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lokiprincess: “During the next few days I did what any normal girl would do. I sent myself love letters, and flowers, and candy, just so he’d see how desired I was, in case he didn’t already know.” #treat yourself today … Continue reading →
Setup: Legend of the place/item what makes it more intriguing to the character
I don’t have many words for this but it can simply be ‘this used to be burial grounds’ which is more used in children’s ghost stories. The place is more stereotypical but the item is a little less, but if you can create an old legend that keeps readers interested, go for it!
*Note: This is only my opinion that the S isn’t necessary: it’s your story!
Characters: The victims
To make your readers imagine your characters, you have to give them a good description!
My writing teacher who introduced this to me had told us a story about his gym teacher, which he described in the beginning. Mentioning things like ‘he wore a yellow shirt two sizes too small, so his stomach peeked out’ and ‘he wore the same pants everyday, nike sweatpants with the white stripes on the side, so old that the stripes were peeling off.’
Later on to his story he said,
‘I didn’t know we won, since I had no glasses, so I picked up the ball, and noticed a yellow blur in the corner of the gym.”
We wouldn’t know that it was his gym teacher if he hadn’t mentioned the yellow shirt in the beginning. Which shows how descriptions are useful.
In stories, I wouldn’t recommend doing a big description of your character, since it can bore your reader, but my tip is to keep it short but find ways to include tiny tidbits of information on the character.
‘Her golden hair glowed in the sun.”
“He smirked, revealing his dimples.’
Tip: Don’t leave your description up to the close end. With simple things you can but by the first 20-30 pages of the book, people generally create their own image of the character. Don’t leave out hair colour/texture or quirks like an old grey beanie that is still too big for the end
Also character development! You can find tips for that in other posts
Atmosphere: The mood of the story
The mood is what makes it creepy, and you can achieve the mood by adding small details and using at least 3 of the senses. I generally use, sight, hearing , and touch/feel. Of course, you can use smell and taste, but in the right timing.
“I could hear the groaning of the wood as I dragged myself up the staircase, grasping the railing which had deep claw marks embedded into its surface. There was a small lightbulb flickering in the distance, so faint that I could just catch sight of a door behind it.”
Hearing the groaning of wood would give you an image of an old rickety staircase, as well as the sound of the groan.
Grasping the railway which had deep clawmarks, would give the image of someone tightly holding onto railing, and the feeling of someone touching all of the scratches in wood (and many of us know how it feels)
Small details like these can give you an image, a creepy one. Remember also, that you don’t have to include the words sight or hear or feel.
Reaction: Your character’s response ( you learn about your character from how they react)
How your characters respond show your readers who they are. To give them a sense of individuality, make them react differently. The most common reaction is fear. But there are many ways to show fear.
Situation: Character 1 and 2 find many strange things arround their house (i.e knives stabbed into the wall, lost things, open cabinets, etc.)
Character 1: Calls the police
Character 2: Tries to stop 1 and suggests researching on poltergeists.
Situation: Character 1, 2, and 3 find a dead body in storage room
Character 1: Looks at the body in disgust, holds nose at stench
Character 2: Runs to get help
Character 3: Tries to find out what happened to the person
Edge: The scariest part, what makes your readers worry
Imagine your character standing on the very edge of the cliff: You will of course be anxious and worry for them. The ‘edge’ is the moment where people think something is going to happen, it’s the ‘don’t go down there!!” moment, the ‘ahhh! It’s going to happen!” moment. It gets your readers curious and worried.
A useful tip for me and any horror writers out there!
@ all the spambots who r following me: thank you, u might be empty and artificial but so is the flimsy validation i gain from seeing my follower count rise
verbally abusing your boyfriend is not ok. Manipulating your significant other to get what you want is not ok.
^^^^^^
Being controlling and not seeing it isn’t okay
I’m happy to see this is actually getting notes.
^^^
I’m a woman, I don’t have the right to be an abusive bitch just because of my anatomy.
Going through his phone, calling him when he’s out with his friends or just out, not giving him space alladet
fyi, if we were talking about a man, all of these comments would be about leaving his ass. If your gf is doing ANY of these things. LEAVE her. You don’t deserve it.
Saying he can’t even look at another woman without a problem? Toxic. Saying he can’t have women for friends, even when they were there first? Toxic. Getting angry when he wants time for himself to hang out with his friends instead of being under your titties 24/7? Toxic. Gaslighting him when he has a problem with you and making it seem like he’s making shit up? Toxic. Accusing him of cheating everytime he does something that doesn’t involve you? Toxic. Making rules for him and denying him his autonomy? Toxic. Putting your goddamn hands on him because you know he won’t touch you back? Toxic. You’re insecure and abusive and you need to check yourself.
C.A. Jacobs
C.A. Jacobs 