How To Start Off A Horror Story – (FYI, this post is part of the How to Write a Genre Story series. Copyright should have called it How to Write a Genre Story: Setting and Mood (Part 2), but I couldn’t resist the more evocative title: “How?” To scare someone! ” Below are links to other articles in this series, but you don’t need to read any of them to understand what follows.)
First, it helps set the mood. Do you want your reader to be shocked (horror/suspense)? Do you want your reader to be curious (mysterious)? Do you want your reader to experience the excitement of discovering a society (fantasy) that is significantly different from their own? and all.
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How To Start Off A Horror Story
Second, the environment brings the story world to life through senses such as smell, taste, sight, touch, and hearing.
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Today I will talk about the first of these, decor and mood. I will address the second and third points in the very near future.
Mood draws the reader into a story. Since one of the purposes of storytelling is to evoke a certain emotion in the reader, it is important to create the right mood.
I think the best way to illustrate this is to talk about horror, both as a mood and as a genre. Let’s say you’re writing a horror story. Naturally, you want to terrify your readers.
It’s so obvious that I hate to say it (well, write it down), but if a man wasn’t afraid, he wouldn’t be afraid. What must happen for a person to be afraid? They need to perceive a threat and feel vulnerable to that threat.
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For example, imagine walking down the front road to pick up your mail from the cute mailbox your kids got you for Christmas. You hear a voice, maybe a step, to your right. You see something pink and scary out of the corner of your eye. “Oh, that’s Ms. Jones,” you think. Mrs. Jones is your unfailingly friendly neighbor who walks around in a poppy pink dress. You turn to wave, but then you see that Mrs. Jones has transformed into a startling, half-decayed zombie. And she’s only going for you!
You may have a tougher build than me, but I’d be shocked! I would instantly forget everything I had gotten the mail and would run back inside, fearing for my life. From where? Because (of course!) I will be afraid of becoming what my gray, shoe-making, mindless neighbor has become.
I think fear is essentially an acceptance or recognition of my vulnerability in the face of imminent danger.
Accepting the proximity of my deformity or the deformity of my family/friends. (Think slasher movies like Saw.)
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Now ask yourself: Which framework will help convey such feelings/thoughts to the reader? What will its features be?
I was going to write this post about how to evoke more moods than fear, but here are some things I think will help evoke this particular mood.
Darkness hides things, turns the familiar into alien, the unknown contains the unknown. Chaotic things lurk beyond the firelight.
I know the observation isn’t original, but there’s a reason darkness is used in every horror story (I’m rambling).
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When the hero faces the big bad, he gets no help and is forced to face the enemy alone. If the hero wants to win and escape the horror, they will have to do so by relying on their wits and strength. This is especially true when it comes to a horror story.
The hero or heroine and their allies often travel to a distant and unfamiliar place. A place they’ve never been before. (And of course there’s also the story the locals tell them, which scares them but is discounted.) In the end, the hero’s allies met an unpleasant death but he’s still there and now he’s really ticking and has a plan. But all of this alleviates the isolated nature of the setting. Otherwise he will use his mobile phone to call someone for help!
The monsters that scare me the most are distorted normal things. I haven’t been the same since reading Stephen King’s Pet Sematary!
Here’s an example of how changing a familiar environment can create fear. The story is called Bad Dreams and was posted anonymously on Dramatica.com, but before you go there, be aware that the site is not safe for work. That’s putting it mildly. But this story is good, 100 percent PG.
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‘Dad, I had a bad dream.’ You blink and pull your elbows. Your watch glows red in the dark; It’s 3:23. ‘Do you want to get in bed and tell me?’ ‘No, dad.’ The strangeness of the situation wakes you up better. You can barely make out your daughter’s pale face in the darkness of your room. ‘Why not, honey?’ ‘Because in my dream, when I told you my dream, the thing wearing the mother’s skin sat on the ground.’ For a moment you feel paralyzed; You can’t take your eyes off your daughter. The covers behind you start to move.
The definition used here is familiar. sincere. insulator. The hero is in his bedroom with his wife and child. Would the story have the same effect if it were in the morning rather than the witching hour? Would the story have the same impact if the exchange took place while the protagonist was getting ready to go to work? I do not think so.
I think the closeness and intimacy of the threat contributes to the isolation. If the woman had been in the kitchen, or even in the hallway, the situation wouldn’t have seemed so intense and frightening. It is the closeness of the threat (your wife lying right behind you) that increases the feeling of isolation. For example, I’m in a crowd and someone puts the barrel of a gun to my back and says, “Don’t shout, don’t talk, just walk.” I immediately become isolated because I can’t ask for help.
I’ve already mentioned some of these, but I need an excuse to bring up one of my favorite horror scenes. This scene – well, I guess it’s more like a series of scenes – takes place towards the end of Alien, one of the best horror movies ever made. (Yes, okay, this is my personal opinion. If you disagree, let me know in the comments.)
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Towards the end of Alien, as Ripley (played by Sigourney Weaver) heads towards the shuttle, she travels through winding corridors, expecting danger at every turn. In my opinion, this was the most exciting part of the movie.
The darkness of both the spaceship and the surrounding, suffocating, void of space isolates the hero from any help and confuses him, increasing his fear; This has mysteriously become your fear even though you are completely safe and sitting comfortably on your back. He was on the couch eating buttered popcorn. Oh, no, wait! This was me. 😉
Anyway, that’s it for today. Leave a comment if you want to chat, ask a question, or tell me I’m wrong. Until then, happy writing, I’ll talk to you again soon.
Other posts in this extended series (I’m starting a book): How to Write a Genre Story: Index
A Terrifying Horror Story
Tags: #i’mwriting, #howtowrite, #writingtips, alien, i’m writing, disorientation, genre, horror, how to write, isolation, monomyth, setting, Sigourney Weaver, surprise, writing, writing tips Writers of all genres agonize over how to begin stories Horror stories begin like any other genre of fiction. There is nothing inherently different about the beginning of a horror story than the beginning of a love story or a historical fiction story.
A horror story may begin in the middle of a major plot, just before or after a plot twist, or it may begin by setting the scene and introducing characters; characters then advance the plot by working through conflicts, subplots, and major events. Until the climax and resolution of the story.
Professional writers do not intuitively know where and how to start their stories. Before they start writing, they need to know their characters and mentally create a premise for the plot. Every writer is different and every story is different, so there are times when a writer can start writing and starting works, but this is not typical.
If you don’t know how to start your horror story, you don’t know enough to start writing. Get to know your characters; Practice these on scenes in your mind. Before you start writing, create the premise of your story in your mind.
Ouija Board Real Horror Story
Once you can turn your premise into a story in your mind, it’s time to start writing a draft, even if it’s incomplete; It doesn’t need to be comprehensive. You just need some guidance.
Record outlines for your characters, too. These don’t need to be comprehensive either; Keep names in mind, identify basic personality, story objectives, and physical descriptions. It’s really easy
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