Horror & Mystery Tips

Horror Writing Tips

Horror used to be a big market in publishing. It's died off in the past few years (pun intended), but still has a loyal readership. The Vampire novel, for example, still rises again and again to the best seller list. Most horror readers are guys and/or adolescents. Girls tend to like paranormal, which is an off-shoot of the genre (often involving sparkling vampires and soft-core sex scenes or romance). Horror readers want to experience the fast-pulsed fear and adrenaline that goes with a good scare. If you fail to provide this, you might as well have written a cook-book. 

1. Setting and strong characters are essential. Much of a horror story is atmosphere created by careful diction (word choice) and texture (details). Imagery plays a strong role here, although the writing shouldn't be too literary.

2. Your protagonist should be facing an appropriate and equally strong, if not stronger, antagonist. If the monster or threat does not overpower your protagonist, then there's really no danger and thus, no fear that the protagonist may lose.

3. Like mystery writing, provide clues as to how the threat or monster may be defeated (if possible). Protagonists should start off in the dark. They shouldn't just pick up the garlic by accident a moment before they need to use it on a vampire. Part of the fun in reading horror is being wiser than the protagonist. ("Hey, dummy, you're fighting a vampire--those silver bullets aren't going to do you any good!"--makes a reader feel superior. 

4. Establish the threat early on. If there's a threat to the safety of your characters, the danger can create suspense. Mangled bodies found in an alley foreshadow the possible fate of a character, for instance.

5. Create interesting and sympathetic characters. No one cares if a jerk dies. We also don't care if someone dies that we don't know. If we don't feel for your character, you've lost the game.

6. Most horror stories have protagonists who fail in the end. This is part of the horror. But there should always be hope--up until that last sentence.

7. Don't try to gross out your reader. Just because you write the word "blood" doesn't mean it's scary. Fear comes from wanting a character to succeed, but realizing that may be impossible or hopeless in the end. 

8. Horror stories usually have excellent endings. It may be helpful to start with the most horrible image or event you can think of, then work backward.

9. Horror, like fantasy and sci-fi, rely on metaphor. The monster should be a loosely created metaphor for real fears and worries. The most obvious (and over used) fear is death.

10. Like mysteries, once a monster is defeated, the story lags. Keep the threat going. Don't let your protagonist at the monster until the climax. After the confrontation between protagonist and antagonist, resolve the plot quickly. Open endings and ironic endings are often preferred to neat, all-wrapped up solutions.

Mystery/Thriller Writing Tips

Mysteries, along with fantasy and romance, are the kings of genre fiction. While literary and general fiction appeal to a wider audience, mystery readers are voracious in their purchasing of mystery literature. Readers expect a good plot and strong (well-defined), interesting characters over literary prowess. Mystery readers like to solve a crime before the protagonist does. The best teacher of mystery writing is reading mysteries and trying the genre out for yourself. But there are some quick tips to get you started:

1. Plot is more important in a mystery than back story or poetic writing. 

2. Keep your action moving and leave a trail of clues that a reader can find to put the puzzle together. Readers hate surprises and late reveals. Give the reader context clues, (a process called planting details) then let the reader figure out the mystery. You don't want your story to be too predictable either. A solution to a mystery should not be obvious.

3. Protagonists and antagonists should be revealed early on. Don't wait until the end of the story to bring these important characters into the plot.

4. The crime should be introduced within the first three chapters, pages or paragraphs depending on length. The shorter the story, the quicker you need to get the private eye rolling....

5. Murder is the classic crime, but there's also rape, child molestation, and cruelty to animals. Blackmail is a helpful motive to drive the antagonist to kill, but so is revenge and the loss of something important. No one in a mystery commits a crime that they don't think they can get away with. Kidnapping and stealing are good choices for suspense stories, rather than mysteries. Finally, the crime should be believable. The writer needs to know: how, where, and why the crime was committed.

6. Like the reader, the detective or protagonist should solve the crime with logic, rather than an outside force solving the problem for him/her. No deus ex machina here, please!

7. Don't try to fool or trick your reader. All clues should be presented in the text and should join together to reveal the solution. Try using what Hitchcock called a "MacGuffin" (a plot element that steers or drives the attention of the reader to a specific conclusion). The red herring is also helpful--a clue that seems important, but isn't.
8. Mystery writing requires some research into police and crime procedures. Knowing a bit of law and medicine can help as well.
9. The solution of the crime should occur just after the climax of the story. Once the solution is revealed, wrap up quickly and conclude the story. No need to drag things out. Once a reader figures out the ending, he's done and on to the next mystery.
10. With a mystery, it is often helpful to write the ending and solution first, then work your plot backwards. Again, plotting is key.

HOMEWORK: What to do with all this? Write a mystery/thriller/horror story. Put it in your portfolio. Portfolios are due Nov. 28. Get writin'!

Please complete your horror story/suspense novel, etc. by Wednesday, Nov. 9 and post your final response to the forum. See FORUM for details. (There have been 3 required posts for your novel).