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Questions tagged [horror]

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This tag should be used for works of fiction that are about invoking a certain feeling of fear and dread in the reader.

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When someone sees something frightening, how can I make it obvious without sounding cliche?

I write a lot of horror, and I notice that my characters use "Oh my God!" when they're frightened in my scenes by a demon, ghost or murderer. How can I make them seem terrified without being so cliche ...
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3answers
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How do I imply the horror of transforming into a werewolf from another character's point of view

I am very new to Stack Exchange. I want to ask a question I had on my mind for some time. I am considering writing a horror story with fantasy and military-like elements inserted into it, and I want ...
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4answers
4k views

How do I introduce dark themes?

My story involves a superhuman organization that aims to overthrow the main government, through any means necessary. This involves murder and some rather gruesome deaths. Additionally, there might be ...
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7answers
337 views

How exactly can a writer write a horror story without making it so scary to the point where it's actually hard to read or watch?

I've recently started getting into horror lately and trying to learn how all of the genre works so that maybe I myself can write good horror. But there's been one thing on my mind that's been ...
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2answers
121 views

Thoroughly conveying my protagonist's thoughts and emotions

I'm currently writing a story in which our protagonist is trapped in a labyrinth of sorts. The twist here is that she is the monster within this maze yet she does not realize it as she has no memory ...
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Can monster/beasts be in a psychological horror

I am working on a psychological horror with an extra element. Monsters, and I don’t mean ghosts. My characters will face suspicions, distrust, paranoia and emotional disturbances. They will deal with ...
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1answer
237 views

What truly makes dark and morose storytelling effective?

This is a fairly simple, straightforward question that I hope I can get an answer to. Where is the line of separation between an effectively dark storytelling and trying too hard to be edgy with ...
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2answers
184 views

How can I emphasize the horror of a ritual without getting too overly graphic?

A person is born with a certain amount of mana, which increases with age and peaks at a certain point. Individuals are born with all the mana they will ever have, but it can be refined with practice ...
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3answers
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Can disgust be a key component of horror?

The feeling of disgust is often used in horrors, exspecially visual medias (where is arguably easier to shock the audience with great effect). Often horror stories revolve around one scary element (a ...
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2answers
209 views

What is the structure of a paranormal horror story?

Building on the definition of a Paranormal Story (as opposed to Dark Fantasy) described in the answers here: What are most common tropes of a paranormal book and dark fantasy book?. A paranormal ...
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1answer
493 views

Monsters of psychological horror

According to Wikipedia, psychological horror is Psychological horror is a subgenre of horror and psychological fiction that relies on mental, emotional and psychological states to frighten, disturb,...
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How to write painful torture scenes without being over-the-top

I'm trying to write torture scenes but I'm not really all that confident about it since I've never written anything like it before and have never really witnessed anything violent. I know the methods ...
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How can I portray body horror and still be sensitive to people with disabilities?

Building on my answer in Proven psychological or scientific means of scaring people?, I'm working on a universal horror-theme structure for a branching-narrative series with an occult detective. I won'...
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344 views

Setting The Correct Tone

So, I've written a horror story and everybody says that it is indeed good but they also point out that while my premise is terrific, my narrative voice does not go with horror. That it reads "too soft ...
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3answers
600 views

Proven psychological or scientific means of scaring people?

I already feel right out of the gate that this is going to be a naive question, but I'm going to ask it anyway. I know that writing horror does not guarantee that you're particularly good at it, and ...
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5answers
511 views

Horror story in a hospital: how to unsettle the reader?

I'm new and I hope to do this thing right, soo Hi! I'm willing to write a short story about a girl who wakes up in a hospital and gradually discovers that the entire structure is under the influence ...
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4answers
670 views

Best way to write chilling, short thriller/horror without getting gory in a natural setting?

What are the tricks to writing short, chilling stories that don't resort to blood or cliched monsters, in a setting in nature of hunter/hunted? EDIT: While this edit isn't meant to invalidate any of ...
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1answer
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Making an existential horror work without really showing it [closed]

I have an idea for a story: My setting is reminiscent of some computer games, in that Player Characters (PCs) are essentially immortal - they reincarnate indefinitely, and can continue to kill the ...
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293 views

How do I write about monsters in the 21st Century?

Hollywood and 20th Century Fox used to make movie monsters with organic slime and grotesque puppets, back when CGI was something unheard of that was slowly being practiced. But there were also ...
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Mixing humour with horror in fiction

I got into trouble last year for submitting an assignment (Masters in Creative Writing) that included a story that sprinkled elements of humour (think Despicable Me) into a gritty and frankly ...
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1answer
137 views

I need a one-line description for a Christian horror novel I'm writing [closed]

I need a one-liner description for the book I’m writing. There are three main characters, a brother and sister and a young man. My book is a Christian horror novel. The sister must keep her surrogate ...
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3answers
434 views

How Many Tropes Are Allowed In a Short Story?

I am trying to add some dramatic ‘zombie-virus’ suspense to a short-story about boy-meets-girl young love, which already has an unlikely (but not the first sort of) antagonist The boy named Ethan is ...
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3answers
115 views

Explain something being written out

I am working on a story where a character is witnessing something being written out but I don't know the correct way to write that. It will write out death I wrote out I witnessed something being ...
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Am I describing a zombie?

I introduced a young person (called Raven) who the main character was friends with in my story; Raven is an excellent student who the main character is also teaching music to. The story is the result ...
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6answers
280 views

How to make the murder's identity less obvious, or make the obviousness not matter?

I'm writing a short story following the first person perspective of the MC, who is a young, male writer of horror stories. He goes on a cruise with his girlfriend and their friends, and, ...
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6answers
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I'm not sure where to start with writing a horror story

I haven't written anything horror, but I have had scenes in my past stories that my friends have stated was 'creepy,' so I've decided I wanted to attempt to write something scary. I tend to lean into ...
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5answers
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How can you deal with the darker themes of a grimdark setting without being edgy?

Many grimdark settings focus on the darker aspects of human nature (war, murder, rape, etc). Some portray this to be edgy in order to paint the world as dark or mature without reason. An example would ...
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4answers
985 views

Is mixing cultures for the setting of a fantasy story frowned upon?

I am writing a fantasy/steampunk/horror novel, and I'm wondering if mixing different cultures is frowned upon. Specifically, my novel's setting is a mix of Italy, Ancient Rome, and Transalvania/...
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3answers
164 views

Advice on writing horror? [closed]

Can you guys give a novice writer some advice on how to write good, frightening horror? I'm think more short story than novel, but anything that can give readers the creeps. I want to avoid being ...
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8answers
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How can I Avoid Being Frightened by the Horror Story I am Writing?

Yes, I have to admit it. I don't like horror movies because (shocker) I find them scary. Unlike other people in my house, I do not like being scared. Especially right before I go to bed. I dislike ...
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4answers
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How do i describe a vampire from the perspective of someone who has no idea what they are?

The concept of my story is that i would rewrite the story of the first ever vampire in a medieval setting, and from two perspectives, one from the vampire's friend and brothers in arms, and the other ...
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3answers
3k views

What is the best way to set a dark tone to a story?

I want to write a short horror story. What are the best ways to set a dark tone or mood to the story? Just in a short introduction, if I want to introduce a character or place as a place I would not ...
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3answers
1k views

How to make horror events more interesting in daytime

In a book I'm writing at the moment I have created a world with a day and night cycle. I have created a veil of mystery over this madman and this machine he's made, however, every event to do with the ...
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5answers
1k views

How to write about disgusting subjects?

Context : I'm starting a story with supernatural creatures and trying to make it both gory and funny. Some creatures I use are really gross. For example, one of my characters is an akaname, a ...
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4answers
1k views

Horror story for a game - how to create dread?

I am trying to devise a short story for a 3d horror game. Here are my requirements: There must be no tangible people/creatures for the player to interact with (the player can be any sort of living ...
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1answer
67 views

What stylometric pecularities are considered to be typical for stephen kings writing? [closed]

I never read a book written by Stephen King, but i heard on many occasions about his style of writing being very unique with regard to his stylometric featurs. Could you bring some examples for this ...
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2k views

How to write realistic injury scenes?

I'm currently writing an apocalypse themed story. As with the territory, death and/or injuries happen. I'm wondering how other writers write these scenes realistically as far as science, medicine, ...
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2k views

How can I capture the voice of an insane person?

In a story I am writing an insane character speaks to another. Unfortunately, I don't know how I can convey a person's insanity through their speech. What in their verbal behaviour makes a person ...
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How do I write a gory scene?

I'm trying to write some gory scenes. I'm having a few problems, though. I asked around online and determined that I need to really highlight the senses when I'm writing something like this. Mostly ...
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Is my serial-killer novel horror or crime?

I'm writing a novel which centers around a serial killer and his victims. I'm having a lot of trouble deciding whether it belongs in the horror genre (it's a disturbing, horrific slasher, and a lot of ...