Happy Spooky Season! Oftentimes as the leaves begin to change and I pull out my sweaters for the season, I find myself in consideration of putting together a scary story to break out at our annual family bonfire. And as an editor currently doing line edits on a horror novel, I now am considering the mechanics of frightening readers more carefully as well.
Write What Scares You
By connecting with your own fears, you’re likely to find a tribe to connect deeply with your book. If you’re somebody who has to call a friend to take care of a spider, add some creepy crawlies to your text. If you’re terrified of climate change, consider a post-apocalyptic setting. You can’t write a horror novel for everyone. The lowest common denominator will only connect with a readership on a low level. Instead write about what keeps you up at night to instill meaning and stakes that a fandom can latch onto.
Leverage Pacing and Syntax
As a writer, you can’t utilize music and jump scares to grasp readers’ emotions, but you do have access to pacing. Heighten your readers’ fear by writing paragraphs with long sentences. Periods serve as a natural resting place for the mind to process before moving forward with their reading, and by drawing out your sentences you can create tension without it being too invasive on the reading experience.
In contrast, short, staccato sentences quicken reading pace. Readers can quickly digest short sentences, and as they pile on top of each other create a racing sensation to the end of the page as they hope to find the protagonist safe and sound at the end. Each period is like a breath, and many close together can create an effect similar to the hyperventilation of anxiety.
Leave Room for the Imagination
Authors are naturally inclined to want to close loops and ensure there are no questions left unanswered for their readers. Tell me, what’s the worst possible fate for your book? Plot holes, right? It’s natural to want to avoid them by giving answers. But don’t rush ahead to give answers too quickly. If something strange is happening, leave the mystery alive for readers. Is it aliens? Or maybe a conspiracy? Are there terrible monsters in the woods? Let their minds wander, and it will create more tension as your protagonist has to navigate their situations.
Maximize Suspense
This is probably obvious. Maximizing suspense is the goal of the vast majority of novels. So, here are a few quick tricks that apply themselves especially well to horror stories:
Set a Clock – Create a timeline of constraints that work for the villain and against your protagonist. They have to complete a task in a certain amount of time in order to avoid consequences.
Raise the Stakes – No, your book doesn’t have to be about global annihilation to have good stakes, but the story should be about a crisis that will devastate your protagonist. By finding stakes that are personal to your lead, you’ll also emotionally involve your readership.
Stack the Odds – Your protagonist should have to put every bit of their skills, connections, and creativity into overcoming the primary conflict. Readers must, at least once, believe that all hope is lost. There is no way to conquer the antagonist until they stretch beyond their comfort zone.
Be Unexpected – In life, it’s so rare to create a plan and have it go perfectly. Your lead’s plans shouldn’t stay on course, either. The hero should not be able to rely upon anything going for them, and forward momentum should come at a price. What trade-offs are your characters making?
Though these tips only begin to build a framework for horror, they are the good bones on which your creepy details and chilling description can flourish. Without building a sound story structure, your genre will read like glitter thrown on smeared dog crap.
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