by Pat Roison

Created on: September 09, 2010   Last Updated: September 10, 2010

There are many articles that provide advice for writing a "good" horror story. The problem is that "good" is a subjective term and means different things to different people. My aim in this is not to tell you what "good" is but more to share my opinion. Let's begin.

First, the things you need for something to be called horror. Just as in any other story you need a protagonist and some form of antagonist. What you can use to your advantage is that neither should be clearly explained. The protagonist must be determined so shedding some light on them can be useful, but the protagonist can be better suited to remaining in the shadows. Keeping them in the shadows is an old trick used to keep the suspense going, but be careful. Too much suspense can become boring, and once the audience gets bored then they will stop reading. Perhaps and example would help explain. Bear in mind that I thought this up right now and is only few paragraphs long.

Philip was headed home for the evening. Being the new guy he had to stay late and help the maintenance crew wrap up cables and lock up. They were still inside when he left the studio.

The parking lot was fairly well lit though there were pockets of darkness scattered about. Philip made his way through the lot when a sudden noise stopped him. "Hello," he said softly more tired than afraid. When noting responded he shrugged, chuckled to himself, and continued to his car.

He saw his car and took a step back. It was new a couple of decades ago, but it got him where he needed. He looked at the old car, studied the rust on the hood and edges of the door, and how twisted the radio antenna had become. This had become a small custom for him. It was his way of constantly reminding himself of where he came from. Once he was ready he fished his keys out of his pocket and opened the door. That was when he heard the sound again.

It was closer and sounded as though a growl and gasp mixed together. From the safety of the bushes Sandra was waiting. She could smell his blood and was eagerly waiting to pounce.

Clearly not among the greats, but hopefully you can see what I was saying. I showed the protagonist and revealed quite a bit about him. I also included the setting while also not revealing every detail. Finally, I showed the antagonist and kept the detail limited. I did this to so you could ask questions. The first off might be if she were a vampire. The clue that led to that was her ability to "smell" his blood. This would not be uncommon

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