to keep readers engaged.

Teaching Activity: Ask students to write down a list of the top 3 things that scare them. They needn’t be things that other people are scared of; the more personal and idiosyncratic they are, the more original the story is likely to be. These could be anything from a fear of heights or open spaces to a fear of the doorbell ringing at night.

Now, ask the students to choose one of these fears and list why they are scared of it. They should also write about how their fear makes them feel. The more detailed they can write about this, the better. 

Encourage the students to use their full five senses to describe the feelings and emotions they would experience. The more convincingly they can convey the experience, the more successful they’ll be in striking fear into the hearts of their readers later on.

2. Use Setting to Your Advantage when writing a Horror story

The setting is a crucial element to any story and when used skillfully, it can be an essential tool in raising the scare factor of any tale.

When asked to write a scary story, younger kids will inevitably gravitate towards the more apparent settings such as haunted houses, cemeteries, and dark woods. Again, these well-worn settings would best be avoided unless the student intends to subvert a reader’s expectations.

In fact, given that surprise is one of the key elements to any good scare, subverting the setting is one great tool for terror available to our students. 

For example, the comfort of a sleepover at their grandmother’s can take a turn for the worse if it’s discovered she holds a Black Mass. Imagine a coven of devil-worshippers in the dead of night in that dated living room where she serves milk and cookies to her grandkids during the day. Enough to make you spill your glass of milk over the embroidered cushions!

The physical environment can also be used to create tension and fear. For example, imagine two siblings hiding in a cupboard witnessing Grandmother’s midnight Satanic shenanigans. It’s hot and cramped. Imagine the claustrophobic feeling coupled with the terror of discovery. It’s enough to make you want to skip that Sunday visit to Grandma’s entirely [shudder].

If you are going to teach students how to write a scary story about a haunted house ensure you show them examples of figurative language that gives the house character.

Teaching Activity: Ask your students to take the fear they identified in the first activity and devise a setting for a story based on that fear.

One novel approach for deciding on a setting is to choose the place that seems least likely for a horror story. This unlikely element is one of the reasons why clowns are extraordinarily creepy or why the child’s doll in the Chucky movies is so unnervingly terrifying. 

Not only will this build strength in the student’s creative writing muscles, but it will also help ensure a crucial element of originality in the finished story. The setting should be painted as vividly as possible to create a picture in the reader’s mind. The clearer that picture, the more intense the fear created.

Remember, too, the setting consists of both time and place , so students shouldn’t be afraid to experiment with historical and future settings for their stories too.

3.  Choose your character and point of view wisely when writing a horror story

One of the most common areas horror stories fall down in is that of characterization. Poor characterization is the number one reason many scary stories and movies fall as flat as the characters they utilize.

If your student wants to take their reader on a real knuckle-whitening ride of terror, they have to make the effort to bring their characters to life. An effective strategy to help students bring characters to life on the page is to have them base them on real people.

These real people could be people they know personally, people they’ve heard about in their community or beyond, or even pre-existing fictional characters they are already familiar with. Students should, of course, make the necessary modifications to make sure they are not committing either defamation or plagiarism.

At a more advanced level, students may also consider creating a composite character that brings together various aspects of different characters (real or fictional) that they already know.

Once students have gathered together their cast of characters, they’ll need to decide on a point of view from which to tell the story. Generally, this will be a first or third-person POV, and though the advantages and disadvantages of each type are too complex to go into here, you can find out more about different POVs in other articles on this site.

That said, some general points to consider when choosing a POV for a horror story are that while the first-person POV is great for grabbing the reader’s attention from the outset and for building suspense when the story is in the past tense, it may ruin any suspense regarding whether the narrator survives or not.

Third-person narratives allow for a slower build to a story while maintaining the suspense concerning the outcome for the story’s protagonist. They also allow for the more detailed narration and description demanded by longer stories.

One more point for students to consider is whether the narrator is reliable or not, If they opt for an unreliable narrator, this can open up great opportunities for a final twist in the tale. The 90’s movie The Usual Suspects is a great example of the unreliable narrator at work where the climactic twist at the end reveals the real Keyser Söze.

Teaching Activity: For this activity, students should select a scene to rewrite from a fiction book they are already familiar with. A book a few levels below their current reading level will be perfect.

Students rewrite the scene from first and third-person limited and omniscient perspectives, as well as from the points of view of different characters in the story. More advanced students can even play with using a reliable and unreliable narrator if they’ve already grasped these concepts.

When students have written the different versions of the scene, they should take time to compare the effects of these different points of view. Ask them to identify which of the perspectives and points of view worked best for this particular scene and story. What were the specific advantages and disadvantages of each version?

Year Long Inference Based Writing Activities

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4. Lay It all on the line when writing a scary story

Like the card game poker, it is when the stakes are highest that horror stories are at their most exhilarating. 

In the world of stories, these stakes are directly related to the central problem and character motivation. The broad appeal of horror stories lies in the universality of these motivations.

Ensure students understand this and reflect this knowledge in their writing. There are several different types of ‘stake’ they can use to amp up the reader’s interest. Let’s take a look at 2 of the most common motivations in this genre:

The Survival Motivation: This is the most primitive of the 3. Not wanting to die is something we can all relate to and needs no explanation. However, this motivation can be further enhanced by adding another layer for the character. For example, if the protagonist needs to survive to defeat the monster etc, then the need to survive is emphasized beyond just the preservation of life.

The Protection Motivation: Here, the protagonist’s prime motivation is the need to protect others from a threat, usually in the form of loved ones such as family or a lover. Again, this is a primitive desire that we can all relate to and needs little in the way of explanation for the reader. There are two main ways to increase the stakes for this motivation – increase the number of people’s lives on the line or reveal a deep relationship between the protector and the protected.

 Teaching Activity: Organize students into small groups. Have them look at a list of horror movies, such as those on an online database like IMDb, and then sort the movies into two categories: Survival Motivation or Protection Motivation .

There may be some crossover as many movies will employ both motivations to enhance the drama. In such cases, students should focus on the prime motivation of the movie’s protagonist. Where there’s disagreement, a discussion can be had as a whole class at the end.

When they have completed this activity, students should then look at their notes from the previous activities described above. What motivation is best suited to their embryonic story? Students should write a few lines to explain.

5.  Avoid Clichés in horror writing

There are arguably more familiar tropes and clichés associated with this genre of story-telling than any other. For our student writers, these should be avoided. Clichés and overused tropes result in dull and predictable storylines. These are the opposite of the elements such as surprise and shock, which good horror so often relies on.

The one exception is when the writer takes well-worn plotlines and characters and subverts them to come up with something new, which leads us directly to our next activity.

Teaching Activity: Organize the students into small groups again and challenge them to make a list of clichés and tropes from horror books and movies. The IMDb movie database will again serve well if they need some inspiration. Even if they don’t know the movies, they can read the synopses and identify some of the clichés and tropes used.

Once students have their list, they should attempt to make something fresh from them. The simplest way to do this is often to change the setting or characters. This will lead to unusual ideas, such as vampires in space or piranhas in the city sewage system.

The ideas generated need not be plausible or even ‘good’. This activity aims to flex the students’ creativity muscles in pursuit of something original.

The Final Bell Tolls

So there we have it. Five tips to help students hone their horror-writing skills and five activities to put that newly-gained knowledge into practice.

Writing spooky stories is a great way to get reluctant students to write at Halloween and any time of the year. 

Though writing spooky stories is fun , students still gain opportunities to internalize literature’s essential elements and develop their understanding of how language, structure, and story work.

Not bad for a night’s work…

Now go and write one, and be sure to read our complete guide to writing narratives if you need any further guidance on story writing.

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How to Write a Horror Story: 14 Powerful Tips for Writing Horror

Crafting an epic horror story is no small feat. It requires a delicate dance between fear, suspense, and emotion, leading your readers down a dark and twisted path. So how do you breathe life into nightmares that will haunt your audience long after they’ve turned the last page? Let’s unravel the secrets behind writing a truly terrifying horror story.

Understanding the Horror Genre

In the world of storytelling, horror is the spine-tingling genre that seeks to send shivers down your spine and make your heart race. These stories evoke fear, dread, and terror while delving into our darkest fears and anxieties. Horror often features a hearty helping of supernatural elements and terrifying, grotesque imagery to keep you up at night.

Horror Subgenres

There’s a smorgasbord of flavors when it comes to horror, each with its own distinct characteristics.

• Gothic: The dark and brooding cousin of horror, Gothic tales feature mysterious settings, supernatural elements, and an atmosphere that’ll make you feel like you’re wandering through a foggy graveyard at midnight.
• Psychological: Mind-bending and bone-chilling, psychological horror dives deep into the internal struggles and mental instability of its characters, often leaving you questioning what’s real and what’s just a figment of a character’s twisted imagination.
• Paranormal: Ghosts, spirits, and things that go bump in the night—paranormal horror deals with unexplained phenomena and otherworldly beings that defy the laws of nature.
• Slasher: For fans of blood and gore, slasher horror follows a (usually) human antagonist who commits gruesome acts of violence, often wielding a weapon that becomes their terrifying trademark.
• Body Horror: Skin-crawling body horror focuses on the grotesque transformation, mutilation, or degradation of the human body, often making you viscerally feel like your skeleton is trying to escape.
• Survival Horror: It’s you against the world in survival horror, where characters are pitted against insurmountable odds in isolated or claustrophobic environments, struggling to stay alive in the face of relentless terror.
• Sci-Fi Horror: When science fiction and horror collide, you get sci-fi horror, exploring the dark side of advanced technology and the consequences of scientific discoveries go terribly wrong.

Literary Genre Quiz (Easy)

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4 Key Elements of Horror Stories

When it comes to cooking up a breathtaking horror story, there are a few essential ingredients that every writer should have in their pantry. These elements, when combined in just the right way, will leave your audience shivering with fear and eager for more. Let’s take a look at the key components that make a horror story truly terrifying.

The bread and butter of horror, fear is the primary ingredient that fuels the genre. A horror story aims to tap into our primal instincts and deep-rooted anxieties, leaving us trembling in our boots.

2. Suspense

Suspense is the secret sauce that keeps a horror story simmering. As the tension builds, the audience is kept on edge, wondering what lurks around the next corner, anticipating the next scare.

3. Surprise

A well-timed plot twist can be the cherry on top of a horror story. Unexpected turns heighten the fear and shock experienced by the audience, making the horror all the more impactful.

Sometimes, horror stories need a little extra seasoning. Disgusting or grotesque imagery can intensify the audience’s feelings of unease and revulsion, creating an unforgettable experience that lingers long after the story has ended.

How To Write A Horror Story

Are you ready to delve into the dark corners of your imagination and unleash breathtaking tales? Fear not, brave writer—we’re here to guide you on your hair-raising journey. With these 14 powerful writing tips we’ll venture together into the realm of horror storytelling.

1. Know Your Audience

Before embarking on your horror journey, it’s crucial to gain a deep understanding of your target audience. By knowing who you’re writing for, you can better tailor your content and themes to appeal to their interests, making your story more engaging and effective. Here are some tips to help you get acquainted with your audience:

Read More Horror

Immerse yourself in the world of horror by reading a variety of horror stories, novels, and anthologies. This will help you gain insight into what works well in the genre, what resonates with readers, and the different types of horror stories, so you can figure out what you like and what’s popular among your target audience.

Identify Age & Preferences

Consider the age group and preferences of your target audience, as this will influence the content, tone, and level of gore or terror in your story. For example, a horror story for young adults might have different themes and intensity compared to a story aimed at more mature readers.

Study Your Readers’ Fears

Research the common fears and phobias among your target audience, and use this information to craft a story that will truly resonate with them. This could involve surveying readers, browsing online forums, or examining the most successful horror stories among your chosen demographic.

Analyze Trends & Subgenres

Keep an eye on current trends and popular subgenres within the horror category, as this can give you a better understanding of the types of stories your target audience is interested in. By exploring different subgenres, you can identify unique angles and themes that will make your story stand out.

Engage With the Horror Community

Interact with other horror enthusiasts, writers, and readers online and at events to gain valuable insights and feedback. This can help you fine-tune your understanding of your audience’s preferences and expectations, ultimately allowing you to create a story that truly connects with your readers.

2. Set Up a Fear Factor

Crafting an enthralling horror story requires you to establish a potent fear factor that will captivate and terrify your readers. This could be a supernatural force, a monstrous creature, or a human antagonist with sinister intentions. To make your fear factor truly compelling, consider drawing from your own personal fears and experiences. Here’s a brief overview of some fear types you can use to diversify your horror story:

• Physical Harm & Violence: Tap into the primal fear of pain and injury, using vivid descriptions of harm and brutality to evoke unease and discomfort.
• Loss of Mind & Insanity: Explore the terrifying prospect of losing one’s grip on reality as characters spiral into madness or face psychological torment.
• Supernatural & Paranormal: Delve into the eerie world of ghosts, spirits, and unexplained phenomena, creating a disquieting, otherworldly atmosphere.
• Monsters & Creatures: Unleash the nightmares of your imagination with horrifying beasts and creatures that defy nature, instilling fear through their menacing presence.
• Fear of the Unknown: Exploit the unsettling nature of uncertainty, leaving your readers to fill in the blanks with their own imagination and amplifying their own personal fears.
• Death & Mortality: Confront the inevitable and universal fear of death by exploring themes of loss, mortality, and the afterlife to evoke a sense of dread.

3. Vary the Types of Fear

To keep your readers glued to your spine-tingling tale, it’s essential to incorporate a variety of fear types. Mixing different sources of terror can prevent your story from becoming predictable and maintain suspense throughout.

4. Build an Emotional Core

A good horror story goes beyond mere frights and scares. To make your story truly memorable, create an emotional core that resonates with your readers. This could be a character’s internal struggle, a tragic backstory, or a love story intertwined with the horror. By giving your readers something to connect with, you’ll make your story more impactful and enduring.

5. Use Setting and Atmosphere

Setting and atmosphere play a crucial role in creating a sense of dread and unease. Choose a location that lets your chosen fears flourish, such as an abandoned house, a haunted forest, or a desolate town. Use vivid descriptions to build an atmosphere that keeps your readers on edge, and make the setting a character in its own right.

6. Exploit the Unknown and Inexplicable

One of the most effective ways to instill fear in your readers is by tapping into the fear of the unknown. Incorporate mysterious elements, unexplained events, and enigmatic characters to create a sense of uncertainty and disquiet. This will keep your readers guessing and heighten their sense of unease.

7. Increase Vulnerability Through Isolation

Isolation can make your characters more vulnerable, making your story that much more frightening. Separate your characters from the safety of others, either physically or emotionally. This could involve stranding them in a remote location, cutting off communication, or creating rifts between characters that leave them feeling alone and exposed.

8. Suspense and Pacing

Mastering suspense and pacing is key to writing a successful horror story. Build tension gradually, interspersing moments of calm with sudden shocks and scares. Use cliffhangers, false alarms, and unexpected twists to keep your readers on the edge of their seats.

9. Add Sensory Details

In order to truly immerse your readers in the spine-chilling world of your horror story, it’s important to include vivid sensory details that appeal to all five senses. By painting a rich, multisensory picture, you can heighten the sense of dread and unease, making your story all the more terrifying.

Use descriptive language to create clear, evocative visuals. This could involve the ghastly appearance of a ghost, the eerie flickering of lights in a haunted house, or the sinister shadows that seem to have a life of their own.

Example: The moonlight cast elongated shadows across the desolate room, as the wallpaper peeled away like dead skin, revealing the rotting wooden walls beneath.

Use onomatopoeia and other auditory descriptors to create an unsettling atmosphere. Consider the creaking of floorboards, the howling of wind, or the distant, haunting laughter of a sinister presence.

Example: The deafening silence was suddenly pierced by the shrill screech of rusty hinges, as the long-abandoned door creaked open, ever so slowly.

Describe the tactile sensations your characters experience to further immerse your readers in their horrifying experiences. This might include the clammy touch of a ghostly hand, the suffocating grip of fear, or the icy chill of a draft in an otherwise sealed room.

Example: Her heart raced as she felt the cold, damp breath of something unseen on the back of her neck, sending shivers down her spine.

Incorporate taste to enhance the sense of unease and discomfort in your story. This could involve the metallic taste of fear-induced adrenaline, the stale taste of an old, musty room, or the acrid taste of poison in the air.

Example: As he entered the decrepit mansion, the taste of mold and decay filled his mouth, leaving a bitter, lingering aftertaste that refused to fade.

Use evocative scents to establish an atmosphere of dread or unease. This might include the putrid odor of decay, the sulfurous stench of demonic activity, or the sickly-sweet aroma of a mysterious, sinister perfume.

Example: The room was suffused with the cloying, rancid smell of decay, a miasma of death and desolation that clung to every surface like an invisible shroud.

10. Create Dynamic Characters

Strong, believable characters are essential for any good story, and horror is no exception. Create well-rounded, dynamic characters with their own motivations, fears, and desires. Make sure that your readers will care about your characters, so they’re truly scared for them as the stakes become clear.

11. Make the Stakes Obvious

Following form the previous point, ensure that the stakes are high and the consequences of failure are clear. Whether it’s a character’s life, sanity, or relationships at stake, make sure your readers understand what’s on the line. This will keep them emotionally invested in your story and heighten the tension.

12. Subvert Expectations

To keep your horror story fresh and surprising, consider subverting your readers’ expectations. Play with horror tropes and conventions, turning them on their head to catch your audience off guard. This can make your story more unpredictable and exciting, helping it stand out from the crowd.

13. Find a Unique Premise

A unique premise is key to crafting a memorable horror story. Rather than rehashing tired clichés, look for a new angle or twist to set your story apart. Think about what scares you personally, and explore those fears in your writing. This will give your story a genuine, authentic quality that readers will appreciate.

14. Ground Your Story in Realism

While horror often involves supernatural or fantastical elements, grounding your story in realism can make it more relatable and therefore scarier. Develop a believable world and characters, and use realistic dialogue and relationships. This will help your readers suspend their disbelief and become fully immersed in the horror you’ve created.

7 Common Mistakes in Horror

Even the most seasoned horror writers can get caught in common pitfalls that can weaken the impact of their terrifying tales. By identifying and avoiding these mistakes, you can create a chilling and engaging story that keeps your readers hooked. Here are some common horror mistakes and how to avoid them.

1. Revealing Too Much Too Soon

One key element of a successful horror story is maintaining suspense and tension. Revealing too much information too soon can undermine these feelings and leave your readers disengaged.

How to avoid it: Use a gradual, layered approach when disclosing information, and be strategic with your pacing. Focus on building anticipation and suspense by slowly unveiling the fear factor, the characters’ backstories, and the story’s mysteries.

2. Overusing Clichés & Stereotypes

Too many familiar tropes played straight can make your horror story feel unoriginal and predictable. Relying on clichés and stereotypes can weaken the story’s impact and leave your readers unimpressed.

How to avoid it: Experiment with new ideas and subvert expectations by putting your unique twist on classic horror elements. Explore different genres and story structures to create a fresh and engaging horror experience.

3. Relying Solely on Gore and Violence

Excessive gore and violence can desensitize your readers and detract from the overall horror experience.

How to avoid it: Focus on building tension and fear through psychological and atmospheric elements. Make use of the unknown, the supernatural, and the psychological to create a multi-layered, chilling experience that goes beyond mere gore.

4. Forcing Jump Scares or Shock Value

Jump scares and shock value can quickly lose their effectiveness if overused or forced. They can also detract from the story’s overall atmosphere and pacing.

How to avoid it: Use jump scares and shocking moments sparingly and purposefully. Allow the suspense and tension to build naturally before delivering a well-timed, genuinely surprising moment to maintain their strong effect.

5. Unbelievable Character Actions

Characters who behave unrealistically or make illogical decisions can frustrate readers and hinder their ability to connect with the story.

How to avoid it: Develop well-rounded characters who act and react believably within the story’s context. Ensure that their motivations and actions are grounded in their personalities and circumstances.

6. Weak or Unrealistic Dialogue

Inauthentic or poorly written dialogue can break immersion and detract from the story’s overall impact.

How to avoid it: Focus on crafting natural, engaging dialogue that reveals character and advances the plot . Be mindful of each character’s unique voice and speech patterns so that their dialogue remains consistent throughout the story.

7. Lack of a Clear Resolution

A satisfying resolution is essential for any story, including and maybe especially horror. A lack of closure or a weak resolution can leave readers feeling unsatisfied and disconnected from the story.

How to avoid it: Plan your story’s resolution from the beginning, ensuring that it ties up loose ends and provides a satisfying conclusion. Whether your ending is tragic, triumphant, or ambiguous, make sure it’s emotionally resonant and provides closure for your readers.

9 Great Examples of Horror Stories

Whether you’re new to the genre or a seasoned horror aficionado, it’s always helpful to study successful horror stories to learn what makes them work. These stories have stood the test of time, captivating and terrifying readers for generations. Here are some notable examples of classic, modern, and short horror stories to inspire you.

Classic Horror Stories

• The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe: This macabre tale of guilt and madness explores the psyche of a murderer who can’t escape the incessant beating of his victim’s heart beneath the floorboards.
• The Shining by Stephen King: Set in the isolated Overlook Hotel, this chilling novel delves into the supernatural and psychological horrors that unfold as a family descends into madness.
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley: This groundbreaking Gothic novel tells the tragic tale of Dr. Victor Frankenstein and his monstrous creation, exploring themes of ambition, isolation, and responsibility.

Modern Horror Stories

• The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson: A chilling, atmospheric tale of a group of people who are invited to spend a week in a mysterious and possibly haunted mansion, where they must confront their own inner demons.
• Bird Box by Josh Malerman: In this suspenseful and terrifying post-apocalyptic novel, a woman and her two children navigate a world filled with unseen horrors that drive people to madness and death.
• Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: This eerie, Gothic tale set in 1950s Mexico follows a young woman as she unravels the dark secrets and supernatural occurrences in her cousin’s new home.

Horror Short Stories

• The Monkey’s Paw by W.W. Jacobs: This classic horror short story centers around a cursed monkey’s paw that grants its owner three wishes, with horrifying consequences.
• The Lottery by Shirley Jackson: This unsettling tale explores the dark side of human nature and the power of tradition as a small town carries out a brutal and shocking annual ritual.
• Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? by Joyce Carol Oates: Inspired by a true crime story, this chilling narrative follows a teenage girl who becomes the target of a sinister, supernatural figure.

By immersing yourself in these great horror stories, you can better understand the genre’s conventions, learn from successful authors’ techniques, and ultimately improve your own horror writing.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Finally, let’s examine some frequently asked questions related to writing horror stories.

How Do You Start a Horror Story?

Starting a horror story often involves creating a strong opening that hooks the reader and sets the tone. You can begin by introducing an unsettling atmosphere, a mysterious situation, or an intriguing character. No matter how you begin, you want to start building tension and anticipation from the outset.

What Makes a Story Scary?

A story becomes scary by exploiting human fears and anxieties, whether they be physical, psychological, or emotional. This can be achieved through elements such as suspense, pacing, atmosphere, and the unknown. A strong emotional core, engaging characters, and high stakes also contribute to a story’s scariness.

What Are Some Scary Story Ideas?

Scary story ideas can emerge from various sources, including personal experiences, urban legends, and historical events. Examples include haunted locations, cursed objects, supernatural creatures, or psychological horrors. The key here is finding a unique premise that resonates with your audience’s fears and brings a fresh perspective to the genre.

Should a Horror Story Be in First Person?

Writing a horror story in first person allows the reader to experience the protagonist’s fear and emotions directly. However, other points of view can also be effective, such as third-person limited or omniscient, depending on the story’s structure and intended effect. Ultimately, the choice of POV should serve the story’s purpose and enhance the reader’s experience.

What Age Group Likes Horror?

Horror stories can appeal to various age groups, from young adults to mature readers. The key is to tailor your story’s content, themes, and complexity to your target audience. For example, young adult horror may focus on coming-of-age themes and relatable characters, while adult horror may delve into deeper psychological and existential fears.

Is Horror Hard to Write?

Writing horror can be challenging, as it requires a delicate balance of suspense, pacing, and emotional resonance. It also demands creativity when crafting unique and terrifying scenarios. However, with practice and a strong understanding of the genre’s conventions, you can write a horror story that effectively captivates and terrifies your readers.

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How to Write Horror — Horror Writing Tips for Fiction & Film

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S o, you want to learn how to write a good horror story? Whether you want to know how to write a horror movie or how to write a horror book, the four steps outlined in this guide will get you started on the appropriate course of action and help you to align your creative goals. Writing horror isn’t all that different from writing for other genres, but it does require the right mindset and a creepy destination to work towards. Before we jump into the first of our four steps, let’s begin with a primer.

How to write horror

Before you get started.

The steps outlined in this ‘how to write horror’ guide assume that you already have a grasp over the fundamentals of writing. If you do not yet understand the basic mechanics of prose, screenwriting , or storytelling, then you might not get everything you need out of this guide. Luckily, we have a litany of informative resources that can bring you up to speed on everything you need to know.

If you intend to tell the  horror story  you have in mind as a screenplay, then the best way to fast track your screenwriting education might be to read through some of the  best screenwriting books  or to enroll in one of the  best online screenwriting courses .

Our guide to writing great scenes  is another good place to start, and our  glossary of screenwriting vocabulary  is a great resource if you encounter any unfamiliar terminology. When you’re ready to start writing, you can get going for free in  StudioBinder’s screenwriting software .

Now, we’re ready to jump into step one of our how to write horror guide. But, be warned, if you don’t already have a basic story concept in mind, you should consider that Step Zero.

There’s no concrete way to generate story ideas, but you can always look to creative writing prompts  and  indie films to kickstart inspiration .

HOW TO WRITE A HORROR MOVIE

Step 1: research and study.

Writing horror often begins by consuming great horror . We look to the stories of the past when crafting the stories of the present. Someone who has never read a horror novel or seen a horror film is going to have a much harder time writing horror than someone who is a voracious consumer of horror stories. By watching and reading, you can pick up plenty of tips for writing scary stories.

Before writing your opening line, be sure to do your research. It can be worthwhile to explore all manner of horror media. But for the purposes of this step, it’s best to focus in on the type of material you wish to create.

If you want to learn how to write a horror novel, then read as many horror novels as you can get your hands on. Our list of the  greatest horror films  ever made is a good place to conduct your research if you plan to write a horror screenplay. You can also check out our rundown of  underrated horror films for even more research.

Here are tips on how to write horror from the master himself, Stephen King. And, while you're at it, might as well catch up on the best Stephen King movies and TV based on his work!

How to write good horror  •  Stephen King offers horror writing tips

It’s important to go beyond simply reading and watching horror and to begin to analyze the material. Drill down into why certain decisions were made by the writer and try to figure out why certain elements work or don’t work. It can often be worthwhile to explore material you consider bad as well as what you consider good, so you can learn what not to do.

Check out our analysis of Midsommar   below for an example of how you can break down and explore the horror films that inspire you. You can also download the Midsommar script as a PDF to analyze the writing directly. You should check out our Best Horror Scripts post for more iconic script PDFs.

How to Write Horror  •   Read Full Midsommar Script

When consuming material to learn how to write a horror story, pay particular attention to the pacing and structure of the stories you’re inspired by. For example, if the style you find yourself most drawn to is slow-burn horror, then you might want to aim for a much slower pace than average with your story as well, but the build-up will become even more important.

Horror story writing

Step 2: decide your type of horror.

So, you’ve decided you’re writing horror, congratulations, you’ve settled on a genre. Now, it’s time to pick your sub-genre (s) and to decide on the specific avenue of horror to explore. There are many horror sub-genres to choose from. Just take a look at our ultimate guide to movie genres for quick rundown. And, check out the video below to see horror sub-genres ranked.

Ranking subgenres for inspiration  •  Horror story writing

Keep in mind that genres and subgenres can be mixed and matched in a multitude of combinations. For example, The Witch blends together the horror and historical fiction genres. From Dusk Till Dawn fuses action, crime-thriller, and vampire elements. And Shaun of the Dead fuses the horror and comedy genres by way of the zombie subgenre.

Our video essay below offers insights into Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright’s creative process. Check out our ranking of Edgar Wright’s entire filmography if you want even more.

How Edgar Wright writes and directs his movies  •   Subscribe on YouTube

Step Two is also the time to decide on the specific avenue you will exploit when writing horror. By “avenue of horror,” we mean the primary source(s) of tension and scares. Witches? Zombies? Cosmic horror? Body Horror ? Social Horror? These are all different avenues that your horror story can take on, and just like with genres and sub-genres, mixing and matching is encouraged.

A horror story that exploits kills and gore as its avenue of horror will be written in a much different manner than one that focuses on a sense of creeping dread and leaves more to the viewer or reader’s imagination.

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Step 3: Mine your fears and phobias 

You have decided on your genre and your avenue of horror, now it’s time to get more specific and drill deeper. For Step Three, go beyond asking what makes a story scary and instead figure out what makes your story frightening.

Depending on what you chose in Step Two, this might already be baked into your sub-genre and avenue of horror. For example, the home invasion sub-genre by nature mines a very real phobia that many people share.

The best home invasion films

However, if you chose to go with the zombie subgenre for example, you may need to work a little harder to discover what it is about your story that will scare audiences. Zombies on their own certainly hold the potential to be frightening, but audience overexposure to them throughout the years has gone a long way to lessen the scary impact they once had.

For examples of how to do it right, check out our rundown of the best zombie films ever made . And, for a different yet equally effective take on the sub-genre, check out our list of the  best zombie comedies .

How to write a horror story  •  Exploit common phobias

The above video breaks down the statistics surrounding a number of phobias. One common piece of writerly wisdom is “write what you know.” When writing in the horror genre, we can tweak that advice to, “write what scares you.” Mine your own fears and phobias when crafting your horror story; there are sure to be others out there who get creeped out by the same things.

This is also the step where you should try to discover your X-factor. What is it that sets your story apart from similar horror stories? If the answer is “nothing really,” then it might be time to take your concept back to the drawing board.

How to write a horror story

Step 4: keep your audience in mind.

From this point on, you are ready to start writing your horror story. Much of the writing process will be carried out in the same way as you would write a story in any other genre. But there are a few extra considerations. Put all that research you did in step one to work and ensure that your prose or screenwriting is well balanced and doles out the scares at a good pace.

You will want to find a good middle ground between sacrificing story and character development and going too long without something to keep your audience creeped out.

Narrative pacing is important in every genre, but horror writers also need to worry about pacing their scares, similar to how someone writing an action film needs to deliberately pace out their big action sequences.

How to write a horror story  •  Keep pacing in mind

Decide on who your target audience is from the jump and keep them in mind while you write. There can be a significant difference between horror aimed at teens vs. horror aimed at a mature audience. In film, this can mean the difference between shooting for a PG-13 rating instead of an R rating.

In fiction, this decision might manifest as a plan to market directly toward the young-adult crowd. Horror aimed at children, like Frankenweenie or The Nightmare Before Christmas , is drastically different from other types of horror aimed at older audiences.

Use your target audience as a guiding star that informs all of your narrative decisions as you write. Now, it’s time to put everything you just learned about how to write good horror stories to use.

The Greatest Horror Movies Ever Made 

If you are stuck on step one and looking to find some inspiration, our list of the greatest horror films ever made is a great place to look. You are sure to find something to get your creative juices flowing within this lengthy list. Writing great horror starts with consuming great horror, coming up next.

Up Next: Best Horror Movies of All Time →

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How to Write a Scary Story

Last Updated: May 28, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Christopher Taylor, PhD . Christopher Taylor is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of English at Austin Community College in Texas. He received his PhD in English Literature and Medieval Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 2014. There are 15 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 347,450 times.

Do you like nightmarish tales that give you goosebumps? Do you get freaked out by stories of suspense? Scary stories, like any story, will follow a basic format that includes developing the premise, setting and characters. But scary stories also rely on tension that builds throughout the story to a frightening or horrific climax. Find inspiration in real life, drawing on your own fears, and write a story that scares you silly.

Sample Scary Stories

Developing the Premise

• The fear of the unknown is one of the most powerful devices for a good scary story. People fear what they don’t know.

• 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?”

• Make sure to keep the climax of your story in mind as you develop the setting.

• 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.

• 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

• Other supporting characters (family member, best friend, love interest, etc.)
• Minor characters (postal worker, gas station attendant, etc.)

• 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

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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

• 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.

Write what you're passionate about. "Find a subject you care about and which you in your heart feel others should care about. It is this genuine caring, not your games with language, which will be the most compelling and seductive element in your style."

• ”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.

• 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.

• 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.

• Scared, scary
• Terrified, terrifying
• Horrified, horror

Writing a Good Ending

• 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.

• 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

• 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.

• Print out your story and comb through it carefully.

• 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?

• 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.

Expert Q&A

• “The Monkey’s Paw,” an 18th century tale by William Wymark Jacobs. This story is about three terrible wishes granted by a mystical monkey’s paw.
• “The Tell-Tale Heart,” master horror writer Edgar Allen Poe’s psychologically disturbing story of suspense and murder. [17] X Research source
• Any horror story by Stephen King. King has written over 200 short stories and uses many different techniques to scare his readers. Read “The Moving Finger” or “The Children of the Corn” to get a sense of King’s style.
• Contemporary writer Joyce Carol Oates’ horror story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” It uses psychological terror to great effect. [18] X Research source
• Add a mysterious ending. It's cliched, but it'll get readers every time. Something like "And the young boy and his dog were never seen again. And, as legend has it, every fall equinox, the ghost wolf still returns". Get creative, but be sure to leave them hanging, especially if the story is short. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

• If you are conducting research for your scary story in order to make it more realistic, make sure you are careful and sensible. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://www.writersdigest.com/improve-my-writing/the-premise-of-your-story
• ↑ https://thewritepractice.com/get-freaky/
• ↑ https://thewritepractice.com/get-story-ideas-headlines/
• ↑ https://www.writersdigest.com/improve-my-writing/nine-tricks-to-writing-suspense-fiction
• ↑ https://allwritealright.com/how-to-write-a-creepy-character-realistically/
• ↑ https://terribleminds.com/ramble/2011/10/11/25-things-you-should-know-about-writing-horror/
• ↑ https://www.eapoe.org/works/essays/philcomp.htm
• ↑ https://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/6-secrets-to-creating-and-sustaining-suspense
• ↑ udleditions.cast.org/craft_elm_foreshadowing.htm
• ↑ https://www.writersdigest.com/there-are-no-rules/the-horror-genre-on-writing-horror-and-avoiding-cliches
• ↑ https://thewritepractice.com/7-steps-to-creating-suspense/
• ↑ https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/plot-reveals/
• ↑ https://literarydevices.net/climax/
• ↑ https://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/POE/telltale.html
• ↑ https://celestialtimepiece.com/2015/01/21/where-are-you-going-where-have-you-been/

About This Article

To write a scary story, start with an exciting event that launches the action. For example, you could have the main character find a severed ear while they're out for a walk. As the story progresses, build suspense by making the reader feel empathy towards the characters and creating an immanent danger, like being trapped in a lift. Then, build the climax by adding to the problems your characters confront. Finally, present the climax, which could include a threat to the character's physical or mental wellbeing. For tips on how to develop a theme and characters for your story, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Teach Your Students How to Write a Scary Story

You’re terrified. Your heart is pounding, and your chest feels like it’s going to EXPLODE !  You breathe faster and faster as sweat drips from your shaking hands. Are you going to die?  NO .  You’re just listening to a SCARY STORY .

Being scared is exciting, right?  If it wasn’t, why would we go on haunted hayrides, watch scary movies or ride roller coasters?

Let’s face it, in each of these circumstances, we know we’re pretty safe. And when the experience is over, the thrill isn’t.  Just watch a group of kids coming out of a haunted house at the fair.  They’re shrieking and laughing at the SAME TIME . And, because they know the fear is SAFE , they scramble to get in line again.  They’re experiencing a fear-induced NATURAL HIGH .  That’s because being scared causes an adrenaline rush in your body and creates a feeling of EUPHORIA .

Enter SCARY STORIES ! When it comes to teaching your students how to write a scary story that will keep readers or listeners on the edge of their seats, nothing beats a good old-fashioned scary story.

Kids love the element of surprise and the unexpected. It’s fascinating to talk about monsters, ghosts, or anything weird! Reading and writing these stories is reassuring to kids. The creepy stuff is just fiction, and it’s not a part of their everyday lives. It’s IMAGINATION .

Over the years, I’d teach my students how to write scary stories. But, I was disappointed by the majority of the stories I got. I tried different writing prompts, using scary pictures, anything I could think of. None of that worked. To be honest with you, I got some pretty crummy stories. I knew my kiddos were capable of more. I refused to give up! Finally, through trial and error, I developed a formula that worked for me.  It’s just two magic words: CHOICE and TOOLS.  

I provided my kids with a buffet of plots, settings, and characters.  They were intrigued.

Suddenly they had the FREEDOM to concoct a story that was guaranteed to spook their audience. They didn’t have to respond to the same writing prompt.

The graphic organizers helped them plan and organize their stories, develop their characters, and use descriptive words in their writing. Keeping students engaged in writing is foolproof when they choices and the tools to plan and write a great scary story.

Scary Story Elements

Scary Stories:

• Amp up the fear factor.
• Add cringe-worthy thoughts like a darkness that foreshadows an unknown danger.
• Have characters that get into terrifying situations by breaking the rules, making bad decisions, or ignoring a warning.
• Include a terrible problem that is creating a mood of doom.
• Are usually set in someplace spooky and often takes place at night.
• Include a wide variety of sensory words.
• Contain mystery and suspense.
• Might be unpredictable – setting the reader up to expect one thing but then providing something else.

Setting the Stage

Nothing sets the tone for writing better than turning out the lights and reading a couple of scary stories. Here are a few of my favorite scary stories for younger kids.

PICTURE BOOKS:

• The Teeny Tiny Woman by Paul Galdone
• There’s a Nightmare in my Closet by Mercer Mayer
• There’s an Alligator Under My Bed by Mercer Mayer
• A Very Hairy Scary Story by Rick Walton
• Beneath the Bed and Other Scary Stories by Max Brallier
• In a Dark Dark Room by Alvin Schwartz
• The Little Old Woman Who Was Not Afraid of Anything
• Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson
• Piggie Pie by Margie Palenti
• Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds
• Ghosts! Ghostly Tales From Folklore by Alvin Schwartz
• Tell Me a Scary Story but Not Too Scary by Carl Reiner
• Scary, Scary, Halloween by Eve Bunting

One year, I took my kiddos to a Tale Telling Festival in Selma Alabama.  My kids were on the edge of their seats listening to master a storyteller regale them with tales from the book Thirteen Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey .

If you can’t make it to a storytelling festival, expose your students to a few videos of storytellers telling scary stories to get a sense of the mood these stories elicit.

Videos provide your students with the opportunity to experience how professional authors play with the readers’ emotions through their choice of WORDS , VOICE, and FACIAL and HAND expressions. One of my favorites is Jackie Torrance telling The Story of Tillie

How to Write the Scary Story

Have you ever tried to teach without a lesson plan?  It’s quite frustrating and chaotic isn’t it? You need a PLAN . The same thing is true for your kids.  Some of your kids have minimal experience in writing stories.  They don’t even know where to begin. They need a plan!

That’s where you come in!  By providing supports and structure, your students will write fantastic scary tales.  Writing a great story takes time, so if you only have one class period for your kiddos to write, you’re probably not going to get great stories. The time frame from start to finish to sharing takes my kids about a week to complete.

Writing Steps

Here are the steps I use with my students.  Depending on the age and degree of writing experience, your students may not need to spend much time on each step.

First,  students BRAINSTORM story ideas for things and places that scare them. This is a fun and easy step because kids LOVE to talk about being scared. It’s also good for kids to see that some of their friends are afraid of the same things they are.  Be prepared, you might hear some things that you can’t imagine being afraid of.  For example, my grandson was TERRIFIED of going to visit my mother in her assisted living facility.  He thought all the “old folks” looked like evil creatures. Thankfully, he got over that.

Next, students select a setting, problem, and characters for their story. To help my kids out, I  give them choices and ideas to get them started. I provide them with  SETTING , PROBLEM , and CHARACTER cards to choose from.  By taking note of what your kids shared during the previous BRAINSTORMING SESSION , you have some great ideas to write on the cards.

In the next step, students organize their thoughts using a story elements organizer and a story summary organizer. With these organizers, students plan the story and make sure it has a logical sequence.

Giving students copies of word lists helps them choose sensory words, sound effects (think Ontomontopeia), and vivid verbs to add to the writing.

Have you ever had kids who wrote a narrative and every sentence began with “and then?” Since scary stories are NARRATIVES , I make sure they use a TRANSITIONS WORD LIST to help them with word choice.  That way I don’t have to read  “and then,” “and then” over and over again.

Let the Writing Begin!

You’ve laid the groundwork.  Your kiddos have a recipe for their story.  Now it’s time to put pen to paper and START WRITING . For a first draft, I usually have my kids write on every other line.  That way it’s easy to make edits during the revision stage.

Next, have a peer and or a teacher review the rough drafts. It’s also helpful to give the kiddos a checklist to make sure they included all the elements for a scary story.

Finally, revise and edit. This is the kids’ LEAST FAVORITE STEP .  They want to write their stories ONCE and be done with it!  I try to make it more fun by having a little revising party in the class.  Give out stickers and turn on some creepy music. If your students have not had experience with peer editing, you can be the editor.  A little hint:  Tell at least 2 things you really like about the story BEFORE you may suggestions for improvement.

Oops!  We’re not done yet!  The most overlooked step is REFLECT AND EVALUATE !  Give your kids a writing rubric that is completed by both the student and yourself. I always have my kids share what they think they did best first, and then what they need to improve upon in the comments section of the rubric.

Sharing Your Scary Stories

The most fun is when the kids get to share their own stories. This is the time when my friends say I put on a DOG AND PONY SHOW .  But seriously, your kids are super pumped about sharing after learning how to write a scary story.

It’s time to celebrate all their hard work.  Have the kids dress up in costumes. Make s’mores.  I bought a fantastic electric s’mores maker on Amazon.  Turn out the lights, play some spooky music. The piece de resistance is a fake classroom campfire for your kids to sit around.

When it’s time to share his story, I give each kid a flashlight.  Remember, it’s important to encourage the kids to ham it up with sound effects, facial expressions, and tone of voice.

Creating a Classroom Campfire

You can find numerous blog posts with instructions for building a classroom campfire. Just do a search on Pinterest.  Basically, all you need is:

• rocks in a circle
• sticks in the center of the ring of stones
• battery-operated Christmas tree lights to place under and around the sticks
• some orange, red, and yellow tissue paper for the flames.

Avoiding Overwhelm When Teaching How to Write a Scary Story

Does this all sound like a lot of work to you?  Don’t worry!  I’ve got you covered.  You can purchase my Write A Scary Story unit on TpT. It includes a PowerPoint on how to write a scary story, all the handouts, cards, rubric, graphic organizers, and everything else you need to teach this unit.  There is also a Distance Learning Version you can use if you are teaching remotely!

I’d love to hear how your scary stories turned out!  Come back comment to let me know!

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A Comprehensive Introduction: How to Make a Scary Video

After watching a horror movie, were you shocked at the scary effect? Maybe you would also want to try to make a scary video to frighten your friends. This article from MiniTool MovieMaker (one of the best video editing software for beginners) describes how to make a scary video from all angles.

People are increasingly fond of watching horror videos because they can experience excitement and gain novel experiences. People may be scared by the video content, but at the same time, they are still curious about what will happen next, which constantly makes them addicted to horror videos.

So, it is a good opportunity for content creators to learn how to make a scary video. This article will explain how to make a scary video from three aspects: preparation before shooting, shooting techniques, and post-production.

Preparation Before Shooting a Scary Video

Before shooting a scary video, pre-preparation is an essential stage that fundamentally determines the quality of that video. During the preparation process, you need to focus on the following three factors: a scary theme, coming up with a unique story and writing video scripts.

A Scary Theme

The theme of the video is the key to determining the video’s level of quality. If you have decided to make a scary video, the first thing you need to consider is what genre to choose. There are many types of scary videos on the internet nowadays, so you can go and see what themes are available to give yourself some ideas and direction. Here are some popular scary movie themes: psychological, monster, slasher, zombie, and vampire.

Come Up with a Unique Story

A good storyline plays an important role in making a scary video. If you want to make a high-quality scary video, you have to consider the following four points: horror plots, characters with strong personalities, a compelling beginning, and an impactful ending.

Horror plots : Conceiving horror plots is the key to making a scary video. You can search for some strange stories on the internet or ask people around you about something scary, and you can get inspiration from them.

Characters with strong personalities : Character building is also a key part. Different characters can bring the audience into different perspectives. Injecting characters with special story backgrounds and personality traits can arouse the resonance of the audience.

A compelling beginning : A compelling opening can bring a lot of attention to your scary video. You can put a highlight clip at the beginning to attract the audience or set a cliffhanger to arouse the audience’s curiosity.

An impactful ending : A good ending will enhance the content of the entire video and leave a deep impression on the audience. So, it’s important to design a good ending. You can reveal the truth at the end of the story, give an unexpected answer, or leave a blank space for the audience to think about the end of the story.

Write Video Scripts

Writing a script allows you to flesh out your story. This script contains the storyline, the characters’ dialog, the characters’ actions, and other more detailed things. This script will help you to implement the subsequent shooting.

Essential Techniques for Shooting a Scary Video

After you have determined the theme and script of the scary video, you can move on to the shooting session. The content you shoot directly determines the intuitive feeling you bring to the audience. Here are some shooting tips you need to know to enhance the fear in your videos.

Lighting : Lighting has a huge impact on the overall atmosphere of a video. Weak lighting can create a depressing and nervous feeling. You can hide some horror elements in the dark, and the sudden appearance can bring a great psychological shock to people.

Perspective : Perspective shifts are also an important part of increasing fear. For example, horror elements can be directly seen from the protagonist’s point of view. If you shoot directly from the protagonist’s point of view, the video content will appear dull. If you change the shooting perspective and don’t shoot the horror element directly, it will make the storyline more intriguing.

Erratic camera movements : A shaky camera can also change the atmosphere of a story. It gives the viewer a sense of disorientation and tension through unsteady camera movement, which also greatly heightens the sense of fear.

Want to create a high-quality and professional-looking video? How to make the quality of a video better? How to improve video quality?

How to Make a Scary Video in Post-Production

After you’ve finished shooting, the last but not least step is to use video editing software to touch up your scary video. And you need to finish the last video version presented to the audience by video editing.

So, in this process, you will do various editing, such as: speeding up or slowing down the video, trimming the video, adding background music, and so on. Besides these common editing operations, you can also enhance the scary effect by adding sound effects, effects, and filters.

Here are recommendations on video editing software, post-production tricks, and specific steps on how to do this in a video editor.

Choosing the Right Video Editing Software

Video editing software is an important part of making high-quality videos, so choosing an easy-to-use and powerful editing software is necessary. Here we recommend MiniTool MovieMaker to you. It’s a free video editor without watermark and also a great horror video maker app.

MiniTool MovieMaker Click to Download 100% Clean & Safe

MiniTool MovieMaker is suitable for everyone, especially beginners, because it offers a clean and simple interface that makes it easy to operate. It can import and export a range of video formats, and it can also easily make video from images .

During the video editing process, you can add horror sound effects , filters , and effects to your scary videos in MiniTool MovieMaker. You can also easily trim and split the video to make your video smoother.

Besides, the music is also a key factor that can improve the overall quality. You should choose the appropriate music for the scary video, and you can edit the music property until you are satisfied.

Post-Production Tricks for Editing Scary Videos

Creating a great scary video can’t just rely on basic editing operations, it also requires applying sound effects, visual effects, and filters to enhance the horror.

Horror Sound Effects

Sound effects can quickly change people’s moods. Sudden screams in a quiet atmosphere will make drowsy viewers wake up at once. Therefore, you can add horror sound effects to some bland plots to focus the viewer’s attention on your video.

Frightening Visual Effects

You can add some visual effects according to the content of the video to bring the audience an unusual visual experience. For example, in the segment of characters chasing, you can apply the shake effect to give the audience an immersive feeling; for shots with a TV set, you can apply the distortion effect to make the TV set malfunction, which can further deepen the tension.

Filter Making Your Videos Scarier

In the video editing software, you can choose a filter to change the atmosphere of the video. Different filters will give people different feelings. For scary video production, you can’t always apply bright filters, which will greatly diminish the horror effect. For example, if you’re shooting a story that happened a long time ago, you can apply a black-and-white filter or a low-resolution filter to emphasize the background of the story.

How to Make a Scary Video in MiniTool MovieMaker

Here’s how to make a scary video free using the horror video maker app – MiniTool MovieMaker.

Step 1: Download and install MiniTool MovieMaker

Click the button below to download free video editor , and follow the installation instructions to install it on your Windows PC.

Step 2: Launch MiniTool MovieMaker

After completing the installation, launch this software and close the promotion window to get its main interface as follows.

Step 3: Import your videos

Click Import Media Files to import your videos, then click the plus icon ( + ) on the target file or directly drag and drop it to the timeline.

Step 4: Trim video

If you need to delete the beginning or end of a video clip, follow the steps below.

• Click the target clip and hover your mouse over the beginning of the video clip until you see the double-headed arrow.
• Drag this double-headed arrow to the beginning of the part you want.
• Hover your mouse at the end of the video clip until you see the double-headed arrow.
• Drag this double-headed arrow to the end of the part you want.

If you need to delete the middle part of a video clip, follow the steps below.

• Drag the playhead to the beginning of the unwanted part and click the scissors icon.
• Drag the playhead to the end of the unwanted part and click the scissors icon.
• Select the unwanted part, right-click the part, and click Delete .

Step 5: Add horror sound effect

If you want to add some shivering sound effects to your scary video, you can click Audio and select Horror in Sound Effect . There are many horror sound effects for your video. After you find the right one, click the download symbol and then click the ( + ) icon to apply it.

Step 6: Apply visual effects

You can also add visual effects to your video to further deepen the horror sense. Click the target clip first and then click Effect . For horror videos, you can consider Distortion , Glitch , and Particle effects. You can hover your mouse over an effect to preview it. And when you find the right one, click the download symbol and then click the ( + ) icon to apply it.

Step 7: Add frightening filters

Adding the right filters can emphasize the story atmosphere of the video. You can add a black-and-white filter to enhance the horror atmosphere. You can start by selecting the video clip you want to apply the filter. Click Filters and then select LUT . Of course, you can also select any other filter you think fit. When you find the right filter, click the download symbol, and click the ( + ) icon to apply it.

Step 8: Apply the appropriate transition

The right transitions can greatly improve the quality of your video. First click the previous video where you want to add the transition, then click Transition , when you find the right effect, click the download symbol and then click the ( + ) icon to apply it. In addition, you can edit the duration and mode of the transition in the Transition Property .

Step 9: Export your scary video

After you have finished all video editing and confirmed the final effect, you can click Export . The default output video format is MP4 and you can choose another format you want to save including AVI, MOV, WMV, etc.

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Making a great horror video is not easy, from the pre-preparation, mid-shooting to post-editing, you need to consider all the points in each of these that will affect the effectiveness of the video.

This article describes in detail the techniques that can enhance the horror effect or video quality at each stage and how to make a scary video free using a horror video maker app. Overall, a good script, skillful shooting method, and natural editing effects will let you make a high-quality scary video.

I’m sure you now know how to make a scary video. Now it’s your turn to make the scary video. Go ahead and use these methods mentioned above to make your best work.

Finally, if you have some problems editing videos with MiniTool MovieMaker, please feel free to contact us via [email protected] for help.

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