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Horror Story (Writing)
When I was 9, almost 10, I wrote a horror/sci fi story. It was 200+ pages, but not very good. Two years later, I have now decided to start writing again, after a long period of procrastinating and wasting time.
I want to write a horror story, but I need ideas.. What would you want to read about? Any ideas? Also, if you have any tips on writing (especially horror), that would be great too. Note: This would probably be a novel, not just a short story.
Thanks (:
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Adding to what dragonfly said~
When it comes to horror the main thing is it has to be scary. It HAS to be interesting and really terrify the reader to be successful.
Learn how to create tension and sudden jumps in your writing. Read horror, learn how to really paint gruesome, scary pictures in the readers mind. If there is gore, we want every single detail to gross us out.
If there is suspense, keep us waiting (but not too long) for the monsters to jump out... or slowly slither around our feet.
Whilst writing, think about whether or not YOU are scared- read ghost stories and scary stories late at night and set your imagination running. Whatever scares you, whatever feeling you get, try to write it down and describe it and why. Dont try to act big- everyone gets scared, and good writing pinpoints those emotions well so people recognise them, and feel and empathise with your characters.
Watch a few horror movies. You may be a little young though...
also, When it comes to horror, everyone is scared by different things. For example, the film "Silence of the Lambs"---I can handle seeing a gutted man being hung up by his neck and intestines, but someone losing an entire fingernail? aaaaah!!!! *shivers*
Try to pick a general theme and stick to it.
Some people are terrified of jumpy ghost stories, and can handle detailed gore when others are the opposite. Some people dont care about things that arent real- they are terrified of "reality" horrors about murders and messed up physcopaths- the idea that it could happen for real.
There are also different genres of horror- physcological is in the depths of the imagination and the mind (e.g. your main character can see things others can't and it scares them) , whereas a thriller will be more of a fantasy, suspenseful adventure (think loads of near death experiences).
If you want to do horror/sci fi, maybe think of a possible future reality that would scare people! Eg a "distopia"
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When I was your age I wrote lots of short stories. Years and years later as I read them again, I realized that the stories could be improved upon alot because back then I was writing from the perspective of my 10 yr old and early teen mind. One of the best things you can do is to continue to read as many different types of Horror novels you can and your basic ideas will come from what you've read with your own twist to it. I have continued to be an avid reader of any of the genre's in books that fascinate me and hold my attention. Horror is not one of mine. So I cant say what I'd like to read. But I do know that you do need to write about what interests you. Because that way you'll have a passion about it. I have finished a novel and am at the point of looking to get it published. I started writing it a year ago. Made many revisions. Set it aside for 2 months while I kept reading other peoples works, came back and each time found awkward sentences or stuff that didn't make sense cus originally the next point or step had been in my mind but not made it on to the script and it was obvious now. If you can read your story aloud without getting stuck or it not flowing smoothly in speech, then its great. I didn't have the benefit of personal computers at your age cus they didnt exist yet. So when you write, double space your story and keep in mind that a horror novel generally runs 80,000 to 100,000 words completed. If you are writing short stories or for young adult it can differ and be less. There is info on the internet to help but takes diligence to hunt down. I have looked for support in my genre so I dont have anything to pass on but if you have a love of writing at this age, then someday, you will write and publish your first novel.
I can think of two people right off hand who are young adults who both have some very interesting story line ideas but neither one has actually started writing no matter how much I encourage them. I know that I am a better writer now than before I started my novel. So the best thing I can say is to keep writing and save your documents not just on your computer but on a chip too in case something happens to your computer. I was doing all my writing on an old pc and one day, the computer freaked out and the screen went and pc shut down and I lost an entire page of what I was writing because the pc no longer could hold information and I was saving to an external hard drive but had to remember to stop at the end of each typed page and do so. I didnt get the chance. I was hard pressed to rewrite it exactly as I had it the first time. Sometimes an inspiration of certain words comes and wont come again. Twice actually I thought I lost my novel and cried my heart out. Hubby found what went wrong. You can't afford to lose typed info. due to a power surge or fault pc part or something. Remember to take that precaution and have your story stored and updated on something outside of your computer. Good luck with your writing!
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