How to Write Scary Scenes – Part 1
It’s an age old question. How do you scare your reader
out of their wits?
Whether you are writing a horror story or a ghost/supernatural
story or indeed any story that you want to illicit plenty of emotions –
especially the scary ones – the ability to scare the reader or invoke fear, helps
to makes the story all the more realistic.
But scaring people isn’t easy.
The art of scaring your reader is all about what you
DON’T reveal, as opposed to what you do reveal. And that’s because fear –
psychologically speaking – is a primitive emotion that manifests when we don’t
understand what we are confronted with. It’s easy to fear something we don’t
know about, and that’s because we feel like we have no control over the
situation. Not being in control scares many people.
In fiction, it’s about creating that sense of no control,
not knowing, not seeing the whole thing, of being helpless. It’s about creating a heightened sense of
tension and atmosphere. It’s about manipulating how and what the reader feels,
making them imagine all sorts of things.
Good monster movies don’t always show the monster
straight away. Instead we’re teased with glimpses, because that makes our minds
imagine what the monster is and what it looks like, until the final
reveal. The same principle of dangling the carrot also applies to story
writing.
The idea is to tease and influence your reader, to make
them imagine what evil lurks in dark corners and what lies in wait for your
main character when they least expect.
Scary scenes depend on our common fears such as the fear
of the dark, dear of rats or snakes, fear of spiders and other creepy crawlies,
fear of the water, fear of thunder or lightning, the fear of clowns, the fear
of losing something or someone, the fear of being alone, or conversely, the
fear of being in crowds, just to name a few.
For every fear that humanity has, a writer can exploit
it.
So what are the main ingredients for a good scary story
or scenes? There are number of factors – being scary relies on exploiting our primitive
fears, having the right spooky or creepy setting, a gradual build-up of
tension, lots of atmosphere, the right mood and heightened emotions and/or conflict.
It’s about feeding the reader bit by bit, playing on
those primal fears as the story progresses, letting the reader imagine all
sorts, then feeding them a little bit more, but never allowing them to consume
everything in one go. Remember, people fear the unknown, it makes them uneasy.
And something isn’t scary if you know what is coming.
Another thing to consider is that the higher the stakes
for your main character to deal with, the more tension and atmosphere you
create. This keeps the reader on the edge of their seat, so to speak, wondering
what the hero will do to get out of the situation.
And don’t stop at raising the stakes. Increase the
danger. With danger comes the unexpected – will the hero escape the evil house?
Will he or she escape the clutches of the monster or ghost or whatever
supernatural creature you’ve conjured.
Scary scenes also depend heavily on emotions and the
focus of the action on the main character. Readers want to see the panic, the
dread, the fear or worry. They want to feel the claustrophobia of the
situation, they want to feel the taut atmosphere and they want to feel the
tone.
That means description plays a huge part in how the story
is delivered. The right word choices, the right amount of showing rather than
telling and using visual imagery and the five senses and to convey the mood and
atmosphere, to show the emotions, conflict and fears.
There is quite a lot to consider, but it’s worth noting
that there are also different types of ‘scares’ that writers use:
a) The psychological scare – This where you hints at
things that may or may not be there, you tease the reader, you pull at their
emotions and play on their fears, creating mood and an uneasy atmosphere, yet
revealing little.
b) Visual scare – this is what horror writers love to use.
Gory and visceral imagery is used to shock and terrify the reader, with
gruesome descriptions and a brooding atmosphere that helps complete the scene.
c) Shock scares – something that the reader simply
doesn’t expect, like jump-scares in movies; the sudden revelation or a twist. This
can also apply to twist endings.
The best way to scare the reader is not by telling them
everything they need to know, but rather letting their minds and imagination do
the work for you. And by coercing all of
these ingredients together, you can create a convincing scary scene to fill
your scary story. Next week we’ll look at how all this is accomplished.
Next week: How to write scary scenes – Part 2.
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