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Tag: suspense
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Horror week #004: VOICES make your horror fiction unsettling…
As writers, we all have those little voices in our heads; they’re called characters. But voices in the head of your character can be downright creepy. Look at how Ronald Kelly makes it even worse by making an INTERNAL voice EXTERNAL in his novel, Blood Kin: Dudley Craven stared at the piece of wood…
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Horror writing #002: Miss you…!
If you want to create some mystery, right out of the gate, then have something missing that really ought to be there. Look at how horror writer Patricia Windsor manages that in The Blooding: They were found in the woods, curiously and awkwardly lying in the first leaves of autumn. The girl had fallen…
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Horror week #001: For a creepy effect in horror fiction, ZOOM IN!
It’s cinematic, really. To add power to your descriptions and even create a bit of suspense through them, ZOOM IN! Here’s how horror writer Stephen Dobyns does it in his novel, The Church of Dead Girls: Three dead girls in three straight chairs, collapsed against the ropes, heads tilted, their skin papery, their…
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Neil Gaiman #003: The DOUBLE DELAY
Today, we’ll look at a very powerful technique Neil Gaiman makes use of in The Ocean at the End of the Lane. It’s one I call the DOUBLE DELAY. Now, even kids know what a cliff-hanger is if they’ve ever read a Hardy Boys or Goosebumps book. The idea that you end a chapter…