To literary work remembered, it should awaken some feelings in the reader, find a response in him. If you decide to write horror, then remember: they should cause fear among those who like to tickle their nerves. Scare the reader, and he is yours. Having received what he came for, he will be satisfied and will come again. Your task is to make your work not only scary, but also memorable. Let them tremble, turn around behind their backs and be afraid to fall asleep. Let's try to find out what needs to be done for this. Perhaps the most important thing I want to convey: play on people's fears. These little trembling creatures have long been accustomed to being afraid of something. And the more time passes, the more scary they come up with. What could a caveman be afraid of? Darkness, heights, wild animals, thunder and lightning, a strong tribesman. Are those fears gone now? Nothing happened. But now there are many all sorts of "-phobias". Clowns, planes, bacteria, mobile phones- everything that was once invented or discovered will scare someone. There is even phobophobia - the fear of fears. However, if you look at the list of human fears¹, it becomes clear that most of them still remain from monkeys (or Adam and Eve, depending on your views). What does it give? Space for activity and one very important fact: fears are natural. Of course, one scarecrow cannot scare all the crows. Surely somewhere in the world there is a person who, when he sees a black horned monster in his closet, thinks: “Oh, I’ll go eat.” You can set yourself the goal of catching fear on him, but it is much easier to focus on a wide audience. What are people afraid of? Try to start with yourself. Because even if the author is not afraid, the reader will not be afraid, because only a small percentage of the author's imagination will reach him. I think there are a lot of daredevils among you, but the main list is about the same: darkness, height, fire, water, wild animals, sharp objects. Almost all natural fears can be reduced to pain and death. This instinct of self-preservation, laid down by nature, tells us: “Do not stick your head where you can drown, burn yourself, fall; do not approach a wild dog - it will bite; do not approach the sick and corpses - there is an infection. But fear does not always have a concrete guise. Most frightening suspense. Man is afraid of the dark because unknown what is hidden in it. A person is afraid of loneliness, because alone he is defenseless before vast world, which contains a lot of unknown. The ancient Greeks invented Zeus to explain thunder and not be afraid of it anymore. We know that thunder is sound waves oscillating air, formed during the electrical discharge of lightning. Of course, this knowledge does not help everyone, but if you keep it in your head, imagine all physical processes (or Zeus in a chariot), then you can understand that there is nothing to be afraid of. Therefore, the reader needs to be frightened by something inexplicable. Let him not understand, looking for a clue, her absence will scare even more. Whatever exists in reality, the imagination will throw something much more terrible. Human imagination is limitless, you just need to push it a little. Just don't get carried away. Write "He was attacked by something incomprehensible," and the reader will spit on the monitor. Use familiar images at least partially. Giant spider, maniac with an axe. It will be just gorgeous if you distort something that was not initially terrible, so much so that the hamstrings will shake. Remember the clown from It? Let it be an old neighbor with the essence of a monster that suddenly appeared. An ordinary electronic photo frame, which began to show scenes of the death of the owner and his family. There are many already familiar images that can still be presented in a new way. Do you remember what they usually scare? Mirrors. Oh, these are the mysterious "windows to another world." Spirits come through them (the well-known Bloody Mary), you can fall into them and get stuck forever. Closed space. Claustrophobia is not uncommon, and you may risk awakening it in someone else. Shrinking walls, cages and cellars, labyrinths and towers. Already mentioned fire, water and height. From each of these images you can squeeze a lot. The plane and the rope over the abyss will beat the height, the fire in the collapsing house or the fire of the Inquisition will scare the pyrophobe. The chamber filled with water will hit two sore spots at once. And if someone else is watching this, then three at a time. Even if a person does not suffer from persecution mania, he will be frightened by the thought of a mysterious observer who can set up any muck, just to see how the victim will get out. In the end, the reader himself came to you for the torment of the heroes, so his own desire, reflected on the attacker, will affect the subconscious and make you think: “If I am watching someone, then who is watching me?”. The atmosphere plays a very important role in horror. If you know how to create it, then even a clearing with flowers runs the risk of being covered with bricks. Although, of course, the place of action plays a decisive role. If you don’t know what else to scare, put the reader in a deliberately creepy environment. Cemetery, abandoned factory, mental hospital, concentration camp. Just as with the object of fear, a greater effect can be achieved if the initially ordinary place where everyone has been is made scary. This will allow the reader to put himself in the place of the character, and there is no need to specify many details - they will pop up in memory on their own. Elevator, courtyard, forest, bathroom, car interior. If something is not in personal experience, the spectator will come to the rescue: everyone can imagine a laboratory, a courtroom, art gallery, a beauty salon, even if you have not been there. There are a lot of pseudo-mysterious places popular in contemporary literature and cinematography. For example, the pyramids North Pole, empty cities. Using them isn't so bad, it's like driving on railroad tracks: reliable, but boring if nothing new happens. Get a new one and you'll be fine. Another move is to knock the ground out from under the reader's feet, driving him into an unreplicated place. For example, a radio or television studio, a construction trailer, a mineral mine, a disk drive (and why not?). The reader will be disoriented and will believe what you spit. Details are important in every description. Something bright and catchy. In the case of horror - frightening. It's not enough just to give see. Give the reader hear, sniff out, feel. Juicy, tastefully describe what you imagine. Dripping hot and smelly saliva of a monster, a booming roar of flames and heat beating in the face, sharp ice crunching on the cheeks, making the creak of claws on glass twitch, the taste of metal on the tongue. The more powerful the image, the stronger the impression. Press on all calluses, turn out all the abominations. If the description made you want to wrap yourself in a blanket or wash your hands, this good description(not to be confused with the desire to gouge out the eyes). The story can be static (it will be a sketch), but more often some kind of action takes place. And you need to build it correctly so that the reader does not get bored. There are a number of methods that can be combined. First, this injection. Scary, even scarier, creepy, nightmarish, dear mother! Play on the nerves, keep the reader on their toes. Let them bite their fingernails with their hair standing on end. Let the new horror follow the previous one, do not let anyone relax. There should be a gap, it will make reading exciting. The main thing is that each scarecrow pops up unexpectedly, even if they are waiting for it. Old as the world "Boo-effect", much loved by horror directors. In the text it is more difficult to implement, but you can try. Second - chase. This is where nightmares come in. How often do people see in a dream that someone is chasing them? They may not even know who, but they are very, very afraid. The chase is exhausting, the legs refuse to move, a dead end or a cliff suddenly appears, and they are already advancing from behind, a clatter is heard, enemies breathe in the back ... The chase makes the heart beat faster, and adrenaline splashes into the blood. The third way to influence the reader is to plunge him into shock. Give out something that cannot be reacted to habitually, that the brain refuses to accept. Remember the old neighbor? Imagine that you met her in the stairwell with a bucket of severed heads. A woman with an empty bucket, promising trouble, nervously smokes on the sidelines. The shock can be caused by something strange, a break in the pattern. Fluffy kitten? And if there are hundreds of them and they tear to pieces a living person? At the same time, of course, they are cute and quite purring. A house that suddenly became liquid, in which for some reason the glass remained solid, a giant excavator with a bloody bucket appeared out of nowhere. More surprises, but without fanaticism, otherwise it will turn into a phantasmagoria and cease to amaze. Remember that many fears come down to pain and death? It is very important to correctly arrange in your work torture or murder. So that the impressionable reader feels all the torment in his own skin. Everything is given to the will of your imagination pain. Although you can always stumble upon someone who survived an amputation without anesthesia and will say: “I don’t believe it!”. Well, to this we will answer that the pain threshold is different for everyone, and it is not given to know the sensations of others either. The deprivation of life of victims must be approached wisely. Decide what effect you want to have on the reader: give hope or take it away. If the first, then kill the fool. Yes, the same girl who descends into a very suspicious basement and asks: “Darling, is that you?”. The reader knows (well, or believes) that he is not so stupid and this will not happen to him; hopes for the best. An intermediate situation is to kill someone defenseless. A dog, a cat, a baby, a non-walking disabled person. There is fear, death cannot be avoided, but the target audience does not consist of disabled puppies, so death bypasses the reader. Bye. It's time to take away all hope. To do this, you need to kill a strong, smart, dodgy character. Show that death will come to everyone, you can’t hide from it, you can’t hide. It is the inevitability and inevitability of death that scares the hell out of a person. Flatten the hero into a bloody mess or overtake a heart attack - it doesn’t matter, the main thing is that there is no choice. If you want a semblance of a happy ending, leave the lucky klutz alive. Yes, even an academician, if only with luck on a short leg. But you can do without any casualties. Acts as a scarecrow of uncertainty disappearance. It is "and they lived happily ever after" on the contrary. Because the reader does not know: they lived, they died, he will come up with all the worst things himself. An astronaut who was completely sucked into a black hole (and there is no bookcase there), tourists who disappeared into the mountains straight from their tents. You can add mystical traces of a mysterious something: prints in the snow, streaks of light in the sky, this will give an impetus to fantasy, direct you along some path. It is extremely important to put a thick dot or a mysterious ellipsis. The choice is yours, but I beg you, do not merge the ending. Do not write worn out to holes "and then they woke up." Let it be at least "and they never didn't wake up." If you want to be kind - defeat evil (in case of a sequel, you can leave a securely hidden larva). If you want to be mean, kill everyone. The golden mean - leave the hero alive, but release evil into the world. Always ask yourself questions first: where in my story am I scared, and where am I bored? What horror stories impressed me the most in the children's camp? What horror movies I still can't forget? Which horror writer do I like best? Write what scares you first of all, and there will be one-phobes. I hope something in this article prompted you to good idea. Play on people's fears, shove readers into primeval horror, don't let them forget you, make them come back. Well, and finally ... BU!

WikiHow, a good writing resource, has a whole collection of articles on writing all kinds of horror stories: mysticism, horror, thrillers, vampire and ghost stories ... I chose the most interesting tips. Perhaps today, on the eve of Halloween, they will inspire you for scary books:

1. The format of a "horror movie" does not always involve spilling blood and brains over the pages of a book. If desired, you can make the most frightening everyday things. By the way, there is an interesting exercise on this topic: take any banal object (a bottle of water, a notebook, a face cream) and come up with a mini-horror story involving this object.

2. "Horror" is not a standalone genre. you can calmly mix other genres to write about what interests you. For example, create amazing worlds in space or write about historical eras. The atmosphere of horror can be created in any environment.

3. Create the right scary atmosphere in the book will help details. Remember classic movies horror. Open windows, doors that open on their own, the wind howling behind the walls of the house, the disturbed order of things, the howl of a dog ... All this is more frightening than a maniac with a cleaver who cuts someone into a thousand small hedgehogs from scene to scene. From the endless descriptions of the murders, the reader gets tired very quickly. From skillfully drawn out details - never!

4. Do not issue immediately too much information otherwise there is a risk that the reader will quickly lose interest in the book.

5. Always invest as much as possible in the antagonist strength. Let the bad guys get even worse! The more difficult it is for the protagonist to fight the antagonist, the more interesting it is for the reader to watch their struggle. Don't be afraid to make things too difficult for the hero. Difficulties in this case- the law of the genre.

6. Avoid cliches and stamps. Handsome vampires, villainous orphans embittered by a difficult childhood, long dialogues with victims, sinister laughter and a raspy voice... Read at least 15 books in your chosen genre before you say your word in horror. For each book, attach a card with key events, symbols, and character characteristics written on it. After 15 cards are typed, look for patterns and repetitions.

7. Make sure the audience can tell the protagonist from the antagonist. The two most villainous villains, gnashing and laughing at the sight of torture, do not get along in one book. Why should readers worry about your protagonist? What qualities distinguish him? Even if all the characters in your novel are robots, don't forget to "humanize" the main character. A robot that saves a kitten will definitely evoke emotions in the reader.

8. Don't Forget alternate scenes. If the heroes are constantly being chased by a ghost in shackles, or a werewolf with saliva dripping from an open mouth, readers will begin to get tired of the monotonous tension. Horror scenes should not be the main dish, but only a condiment. Add characters' emotions, thoughts, dialogues, funny jokes and passions to the text. The more unexpected the scary moments for the reader, the better.

9. A sign that you are on the right track is to understand that the antagonist you invented is a little scares you yourself.

Do you like to read scary stories that give you goosebumps? Or are you afraid of stories that keep you in a state of anxiety? Writing scary story(like any other story) involves developing a plot, setting, and characters. But scary stories also keep the reader in a state of suspense throughout the plot, right up to a frightening or terrifying climax. Find inspiration in real life based on your own fears, and write a story that will scare you easily.

Steps

Part 1

Coming up with a plot

Make a list of what you fear the most. This The best way think of a scary story. The plot is a series of main events of the work, which determine the characters, the place of action and the development of the story. For example, you fear losing family members, loneliness, violence, clowns, demons, or even squirrels. Get your fears down on paper so they can be conveyed to your readers. Write a story that will scare you personally.

Add a “what if” element to your fears. Think of different scenarios in which you might experience some of your biggest fears. Think also about how you would react if you were trapped or forced to confront your fears. Make a list of questions starting with "what if".

• For example, if you are afraid of being stuck in an elevator, ask yourself: “What if I was stuck in an elevator with dead man? Or: “What if the stuck elevator is the door to other world?»

1. Create an atmosphere of fear. Limit the main character's area of ​​movement so that he is forced to look his fears in the eye and look for a way out. Think about what enclosed or confined spaces scare you the most, such as a cellar, a coffin, an abandoned city.

   Take an ordinary situation and turn it into something terrible. For example, think about walking in the park, cooking dinner, or visiting friends. Then add a scary or weird element to those situations. For example, while walking you come across a severed human ear, while cutting fruit, they turn into human fingers or tentacles.

   • Or add an unexpected element, like a vampire who likes sweets over blood, or put the main character in a dumpster instead of a coffin.

2. Look for the plot of the story in the news. To do this, read local newspapers or articles on the Internet. There may have been a burglary in your area that is very similar to burglaries in other parts of the city. Use newspaper articles to create a story.

   • You can use your notes to create a plot. For example, when writing a scary story about how you stayed in a strange hotel. Or about a party at which something happened, or about your friend who began to act unusually towards you.

3. Make life difficult for your character. All scary stories are based on fear and tragedy and on the character's ability to overcome their fears. The stories in which good people something good happens, don't be terrible. In fact, a story in which bad things happen to good people is not only more realistic, but also keeps the reader on their toes. Let something bad or terrible happen to your character.

   • The discrepancy between what should happen to the character from the reader's point of view and what actually happens to the character will fuel the reader's interest in your story.

4. Let your characters make mistakes or make bad decisions while believing they are doing the right thing.

   • Do not overdo it with such errors or wrong decisions. They must have seemed justified, not just stupid or unbelievable. An attractive young nanny, seeing the masked killer, runs not to the phone to call the police, but out into the dense dark forest - this is an implausible and stupid act of the protagonist from the point of view of the reader.

Part 3

Writing history

1. Create a plot after you've come up with the plot, setting, and characters. You can use Freytag's pyramid for this. Its key elements include:

   • Introduction. Description of characters and place of action.
   • Tie. The character's encounter with problems.
   • Story development. The character tries to resolve the problems that have arisen, but encounters obstacles.
   • Climax. Description of the most disturbing moment in history.
   • Plot fade. Description of events after the climax.
   • Interchange. The character is coping or not coping with the main problem.
   • Epilogue. Description of the further fate of the characters.

2. Show, don't tell a story. Good scary story includes detailed descriptions of the feelings of the characters, so that it is easier for the reader to imagine himself in the place of the protagonist. If you describe the situation and the feelings of the characters briefly and superficially, the reader will be less intrigued.

   As the plot develops, make the story more tense. To create a good scary story, the reader needs to empathize with the character, so you need to increase the level of danger and anxiety.

   • Hint to the reader about the mystery of the story and the possible climax by introducing small clues or details, such as bottle labels, which will later be useful to the protagonist; a sound or voice in the room that will later testify to something supernatural.
   • Keep the reader on their toes by alternating scary and calm moments. Let be main character calm down and feel safe. Then increase the tension by placing the hero in the most terrifying situation.

3. When writing a story, use the "prediction" technique. This technique is where you introduce clues into the story that allow the reader to "predict" further development plot. But the reader should be able to "see" such clues. This technique also keeps the reader in suspense because they are worried that bad consequences will come before the hero gets out of the situation.

   Don't use certain words. Describe what is happening in words that will evoke emotions in the reader, and will not impose on him. certain feelings. For example, it is better not to use the following words:

   • Frightened, fearful
   • Terrible, terrible
   • Fear, horror
   • afraid
   • Funky

4. Avoid cliches. Like any genre, horror stories have their own set of clichés and clichés, so avoid them if you want to write something unique and interesting work. Cliches include everyone famous characters, such as a deranged clown in the attic, or hackneyed phrases such as "Run!" and "Don't look back!".

   Don't overdo it with the amount of blood and violence. Remember that too much gore and violence will disgust the reader rather than frighten them. If pools of blood constantly appear in your story, the reader will become bored. Of course, some gore is quite appropriate to describe a scene or character. Use gore or violence in your story wisely, that is, in a way that will frighten the reader rather than cause disgust or boredom.

Part 4

Writing a Good Closing Piece

Increase the risks for the hero until the climax. Put him in a situation he is unlikely to handle. Bombard him with many minor problems. Intensify the situation until the climax, so that the reader realizes that the character is in serious danger.

Let the main character figure out how to get out of this situation. This decision should be based on the details you add as the story progresses, and should not be spontaneous or seemingly random.

Write a climax. A climax is a turning point in a story. At the climax of a scary story, the protagonist is in danger (his physical, psychological, emotional or spiritual health).

• In Poe's story, the climax takes place at the very end of the story. Poe describes how, with the arrival of the police, the internal struggle of the protagonist grows and grows, and outwardly the character remains absolutely calm. At the very end of the story, under the pressure of inner guilt, the hero confesses to the murder and shows the police the corpse of the old man.

1. Create an unexpected denouement that can uplift or bury the entire work. An unexpected denouement is something that the reader does not expect, for example, the reincarnation of the main character from a positive character to a villain. ,

2. Decide how you want the story to end. In the final part of the story, all the secrets and mysteries are revealed. But often this is not the case in scary stories - it is better that the reader does not leave a sense of uncertainty. Has the killer been caught? Does a ghost really exist? But such uncertainty should not confuse the reader.

   • While it is necessary to leave the reader somewhat in the dark, don't leave all the mysteries unrevealed or the reader may not understand the ending of the story at all.
   • Consider whether to make the story's ending unexpected or predictable. In a good scary story, the denouement comes at the very end of the story. The story of Edgar Allan Poe keeps the reader in suspense until the very end, because the denouement is described in the last paragraph of the work.

Internet brought to new level scary stories that children once told at night by the fire. "Coffin on wheels" or "dark-dark city" is already in the past. Now the interns are creating new monsters - and they are creating them together, witty, in the Wikipedia format. Here are five popular "horror" movies on the Web.

Internet users invented a lot of horror stories on forums and chats. Some of them were presented as real events, some became "urban legends". In the SCPFoundation project, the writing of "horror stories" is organized almost like "Wikipedia": any user can add his story. But it must comply with certain canons.

In the universe of SCP stories, there is a lot of paranormal that we mere mortals do not know about. The SCP Foundation studies, controls, and contains anomalies, divided into three classes: safe, "Euclid" (dangerous, but controlled), and "Keter" (absolutely dangerous - not destroyed just because they cannot be destroyed). Hundreds of Foundation employees often work like "living meat", sacrificing their lives to save the universe or through stupidity and negligence.

The interns invented thousands of paranormal objects and translated stories, "reports" and "notes" of experimenters into a dozen languages. Based on stories, amateurs created several dozen computer games. All the "horror stories" of the project can be read in English here, and in Russian here. The only drawback is widespread censorship. Even the "higher ranks" of SCP do not know all the details of secret objects.

Sculpture

Item SCP-173 is a concrete and rebar sculpture that does not move as long as at least one person is looking at it. But the sculpture is alive and extremely hostile. Under the sculpture, a red-brown substance is constantly formed from blood and feces.

There is a grinding sound coming from the container where it is contained. If researchers enter the container with it, they must warn each other that even for a moment they close their eyes. If no one present sees the Sculpture, it attacks the person, breaks his neck or strangles him. Even if you blink, the sculpture will have time to get closer.

Ladder

SCP-087 is located on campus behind thick steel doors disguised as a storage room door. A rumble was heard from behind the doors until the researchers provided soundproofing. The object is a staircase leading down - presumably to infinity.

It's dark on the stairs, you can't see more than a meter and a half. Researchers hear somewhere below on the spans baby crying and groans, but it is impossible to get closer to the voice. Anyone who walked far enough, faced in the dark with a face without a mouth, nostrils and pupils. Those who met him faced uncontrollable fear and paranoia.

Internet friend

You won't know what SCP-1715 is writing to you until you die. The anomalous phenomenon adapts to online communities, chats and forums and writes under different names(often uses the image above as an avatar), usually introducing himself to Americans 15-30 years old.

The phenomenon comes into contact with society, and after an average of eight weeks, those who shared personal information with SCP-1715 die in accidents. Deaths are not anomalous, and suicides do occur. But even after death, the one who came into contact with the phenomenon continues to write and remembers his life. And sometimes he jokes about the circumstances of his death.

Builder bear

SCP-1048's small teddy bear was originally considered harmless. He could walk independently and express emotions with movements, but he could not talk. The bear showed sympathy for the people around him, cutely hugged his legs, danced. Seven months after the Foundation took over the anomaly, SCP-1048 began to produce copies of itself.

The first copy of the builder bear was made from cut off human ears - SCP-1048 cut them off from employees whom it "wormed its way into", and those who tried to stop it themselves grew what looked like ears all over the body, even in the throat.

The second copy was outwardly identical to Mishka, but a baby's hand protruded from one of its seams - while one of the employees was sleeping, she had an abortion, and the 8-month-old fetus was never found. The third copy was made from scrap metal. The object with the copies escaped and has not yet been captured by the foundation.

thin man

Oddly enough, the most famous Internet horror movie was not invented by SCP "employees". The being known as Slender man, invented in 2009 on the Something Awful forum.

After the first forum participant briefly described the Thin Man and gave a few "photos", the story was finalized by other internauts, creating a detailed legend.

A thin person can be seen in the photo and video - a thin figure in a business suit is hiding in the dark behind people's backs. The creature steals people, including children, can endlessly pursue the victim, change the length of the limbs. On YouTube is underway vlog "hunters of the Thin Man", and one of the games available not only for computers and consoles, but also for the OculusRift virtual reality helmet.

Do you know high-quality "horror films" from the Internet? Love the SCP stories not mentioned above? Share them in the comments!

Content:

Do you like to read scary stories that give you goosebumps? Or are you afraid of stories that keep you in a state of anxiety? Writing a scary story (like any other story) involves developing a plot, setting, and characters. But scary stories also keep the reader in a state of suspense throughout the plot, right up to a frightening or terrifying climax. Find inspiration in real life based on your own fears and write a story that will scare you easily.

Steps

Part 1 Thinking up the plot

1. 1 Make a list of what you fear the most. This is the best way to come up with the plot of a scary story. The plot is a series of main events of the work, which determine the characters, the place of action and the development of the story. For example, you fear losing family members, loneliness, violence, clowns, demons, or even squirrels. Get your fears down on paper so they can be conveyed to your readers. Write a story that will scare you personally.
   • Fear of the unknown is the best foundation of any scary story. People are afraid of what they don't know.
2. 2 Add a “what if” element to your fears. Think of different scenarios in which you might experience some of your biggest fears. Think also about how you would react if you were trapped or forced to confront your fears. Make a list of questions starting with "what if".
   • For example, if you're afraid of being stuck in an elevator, ask yourself, "What if I'm stuck in an elevator with a dead person?" Or: “What if the stuck elevator is a door to the other world?”
3. 3 Create an atmosphere of fear. Limit the main character's area of ​​movement so that he is forced to look his fears in the eye and look for a way out. Think about what enclosed or confined spaces scare you the most, such as a cellar, a coffin, an abandoned city.
4. 4 Take an ordinary situation and turn it into something terrible. For example, think about walking in the park, cooking dinner, or visiting friends. Then add a scary or weird element to those situations. For example, while walking you come across a severed human ear, while cutting fruit, they turn into human fingers or tentacles.
   • Or add an unexpected element, like a vampire who likes sweets over blood, or put the main character in a dumpster instead of a coffin.
5. 5 Look for the plot of the story in the news. To do this, read local newspapers or articles on the Internet. There may have been a burglary in your area that is very similar to burglaries in other parts of the city. Use newspaper articles to create a story.
   • You can use your notes to create a plot. For example, when writing a scary story about how you stayed in a strange hotel. Or about a party at which something happened, or about your friend who began to act unusually towards you.

Part 2 Character Creation

1. 1 Create story characters. Make the reader identify with the main character. If the reader identifies with the main character, then they will empathize and worry about your character. You need at least one main character and (depending on your story) the following characters:
   • the villain
   • Minor characters (family member, best friend, loved one, etc.)
   • Cameo characters (postal clerk, gas station worker, etc.)
2. 2 Think of specific details for each character. When creating characters, define who they are, what they do, and what their motivation is. Give the characters certain character traits. Create a list for each character that will include the following information (and refer to this list as you write your story):
   • Name, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color and so on
   • Character traits
   • Likes and dislikes
   • family history
   • Best friend and worst enemy
   • Five Items Sims Never Leave Home Without
3. 3 Clearly define the risks for the character. This is what he can lose or lose when making this or that decision. If your readers do not know what the main character is risking, they will not be afraid that he will lose something. AND good story horror is based on the fact that the main character's fears are conveyed to readers.
   • Describe what happens if the character doesn't achieve what they want. The risks to the character or the consequences of not satisfying desires are factors that keep the story going in a scary story. Character risks also keep the reader on their toes and keep them interested in the story.
4. 4 The villain should not be quite "standard". He must deviate from generally accepted norms. For example, think of Dracula. His teeth do not look like those of an ordinary person, because Dracula's upper fangs are much larger and sharper than those of an ordinary person.
5. 5 Make life difficult for your character. All scary stories are based on fear and tragedy and on the character's ability to overcome their fears. Stories in which good things happen to good people will not be scary. In fact, a story in which bad things happen to good people is not only more realistic, but also keeps the reader on their toes. Let something bad or terrible happen to your character.
   • The discrepancy between what should happen to the character from the reader's point of view and what actually happens to the character will fuel the reader's interest in your story.
6. 6 Let your characters make mistakes or make bad decisions, while believing that they are doing everything right.
   • Don't overdo it with such mistakes or wrong decisions. They must have seemed justified, not just stupid or unbelievable. An attractive young nanny, seeing the masked killer, runs not to the phone to call the police, but out into the dense dark forest - this is an implausible and stupid act of the protagonist from the point of view of the reader.

Part 3 Writing history

1. 1 Create a plot after you've come up with the plot, setting, and characters. For this you can use. Its key elements include:
   • Introduction. Description of characters and place of action.
   • Tie. The character's encounter with problems.
   • Story development. The character tries to resolve the problems that have arisen, but encounters obstacles.
   • Climax. Description of the most disturbing moment in history.
   • Plot fade. Description of events after the climax.
   • Interchange. The character is coping or not coping with the main problem.
   • Epilogue. Description of the further fate of the characters.
2. 2 Show, don't tell a story. A good scary story includes detailed descriptions of the characters' feelings to make it easier for the reader to imagine themselves in the place of the main character. If you describe the situation and the feelings of the characters briefly and superficially, the reader will be less intrigued.
   • For example, consider the following two ways of describing the same scene:
     • I was too frightened and could not open my eyes, hearing the approaching footsteps.
     • I wrapped myself in a blanket and began to whimper softly. My breath caught and my stomach clenched with fear. I didn't want to look. No matter how close those shuffling steps were, I didn't want to look. I didn't want to, I... didn't...”
   • In the second example, the character's experiences are described in more detail so that the reader can better feel the situation.
3. 3 As the plot develops, make the story more tense. To create a good scary story, the reader needs to empathize with the character, so you need to increase the level of danger and anxiety.
   • Hint to the reader about the mystery of the story and the possible climax by introducing small clues or details, such as bottle labels, which will later be useful to the protagonist; a sound or voice in the room that will later testify to something supernatural.
   • Keep the reader on their toes by alternating scary and calm moments. Let the main character calm down and feel safe. Then increase the tension by placing the hero in the most terrifying situation.
4. 4 When writing a story, use the "prediction" technique. This technique is where you introduce clues into the story that allow the reader to "predict" the story's future. But the reader should be able to "see" such clues. This technique also keeps the reader in suspense because they are worried that bad consequences will come before the hero gets out of the situation.
5. 5 Don't use certain words. Describe what is happening in words that will evoke emotions in the reader, and will not impose certain feelings on him. For example, it is better not to use the following words:
   • Frightened, fearful
   • Terrible, terrible
   • Fear, horror
   • afraid
   • Funky
6. 6 Avoid cliches. Like any genre, horror stories have their own set of clichés and clichés, so avoid them if you want to write a unique and interesting piece. Clichés include well-known characters such as the deranged clown in the attic, or clichés such as "Run!" and "Don't look back!".
7. 7 Don't overdo it with the amount of blood and violence. Remember that too much gore and violence will disgust the reader rather than frighten them. If pools of blood constantly appear in your story, the reader will become bored. Of course, some gore is quite appropriate to describe a scene or character. Use gore or violence in your story wisely, that is, in a way that will frighten the reader rather than cause disgust or boredom.

Part 4 Writing a Good Closing Piece

1. 1 Increase the risks for the hero until the climax. Put him in a situation he is unlikely to handle. Bombard him with many minor problems. Intensify the situation until the climax, so that the reader realizes that the character is in serious danger.
2. 2 Let the main character figure out how to get out of this situation. This decision should be based on the details you add as the story progresses, and should not be spontaneous or seemingly random.
3. 3 Write a climax. A climax is a turning point in a story. At the climax of a scary story, the protagonist is in danger (his physical, psychological, emotional or spiritual health).
   • In Poe's story, the climax takes place at the very end of the story. Poe describes how, with the arrival of the police, the internal struggle of the protagonist grows and grows, and outwardly the character remains absolutely calm. At the very end of the story, under the pressure of inner guilt, the hero confesses to the murder and shows the police the corpse of the old man.
4. 4 Create an unexpected denouement that can uplift or bury the entire work. An unexpected denouement is something that the reader does not expect, for example, the reincarnation of the main character from a positive character to a villain. ,
5. 5 Decide how you want the story to end. In the final part of the story, all the secrets and mysteries are revealed. But often this is not the case in scary stories - it is better that the reader does not leave a sense of uncertainty. Has the killer been caught? Does a ghost really exist? But such uncertainty should not confuse the reader.
   • While it is necessary to leave the reader somewhat in the dark, don't leave all the mysteries unrevealed or the reader may not understand the ending of the story at all.
   • Consider whether to make the story's ending unexpected or predictable. In a good scary story, the denouement comes at the very end of the story. The story of Edgar Allan Poe keeps the reader in suspense until the very end, because the denouement is described in the last paragraph of the work.

Part 5 Editing the story

1. 1 Reread the story. Read a draft of your story (silently or aloud) and focus on building intrigue. Pay attention to those moments in the story that are not interesting or intriguing enough. Shorten long paragraphs or rewrite them to help maintain tension.
   • Sometimes the story is written in such a way that the reader knows the denouement in advance. But the reader is still ready to read the work in its entirety, because the ending can be interesting and exciting. The reader empathizes with the hero, so he wants to follow the course of the story.
2. 2 Check the story for spelling and grammatical errors. This way, your reader can focus on the story itself and not be distracted by typos or inappropriate punctuation.
   • It is better to print the story and check it carefully.
3. 3 Let other people read your story. This way you will know what they think about your story. Ask people to comment on the following questions:
   • Characters. Are the characters believable? Is the situation they are in realistic?
   • Narration. Does the story make sense? Are the events in the correct order?
   • Language and grammar. Is the story easy to read? Are there extra sentences, incorrectly chosen words, and so on?
   • Dialogues. Are the dialogues between characters realistic? Too much or too little dialogue?
   • Pace. Is the story progressing at a good pace? Do you get bored in some places? Or in some places the action unfolds too quickly?
   • Plot. Does the plot make sense? Do the characters' goals make sense?
4. 4 Make changes to the story. Remember that this is your story. It's full of your own ideas, so you don't have to include other people's ideas. Sometimes a person who criticizes another person's work tries to bring their views into the story. If other people's ideas are good, include them in the story. But if you think such ideas don't make sense for your story, discard them.

• Read several different scary stories, from classics of the genre to contemporary works. For example, read the following works:
  • William Wymark Jacobs, Monkey's Paw. An 18th century story about three terrible wishes granted by the paw of a mystical monkey.
  • Edgar Allan Poe, The Tell-Tale Heart. A psychological horror story about murder and stalking.
  • Any scary story by Stephen King. He wrote over 200 scary stories and uses various methods to scare his readers. It is recommended that you familiarize yourself with the following works of his: “The Finger” and “Children of the Corn”.
  • Contemporary writer Joyce Carol Oates wrote a well-known psychological horror story called Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

Warnings

• If you are doing research for your scary story (to make it more realistic), do it carefully and wisely.