How to write a Horror Scene?

Atmosphere

• Light
• What are the available light sources?
• How fragile are they?
• How long will they sustain?
• Who has access to them?
• Are they trustworthy?
• Who would gain advantage from destroying the light?
• How would they do it?

• Color
• Would you Dark colors?
• Would you Cold colors?
• Would you Vibrant colors?
• Colors that reminds the character of a cherished memory?
• Colors that symbolize their attachment to a place?
• Colors that attract them to a place they shouldn’t enter?

• Cursed Words
• Which are the words your characters hate the most?
• Which phrases are they unable to hear?
• Which name cause instant Rage when they hear them?
• Which words can’t the pronounce?
• Would they beat someone because they said the One word?
• Which words are forbidden in your story?
• Are certain terms abhorred?
• Can they get you executed?
• Which phrases cause Mania?
  • In a definite country?
  • In a specific culture?
  • In a family?

• How will you use senses to set Tone?
• How will you use Sight?
• How will you use Smell?
• How will you use Taste?
• How will you use Hearing?
• How will you use Touch?
• Which character is more sensitive to Sight?
• Which character is more sensitive to Hearing?
• How is the characters’ imagination formed?
• What’s its Shape?
• How does it manifest?
• Through which crisis?

Rhythm

• A Scale of Pain
• How do your Characters define Pain?
• What constitute an effort for them?
• Do your Characters feel Threatened?
• When do they feel this Threat?
• Where do they feel it?
• What triggers them?
• What endeavors them?
• What is a Menace?
• What do they perceive as a Menace?
• What would turn them into the Menace?

• The Progression & the Shift
• How do the characters act in the beginning of the story?
  • Are they defiant?
  • Are they in denial?
  • Are they contrarian?
  • Are they antagonistic?
• How does Fear change them?
• How do they transition to Horror?
• What leads them to the Discovery of the Menace?
• Do they choose to Hunt it afterwards?
• Can they Overcome it?

• Death
• Is death a passage?
• Is death a conclusion?
• Should you use Undeath?
• Can the story continue after Death?
• Do the dead feel sorry for themselves?
• Do they envy the living?
• Are they jealous of the living?
• Are there forms of reanimations?
• Who can be reanimated?
• Who should die?
• Should a Main character die?
• Should the protagonist be replaced?

• Fatality
• How should 1 be killed?
• How unfair was the death?
• How was it perceived?
• How unpredictable was it?
• How was the Last moment of this character?
• Where they excluded from the group previously?
• When does the Climax come?
• Is there a Showdown?
• Are all characters eliminated before being able to face the creature?

Sound

• Echoes
• Do you hear Voices?
• Do you hear Laughers?
• Where are these Callings coming from?
• Who are they coming for?
• Which name are they ushering?
• Are they Conjuring you?
• Did you left someone in Cries?

• Unseen Environment
• Can you hear Bodies rubbing?
• Can you hear the moaning?
• Can you hear the mutual destruction before the recreation?
• Do you hear bones & stones grounded together?
• Can you see the Dripping liquid?
• Can you feel the Crystalline flux in your veins?
• How is this Blade, which is opening the soft flesh?
• Where does this Scrapping noise come from?

• Moving sounds
• Why can’t the characters see the threat?
• How do they imagine it?
• Can they hear dripping water in the distance?
• Can they hear a slippery door slammed?
• Can they hear the droplets in the other room?
• Will they pass the door?

• Music
• Have you created character’s Themes?
• How do they Characterize them?
• How do the theme display their Goal?
• How do they display their Interests?
• How do they display their Intentions?

Monsters

• Knowledgeable
• You meet a Crow.
• She’s Frightful.
• Her Macabre figure unsettles you.
• Though, you can perceive her intelligence.
• It Maybe higher than yours.
• She speaks calmly.
• Does she look Jaded?
• Is she hiding information from you?
• What would you do to obtain it?

• Desperate
• You meet a Lamb.
• She looks Confuse.
• She looks Hungry.
• She’s Clinging to oneself.
• She’s following you.
• Losing her sense of self.
• She follows you.

• Obsessive
• You meet a Snake.
• She sounds Single-minded.
• Her jaws are Viscous.
• Her lips are plump.
• She’s Sticky with you.
• Her body is Heavy.
• Her body is Warm.

• Absolute
• You meet a Horse.
• She lack a nose.
• Her Occult eyes attracts you.
• What is Unknown to her?
• What is Known to her?
• You can sense The other animals Awe when she speaks.
• You can feel their Veneration of her words.

• Inside
• A Monkey bit you.
• Your arm itches.
• A stinging pain come to you.
• You hear a pop in your mind.
• As if something has hatched.
• “…Parasitic…
• Feeding on one’s essence…
• Depleting of one’s willpower…
• And cannot be killed without killing the host.”
  • Says the horse
  • Whose words you have come to believe

• What contrast can you create between the parasite & her host?
• Could the parasite be a revelator of her host’s true nature?

Food

• Curiosity
• What’s that dish?
• How Unusual is it?
• Does cause you some mild Repulsion?
• Are Unsure about what it is made of?
• Can you touch it?
• Can you swallow it?

• Attraction
• Do you want a bowl of it?
• What sense comfort does it bring you?
• Do you want more of it?
• Do you feel envy?
• What fragrance does it exude?
• How is the taste?
• Can you feel it moving against your tongue?

• Danger
• Is it acidic?
• Is it toxic?
• Is it burning?
• Is it corrosive?
• Can it make you more aggressive?
• Do you fall asleep?

Mundane

• Horror in Daily Life
• What are the characters Routines?
• What are they habits?
• What makes this world Ordinary?
• What is not enjoyable, nor despicable?
• Just Normal.

• Moderate Gore is more effective
• What causes Disgust?
• Do you need to exaggerate the torture a character goes through?
• Do you need to display a Body’s molestation?
  • Entirely?
  • Partially?
• Is it more effective to show a body being destroyed?
• Is it more effective to show the wretched corpse after the misdeed?

• Does Horror have to be Visceral?
• Can it be plain?
• Can it be simple?
• Can it be without stumbles?
• Can it be without tremor?
• Can it be peaceful?
• Can it be accepted?
• Can it be fine?