April 23, 2025
Readers love to feel strong emotions when they experience a story, so it’s no surprise that horror novels have grown in recent years to match the increasing interest in books that keep the reader on the edge of their seat. Horror novels are especially of interest to readers who love the thrilling and emotional rollercoaster ride they take readers on, with stories often taking on a hyper-realistic feel that keeps the adrenaline rushing from the first page to the last.
Writers love to craft these scary, fear-filled horror novels, too, because creating a story with the critical horror novel elements is a creative task and just as exhilarating to write as it is to read. While horror novels may take different perspectives on how to create a story that will thrill and excite a reader, there are five key elements for horror novels that all writers need to include to make sure their story will capture the imagination of their readers.
One of the most important characters in horror novels is not a character at all; it’s the setting. The story’s location and timeframe create the foundation of horror novels since the setting as a whole helps to determine how successfully the rising tension, building fear and thrilling outcomes play out in the story. Choosing the right setting for your story and characters is the best way to begin developing your novel’s plot.
Where and when your story takes place sets the tone and atmosphere of horror novels, allowing the writer to transport readers into the perfect setting for the plot events to unfold on the pages. To immerse your readers into the story, utilizing sensory descriptions will help your readers feel like they have stepped into the story, wrapping them in the sights, sounds and tactile horror.
Descriptive details can also help develop a meaningful setting that will bring readers into the emotion of the story. By concentrating on the minutia of a scene and using descriptive language to bring every detail into focus for the reader, your setting will contribute to the tense atmosphere and help you to keep the reader anxious and excited about what is coming next in the plot.
Choosing the perfect location that will instill fear and unease in your reader is a big part of horror novels that can make or break a story with a reader. A forgotten warehouse on the outskirts of town, a broken down shack in the middle of the countryside or even a dark and spooky forest can all be ideal settings, ready to play a part in creating apprehension in the reader and adding in thrilling opportunities for terrifying plot twists in your story.
Developing memorable characters who can play out your story’s plot in a believable way is the next element horror novels need. Excellent character development is the best way to keep your readers turning the page, scared to see what is going to happen next but too engaged not to keep reading.
Your horror novel key characters should have defining one or more characteristics to set them apart from other villains while also being a compelling, interesting character that readers will love to hate (or love to be afraid of). They should be original and have a unique hook or detail that makes them different from other main characters but also personally flawed and human so readers will be torn about rooting for them or against them.
Your main character should have a compelling backstory that helps to explain their horrifying ways, and readers should be able to identify with them or their struggles in some way to build tension and anxiety as the reader sees their terrifying behavior unfold or come to fruition in the story.
Be careful not to avoid stereotypical characters or horror movie tropes like the lonely girl or the cursed object. They are overdone and the reader will be able to see this twist too quickly, minimizing the unease and stress your character’s plotline should create in this type of book.
Horror novels are so captivating to readers because everything is not what it seems at first glance. Stories that grip the reader and hold them until the resolution of the plot conflict are typically full of thematic and symbolic elements that create a deeper meaning to the story, the action, and the horror element in the novel.
Themes: Woven into storylines, dialogue, and even character development scenes, themes help give context to a character’s actions and help build anticipation in the reader. Common themes running through horror novels are obsession, fear, guilt, exploring the human psyche, the nature of evil, and the darkness that resides in all of us.
Symbols: The use of symbolic imagery throughout a horror story can help the writer tie together two or more seemingly unconnected elements so the reader will understand a backstory, see the motivation behind a plot line, or simply comprehend the deeper meaning of something or someone.
Symbolism often seen in horror stories include references to specific colors, blood, a recurring image or object that pops up throughout the story and cryptic messages or symbols that appear at key moments in a story.
The fifth key horror novel element you need to get right is pacing. Your story’s plot pacing should have a steady build-up of suspense for the reader but also include plenty of surprises that keep the reader uneasy and unsure of what is coming next.
Go Slow: A tried-and-true way to build suspense is to keep the pacing slow and methodical. Readers will know something big is coming, but the ordinariness of a slowly retold plot contributes to a suspenseful atmosphere because the reader knows that the story is building up to something, but what is it?
As the anticipation builds up, readers attempt to put together the pieces of the puzzle, with only a few pieces being revealed at a time so the reader’s attention to detail is heightened along the way. This slow-going strategy is like a slow-burning fire; you know the flame is all-consuming, but you just don’t know when it will overtake everything.
Cliffhangers or Plot Twists: The pacing of a story can be stopped and started when a writer interjects shocking plot twists that shock and surprise the reader. This creates a quick buildup to a suspenseful atmosphere and works well with main characters who appear normal but have a dark side lurking just underneath the surface.
Writers can also leave the reader hanging with cliffhangers within a story arc, surprising the reader with an unanticipated turn of events or a plot line that leaves the fate of a character hanging in the balance. By infusing your story with twists and turns and cliffhanging storylines, the book’s pacing will keep the reader interested while creating an increasingly suspenseful atmosphere that will make your horror novel hard to put down.
The horror genre is growing in popularity both in readership and in writers interested in trying their hand at creating a compelling horror story. Many authors entering the genre are fascinated with the idea of putting together a story intended to draw out such a base emotion as fear out of their reader, a completely different focus from most other types of writing. The use of fear, pacing, sensory details, and character development can all be a fun challenge for a writer wanting to stretch the limits of what they have written before.
So whether you are working on coming up with the perfect set of characters, plot and setting for a horror novel or you have already penned your manuscript, transforming your draft into a book ready to put on the shelves is the next step. Working with Publishing Xpress, you can be sure that your story will turn into a beautiful book that looks great on the shelf, allowing you to become a published author in the horror book genre.
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