Ideas for Horror Stories

My dear CoolKrl, just a bit of advise; if indeed you are the upcoming writer that you dream to be, please dont invite ideas before the job is done, produce some piece and invte us to give a critique, the way you have changed this order of things, you seem to be putting the cart before the horse, because, supposing the detaild ideas were stories in themselves, would you claim them as your own? See what I mean? I dont mean to discourage or put a wet blanket onto your schems, but inviting us to critique your work would have been the best way to go!

I like horror stories and I especially like the ones with a twist at the end. I once read a story where the victim turned out to be the killer. The story was about a man who was scared, because he thought that he was going to get killed, but he was never in danger. He appeared to be the victim, but he was infact the killer. He was mentally ill but that wasn't revealed till the very end. I loved that story, mainly because I was completely sure I had figured everything out, but I was wrong.

I don't like to discourage anybody who wants to be a writer, but honestly, if you can't think up any ideas of your own, you're never going to be a writer. The world is full of ideas, and if you read a lot (do you read much?) you will be inspired by other writers. Asking people for their ideas, especially wanting them in detail, means that you're probably not willing or able to do your own work.

Honestly, there are NO orginal ideas, just orginal takes on a theme. I personally had a fear of things under the bed and things in the closet as a child. Now my fears are more based on real things, like electricity, lightening, things falling on me (trees, etc) and evil people. So far, its me: 2, bad people, 0.... I consider myself one of the "baddest" things out there so bad people better leave me alone!

Okay, not to rain on your parade, but I'm a not so new writer, and i specialize in horror at that, and if you have to ask for ideas of where to even get started, your never going to cut it. It's one thing to bounce ideas off of others, or ask for help when your stuck. But you have to be able to come up with your own ideas. If the idea isn't yours then your going to struggle to continue it and not have it fall flat. Writing is about your ideas taking on a life of it's own, and it can get to the point where you feel like you can't type fast enough. Maybe horror just isn't your thing, but you need to start somewhere where YOU are coming up with the ideas.

my idea a family of killers iv been working on a storie called all in the family a buntch of rednacks who kill and eat peole the can get to ther home i like gore and use tastfulley to be vied i grow up on bloody comics the creepy part is you don't know mutch about the house or family and why ther doing what they are doing. smart writing is good for sifi and other stuff but horror like drive in b-movie horror i use swaer woods and violant acts of torcher and muder for the hell of it and decribed the act in grate detail and how the person felles like how it hells to be put on a meat hook lol. also get to the poain the build is good in horror but sucks to have a long build i want the stuff to happen not take for houers for some one to die

Ah, horror. *grin* Just as I'm getting to the most violent and "unknown to the reader" part of my series, too... I've been trying to come up with something to write for horror books for ages, but I never get there. I'm not sure it's my genre. My stuff is always dark enough, but I personally would never define it as horror. Anyways, I like horror stories with good mystery. (I don't have any ideas, so I'm just gonna ramble on here, lol) I find too, that finetuning the details to horror books...like deepening details of elemental things...like the grit and rough steps on a dirt path, or the way the rain falls onto a victim's face...stuff like this really adds LIFE to a horror story. I grew up raised on movies of this genre and mystery and horror books, so, alot of the stuff in this genre falls flat with me. New takes and enough there to make it FEEL real, then it'll be a hit with me. I think that's a safe bet for most horror fans too, but I suppose it's hard to say. Is a particular idea calling to you or are you just scouting things out at the moment?

To make a good horror story I think you have to think about what REALLY scares you...I mean, scares you like--you want to go hide under the bed lol. For me, thats zombies...I hate zombies, they scare the living daylights out of me, more than anything I can think of. Something else that scares me is ANYTHING that would be the end of the world. Just the idea of it makes me sick to my stomach (like in The Day After Tomorrow, for example). I believe that if you right on something YOU are scared of, it might come out better. But in horror movies, I prefer them to SCARE me rather than gross me out. You don't have you use a ton of gore in your story to scare people. You have to use real suspense and terror. Also, think of things that are UNIVERSALLY scary for everyone...like, being in dark water and feeling something swim by you (what was it? good or bad? creature of drift wood?) Or being in a tight space that is only getting tighter. I think you should defeniatly watch all different kinds of horror films and find some inspiration there. One movie I just watched that I would recommend is called Deathwatch, made 2002. It's about a group of English soldiers trapped in an abandoned German Trench. Now, it wasn't the best movie ever made--but there were parts that were Defeniatly really creepy! You should see what other movies use to scare people, and keep track of what works on you, and ask friends/family what works on them. I hope I've helped!!

I have found that to make things more scary or creepy a lot of horror writers take on the role of a killer to get the right kind of setting. Next time you sit down to write your next idea for your next book write down the killer and the victims point of view. Just make everything really detailed.

Hi CoolKrl, I think your particular genre is nice. My son too is so fond of horror stories or stories with monsters. Maybe he'll write horror stories too when he's older. Anyway, I can't offer you a unique storyline or idea because I am not that fond of horror stories because most of the time they are not scary at all, just gross. However, if you'll ask me what type of horror stories that really give me the creeps, I could say stories involving children and the devil. This is because I believe of their existence, that they are real. Unlike monsters or ghosts. Hope that helps. Good luck on your writing endeavor!

I don't know that I really have any ideas for you except this: just try to shoot for believablity. I love horror stories where the characters would do what any normal person would do. the poor victims of unfortunate circumstances that are doing their best to combat their fear to do what it takes to survive.