However, whatever the scare is, they all have the same basic elements to make them scary. It's a formula, as much as I hate those because they relate to math, it's actually a very helpful formula.
Just going to note here: Horror is not my genre (to write), but my book does have a fair share of terrifying scenes! So if I say something contradictory to say, Stephen King, maybe listen to him over me... And tell me what I'm doing wrong. Because this is all personal advice as to how I make my scenes scary.
1. Add Some Foreshadowing/Suspense
Adding some foreshadowing or some other tool to create suspense and a feeling of knowing what's happening in your reader's minds is a great thing to do. A great, if horrifically cliche example, is in a good amount of movies when the character starts out watching a horror movie (extra points if it has a similar villain to the one in the movie.) You all know what that does to your brain, especially when there's a thump upstairs. Do this in your book, maybe not with a movie, but have some foreshadowing event that can seriously creep your characters and readers out.
Not only does this help build suspense, but it also adds some credibility and relatability to the reactions. If someone is baking and listening to ABBA when they hear a thump upstairs, wouldn't it seem a little melodramatic if they're instantly terrified and sneaking around corners with a rolling pin? How about if they just got finished watching a horror movie and hear the same thump with the same reaction? Exactly, now you can relate and they seem to not be overreacting anymore. (Also, in the first example with the person in the kitchen, if the character doesn't seem scared your reader is less likely to be scared unless they know some solid fact that the character doesn't. Like if they've seen a scene where the killer crawls in the window and knocks a lamp off a table. Create suspense, or no one will be scared.)
2. Get In Sync With Your Inner Fear
How do you feel when you're scared? Heart racing, hands sweaty, maybe even like your chest is constricting a little? Do your best to put this into words, because showing the fear is more effective than saying "He was scared."
Do whatever you need to to make yourself scared, and write it all down. Don't use every detail in your story, especially if you're doing an info dump about every physical symptom of fear your character has, but sneak the details in subtly. "Her hand slid on the doorknob, too slick with sweat to turn it. She hurriedly wiped the hand on her shirt, chest tightening as the feeling she was being watched intensified. She had to get the door open!" Suspense, a problem, physical symptoms that aren't out of place, and a hint at what could be out there...
3. Introspection
To avoid your writing sounding melodramatic, which happens to be a problem for me and many other writers, use introspection. This is a useful tool which can add the needed emotion to your writing without either showing or telling (using too much of either is what makes your writing sound melodramatic) as well as add originality to your character. Everyone feels fear or hurt in basically the same way, but not everyone responds the same.
Introspection is basically running through your character's thought process in a way that shows their anxiety or determination or whatever it is that they're feeling. Here are some examples:
What could he do? Run away and not come back. He'd be thrown out soon enough anyway. He'd joked with Delia about it, but he could become a newsboy, spending nights in one of their lodges. It was better than working at a funeral parlor. How long would it take to pack? (Ripper by Stefan Petrucha.) You can see the worry and despair here, can't you? The hurry and extreme solutions? Emotions and physical feelings aren't brought up at all, yet you can clearly see what's being felt here.
As of right now, I was wondering how long before I went crazy. But what was crazy? Hallucinations, delusions, voices, they couldn’t be worse than right now. Voices would be welcome. Laughing maniacally, not caring, that wasn’t crazy either. Not here. Maybe crazy didn’t happen here, maybe you just got used to the place and outsiders wouldn’t understand. (Book 2 of The Parasites That Live in The Cracks by Jaci Knight. Me.) What emotions and information do you get from this example? I'm not going to tell you this time, studying without hints is more beneficial than being told the answer...
So that's introspection, use it! It's how you make character-original scenes and convey emotions without becoming repetitive and melodramatic.
4. Don't Overdo It
Don't draw things out too long, don't add too many gory scenes, keep things new as much as you can while remaining on the same plot-point. If things are too drawn out they'll be boring (bad) and if there are too many gory scenes they'll either lose their effect on the reader or become too sickening for more sensitive readers (both bad).
This is where outlining is beneficial, you can see where the story is heading and avoid overdoing anything before you start writing! I'd say if something happens more than twice, it's definitely overdone...
Some good books to read if you want to see how to do this are Misery by Stephen King and And Then There Were None by Agatha Cristie. In Misery, you can see how to have someone in the same room with a psychotic lady keeping them under control for an entire novel without it seeming drawn out. It's amazing, really... In And Then There Were None you see a great example of how to kill off ten people without it becoming repetitive or boring (plus a great mystery!)
5. Write What You Know
What scares you most? Writing about what's most terrifying to you will come across as much more scary and realistic than writing whatever's popular right now... If you're afraid of spiders, write your worst nightmare with giant spiders! If you're positive a serial killer is hiding somewhere in your house, maybe call the police and then write about it!
For me, I did this without even realizing it... My worst fears revolve around feeling trapped, so what happens? My characters go to the worst prison ever, and not only that, but they're immortal so there's no escape. Except they do escape, but then they're stuck being mentally messed up and miserable... Therefore trapped again in their own minds. It comes across very realistically! On the other hand, in the scenes where they could get seriously hurt they act like they couldn't care less. Which maybe could be due to the fact that they're not going to die, but could also be that getting hurt is a very minor concern of mine. (Editing in the process of fixing that!)
So for you, write about what scares you most and it'll come across as truly terrifying. Trust me.
6. Read
Read a lot of horror. This goes for literally any subject, by the way... If you want to write something, read a lot of it, especially what's popular or a classic. Read with an analytical mind, even if this means stopping at the end of every page or chapter to think about what went into what you read, what the author did to convey the feeling, etc.
Read and learn...
No comments:
Post a Comment