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To write great horror you have to stop thinking like a hollywood producer. Ignore your desire for buckets of blood and dismembered bodies.

Instead focus on thoughts. Don't scare someone by yelling "BOO!" at them, scare them by telling them that thing in the closet might get them.

Get into their minds and make yourself at home.

I read Stephen King and many other horror authors and very few actually scare me. Some movies do, but it wears off quickly.

I don't want my stories to wear off quickly. I want them to make the reader uneasy for hours afterwards. I want the reader to be paranoid.

How do i do that? You might ask.

A good question, part of it is just knowing your audience, what scares them? Most people aren't scared of the boogeyman anymore but many people are scared of spiders, a giant spider running around is ridiculous though, unless written right.

Instead of focussing on the gore focus on the feelings the emotions, make the reader feel as if they are there. What does it smell like, what does it feel like. Most people would not grab a gun and go off into a forest to hunt down a giant spider.

I am sure if you or I were ever faced with a giant spider we would be pretty darn scared. In a story however it just sounds silly, even in a movie it looks odd.

Now the sounds that it makes, the odd smell it leaves behind, the spots that are a bit sticky from its web.

All of a sudden this spider seems believable. Any sound could be it.

Do not make the mistake of showing it too soon. So many movies do that and subsequently ruin the movie (I'm looking at you "Jeepers Creepers") keep it hidden, only a bit here or a bit there.

Keep everyone guessing, never let them have a moment to breathe or if you do then quickly take it away from them, not by dumping blood on their heads, instead make it scary, maybe there is more than one, one lays dead at their feet, but they still hear one running around in the dark.

Use these ideas for your own story keep your readers on edge and you'll do good, gross does not equal scary.

Good luck with your writing.

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