How To Write Terror Part I

The king of horror literature Stephen King once said there are three types of horror. You have the gross-out horror, which we can also refer to as gore. It’s the type of horror where you’re disgusted and needs to put the book down because it’s making your stomach upset; its blood, bones and disfigured bodies. You later have Horror, which are the natural things that scare us like spiders and jump-scares. Finally, you have terror, the most frightening of all because it’s the one that triggers your survival instincts and gets under your skin. It’s also the most challenging one to write, so if you are a struggling terror writer, we’ve rounded up some tips that will make your life easier:

• Do your research. Before thinking about writing your story do some research on myths, legends and whatever else your story is about. In order to write an authentic horror story, you need to research for authentic experiences. Writing about ouija boards went wrong? Look into someone's real life experience. Want to introduce witchcraft? Look into real witches and their craft. Perhaps you’ll end up basing your story on real-life disappearances. You never know, but the truth is that the more research you do on your story the more realistic and frightening it will seem.
• Take advantage of the tone. Whether you are writing in the first person or not, the most frightening type of narration and tone to use is a detached one. Short sentences and minimum emotional description. It’s almost as if the narrator has gone into shock and forgot how to speak. This type of writing makes the reader anxious and frustrated, which you as a writer should exploit in order to write good terror.
• Use all five senses to get under your skin. When building a frightening atmosphere use the power of all five senses so that the reader can really feel the terror. Not just only on the big and frightening moments. Describe the taste of the water and how it changes throughout the story. Inform the reader on the multiple changes in the environment through the five senses so that they can fully grasp the power of what they’re afraid of.
• Think about what terrifies you. This is super important. Emotion and empathy are two key ingredients when writing terror. You need to write it so that the reader can feel the narrator’s fear. You need to also make sure that the terror you are writing about is something someone else would be terrified of too. To do this you should explore what frightens you, not just monsters and ghosts, but as in, what things produce fear in you. For example, you’re always on alert and afraid when you’re walking home at night alone. Let the fear you feel fuel the terror you write.

These are just some tips we recommend to help you write a terrifying story, we will explore other ideas in the second part of this article. However, if you are really looking into knowing how to write a good terror, there’s no better lesson than to read other authors. We recommend browsing through our online library www.vidicus.com for a wide variety of terror books.