SWRT 268 | Writing Scary Stories

November 3, 2022

person typing on MacBook Pro on brown wooden table during daytime photo

If Halloween inspired you get your Boo! on, this episode of the Story Works Round Table is for you. Alida and Kathryn talk the craft of scaring the pants off your readers. But this isn’t just a skill for horror writers. We all need to write scenes from time to time full of dramatic suspense, an eerie mood, or dark twists. Loaded with examples and how-to, you’re sure to be ready to write scary!

Let us know what you learned from this episode, what you liked, what you have questions on. Suggest a topic for future episodes. And if you think you’d be a good co-host, let us know!

Get the Scary Monsters & Super Creeps writing workshop at www.StoryWorksFiction.com

VIDEO

AUDIO

SHOW NOTES

What we talked about:

What is scary? (0:53)

Is this conversation universally applicable? (2:30)

Creeping tension. (3:25)

Using a Monster. (6:19)

Scary stories make you examine yourself and the world around you. (12:21)

Keep the reader off balance. (14:10)

Create the right mood! (18:21)

Use isolation. (22:15)

Create cold, bleak, and depressing. (24:35)

How do you create surprise? (26:37)

LINKS

Get Alida’s Writing Tips here.

Things we mentioned:

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
Alien
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Edgar Allan Poe
The Oath by Frank Peretti
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

Have thoughts, questions, other examples? Join the conversation at the Story Works Writers Facebook group.

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About Your Hosts

Alida Winternheimer is an award-winning author with an MFA in writing from Hamline University. She pursues her fervor for all things story as a writing coach, developmental editor, and teacher. Three times nominated for the Pushcart Prize, she is also a notable in Best American Essays and winner of the Page Turner Award. Author of The Story Works Guide to Writing Fiction Series, Alida lives and writes in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She camps, bikes, and kayaks in her free time. Unless it’s winter, in which case she drinks chai by the fire. You can find more at www.alidawinternheimer.com.

Kathryn Arnold writes fantasy and anything else that sparks her creativity from her home in Kingston, Washington. She currently earns her living as an insurance underwriting assistant, where she also creates marketing and web copy. When not writing, she plays (and teaches) piano and keyboard in a band (or two), and is working on starting a ministry team with her husband. You can find Kathryn at www.skyfirewords.com.

Robert Scanlon was born in Australia, but whisked off to England when only a baby. After many years complaining about the weather, he did the sensible thing and moved back to Australia. Despite a career in the music industry, followed by decades teaching public speaking, Robert is an introvert who adores reading. Robert grew up on a diet of sci-fi masters, eventually discovering he had read the library’s entire science fiction section. Now he has to write his own. Robert is the author of Constellation, book one of the Blood Empire space opera series. Find out more at www.RobertScanlon.com