Let's Scare Your Readers!
Combine the techniques below with the techniques for building suspense to give your readers a palm-sweating sensation!
If absolute darkness doesn't make sense in your story, aim for semi-darkness: dusk, a single lantern/candle, heavily curtained windows, a thick canopy of trees, etc. Flickering lights that create confusing shadows can also be effective.
Let the darkness pool gradually around your MC. Show the night or fog rolling in, the camp-fire subsiding, or the candles burn down one by one.
The candle sputtered. The light wavered.
The lamp cast its smoky light on the brick walls.
The night was silent, but for the dry rustling of leaves as the wind whispered through the trees.
Of all the senses, the sense of hearing serves best to create excitement and fear.
the clacking of the villain's boots on the floor tiles, the ticking of the wall clock, a dog barking outside, the roaring of a distant motor, a door slamming somewhere in the house, water dripping from the ceiling, the chair squeaking, the whine of the dentist's drill, the scraping of the knife on a whetstone, a faraway siren wailing the heroine's own heartbeat thudding in her ears.
When the surroundings are dark, your MC will grow to be more aware of the surrounding noise, even if it's not relevant to the plot.
Make it uncomfortably cold for the MC, and your readers will shiver with them.
powercut cutting off the heating, nightfall naturally bringing in lower temperatures.
winter, evening, a cool breeze that chills everything, survivors running our of fuel, the ceiling fan is over-active, stone builindg/caves/sbuterranean chambers tend to be cold.
Describe how the cold pinpricks the MC's skin, stunting their thinking and making them shiver.
The opposite can also be effective: turn up the temperature using a stove, an overheated motor, or the sweltering sun to make the MC sweat.
This is a common technique: let the MC face the monster alone with no external help. It's also easier to limit the resources and escape routes available for the MC.
an abandoned factory, remote mountaintop, the depth of an unexplored cave.
It can also be more everyday locations: a construction site, the sewer, a malfunctioning bathroom.
When describing the threat, spread out your descriptions so that (1) the scene has constant action (2) you have material to build up later.
hands, fingers, nails, talons, claws
the sound of the voice, growl, roar
the texture of skin, fur, scales.
Never tell your readers that the MC is scared. Describe the fright using these physical effects:
the skin crawling, breath stalling, scalp pricking, clenching of the chest, stomach curling, heart thudding, sweat tricking down, clogged throat, pulse in the ears, cold sweat, chills up/down the spine, stomach knotting, breathless, etc.
Instead of describing everything, limit yourself to particular details, keeping overall description short. Non-stop gore doesn't shock - its bores.
Create a contrast: the child's mutilated corpse still clutches the doll. The brains from the baby's plt skull spill across the fluffy pink blanket.
Use similes, comparing gruesome buts to something from ordinary life. The intestines look like spaghetti in tomato sauce. The blood spilling from the mouth looks like lipstick.
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