5 ELEMENTS OF A |
3. Suspense
Some surprises come at the end of a long suspense. The best scenario consists of someone waiting for something to happen, and when it does it's completely unexpected. An expansion on the same scenario includes fear. We might even know what will happen to character based on their fears, but there's still the anxiety of waiting.
If things are constantly popping out in order to scare or surprise, we'll eventually grow wise to the act and find it less appealing. While King is credited as the Master of Horror, both the book and mini-series Bag of Bones let me down. Both the written story and TV movie series relied on POP-OUTS too heavily and too often in the form of a dream. We've all had terrifying nightmares before, so to live someone else's is a bit passé.
A better horror story is one that builds up the suspense. We don't just want minor chords and POP-OUT scary faces, we emotional connection with the characters and we want to live out their stress rather than face obstacles akin to a garden snake popping out from behind some vegetables.
Of course, a nice touch to suspense is a good mystery.
4. Mystery
However, more simplex mysteries seem to be the breaking point. Whether small or large, we like not knowing a few things about a character. In general, horror stories featuring a group of innocents will wait until the mid-point or even the end to tell you what the main character - the leader in this case - fears. It will surprise you by the way they encounter their fears. And it will keep the suspense until the very end, at which point to mystery is solved.
Now preferred over mystery, spoilers have always been an important part to every horror element.
5. Spoilers

The main character freaks out at the sight of a spider, so you know they're gonna face one at some point. This can be positive anticipation with surprise and suspense.
You might realize there's a false sense of identity in a novel. Therefore, you suspect the narrator might be a little unreliable. This adds to every element, especially mystery.
But spoilers are the little nothings authors give away at the very start of the tale. Batman is Bruce Wayne. Freddy Krueger can kill you in your dreams. Fears, anxieties, dislikes, etc.
This study reveals people like spoilers more than anything else in a good story. When a reader or viewer knows something about the story from the beginning - a something that would traditionally be in the climax of the story - they are unable to look deeper into the story itself. Their eyes will be open to detail. This is like rereading a novel, only without rereading it.
I like stories that force us to pay attention to every word written or said. When you notice a focus item, you might expect what's to come, but there can still be elements of fear, surprise, mystery, and suspense.
My ideal story spoils how it's constructed, still holds several mysteries, keeps my suspense based on fears, and surprises me by going beyond tradition to create new views on horror and the way it can scare someone.
What Do You Like In A Horror Story?
[update]
Check it out here.
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Hello, this page was very helpful for writing my school a horror story- I never would have guessed about the spoilers!
i have a scary story to write for school ......plz help me
i had the same problem
Wow this is a great help I had no idea that this will help me write a 10,000 word horror/thriller story
Hey this was a really awesome page to help me start writing my very own fiction horror! I love writing stories but I've never came across writing a horror and these tips are sure helping me so thanks!!😃😛😋
:-) :-)
When I wrote this, it was actually kind my way of considering what it takes to construct a good horror story. Now I'm thrilled to see it's useful for others like yourself!
really great. #loveit
Yeah, me too. I like writing a lot and enjoy writing stories, but horror is my worst nightmare. I never know how to make something really scary and it always ends up feeling forced.
wow good stuff this information really helped me with my google doct
I love this site lol
Great website, I love the points you made and I just had to leave a comment! With these ideas, I can soon see a novel of yours at my local book store
im so happy to write a scary story
lol
Glad it helped, and I hope your book turns out to be great!
Hey guys,
I did a follow-up to this entry in which I focus on the concept of false antagonists and allies. It's a sure way to spice up any story. Make sure to check it out!
http://www.cmhumphries.com/1/post/2012/08/5-elements-of-a-good-horror-story.html
I read it! Thanks!
i totally want to use this as a references for my culminating assignment any way you could cite it for me?
If you use the site email and let me know what you need, I might be able to help.
Hey - I was wondering who the publisher or sponsor of the article is - I'm writing a paper on horror and if I use this information in my essay, I'm probably going to need the name of the publisher for it to be credible
This helped me finish chapter 26 in my book, thanks much! <3
Thx very nice analogie
Thank you very much! :)
I love this!
Yay! Thanks a lot! This helped a lot with my language arts homework...writing a short horror story.
How about the concept of transformation? I thought that was the most classic element. Not sure if it applies to Poe but definitely to some famous tales - Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, etc.
Thanks for the great article. I would like to read more about the elements of horror and how to implement them in my writing; especially in sentence structure and descriptive phrases build fear, tension, and, suspense. Could you elaborate on use of Spoilers? Or recommend further reading?
I believe Stephen King's 'On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft' book is exactly what you're looking for, regarding sentence structure and descriptive phrases. I've listened to it as an audio book narrated by the great man himself and it's brilliant.
it was an amazing help
Thank you! Such a clear image, too! Very useful
This really helped with my writing and got me to write with the different elements together or apart.
This article was super interesting to me. I'm making a simple horror game. My hopes are that a fantastic storyline will make up for the simple gameplay. Here's the general idea of what the game's about:
At the beginning of the game, players have to read through three short articles describing an occurence that happened every decade or so. In it, at midnight, a blinding light would appear over a building. At exactly 1:00 AM it would disappear. The next morning the building is gone. When the player clicks on the final date to read a supposed final article and the game begins, implying that it's about to happen again. Except it's made clear that something is inside the building with them. The story continues as the player has to frantically escape.
Hi, my name is Alexis. I am a big fan of the horror genre - horror games, horror books, horror movies, telling horror stories, you name it. I am the horror QUEEN at my school, enough so that these two fourth graders are currently trying to convince everyone I'm secretly a demon. I dunno how to react to this, so I just agree.... This list helped me a lot, thank you. I can't wait to start writing a new story with this to help me! 😃
Great post! I really want to write a horror story but always feel too uneducated regarding the genre itself.
Anyway, I was wondering if you could give me examples on where the author has used spoilers. I'm not quite sure I understood that part of the post...
this helped me so much on my school project
This was one of the most informative websites I have been to. I can see the effort you have put in this I bet my friends would love to see your blog. This will definitely be useful in class.
Black type on a black background. Brilliant. WTF?
SPINE CHILLING PICTURE
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Fear, focus, and the future. C.M. Humphries talks about writing, horror, and whatever.
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