This week: What Makes A Good Horror Story Edited by: W.D.Wilcox  
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So where do the ideas—the salable ideas—come from? They come from my nightmares. Not the night-time variety, as a rule, but the ones that hide just beyond the doorway that separates the conscious from the unconscious.
—Stephen King, The Horror Writer Market and the Ten Bears
When I write, I try to think back to what I was afraid of or what was scary to me and try to put those feelings into books.
—R.L. Stine
I busied myself to think of a story, — a story to rival those which had excited us to this task. One which would speak to the mysterious fears of our nature, and awaken thrilling horror—one to make the reader dread to look round, to curdle the blood, and quicken the beatings of the heart. If I did not accomplish these things, my ghost story would be unworthy of its name.
― Mary Shelley, Introduction to the 1831 edition of Frankenstein
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What Makes A Good Horror Story
Strong atmosphere and tone – The setting, choice of words, and imagery establish a tense, creepy, and unsettling mood right from the start.
Suspense and tension – Keeping the audience guessing about what might happen next. Using mystery and thrill to build suspense.
Vulnerable characters – Having empathetic characters that the audience can relate to and worry about when danger approaches.
Creative monsters/villains – Original and frightening antagonists that pose a credible threat without seeming silly or contrived.
Blurring reality – Obscuring the line between the real and unreal to make the audience question what is actually happening.
Slow reveal – Withholding just enough information to tease the audience and make them keep reading to get answers.
Disturbing imagery – Visual descriptions intended to shock, repulse, and frighten, like gruesome death scenes.
Themes of dread – Touching on universal human fears and phobias – darkness, pain, disease, isolation, madness, death, etc.
Shocking twists – Surprising revelations that turn the story in an unexpected direction.
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DEAD LETTERS
Prezzo 
Nice newsletter.
Beacon's Anchor 
Well, you do have a point, I have looked at your newsletter since 2017 and I've enjoyed it. I would want to learn how to write a newsletter one day and send it out to the newsfeed. I do like Horror/Thriller stories but it depends on the book or movie. I hope you keep going with your newsletter and keep writing. Thanks, Beacon.
Beholden 
What is it that makes readers of a newsletter respond? Ask a question. Writers are wiseacres and all too ready to offer their opinion on anything. Use that.
Santeven Quokklaus 
Dead bodies are an interesting subject. As a predominantly horror writer, I use the dead all the time. But I have changed how I use dead people...
Because I found the freshly dead body of a relative and then spent 6 hours with it in the Australian sun on a farm.
Watching the body go through the first start of metamorphosis is enough to make you step back and take a look at what you're writing about.
I still use them, of course... but I am more wary now.
QUESTION FOR NEXT TIME:
Were you scared during Covid lockdowns?
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Horror/Scary: July 03, 2024 Issue [#12622]
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