Part of Series
Learn to haunt your readers with powerful, chilling tales. Make their spines tingle with anticipation and their skins crawl with delicious fear. Disturb their world-view and invite them to look into the dark corners of their own souls. This book gives you a wealth of tools and techniques for writing great short stories. It is part of the acclaimed Writer's Craft series. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction
- FEED YOUR FICTION WITH YOUR FEARS Places. Weird Shudders. Phobias. Childhood Fears. Dreams. Human Attitudes. Ordinary Things. Assignment.
- WHY THE TITLE IS A STRONG START Gathering Ideas. Assignment.
- WRITING BY THE SEAT OF YOUR PANTS Now Write. Prompts. The Freewriting Experience. Assignment.
- FIFTEEN MASTER PLOTS Plot Ideas You Can Use. Assignment.
- DARK FICTION AND HORROR GENRES Horror. Splatterpunk. Extreme Horror. Psychological Horror. Dystopian. Lovecraftian. Thriller. Mystery. Dark Fiction. Supernatural. Paranormal. Paranormal Romance. Dark Fantasy. Urban Fantasy. Gothic. Erotic Horror. Horror Comedy. Romantic Suspense. Steampunk. Ghost Stories. Slipstream. Speculative Fiction. Weird Fiction. Flash Fiction. Slice-of-Life. Cross-Genre. Collection. Anthology. Assignment.
- POINT OF VIEW Deep PoV Techniques. Serial Point of View. Omniscient Point of View. Other Point of View Styles. Assignment.
- MANAGING TENSION Goal. Raising the Stakes. Conflicts Among Characters. Peaks and Troughs. Assignment.
- BUILDING SUSPENSE Pose a Question. The Ticking Clock. Pacing. The Door Opens. Assignment.
- HOW TO SCARE YOUR READERS Darkness. Sounds. Chill. Isolation. Meet the Monster. Get Visceral. The Gory Bits. Assignment.
- CREEPY LOCATIONS Select the Setting. Inspiring Pictures. How to Describe the Setting. Practical Research. Setting Research Checklist. Assignment.
- MAKE THE MOST OF THE WEATHER Create Atmosphere. Deepen the PoV. Make it Difficult for the Characters. Strained Tempers. Mood and Foreboding. Beware the Pathetic Fallacy. Collecting Descriptions. Assignment.
- HOW TO OPEN YOUR STORY Opening with Setting Description. Opening with Dialogue. Opening While All Seems Well with the World. Assignment.
- HOW TO END YOUR STORY Endings to Avoid. Seven Possible Endings. Leave Questions in the Reader’s Mind. Assignment.
- VILLAINS AND MONSTERS Human Clichés to Avoid. Motivation. Depth. Describing the Villain. Reveal it Bit by Bit. Keep it Plausible. Assignment.
- GHOST STORIES Plot and Backstory. Setting and Mood. Characters and Point of View. Assignment.
- VAMPIRES, WEREWOLVES, ZOMBIES Sparkling Versus Traditional. Vampire Tropes. Fiction Ideas. Werewolf Tropes. Questions to Consider. How Zombies are Made. Zombie Tropes. Fiction Ideas. Beware the Bite-Hiders. Assignment.
- RELIGIOUS HORROR Horror in Holy Books. Faith Versus Fear. Religious Historical Horror. Unbelievers Meet Scary Gods. Stories Presenting Religion as Evil. Writing About Other Faiths. Controversy. Assignment.
- Why Do People Read Horror Fiction? Seven Psychological Reasons. Assignment.
- MARKETING AND PUBLICATION Traditional Publishing. Markets. Rights. Payment. Self-Publishing. Trends. Assignments.
- SAMPLE STORIES WITH COMMENTS Burning. Seagulls. Only A Fool. DEAR READER This book uses British English.
Author
Rayne Hall writes fantasy and horror fiction, some of it quirky, most of it dark. She is the author of over sixty books in different genres and under different pen names, published by twelve publishers in six countries, translated into several languages. Her short stories have been published in magazines, e-zines and anthologies. After living in Germany, China, Mongolia and Nepal, she has settled in a small Victorian seaside town in southern England. Rayne holds a college degree in publishing management and a masters degree in creative writing. Over three decades, she has worked in the publishing industry as a trainee, investigative journalist, feature writer, magazine editor, production editor, page designer, concept editor for non-fiction book series, anthology editor, editorial consultant and more. Outside publishing, she worked as a museum guide, apple picker, tarot reader, adult education teacher, trade fair hostess, translator and belly dancer. Currently, Rayne Hall writes fantasy and horror fiction and tries to regain the rights to her out-of-print books so she can republish them as e-books. Her books on the writing craft (Writing Fight Scenes, Writing Scary Scenes, The Word-Loss Diet, Writing Dark Stories, Writing About Villains, Writing Short Stories to Promote Your Novel, Writing About Magic, Twitter for Writers) are bestsellers. Rayne Hall is the editor of the Ten Tales anthologies: "Bites: Ten Tales of Vampires" "Scared: Ten Tales of Horror" "Haunted: Ten Tales of Ghosts" "Cutlass: Ten Tales of Pirates" "Beltane: Ten Tales of Witchcraft" "Spells: Ten Tales of Magic" "Undead: Ten Tales of Zombies" "Seers: Ten Tales of Clairvoyance" "Dragon: Ten Tales of Fiery Beasts" "Cogwheels: Ten Tales of Steampunk" with more titles coming soon. The stories in her Six Scary Tales series and the Thirty Scary Tales collection are subtle horror: suspenseful, creepy atmospheric, unsettling. Although they contain little violence and gore, they may not be suitable for young readers. Many of these stories have been previously published in other books or magazines. British English: All Rayne Hall's books use British words, spellings, grammar and punctuation. If you're allergic to British English, avoid them. ;-) Mailing list: http://eepurl.com/boqJzD Website: http://sites.google.com/site/raynehal... YouTube "Ten Random Facts about Rayne Hall" (2 minute video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXR4T... Contact Rayne Hall on Twitter @RayneHall follows back writers and readers. http://twitter.com/RayneHall
