Q&A for How to Start a Horror Story

Think of anything that makes you/your readers feel secure, and take it away. Make the sweetest or kindest character turn out to be evil, or just straight-up kill them off. If it feels cliche, figure out why it feels that way and take away the part that seems too obvious or predictable.

You can base your characters off of real people you know! You can literally mix and match real people. To make your characters consistent and more relatable, you can even write an entire paragraph about your character, everything about them! That way you feel like you know your characters, and it's much easier to write with them that way.

Of course. It's your story, it's your choice how to end it.

There are many strategies to accomplish this, but for a horror story it is usually best to use deceptive techniques. Build up anticipation on who the antagonist is or what their true motives are (if the identity is already known), then create a twist. You can add to this by utilizing foreshadowing techniques.

'The right place' is not the tip of a needle, it's more of a broader time frame, as in within a chapter or two. Let's say you have set up the story and created expectations in the reader over the first 3 chapters. Then you develop the story, giving depth, over 3 more chapters. The reader is yearning to know how the issue is resolved, if you keep them waiting for another 55 chapters, the resolution's satisfaction will never be enough to cover all that waiting. A twist renews their perspective on what has previously been set up; it follows the setup, but comes ahead of the resolution.

Whichever one suits your story better. If you want something more horrific (for a horror story), then try first person. If that doesn't work for you, try third person.

Of course, you can do whatever you like. JRR Tolkien once said about his Lord of the Rings trilogy that "It's too short"! Now, even though the length of, say, a paragraph is not strictly defined, we can all sense the difference between a book and a paragraph. So if each of your parts is only 5 pages long, they're not really long enough to qualify as parts. But if your books/stories are linked, then each can indeed become a part.

If you plan to write a spooky story, you need to include some scary parts, but along with that you could add romance, comedy or fantasy. A spooky story does not need to be very scary, it could just be mysterious or eerie instead.

Sure, it often is a part of it. But don't change the book's genre. You want the entire story to be in the genre of horror, not for it's genre to change to sex during the sex scenes. I.e. if the sex is not pivotal to the plot, then omit it. Don't write a sex scene just because you want a sex scene in your story. It's a great moment to kill off a character, for example. (Or to get readers to exclaim, "Who in their right mind has sex at such a moment?!")

You can publish a story based on a video game online as fanfiction, as long as you are clear that it is fanfiction and you claim no ownership of the original. It is illegal to make money off of it, however.

No, there will not always be a solution to a story, but think about your character's situation, and ask yourself whether or not it would be realistic or idealistic for them to find a solution. It is totally up to the author. Remember, you are still writing a horror story, so do not make it too easy to find the solution; challenge your readers to find the solution, (if there is one) then find a way to completely surprise the reader.

In addition, an effective horror story also includes motivation, suspense, ambiguity, foreshadowing, and a general mood of fear and/or dread." Add a “what if” element to your greatest fear. Think about different scenarios in which you might experience some of your greatest fears.

Yes. You're the author, and you can write anything you want. Do you think that most of your readers would enjoy that ending? Authors usually like to attract and be recommended by readers.

It is a horror story, so it’s perfectly normal for a character to die, especially such a sweet one.

You can use your favourite celebrity but it would have to be in a horror setting. Try to write a creepy unusual description about the surroundings and you can use your mind to think of what she is like.

Of course! Horror stories are often very unconventional, so there are no limits to the stories can they tell.

Sure! That means you're writing a good, scary, story! However, if your book terrifies you so much you find it hard to write, consider toning it down.

Write down a brief summary of each of your ideas so you don't forget them. Most people have just the opposite problem.

Think of RL Stine. His work isn’t too graphic and focuses more on monsters, aliens and other supernatural creatures.

You can add the comedy part before the scares and after the scares. For example, a joke can be said by one of the main characters after the antagonist is beaten or a joke can be said while the family is still moving in. But don't put the jokes during the scares which is mostly in the falling acting, climax and the rising action.

Don't rush. Since you could do the big and little scenes, then you could also do the in-between ones too. Just do your drafts first, then you can think of something.

Figure out what you do not like about it. Once you have, change those parts into something better. Also, remember that many famous artists threw away now famous paintings, song writers hated now chart topping songs, and book writers have trashed now popular books. You may just be too critical of yourself!

If you mean other writers' stories, yes, you can use them unless you plan to publish your story. In that case you should be careful about using other writers' characters, which could be considered plagiarism and cause you some legal trouble.

Your mind won't always be blank. Eventually some ideas will pop into your head. Discuss them with family and friends. Talking with others is a good way to stimulate your creativity.