For me, writing horror fiction is a totally different thing from just writing a "scary story." It involves much more in depth thinking and that is sometimes what makes a horror story so horrifying. Allow me to explain what I mean.

A horror story is meant to horrify or scare its readers or listeners. In order for any story, horror or otherwise, to have full affect it must be well organized and thought out. Personally I find it a bit dull to just sit down and plan out every single thing. I am more of a go with the flow kind of person, so I suggest you start with a very basic idea of how you want your story to start and where you want it to end. For example you may begin the story by having several characters trapped in a house and you want to end it that only one survives, or maybe none make it out. Only you can decide these things and often times the more unexpected an ending the more it shakes the reader, which may be exactly what you want to do with a horror piece.

Another important thing in a story are the main characters. You want to use a character that is perfect for the story and the audience. For example if you wanted to write a horror story to terrify adults, you would probably not use a child as the main character, unless you wanted to go from the prospective of whatever is doing the scaring or make parents afraid to let there kids out of the house. I suggest experimenting with different characters, this way you can get better idea of what kinds of personalities work best in which situations.

I can not possibly stress the importance of these next two things enough. Suspense and twists are two of the most powerful tools in the arsenal when it comes to horror stories. The more suspense you use in your story the more hooked your reader will be, making them more consumed into the book. As any of you who read for leisure may know, a book is much more potent when you are really into it. The suspense is a perfect way to lead up to a twist. Twist are sudden unexpected changes or ideas that shock the reader if you so choose. Which i imagine you may very well, considering horror is often accompanied by a great deal of shock.

It is, however, very important not to over do these two things. Suspense combined with shock can be very potent but over doing can make your story predictable and boring. You will have to be the judge and take a step back every now and again and ask yourself "Will the reader see this coming?" If you master this skill then you unlock your potential to be a great horror fiction writer.

These things are by far the most important things I could explain to you. I deliberately left out what the source of the horror should be as that is entirely up to the author. I am confident that if you keep these things in mind while writing you can become a superb writer, weather be horror or some other genre. Oh and, Good Luck!

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