It's Halloween Season: Go On, Scare Me!

I'm a sucker for a good scary book. I've been kept awake at night after reading stories by masters like Edgar Allan Poe (I recommend The Cask of Amontillado) and Stephen King (his collection called Night Shift is chilling). To be able to frighten a movie-goer is not that tough, because you have sights and sounds to help you. With writing, however, it's more of a challenge...

For the month of October, and with Halloween rapidly approaching, let's concentrate on composing something scary. It's fun to do, especially with the twist I'm going to give you.

Rather than trying to think of what might scare others, take a few moments to think of the things that truly frighten you. Then sketch a quick outline of how that can be woven into a short story.

For instance, I make it no secret that I'm not a big fan of spiders. I know, it's a little silly, but it's true. I think they're creepy. So, to me, one of the scariest stories I can imagine would be one that involved a person covered in spiders. Ick!

The story doesn't have to be long, maybe three or four pages. But it's a great exercise for you, because it will genuinely be coming from the heart...or the adrenal glands, which pump adrenaline into your body when you're scared! Have fun, but don't stay up too late working on it...that's when the zombies come out!

Leave a Reply

Fields marked with  * are required.

Name *
Email * (will not be published)
Website
Comment