I've been writing horror novels for about twenty years with some fantasy mixed in. I didn't read a lot of horror novels, however I did watch a lot of movies. I still watch lots of horror movies and they inspire my writing. Some tips I have for new writers in the horror genre is to be involved within the horror genre whether through movies, video games, or books because they will offer an understanding of how the genre works.
Try to find things that scare you or revolt you to draw inspiration from. I have used my fears to help inspire my writing and they allowed me to come up with some great book ideas that I'll hopefully share with everyone sooner rather than later.
"The ultimate goal of your horror story will be to evoke fear in your reader. However, fear may take many forms, including dread, shock, revulsion, or paranoia. Understanding subtle differences between each of these forms of fear will make it that much easier to produce them in your reader. Dread might involve creating the unshakable sense that terrible things are about to happen; to shock your readers, you might make sudden and extreme revelations apparent in a dramatic turn of events or horrifying image. Don’t underestimate the efficacy of the gross-out factor in unnerving your reader; play on his or her instinctive fear of bodily harm or mutilation. Elicit doubt in your reader by making them question characters, surroundings, your narrator, or even their own perception of the world. Whichever strategies you choose, make them emotionally impactful" (Miano, 2017).
Utilizing a lot of descriptions can help immerse your readers into the story. Using all five senses can also help build the fear within the reader. What noises does your character hear? What do they feel? Do they taste anything? Are there any scents that they smell? Can they see anything? These types of questions can help build the atmosphere around your character and the tension.
Try not to reveal too much to the reader, you want to keep them wondering. To do this, keep your character in the dark about what they are experiencing. Keep them guessing about what is real, if the character is trust worthy and if something else is going on in the background that the character might be unaware of.
Elements of tragedy can help as well, I put a lot of tragic tones within my novels. People relate to tragedies because we all have experienced some form of it. A tragedy can be something along the lines of death, heartache, loss, or the feeling of confinement with no hope insight.
Creating consequences for your characters is another great idea when creating a horror story. Consequences don't have to be realistic, they can be more extreme. In horror movies when a character doesn't follow the rules, they die. In others, things get out of hand to the point where the family is in danger.
You can implement humor or moments of relief, it can make your characters more human and relatable. I've had my characters jump and then realize it was a family member or a pet that surprised them. Creating a horror story that ends up being completely fake is another idea that plays on humor. Especially if your character is terrified throughout the entirety of it only to find out it was a practical joke or they were just scaring themselves.
Another great tip is to always read your stories out loud regardless if it's a horror story, science fiction, fantasy, thriller, mystery, romance, or even non-fiction. Always read it out loud because you might find that the dialogue is flat, unrealistic, or just doesn't seem to work. Other times you might find punctuation issues, spelling issues, or areas that could flow better.
I hope these tips helped, I'll be posting more tips to help any writers out there considering the craft.
Happy writing!
Resource:
Miano, A. (2017). 10 Tips for Writing a Successful Horror Story.
Comentários