Hi! I’d like to write a story in one of these genres and I already have a vague idea in mind, but I don’t know much about how to write horror and thriller stories. Does any of you have any suggestion? I can make a list!
My suggestion is to maybe try and watch some/google the plots of horror movies? Or maybe read some horror books? Idk (I hate horror movies, I get really scared )
I’m also in the process of writing a horror story, and what I do is write what scares me. As people, we’re all scared of something, right? So since I’m scared of spiders, and creepy crawlies, I’ll write about those to freak people out. My suggestion is to write about people’s fears. You can even search all these phobias on Google .
Thriller is my favourite genre to write in which makes sense because it’s my favourite genre to read! So my suggestion would really be to read as many as you can and maybe watch some horror/thriller movies too
Since in Thriller, the characters’ dooms are not predictable, so try to include a big plot twist! Or make a character or a villain have a secret revealed. Maybe the story’s about a serial killer, and maybe that serial killer has a super, super unexpected back story or an unexpected/unusual reason for why they kill.
As for horror, it deals with more fantasy elements like demonds, witches, and vampires, so the best advice I can give is to try to do more than just sticking to stereotypes and cliches. That’ll avoid being too predictable or dull.
They are both fun genres!! I never watched an actual scary horror movie/thriller movie (or read a book) in my life, but I still enjoy writing both of them.
The thing about them is that you have freedom to write things that are more dark/serious. It doesn’t have to be only about jumpscares and ghost stories, there are many different ways to scare people. (I find psychological thrillers more scary than horror stories) Think about a way you can make your readers feel kinda uncomfortable.
Having a sexy vampire go about seducing all women–except for the MC. Centering the story around a dark basement, haunted house, or abandoned place. I often see curses in stories that don’t make much sense (usually due to the fact that the person who cast the curse didn’t seem to have much of a reason to do so). Another cliche I’ve seen a lot is ignoring the elderly’s warning completely.
Ooh! My biggest tip for writing mysteries or thrillers (or even horror stories) is to know who (or what) is behind all the crazy ish that is happening and why they are doing the absolute most to terrorize the MC. I have read and watched a few thrillers that fell apart at the end because the villain and their reasoning for doing all that they did didn’t make any sense. I don’t mind plot twists, but plot twists shouldn’t be so shocking and “out of the blue” that it completely ruins the story.
Also, it helps to plot out what the villain is doing “behind the scenes” alongside what the MC is doing in the main scenes, so the story makes sense (in the case of thrillers). For example, the reader knows that the MC finds a mysterious note and then unexpectedly bumps into the villain (who we don’t know is the villain yet). But you, the writer, knows that after the villain left the note, they stalked the MC to make sure that they found it, then they played innocent and pretended to unexpectedly bump into the MC. You don’t have to explain everything the villain did at the end of the story, but knowing in the back of your mind really helps!