I like your process. Mine starts the same way. Something terrifying, like losing touch with reality, or starving, or losing someone, and then with each level of exploration you get more information about how the story will play out. The setting comes next, for me at least, and I free write about it to get more details. Then it is easy to ask what kind of characters inhabit this setting, and free write about it. Then how the characters interact and view each other, and then I free write about their relationships. That has been enough to get me to an outline, and once you have that you know you can finish the story. Thanks for the video, subscribed
I'm taking a stab at horror for the first time this year.. very much out of my comfort zone but you have definitely helped by saying you should describe the character through actions towards others instead of giving too much away. I lost myself for a bit in my story trying to describe who my character was too much. You're advice is definitely going to help me moving forward with my project. Thanks Cam! Stash looks great ;)
i always look to horror games for inspiration. faith the unholy trinity, iron lung, mortuary assistant, suite 776, resident evil, from the darkness, all that jazz. i think its a really great manifestation of horror as a genre, and its a source of inspiration for my short story "The Abandoned School", as well as an up and coming one i plan to give to my english teacher as a gift. ive always loved horror, and you could tell from my search history on youtube and netflix, and namely my steam library, and i think taking inspiration from anything horror related is a good way to go
Just discovered your channel today, but subscribed immediately after seeing your introduction. Lovely way to pay tribute to your dad. Anything we can do to raise awareness of mental health and suicide prevention should be second nature to any society; unfortunately, until we're personally touched by one or both, that's rarely the case - these are tough subjects to take on. I hope all of your Movembers - and your daily efforts as well - are smashing successes. Thank you for everything that you do.
This is really good advice. I am currently in the early stages of writing a short horror story anthology (entirely my own work, not a compilation of different authors) called The Book of Dreams and Nightmares. I will definitely be applying this advice!
This will be helpful and I have this idea in mind it's about a haunted school that's the over view so this will be helpful a bit and the into the killers back ground as well as the ghost children who want revenge
For me, dreams are always the inspiration for my storys. Dreams that stick around for weeks. Dreams i want to forget but cant. This feeling of something unnatural, i should not have experienced in the first place. This is true horror for me because there is no way to know if it might just be true
Just getting started with short stories! Thanks for the tips! Writing horror though, I typically know the character and the catalyst of the story before I begin writing. Knowing the catalyst first tends to charge my creativity the most! I love finding the flaws in my characters right away and figuring out how the inciting incident just spins their life into chaos😅 So I have those two things and then I tend to write it as I go! I’m less of an outliner and more of a discovery writer, but I hope to get better at outlining as I continue working on projects. I definitely feel like it’ll be challenging going from long form writing to short stories, but I’m excited to try it out!
I don't write horror, but I do enjoy reading and watching it every once in a while, and your breakdown of how to write horror short stories sounds amazing honestly. It makes me want to give it a try at least. I think my favorite thing about horror (especially anthologies) is how a bunch of people can have the same central idea, maybe even the same setting depending on the topic (such as the one you gave about the sheer snowy cliff and the hungry wolves at the top), and still come up with wildly different stories. I guess that's true for all genres, but horror is so wide in the sub-genres it has that I don't think any two stories would be the same. Thank you for doing this. Now I want to do a horror story writing experiment... Maybe after NaNo...
I wish I had found you before I started my Horror Story channel. I use AI to help me write but still use the tips you have given. I will be watching all of your videos for more tips in good writing. I do try to give my characters a background even though my videos are are less than 30 minutes. I agree that a happy ending is not always a bad thing. I do like to have a happy ending, "but..." sometimes. Thanks for the videos, just subscribed!
It was interesting to hear your methodology. When I write horror short stories, I like to show the mc undergoing a change. I also don't shy away from cliches, but I like to reverse them or somehow put a twist on them.
First of all, the 'stache is looking mighty good this year! And second, I also pick a subject, like "swimming pool", or "rabbits" because I might have had a spooky thought while swimming or a creepy dream about rabbits. But mostly I have a scene involving the subject in my head and I try to figure out how to build a story around that. I don't totally love doing things like this because I think sometimes you can tell when an entire something is written for one specific scene. It can work obviously, but it's challenging.
I'm currently in the process of trying to write a place-based horror anthology, all taking place in a particular group of settings. It's interesting starting with settings and then moving to story, because I have to find ways to enhance the naturally creepy elements of the places I'm writing about. I'm looking forward to viewing more of your videos as I continue!
yea super good stuff, thanks. I wrote a story and did not even think it was horror till someone told me "hey great horror story" It has a happy siblings reunited ending. Anyway... you gave me lots of good ideas and I look forward to your next!
I really liked your idea of something from characters past relating to the current horror. I actually think of my characters last in short stories cus they tend to be fairly generic, probably not good advice and I'm hoping it doesn't hurt my stories when I publish them. I tend to come up with a creep factor first and build my story around that so what situation could make this creepy thing possible? My endings are diverse, many ending in twists that change everything or shock factor. One is an unreliable narrator, one has the narrator as the killer but you don't know it til almost end, one has protagonist stuck in an inescapable situation. that's what I love about short horror it let's you try different ideas creatively and throw in different horror like suspense, thriller, psychological horror, etc. I just hope my stories translate well to the readers and I give some good scares.
I came here because I wrote 6,000 words that basically the recounting of an event and idk how to make into a STORY yet. Maybe it's wrong or more difficult this way, but I'll write the entire thing as in this happened, then this, then that; then I go back in and add symbolism and foreshadowing and whatnaught... which is what I'm currently stuck on.
My jaded old ass was prepared to hate this at first. But, you're a legitimately good guy and you're clearly a dedicated writer. Keep fighting the good fight.
Very cool video, and very helpful to a budding writer. I've written a handful of short horror fiction, but none published yet. i've gotten good encouragement to keep going. I've been praised for a spooky atmosphere & descriptions, but plots are thin and almost just one note. Will keep at it!
I have written a few short horror stories in the past, and a theme that I really liked, was making the protagonist the "monster" or the killer. Like I had written a story, on how in a town, there were people disappearing and getting killed. These students thought that their teacher was the murderer and so they were scared of him. When the teacher asked one of the students, to stay after class, the other students prayed for him, to not get killed. But as it then turned out, the student who got send in, with the teacher, was actually the murderer, so he killed the teacher. I don't know why, but I really like storys with this kind of plottwist in the end xD I remember, as a fearful child, listening to a horror story, about a blood-moon-killer, were there was a plottwist like that in the end, were the protagonist was the killer. And that story stuck with me- like I was maybe around 13/14? When I heard that story, for the very first time and now I'll turn 18 soon xd
I haven't written short stories, but for the horror in my novel, I have tried to focus on the feeling of the unknown, of dread. How does it feel? What could cause it? How would you act etc. That's usually my process, but I really want to try some short stories, focusing on creating the tension in a shorter narrative. Btw, I really enjoyed We're not Home. Your's, Kate's and Marie McWilliams' were my favorites.
Yeah agreed, fear of the unknown is definitely one of the best examples of horror. Oh and thank you so much! Kate and Marie's stories were some of my favs as well, as someone who already isn't great with planes, 'Nine Seconds' got me good 😂
The funny thing is, the few instances in which I wrote short stories with some kind of horror element, it started somewhat close to how you described it. There was this idea that I wanted to use for a story (eg one time I wrote a short story based on "Drunken Whaler" from Dishonored), and everything else just fell into place after that. And as someone who suffers from panic attacks every once in a while, I found that kind of 'thought structure' (which is to say a missing one, so incomplete sentences, or sometimes even words or how you sometimes don't even really think anymore cause you're way too focused on your heatbeat being way too fast or that feeling of not being able to breathe) is pretty helpful when writing horror as well. Or, tl;dr: show, don't tell. Always important, but in horror, even more so.
Very well said Taja! My own experiences with anxiety or depression has been a huge source for some of my horror writing as well, who knew those things would have some kind of upside 😂
I really got to say I love your work I don't know how many times I've watched your videos and laughed I should have commented on more give you more thumbs up
This video is 2 years old and it still managed to call me out for watching writing videos (procrastinating) instead of writing for Nanowrimo 2024 right now.
I'm normally a romance writer and for school I have to write a Horror flash fiction and I don't know how to do it and I'm panicking a bit... So I came here for help.
Advice that I got from a well known writer, was that horror needs to be art, if it`s going to be good. It needs to play on the fear of people of this age - We don`t fear the Spanish inquisition, but how about something that threatens to destroy our comforts of today? Being locked up, isolated, or losing our sanity. What if we start losing the control (that we think we have) over our own lives?
I should definitely come up with more of a structure or consistency with writing. It usually happens with the spark, when I'm standing literally anywhere and think "what horrible thing could happen right now" and then take that little itty bitty scary idea and see how many words it wants to be. I have quite little control over length and characters as of yet, ha ha.
Boo. * asthma initiates karma * I actually found this really interesting! I've been wanting to come with a fantasy short story for a while now; something a little creepy with a fair sprinkling of mysticism. A lot of your points gave me a better idea, so thanks!!
I agree, it`s been very helpful. Also started writing dark, urban fantasy this year - doing a series of Novella`s in my home language of Afrikaans, and what started with a setting of a guy moving to the mountains after his divorce, has now become a series of books about two worlds filled with horror, mystery and fantasy. The advice I got from reading Stephen King was to not limit myself to one genre, and I experimented with adding erotica, romance, horror, fantasy, and dark humor in one series of books.
the main thing for when i'm writing is making same concoctions with my every day life for example i love coffee so i usually have a main character love coffee or even occasional cups here and there i also love to resource peoples true or some what true story's especially if there are stronger identity in the story.
Hey. By any chance, how would I start writing the first chapter, and some ways that I can get the reader to WANT to read the book. Is it ok if you come up with something that I can start with?
I know I'm late to the party BUT the main thing I focus on is writing two stories one with the horror and one with out that is just drama. This way I make sure I make believable characters with believable personalities, goals, flaws, decisions, etc. I also think it just makes the story scarier if the drama side of it is something the audience can relate too.
Your argument in this video sounds like a slippery slope... get it? I'm sure you do. LOL. Congratulations on having yet another story published this year. I'll buy Served Cold as soon as the paperback is available. I've made a couple of these writing process videos myself; it's a lot of fun to discuss and listen to this kind of thing.
Often an idea will come about from a dream, or a creepy feeling while I'm sitting in the pickup line waiting to pick up my girls....My last idea was: How awful would it feel if I had enough cash to buy a plane ticket to save myself, my husband and one child, but not enough for the other...What if my parents couldn't get on the plane with us...What if I had to decide to leave someone behind...Even though I want to take EVERYONE and save EVERYONE in my family... What if I had to leave my husband and my mother to save my daughters...What if I had to stay behind as well in order to have my girls live on without me?... And yes, I just watched 2012 for like the umpteenth millionth time and that one part where Yuri sacrifices himself to save his sons was the ONLY part of the ENTIRE MOVIE that got me... Didn't care anything about the rest of the movie. Sure the guy was an asshole, but..He loved those boys...Anywho, that thought led to a pivotal scene in a story I hope to begin next year...Delta-42 A plague story and what a family does to survive...It's more dramatic than horror, but...If you ask me, the Black Death was pretty damn scary
Damn, you're donating 100% of your book's profit to charity? I was about to make angry comment and call you a narcissist, but goddamn I was wrong. Thank you for your donation.
With the horror stories I've attempted, the settings came to me first. An empty parking lot at night, the woods, an abandoned road. Then I see the characters, and then the danger. My outlining is usually just jotting down ideas as they come, in no particular order. Sometimes I get the middle before the beginning or end. Once the list of ideas is long enough, I just start to expand on them. Something you made me realize is that I don't really give my short story characters fleshed out backstories. In my novel attempts, I've definitely intentionally given the protagonist "trauma," but not in my shorts. I think I give the antagonists more backstory. Whether it's a psycho stalking a hiker or a winged creature hunting tourists (Jeepers Creepers ripoff), I end up giving them a more extensive background than the people running from them. I think it's because I like the revealing of the mystery, the answer to the question 'Why?', ya'know? But I agree about giving the main character some past trauma. I think, not only does it make the characters more interesting, but it also helps the reader connect more to them. You can sort of put yourself in the protagonist's shoes. So when the main character is in danger, your (the reader's) emotions are heightened because YOU are the main character. The main character is YOU. That makes it scarier. I hope I said that right. Anyways, I'm definitely gonna keep the backstory in mind the next time I f̶a̶i̶l̶ a̶t̶t̶e̶m̶p̶t̶ write another horror short.
How to write a short horror story.. but first let's talk about myself until you leave and get nothing from this video.. short stories need a master of the art wrapping it up. Details are left for the imagination. You're not a master yet. So don't teach. Thank you. The Pagan Cult Leader TPCL
One of these days, I've got to write an anthology. It sounds fun. Horror is one of the genres that works particularly well in a short story.
I agree. I’d even go so far as to say horror works better in short form than longer.
I've always thought that you as the author need to know the backstory even if you don't include it in the story
Agreed!
I like your process. Mine starts the same way. Something terrifying, like losing touch with reality, or starving, or losing someone, and then with each level of exploration you get more information about how the story will play out. The setting comes next, for me at least, and I free write about it to get more details. Then it is easy to ask what kind of characters inhabit this setting, and free write about it. Then how the characters interact and view each other, and then I free write about their relationships. That has been enough to get me to an outline, and once you have that you know you can finish the story.
Thanks for the video, subscribed
I'm taking a stab at horror for the first time this year.. very much out of my comfort zone but you have definitely helped by saying you should describe the character through actions towards others instead of giving too much away. I lost myself for a bit in my story trying to describe who my character was too much. You're advice is definitely going to help me moving forward with my project. Thanks Cam! Stash looks great ;)
That's awesome! Good luck with the writing, I feel like being a thriller writer will give you a bit of a leg up 😃
i always look to horror games for inspiration. faith the unholy trinity, iron lung, mortuary assistant, suite 776, resident evil, from the darkness, all that jazz. i think its a really great manifestation of horror as a genre, and its a source of inspiration for my short story "The Abandoned School", as well as an up and coming one i plan to give to my english teacher as a gift. ive always loved horror, and you could tell from my search history on youtube and netflix, and namely my steam library, and i think taking inspiration from anything horror related is a good way to go
Just discovered your channel today, but subscribed immediately after seeing your introduction. Lovely way to pay tribute to your dad. Anything we can do to raise awareness of mental health and suicide prevention should be second nature to any society; unfortunately, until we're personally touched by one or both, that's rarely the case - these are tough subjects to take on. I hope all of your Movembers - and your daily efforts as well - are smashing successes. Thank you for everything that you do.
I’m so glad you broke this in parts. I can’t deal with anymore fluff videos. Good stuff
This is really good advice. I am currently in the early stages of writing a short horror story anthology (entirely my own work, not a compilation of different authors) called The Book of Dreams and Nightmares. I will definitely be applying this advice!
This will be helpful and I have this idea in mind it's about a haunted school that's the over view so this will be helpful a bit and the into the killers back ground as well as the ghost children who want revenge
I'm sorry about your dad but I'm glad you are celebrating his life❤️
The ending of this video was more horrifying than any short story I have read
I like to explore what is scary to one person isn't to another, while some things are universally frightening.
For me, dreams are always the inspiration for my storys. Dreams that stick around for weeks. Dreams i want to forget but cant. This feeling of something unnatural, i should not have experienced in the first place. This is true horror for me because there is no way to know if it might just be true
Every time I write my stories I feel they come out more violent than spooky. But maybe is because I'm writing it so I know whats going to happen. 😒
Haha I know EXACTLY what you mean 😂
Just getting started with short stories! Thanks for the tips! Writing horror though, I typically know the character and the catalyst of the story before I begin writing. Knowing the catalyst first tends to charge my creativity the most! I love finding the flaws in my characters right away and figuring out how the inciting incident just spins their life into chaos😅 So I have those two things and then I tend to write it as I go! I’m less of an outliner and more of a discovery writer, but I hope to get better at outlining as I continue working on projects. I definitely feel like it’ll be challenging going from long form writing to short stories, but I’m excited to try it out!
That's an interesting process, I love it. Thanks for watching!
Thanks for sharing nice read
I don't write horror, but I do enjoy reading and watching it every once in a while, and your breakdown of how to write horror short stories sounds amazing honestly. It makes me want to give it a try at least. I think my favorite thing about horror (especially anthologies) is how a bunch of people can have the same central idea, maybe even the same setting depending on the topic (such as the one you gave about the sheer snowy cliff and the hungry wolves at the top), and still come up with wildly different stories. I guess that's true for all genres, but horror is so wide in the sub-genres it has that I don't think any two stories would be the same.
Thank you for doing this. Now I want to do a horror story writing experiment... Maybe after NaNo...
Well said! I noticed that myself when putting together We're Not Home, everyone had the same theme and the stories were all so different, it's awesome
Such a helpful video! Thanks dude
I wish I had found you before I started my Horror Story channel. I use AI to help me write but still use the tips you have given. I will be watching all of your videos for more tips in good writing. I do try to give my characters a background even though my videos are are less than 30 minutes. I agree that a happy ending is not always a bad thing. I do like to have a happy ending, "but..." sometimes. Thanks for the videos, just subscribed!
5/5 I need this =) I am gonna write 10 page or so horror story in 3 days =)
It was interesting to hear your methodology. When I write horror short stories, I like to show the mc undergoing a change. I also don't shy away from cliches, but I like to reverse them or somehow put a twist on them.
For sure! Cliches can be fine, just like you said, they usually benefit from some kind of spin
First of all, the 'stache is looking mighty good this year!
And second, I also pick a subject, like "swimming pool", or "rabbits" because I might have had a spooky thought while swimming or a creepy dream about rabbits. But mostly I have a scene involving the subject in my head and I try to figure out how to build a story around that. I don't totally love doing things like this because I think sometimes you can tell when an entire something is written for one specific scene. It can work obviously, but it's challenging.
Oh for sure, at the end of the day you have to make sure the scenes are complimenting the story rather than the other way around, but it is tricky
I'm currently in the process of trying to write a place-based horror anthology, all taking place in a particular group of settings. It's interesting starting with settings and then moving to story, because I have to find ways to enhance the naturally creepy elements of the places I'm writing about. I'm looking forward to viewing more of your videos as I continue!
Your videos are fun, creative, and very helpful. Thank you!
Thanks so much!
Reading and lovinggg welcome descent ❤️🩹 your male advocacy work is so important and i admire the shit out of you
Thank you! ❤ I hope the rest of the book doesn't let you down haha 😬
yea super good stuff, thanks. I wrote a story and did not even think it was horror till someone told me "hey great horror story" It has a happy siblings reunited ending. Anyway... you gave me lots of good ideas and I look forward to your next!
I really liked your idea of something from characters past relating to the current horror. I actually think of my characters last in short stories cus they tend to be fairly generic, probably not good advice and I'm hoping it doesn't hurt my stories when I publish them. I tend to come up with a creep factor first and build my story around that so what situation could make this creepy thing possible? My endings are diverse, many ending in twists that change everything or shock factor. One is an unreliable narrator, one has the narrator as the killer but you don't know it til almost end, one has protagonist stuck in an inescapable situation.
that's what I love about short horror it let's you try different ideas creatively and throw in different horror like suspense, thriller, psychological horror, etc.
I just hope my stories translate well to the readers and I give some good scares.
I came here because I wrote 6,000 words that basically the recounting of an event and idk how to make into a STORY yet. Maybe it's wrong or more difficult this way, but I'll write the entire thing as in this happened, then this, then that; then I go back in and add symbolism and foreshadowing and whatnaught... which is what I'm currently stuck on.
My jaded old ass was prepared to hate this at first. But, you're a legitimately good guy and you're clearly a dedicated writer. Keep fighting the good fight.
Very cool video, and very helpful to a budding writer. I've written a handful of short horror fiction, but none published yet. i've gotten good encouragement to keep going. I've been praised for a spooky atmosphere & descriptions, but plots are thin and almost just one note. Will keep at it!
I have written a few short horror stories in the past, and a theme that I really liked, was making the protagonist the "monster" or the killer.
Like I had written a story, on how in a town, there were people disappearing and getting killed.
These students thought that their teacher was the murderer and so they were scared of him.
When the teacher asked one of the students, to stay after class, the other students prayed for him, to not get killed.
But as it then turned out, the student who got send in, with the teacher, was actually the murderer, so he killed the teacher.
I don't know why, but I really like storys with this kind of plottwist in the end xD
I remember, as a fearful child, listening to a horror story, about a blood-moon-killer, were there was a plottwist like that in the end, were the protagonist was the killer.
And that story stuck with me- like I was maybe around 13/14? When I heard that story, for the very first time and now I'll turn 18 soon xd
That sounds awesome!
Always wanted to write a story but never have, trying to get the courage to do it and this video helped. Thanks for sharing.
I haven't written short stories, but for the horror in my novel, I have tried to focus on the feeling of the unknown, of dread. How does it feel? What could cause it? How would you act etc. That's usually my process, but I really want to try some short stories, focusing on creating the tension in a shorter narrative.
Btw, I really enjoyed We're not Home. Your's, Kate's and Marie McWilliams' were my favorites.
Yeah agreed, fear of the unknown is definitely one of the best examples of horror.
Oh and thank you so much! Kate and Marie's stories were some of my favs as well, as someone who already isn't great with planes, 'Nine Seconds' got me good 😂
Thank you, this was incredibly helpful.
Great tips, dude! Thanks!
The funny thing is, the few instances in which I wrote short stories with some kind of horror element, it started somewhat close to how you described it. There was this idea that I wanted to use for a story (eg one time I wrote a short story based on "Drunken Whaler" from Dishonored), and everything else just fell into place after that.
And as someone who suffers from panic attacks every once in a while, I found that kind of 'thought structure' (which is to say a missing one, so incomplete sentences, or sometimes even words or how you sometimes don't even really think anymore cause you're way too focused on your heatbeat being way too fast or that feeling of not being able to breathe) is pretty helpful when writing horror as well.
Or, tl;dr: show, don't tell. Always important, but in horror, even more so.
Very well said Taja! My own experiences with anxiety or depression has been a huge source for some of my horror writing as well, who knew those things would have some kind of upside 😂
Im trying to write a good creepypasta that has to do with burning alive. Or well the fear of burning alive, does anyone have any tips?
I could set my story in the sner
I really got to say I love your work I don't know how many times I've watched your videos and laughed I should have commented on more give you more thumbs up
This video is 2 years old and it still managed to call me out for watching writing videos (procrastinating) instead of writing for Nanowrimo 2024 right now.
Thanks for your insight on the writing process!
I'm normally a romance writer and for school I have to write a Horror flash fiction and I don't know how to do it and I'm panicking a bit... So I came here for help.
Advice that I got from a well known writer, was that horror needs to be art, if it`s going to be good. It needs to play on the fear of people of this age - We don`t fear the Spanish inquisition, but how about something that threatens to destroy our comforts of today? Being locked up, isolated, or losing our sanity. What if we start losing the control (that we think we have) over our own lives?
I've been wanting to try writing a different genre so thanks for inspiring me~
I will definitely be using these tips In my horror books
I should definitely come up with more of a structure or consistency with writing. It usually happens with the spark, when I'm standing literally anywhere and think "what horrible thing could happen right now" and then take that little itty bitty scary idea and see how many words it wants to be. I have quite little control over length and characters as of yet, ha ha.
Haha the length is always the tricky part, but luckily short stories can go either way
Boo. * asthma initiates karma *
I actually found this really interesting! I've been wanting to come with a fantasy short story for a while now; something a little creepy with a fair sprinkling of mysticism. A lot of your points gave me a better idea, so thanks!!
Glad I could help 😃 Thanks for watching
I agree, it`s been very helpful. Also started writing dark, urban fantasy this year - doing a series of Novella`s in my home language of Afrikaans, and what started with a setting of a guy moving to the mountains after his divorce, has now become a series of books about two worlds filled with horror, mystery and fantasy. The advice I got from reading Stephen King was to not limit myself to one genre, and I experimented with adding erotica, romance, horror, fantasy, and dark humor in one series of books.
first time i watch one of your vids and Im already laughing after 1 min, subbed
Have to make a comic about horror for school, lol, thanks dude.
the main thing for when i'm writing is making same concoctions with my every day life for example i love coffee so i usually have a main character love coffee or even occasional cups here and there i also love to resource peoples true or some what true story's especially if there are stronger identity in the story.
As Mort Rainey says, " It's the ending. That's the most important part, is the ending."
Hey. By any chance, how would I start writing the first chapter, and some ways that I can get the reader to WANT to read the book. Is it ok if you come up with something that I can start with?
I know I'm late to the party BUT the main thing I focus on is writing two stories one with the horror and one with out that is just drama. This way I make sure I make believable characters with believable personalities, goals, flaws, decisions, etc. I also think it just makes the story scarier if the drama side of it is something the audience can relate too.
I try to make the descriptions disturbing, eg blood or just make it really descriptive. I think it makes the reader get into that mood
Your argument in this video sounds like a slippery slope... get it? I'm sure you do. LOL. Congratulations on having yet another story published this year. I'll buy Served Cold as soon as the paperback is available. I've made a couple of these writing process videos myself; it's a lot of fun to discuss and listen to this kind of thing.
Aaaaaah nice one Jeremy 😂
It seems odd when I write I become emotional sometimes.My stories always comes back to "feeling of rejection."
Most writers draw from personal struggles, so if that's something you're dealing with it's perfectly fine to let it affect your work 🙂
Is it because of NNN your moustache grow like this in November? 😅😅😅😂😂
Interesting that you pronounce snow in a very Aussie 'snoeurr' kind of way but snowy in a more American way, is that typical?
Nice video, subbed!
You just freaking out at the end got me laughing 😅 I like to think that all of us here, in this comment section, are good people
I come up with an ending first and work my backwards
I wrote this story and had it narrated by Lances Creepy Readings feat Nordic Vampire
I start off with a great story, but I have a problem with starting the hook first. I lose my viewers after 40 seconds.
I want to write a horror story
00:04 .... "Norre" ??? Nor, Nore... How do you spell that?
The only true horror is that Kirk continues to spell “wrapped” as “raped” 😂😂
hey you said my name ;)
Often an idea will come about from a dream, or a creepy feeling while I'm sitting in the pickup line waiting to pick up my girls....My last idea was: How awful would it feel if I had enough cash to buy a plane ticket to save myself, my husband and one child, but not enough for the other...What if my parents couldn't get on the plane with us...What if I had to decide to leave someone behind...Even though I want to take EVERYONE and save EVERYONE in my family... What if I had to leave my husband and my mother to save my daughters...What if I had to stay behind as well in order to have my girls live on without me?... And yes, I just watched 2012 for like the umpteenth millionth time and that one part where Yuri sacrifices himself to save his sons was the ONLY part of the ENTIRE MOVIE that got me... Didn't care anything about the rest of the movie. Sure the guy was an asshole, but..He loved those boys...Anywho, that thought led to a pivotal scene in a story I hope to begin next year...Delta-42 A plague story and what a family does to survive...It's more dramatic than horror, but...If you ask me, the Black Death was pretty damn scary
I came for tips but stayed cause this man is so fine 😳
Had to sub for the inclusion of the Facebook comments section 😂😂😂
*viewer with fart kink*
"It's NOT weird..."
to be fair, I genuinely wouldn't want to kink shame anyone 😂
nice last name
Facebook comment section, lmao. I love this already
Damn, you're donating 100% of your book's profit to charity? I was about to make angry comment and call you a narcissist, but goddamn I was wrong. Thank you for your donation.
omg its lazar beam
Nahhh 💀
@@scribbledeggs3222 lmfao it literally is 💯
With the horror stories I've attempted, the settings came to me first. An empty parking lot at night, the woods, an abandoned road. Then I see the characters, and then the danger.
My outlining is usually just jotting down ideas as they come, in no particular order. Sometimes I get the middle before the beginning or end. Once the list of ideas is long enough, I just start to expand on them.
Something you made me realize is that I don't really give my short story characters fleshed out backstories. In my novel attempts, I've definitely intentionally given the protagonist "trauma," but not in my shorts. I think I give the antagonists more backstory. Whether it's a psycho stalking a hiker or a winged creature hunting tourists (Jeepers Creepers ripoff), I end up giving them a more extensive background than the people running from them. I think it's because I like the revealing of the mystery, the answer to the question 'Why?', ya'know?
But I agree about giving the main character some past trauma. I think, not only does it make the characters more interesting, but it also helps the reader connect more to them. You can sort of put yourself in the protagonist's shoes. So when the main character is in danger, your (the reader's) emotions are heightened because YOU are the main character. The main character is YOU. That makes it scarier. I hope I said that right.
Anyways, I'm definitely gonna keep the backstory in mind the next time I f̶a̶i̶l̶ a̶t̶t̶e̶m̶p̶t̶ write another horror short.
Oh for sure! To be fair, a backstory definitely isn't ALWAYS necessary, but if I can make it work with the 'horror' I will get it in there 😃
hiiiiii :p
100th comment🎉
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How to write a short horror story.. but first let's talk about myself until you leave and get nothing from this video.. short stories need a master of the art wrapping it up. Details are left for the imagination. You're not a master yet. So don't teach. Thank you.
The Pagan Cult Leader TPCL