Setting a scene amidst the pouring rain can create an extra layer of drama. Your protagonist is cold and soaked and uncomfortable, but they’re still out there because what is happening in the scene is so important that they don’t care. Because of both this character motivation layer combined with an audience’s previous experience with these scenes, setting a scene in the rain can give it some extra drama combined with a truly stunning visual for your readers.

What would the protagonist of your novel be doing out in the rain? Did they undergo an insurmountable loss, run out into the rain, kneel down, and let out an earth-shattering scream? Did they get caught in the rain on their way home from a party, walking home in the darkened wet streets, the sound of rain pounding loud against their ears, and they have the eerie feeling that they’re being watched… being followed… are they?

A ‘getting caught in the rain’ scene can be molded to fit any genre and to match virtually any character or situation.

Writing Prompt: Either make up a new character or choose a character from your manuscript. Write a scene where the character gets caught in the rain. What important event happens to them while they’re caught in the rain? Make sure the event matches both the genre and character about whom you’re writing. Finally, how does the character change or grow based on what happens in this scene?

The post Writing Prompt: Caught in the Rain appeared first on Dorrance Publishing Company.

Stories are all about stakes and the stakes are never more obvious than they are in a horror film. It’s all about what you have to gain and lose throughout a story and in a horror movie what hangs in the balance is obvious: your life. This can make a horror film the perfect setting to explore some of the base aspects of your character’s nature and how they make decisions. Would they value self-preservation over the lives of their friends? Are they intuitive and immediately able to sense the danger they’re in? Or would they be the optimist that attempts to convince themselves the scenario is innocent until it’s far too late? If they’re being chased by ‘the monster’ of the movie, would they attempt the long run home or try to lose him through the shortcut through the woods? Putting your character in a life or death scenario can reveal a lot about who they are, while also allowing you to try your hand at something gory and suspenseful.

Writing Prompt: Take a character from your manuscript and put them in the middle of a horror movie. It could be loosely based on your favorite horror film or you can come up with your own creative scenario. Either way, set the spooky scene. If you want to increase the stakes, have them in the scenario with close friends or family members from your book as well. Then, similarly to a horror film, allow them to be presented with life or death choices? Do they go into the house or hide in the barn? Do we go back for their friend or keep running? Walk them through the beats, see what choices they make, and apply what you learn about them to your manuscript.

The post Writing Prompt: Horror Film appeared first on Dorrance Publishing Company.

Do you feel that fist-clenching tenseness? Cultivating that feeling is a crucial part of what horror readers are looking to experience throughout your book.

1) Layers of Terror

There are a few different types of terror that horror aficionados will expect in their books. We could tell you about them, but famed horror writer Stephen King really says it best, “The 3 types of terror: The Gross-out: the sight of a severed head tumbling down a flight of stairs, it’s when the lights go out and something green and slimy splatters against your arm. The Horror: the unnatural, spiders the size of bears, the dead waking up and walking around, it’s when the lights go out and something with claws grabs you by the arm. And the last and worse one: Terror, when you come home and notice everything you own had been taken away and replaced by an exact substitute. It’s when the lights go out and you feel something behind you, you hear it, you feel its breath against your ear, but when you turn around, there’s nothing there…”

The best types of horror novels will have layers and will find ways to incorporate all three of these terror types. When they pick up your book, your readers want to be scared so it’s best to give them as many different ways to be scared as possible.

2) Create Continued Suspense

Another aspect of these novels that horror-junkies can’t get enough of is the continued suspense one feels when reading a horror book. This suspense isn’t created through the monster jumping out of the shadows or wreaking havoc on the town, but rather through the absence of that. Suspense is created through a looming sense of danger- we don’t know what it is or why it is or how it is, but we know it’s coming. One way to create suspense is through foreshadowing or placing lines or moments into the book that hint at what is to come later. This can be in the form of the character finding a mysterious substance at the park where a child died recently or taking a series of photos and seeing the same old lady in all of them. These devices show the reader that something isn’t right, that something is lurking in the background of this story and you never know when it will rear its head.

You can also create suspense through your characters. Perhaps there’s a character who is exhibiting some shady behavior, this puts the reader further on edge wondering if they’re in on whatever danger is lurking. The more you can call back on the danger that’s building, the more tense readers will feel. Think of the feeling you get when you’re watching a movie and a character is walking through a dark house. You know something is going to pop out and scare you, but you don’t know when. Your novel should have a more drawn out version of that feeling.

3) Balance Suspense with Calm

Even though you want to have a looming sense of suspense present in your book, you need to also give the readers moments of calm as well. Suspense is a very intense feeling and, if you don’t create a balance here, you’ll risk having a reader need to put down your book to take a breather. These moments present opportunities to build on your characters and their relationships as well. This will not only create a more enjoyable fleshed-out reading experience, but it will also make the moments where we return to the tension feel much more palpable.

4) Put Your Readers into your Protagonist’s Head

As we said earlier, your reader wants to get scared. The most visceral way you can create a scary experience for them is to make them feel like they’re going through this experience themselves. This is why a first-person or a close third-person POV works best for a horror novel. You should put your reader into your protagonist’s head and allow them to see the world out of their eyes. Suddenly they’ll find themselves in a darkened field, being chased by a masked man with a chainsaw. Which is much scarier than simply watching that happen from a safe psychic distance.

5) More than Gore

Although different facets of suspense and terror are important, the best horror stories are about more than just gore. Stories such as Us, The Platform, It, It Follows, etc. are all dealing with psychological themes as well as simply present danger. Both The Platform and Us deal with themes of classism and the resentment that a corrupt system can cause. The story It involves childhood innocence being corrupted and It Follows is a thinly veiled idea based on STD’s. A horror audience will want to see some depth from your idea, so attempt to think of a societal or psychological human condition by which everyone has been troubled or tortured. Use that idea to create your monster or killer and the parameters through which he, she, or it operates in the world.

The post Writing For Your Audience: Horror appeared first on Dorrance Publishing Company.

Let’s just say, as evidenced by the previous paragraph, that the horror genre is not for the faint of heart. Unlike the mystery genre which focuses more on the unknown, horror books focus on disturbing imagery and haunting concepts. For those attempting to go down this foggy deserted road, here are some tips on writing horror novels:

Choose your fear focus

There are a few different types of fear you can draw on in a horror novel. One of the most common types is instinctual fears which are fears that have a logical or biological foundation such as darkness, snakes, spiders, or heights. These are very easy to utilize since readers will already have an innate and inexplicable aversion to them. The next type is supernatural fears such as monsters, vampires, werewolves, and ghosts. These are a little more difficult to write since they aren’t a real fear, but they’ve been prevalent enough in horror that people have developed a sense of dread surrounding them. Finally, there are societal fears which have become a more popular form for the horror genre lately. Good examples of this are in films like Get Out, Us and It Follows. These films utilize different societal problems such as racism and prejudice to tie a horror concept into our world. And you don’t necessarily have to limit yourself to one horror concept. There must be one overarching fear- a killer chasing you, a racist family holding you hostage, a vampire clan hunting down your family- but you can pepper in some of the instinctual fears along the way.

Choose your atmosphere

Once you’ve chosen your main fear-based antagonist, you’ll have to choose what type of horror atmosphere you’re going for. This involves selecting which horror subgenre you’re going for. So, for example, thriller-horror involves psychological fear whereas classic horror will feel more like Frankenstein or Dracula with that classic gothic vibe. There’s also gross-out horror, which is essentially exactly what it sounds like. This is the one where you hear the crunch of bones breaking, see flesh being sawed apart, feel eyes get gouged out- the goal is to make your readers shudder. Finally, there’s terror which essentially involves a sense of all-pervasive dread throughout a story.

Create characters with whom we can empathize

It’s very important that, in a horror novel, you create characters that feel real and with whom readers can empathize. Trust us when we say that every version of dumb jock, geeky sidekick, and popular cheerleader have already been beaten to death. And it can be extremely hard for readers to be invested in the character’s plight if they’re a) one dimensional and b) doing stupid and reckless things. When constructing your group or family, think of movies like the new It film or even Stranger Things (though that latter isn’t horror). They create incredibly realistic groups of kids, families, etc., so the viewer is more invested than they would be if they stuck with the normal stereotypes.

Obvious Stakes

In horror, as opposed to mystery, the stakes must be both extremely high and obvious. So, for example, just a basic survival instinct because the character is being chased by a murderer. Or perhaps it’s simply protecting their loved ones from being killed. You can include a mystery element in a horror genre. For example, perhaps your main character is a detective attempting to solve a crime. But to differentiate from mystery your story needs to focus more on that sense of terror, dread, and fear as opposed to the mystery itself.

Create shock

Horror is unlike the mystery genre in the sense that you don’t need this huge plot twist in the end to shock your readers. Subtle haunting revelations can work just as well in horror as huge plot twists. In addition, the climax of your horror story could very well simply just be the final violent showdown- similar to 70’s horror films. Though the showdown itself will be predictable, this approach gives you plenty of opportunities to shock your readers throughout the story. You’ll have them find different members of their family/friends killed in horribly gruesome ways, they’ll have to escape various horrific and violent deaths, and all of these equally disturbing situations will lead up to this ultimate violent showdown.

Scare yourself

This is truly the ultimate rule for horror writing. If you’re interested in this type of writing, you’re likely already fascinated by horror films/books and you likely listen to crime podcasts detailing horrific deaths and gore (don’t get mad, you know it’s true). This means you already have a lot of messed up imagery laced deep in your subconscious that you could easily draw on to truly shock and disturb your readers. A good rule of thumb is that if you have even freaked yourself out, then you’re doing your job well.

The post Genre Focus: Horror appeared first on Dorrance Publishing Company.