A Guide to the Beginning Fan Work Author

True Horror: Writing your Scary Story

What are you afraid of?

What makes your skin crawl?

What sends shivers down your spine?

Is it the monsters in your closet?

The man in the woods?

Maybe it's the man behind you.

Fear is something people have an complicated relationship with. We hate to be afraid but we love to get scared. Perhaps when we decide to scare ourselves, we feel some sort of control over it. 

I have a love-hate relationship with horror. I love a good scary story for the narrative excellence but I hate feeling in danger. One of my favorite movies ever is Alien. It is created wonderfully! It gets fuel off the the fear of the unknown, fear of not being in control, the feeling of helplessness, and the dreadful feeling of total isolation. Jurassic Park, all time favorite of mine,  is technically a horror film (or at least a suspense-thriller) as it puts the characters in a perilous situation and fills us with suspense. It makes us as humans realize how new and weak we are compared to nature. These two films fuel fear by destroying the concept of control and humanity's superiority.

We as people think we are the alpha species, masters of the earth, and the most advanced species ever to live. We are advanced but what happens when we are stripped of the technology we need or worse, something comes along that completely overpowers our technology. These two movies introduce two monsters, prehistoric beasts and the ultimate alien predator, that completely destroy the image we put up, showing how weak and helpless we truly are. It allows us to feel vulnerable. 

I enjoy something creepy every once in a while but what goes too far for me? The fear of others. Alien didn't freak me out as much because it is very much fictional, (at least I hope.) My sheer love of dinosaurs kept me from freaking out because come on, it's dinosaurs! How am I not gonna geek out over it? What really scares me is movies about what people do to other people. 

I do not believe people are inherently good. Doesn't mean I think humanity is pure evil though; I am no misanthrope. I know that there are sick, twisted people in the world who seek to kill and destroy and there are very good, moral people. Man is like a pendulum. Everyone is capable of swinging in the direction of good and evil. 

What scares me the more than any monster is the evil capabilities of man. Home invasion films are an an absolute no for me. The thought of someone breaking into my home and torturing me and my family for no reason is what instills true, sickening fear in me. Why? Because it can happen. 

That begs the question. What scares you?

Is it helplessness?

The thought of someone you've never met trying to kill and torture you for no reason? Or worse, someone you know and love betraying you and making you suffer?

Is it something coming to get you with no signs of relenting?

The supernatural?

Is it what you see in the dark or what you can't see skulking just outside your window?

The first tip to effective horror is discussing what people are afraid of in an artistic style. Monster movies are good for those fearing what we don't understand. Supernatural horror is good for fear of what we cannot see and cannot rationalize. Slasher and break-in/home invasion is good for the fear of the capabilities of man and violence. Natural disaster films are good for what we cannot control.

Feed off a specific fear. Make the audience feel the same helplessness the characters do in a situation. I am not scared of sharks in the slightest but Jaws made me suspenseful because it feeds on the fear of something we can't see lurking beneath the waves.

Second point is characters. Typical slashers didn't scare me as much because they seem to premise the idea of punishing the bad behavior of teens. You drink, smoke, or have some inappropriate relationships? You gonna get the knife. You're the mean bully or the naughty comic relief? You gonna get the knife? You pour milk in before you pour cereal? You gonna get the KNIFE. Nah, just kidding on the last one. You'd probably get the chainsaw. Point is, so long as you don't do anything bad, you're typically safe from the knife. Good on slasher films today, they've started to drift from that trope. Now everyone is in danger.

Pushing aside objective v subjective good arguments, what feels so much more scary is good people getting hurt. You already know who's going to die in a traditional slasher but what is so scary is watching the characters you've grown to love trying to survive against all odds. That was what made A Quiet Place so effective. Rather than a massive cast of forgettable one dimensional characters that serve as a kill count, we  have a handful of characters who are three dimensional, realistic, and all around good. If your characters are flat, insufferable soon-to-be-corpses, your story will fall flat. Make characters that are fun and challenging.

In writing a true horror story, subtlety is your friend. I have always favored slow, patient, and quiet horror to out loud gore and violence.

Gore has been done to death. It's boring and gross. If you enjoy it, good for you. I won't give any tips on it because I am not great with it. The most violent thing I've read is Warriors by Erin Hunter. Sorry.

If you want to write violence, make sure you research how the body works. Biology buffs will call you out.

Take the story at an easy, patient pace, not too slow but not too in-your-face fast. Draw out that spooky stuff and have fun with it. 

Overall, think hard on what you want to scare people with. Sometimes, subtlety is your friend. Leave the readers on edge and wanting to look over their shoulder.

Final things to leave you with:

Don't use Indian Burial Grounds. (It is considered racist, see Dead Meat Podcast Indian Burial Grounds on YouTube.)

Use tragic backstory loosely.

Don't try and justify the villains actions through a tragic backstory. (Looking at you creepypasta killers coughcoughJeffandClockworkcoughcough.)

Don't make copycat killers/proxies of famous creepypasta characters. You will get drowned out by literally everyone else's character. Also don't make them half anything, half cat, half dog, half bird, half Jeff, etc. DON'T DO THAT. AVOID OTHER IMPLEMENTING OTHER CREEPYPASTA CHARACTERS. 

Be Original.

Have fun spooking.

BOO!