How to write a horror story

Do you want to start in the world of writing? The genre of terror is one of the funniest of both writing and reading because you have to put yourself in the character's skin, face horrendous situations and try to get out of there in the most natural way possible. Getting to create fear is just as difficult to get to laugh but, once it is achieved, the satisfaction is spectacular so in this article we are going to tell you how to write a horror story step by step so that you create a spooky story. Prepared?

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Before setting out to write a horror story we have to take into account something very important: what audience do we want to address? Well, it is not the same to write a story for children as for an adult reader: the choice of the characters, the plot and the sure end that are different choose the audience that we choose. So the first step is to determine your readers in order to begin to establish the following points of writing.

It is also important that before you start writing this kind of stories, you should know some of the most remarkable of the genre: in you we discover the best stories for Halloween because they are full of mystery and terror.

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Now we have to start imagining our characters . Since the intention is to write a short story, not a novel, we will have to draw a profile of basic and credible character. That is, it is not necessary to invent all the background, dreams or frustrations to make a good story but we will have to build a realistic and credible character, with logical passions and decision making that can be credible.

Therefore to create characters of stories we will have to ask ourselves questions of the type:

• What physical appearance do you have? (Age, color, height, corpulence, if it has scars, etc.)

• Who is your family? (Profession of parents, if it comes from a humble or wealthy family, where it was raised, etc.)

• What is your greatest fear? - This is important to be able to determine our character from a horror story because we have to go a little deeper into their psychology of fears in order to establish a good plot and a good development.

Depending on the type of character you want to create, you will have to delve a little deeper into your past, into your frustrations or traumas in order to invent a good horror story.

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If we have decided that the element that causes fear in our horror story is a person, we will have to do the same as we did in the previous step but determined by that new character that has to have a natural logic and veracity. It is not worth to show a bad guy of all the life but that we have to leave the marked cliches and choose to make a careful psychological portrait with which the reader can empathize and get to understand the motives of this character.

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The time has come to start thinking about the plot of our terro r story . What exactly happens? What is the chronological order of the story? This last point is important because, often, the stories of fear do not start at the same moment of the events but have a past history (the death of someone, the abandonment, etc.). So to be able to create a logical argument without inconsistencies, we recommend that you make a timeline where you mark all the events that have taken place until the moment of your story.

Creating an outline of the plot and the story will help you to write it and not to make blunders such as inconsistencies or threads that are loose. Keep in mind that a story of fear must have all the elements well explained and cohesive so that it ends up being a good story. So structure your information and have the outline in mind when you go to write.

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A tip: although we have recommended you to do a detailed outline of your story, do not be afraid to give free rein to your imagination when you are writing. Letting your characters do something you do not expect is natural and good for a writer because it means you have created characters with a life of their own. So do not close doors to your creative freedom and let your mind move along the sides of your scheme: yes, do not lose sight of what you have previously thought because otherwise the result can be chaotic.

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As with the mystery stories, at the moment of setting up a horror story we also have to work very carefully on the suspense of the plot . Edgar Allan Poe, one of the masters of the genre, said that in order to create a good story it is not necessary to describe the blood, the knife or the murder itself, but rather to play with psychological fear, that kind of fear that It creates a terrifying atmosphere but without revealing anything. It is better to suggest that to show, that is the premise that you have to follow in order to write a good horror story.

Another trick that exists to create that atmosphere of fear and that has the soul of the reader in suspense is that we write the story in the first person . Making our narrator the protagonist of the story gives immediacy to the story, freshness and a personal experience with which it will be easier to transfer those same feelings to the reader.

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In order to create a story that is capable of really scare the reader we advise you to leave behind the mythical classic stories of terror based on legends of vampires, ghosts or zombies and choose to create an atmosphere in a daily environment . Situate the scenes of your story in environments recognizable by the reader will increase the effect that you are looking for and that your story triumphs; so choose to place your character in a parking lot at night or in a half-empty street instead of moving to enchanted castles or abandoned mansions.

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And finally, in order to write a worthy horror story you have to work specifically on the ending . Not only what is the development of the plot but how will you reveal it to the reader. The way in which the characters learn about the resolution of the conflict as well as the subtlety when dropping some clue during the story are essential to make your story worthy of reading.

Keep in mind that there is no need to set a happy ending but do not fall into the cliché of wanting to create a grand finale: the best advice is to let you take the story and see what possibilities you have. Keep in mind that they never like happy endings but neither those that are forced, so for history to make sense, the best advice is to let yourself be carried by the heartbeat of it and once there you let yourself be guided.