# Make your readers shiver with style



## Art3mis (Jul 20, 2018)

Suspense and mystery are great technique. But sometimes horror is the better choice. Well … However, sometimes, I have the feeling that the author is a wannabe-Stephen Kings. It doesn’t make me shiver. The opposite is the truth! I can laugh about such writing style. So, how do I present my reader with sleepless nights?


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## Thaumiel (Jul 20, 2018)

When was the last time a book scared you, personally?


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## Art3mis (Jul 20, 2018)

Well. What does scary mean for you? I think about crazy monsters, the character is in danger and much more by the word "scary". But I don't think about splashing organs.


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## Thaumiel (Jul 20, 2018)

I didn't ask what concepts scare you, I asked when was the last time a book scared you. What book was it?

In your first post you mention 'Stephen King wannabes' and that you find their presentation of horror to be laughable. Why is it laughable though? Why is it that they lose you? Then think about a book you've read that has done horror well from your perspective. What has the author done differently? How have they gotten into your head?

What either of us find scary is irrelevant.







But if you must know, it's dogs that set me on edge.


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## Firemajic (Jul 20, 2018)

Art3mis said:


> Suspense and mystery are great technique. But sometimes horror is the better choice. Well … However, sometimes, I have the feeling that the author is a wannabe-Stephen Kings. It doesn’t make me shiver. The opposite is the truth! I can laugh about such writing style. So, how do I present my reader with sleepless nights?



Fear is a very personal thing, Art3mis...  What terrifies me, may not trouble you at all....but I believe there is a universal fear we all share... a fear of the unknown...

The mind can be a terrifying place to dwell, especially when it plays tricks on you and the once familiar and mundane events, places or people become alien, threatening and are presented in a non familiar way... something as simple as a piece of paper can be terrifying...

Tap into your own personal fears or phobias... I hope this helps


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## Terry D (Jul 20, 2018)

I think books can be 'scary' in several ways. If the writer is skilled enough to create characters about whom the reader actually cares -- within the context of the story world -- and then place those characters in harm's way the book can be scary. Stephen King said it well; "I try to create sympathy for my characters, then turn the monsters loose."

A book can have sudden, unexpected events which, if handled well, can create the same effect as a 'jump-scare' in a movie. I remember reading _The Exorcist_ for the first time, and when Father Merrin walked through the front door of the McNeil house and the demon screamed his name from upstairs, I actually jumped in my chair. It's still one of the most well written passages I've ever read.

A book can be scary if its themes and imagery are intense enough to get inside a readers head and linger there causing unease long after the book is closed. After reading _Fail Safe_ as a teenager I remember having dreams about mushroom clouds along the horizon.


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## Darkkin (Jul 20, 2018)

An understanding of the human element is requisite in effective elicitation of fear, especially given the fact that humans are the only known species on the planet to carry out acts of violence, with conscious malevolence.  (Pain for the sake of pleasure, not survival, (survival, which includes, territory, procreation, and resources.  Other species like chimps, orcas, common dolphins, and pelicans, have been known to raid surrounding colonies, kill competing troops, and gang up on pods of similar species.  And instances of cannibalisation have been found throughout the fossil records into the present day and age with the Humboldt Squid.).  Humans are the only species that actively commit violence for their own gratification, thusly, a key element to fear is a cunning, manipulative character.  Hannibal Lecter is a prime example, a charming psychopath that elicits empathetic trust from those he encounters.

People create their own demons, be it through science, dabbling in the occult, or what have you...And it is through the power of the conscious mind that the chemical flight or fight response is quantified into a tangible source.  An antelope smells a leopard, they aren't going to sit around and analyse the situation they run.  People try and rationalise, to make total sense of the situation.  Hence the plot device and continued exposure to fear factor X.

As Newt Scamander said in _Fantastic Beasts_.  'See, they are currently on alien terrain, surrounded by millions of the most vicious creatures on the planet.  Humans.'

The conscious choice of violence when other alternatives are available is also one the the driving factors behind story elements like anthropomorphisation, the human traits coupled with the power of a predatory beast...Trigger the flight response in 5...4...3...


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## Underd0g (Jul 20, 2018)

Character likability. When I figure out I don't like the characters, I can't get scared at all.
When I like them, I cringe when they get their hand shut in a car door.


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## Pete_C (Jul 20, 2018)

The last time I asked, Stephen King laughed at your work too.


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## luckyscars (Jul 20, 2018)

Like any writing intended to provoke an emotive response, you cannot do it by formula. This is largely why books are not written by artificial intelligence yet. The only good way I know to make a reader afraid is to think about what makes you afraid, on the assumption that all human beings share commonalities when it comes to fear much as they do when it comes to other emotions. For horror, that is where you should start: Consider what scares you. Chances are it is not actually vampires or werewolves. Chances are it is not what is fashionable or pleasing aesthetically. Consider what actually, if pursued to its full potential, is so upsetting it is almost unbearable. If your goal is to frighten your readers, then that is what you should be drawing from. Everything else will undoubtedly fall into cliché.


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## EmmaSohan (Jul 21, 2018)

I graciously thank Art3mis for his tour through topics in writing.

To me, horror is different from scary. (The dictionaries do not support me on this.) When I try to do horror, I am going for the sinking realization that the world is worse than the reader thought. (At least the world of the book.) The nice friendly comment by his wife, revealing to him that she is insane and never going to change. The text from the ex-husband showing that he is indeed stalking her and she's more vulnerable than she thought. For Crichton, the evidence that the dinosaurs escaped.

Scary, to me, has to be something I think the author would really do. The complete destruction of the universe isn't scary, I know the author is bluffing.


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## luckyscars (Jul 21, 2018)

EmmaSohan said:


> Scary, to me, has to be something I think the author would really do.



That's an interesting take, and one I have not encountered before.

Are you saying you take the real-world identity of the author into consideration when judging the merits of their fiction? If so, that seems rather drastic, and quite a dangerous, path to venture down. I don't think Peter Blatty had any particular real-life attachment to satan but The Exorcist remains a seminal work on the topic. 

Or is this more an issue of the author's ability to make a fictional novel read like a piece of non-fiction? I find that a far more acceptable position, however it still seems rather questionable. How would this work with a story set on an alien planet, or using alternate history? All good stories of any flavouring require some suspension of disbelief. Yes, believability is important but so is the understanding that no piece of fiction is going to pass the full smell test. I do not like your assertion that "the complete destruction of the universe isn't scary, I know the author is bluffing". I am afraid I can read this no way other than to conclude some measure of literary snobbery. 

In point of fact I am not aware of any books that even incorporate the complete destruction of the universe, however there are plenty of books involving the destruction of the PLANET. Almost by necessity these are often the most impacting books of all. Search out a book titled "On The Beach" by Neil Shute. Read it, and come back and tell me the author is bluffing.


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## EmmaSohan (Jul 21, 2018)

Good points. Right, the author's skill is relevant.

But I stand by what I was trying to say. The most frightening scene I have read in a long time is when the main character was thinking about trying heroin. I knew the author was capable of making that happen, and I was almost screaming at her not to do it. Then she did.

When the main character might get killed at the end -- according to the plot -- I don't experience any stress. The problem is, the main character rarely gets killed, because that ruins the story. If the author can somehow make me think the main character is going to die, then I would be worried, I guess, but I can't think of that happening.

That might just be me. Usually I am thinking, "Now we get to the goofy ending where the main character's life is in danger. Oh, he managed to put a young girl's life in danger."

But I will take this idea seriously in my writing. In one scene, not the final scene, the bad guy had captured my main character and wanted her cooperation, I had him threaten to shoot her in her good leg. (She had one bad leg.) I thought that was scarier than the threat to kill her. Probably to her, which isn't the point; it's definitely more of a threat to a reader with a lot of reading experience.


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## luckyscars (Jul 22, 2018)

EmmaSohan said:


> Good points. Right, the author's skill is relevant.
> 
> But I stand by what I was trying to say. The most frightening scene I have read in a long time is when the main character was thinking about trying heroin. I knew the author was capable of making that happen, and I was almost screaming at her not to do it. Then she did.
> 
> ...



It sounds like you are essentially just describing the importance of suspense and unpredictability.I think everybody agrees on that. However the real question is surely what makes one piece of writing better at doing this than the other even if both are essentially describing the same chain of events. How does fear come alive? 

I am quite sure none of this has anything to do with the author, beyond the fact they are the author. I do not read much horror but I don't think I have ever felt more scared because I felt the author could do in real life what he is writing about. In fact, I think if one is thinking about the author at all while reading the story it's probably either a poorly written story or they lack good reading skills -- or both. In other words, the author should be no more present in the story than the cartoonist in the cartoon.

Anyway yes, unpredictability is certainly vital in the construction of fear and to that end you make a good point. There's a reason even the most seasoned rider's heart flops at the summit of a new rollercoaster.


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## Caden_S (Jul 22, 2018)

To me, scary is when I see the events of doom unfolding but the character does not. But sometimes they see, and do whatever they have to anyway because of their innate drive that trump their fear—because they'd loose something much more precious if they'd avoid the events. This sense of going into it eyes wide open, there's nothing that makes me scream at them more.

It's not 'scary' in the sense of horror movies, I admit, but do I want to scare my readers? Yes. I consciously go for this particular fear.


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## Tatami_Matt (Jul 23, 2018)

Hey there *Art3mis*!

If you're looking to scare your readers, I imagine the best thing you could do is show them things even THEY don't necessarily know they're afraid of; tap into their primal, animal fears! A lot of things that frighten people are actually subsets of major fears, which are in turn real threats to survival that humans and their ancestors have learned to be scared of for the sake of staying alive. The unknown, as Firemajic said, is a great example: what we don't know might be a THREAT. It might jump out and KILL YOU. Pain is another basic fear, elongated pain even more so. Being eaten, especially alive, is high, high on that list, too, if you spin it right. Powerlessness is a good one, too.

If you want to really scare the hell out of someone, tap into their base, animal desire to survive, tap into what makes them who they are, and slowly remove those things as they get closer to a painful end. And I don't mean subjectively 'who this person is': play on what makes a human being a human being. We're social creatures, we're both predatory and prey animals, we've developed to rely on our amazing vision, and we've been hunted by reptiles for the majority of our evolutionary history. Tack on a bit of hopelessness and you've got: "Alone, in pure darkness, in a unknown space, with a hulking, reptilian creature advancing on you, slowly, with no help coming. Above you see a thin ray of light, you see trees: the place you KNOW. The place you'd be fine in, survive in, if only you could get back to it. But you won't. You won't make it out of this cave, and you're going to die painful, pathetically, to a creature stronger than you, who is going to eat you. While you're still alive, struggling. Messily."

Riles me up, that's for damn sure.


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## Malachi (Aug 2, 2018)

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]Idon't think a book can ever scare you in the "jump-scare"sense. It can create very unsettling imagery and situations thatstick with you and make you look at the world around you a bitdifferently. [/FONT]


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## bazz cargo (Aug 7, 2018)

Spiders. Daemon dogs. 
There was a really good LM entry, about a kid kept locked in a wardrobe, his only company was his twin brother, who happened to be a tumour. Creeped me right out.

Good luck
BC


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## PSFoster (Sep 19, 2018)

Things that can possibly happen. Stephen King's "Cujo" scared the  shit out of me because it was about a good dog gone mad.The dog couldn't help it. Could be a true story.


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## TL Murphy (Sep 19, 2018)

Horror uses monsters and the supernatural as metaphors for the things that _really_ scare us. If you want to make it real, forget horror, which is often hokey. What scares us is forces that we don't understand and we can't control that seem to have unknown powers to invade our sense of self preservation. In fact, these forces are all around us. Hurricanes, governments, global warming, asteroids. There are lots of reasons to be terrified in the real world.


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## Ralph Rotten (Sep 19, 2018)

James 剣 斧 血 said:


> When was the last time a book scared you, personally?



Robert Woodward's book Fear


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## moderan (Sep 19, 2018)

Ultracrepidarians abound. Do you have a horror of looking things up?


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