Story types · Tip 65 of 82 · 4 min read
Write a (Not Too) Spooky Story
Creaky doors and shivery silences: learn to give readers goosebumps without real nightmares.
A good spooky story gives readers a delicious shiver down the back of the neck, then lets them breathe again. The secret isn't blood and monsters. It's what you don't show.
Hide the scary thing
Our imaginations are scarier than anything you can describe. So give the reader a sound, a shadow or a feeling, and let them fill in the rest.
Okay 😐
A big scary ghost with red eyes came into the room and Sam screamed.
Wow! 🤩
Something tapped on the window. Three slow taps. Sam's bedroom was on the second floor.
Spooky ingredients
- Somewhere a bit wrong: an empty fairground, a lift that stops at a floor that isn't there.
- Silence: the birds stop singing, the clock stops ticking.
- Something out of place: wet footprints going into a cupboard.
- A rule: never answer the door after midnight. (Someone always does.)
Slow down at the scary bit
When the tension builds, slow everything right down. Describe each tiny step. Make the reader wait.
Leila reached for the handle. It was cold. Colder than metal should be. Behind the door, very softly, someone was humming her favourite song. The one she had never sung to anyone.