Just flip through the pages of any ghost story anthology how many of them are genuinely scary. It takes more than tortured groans and rattling chains anyone can throw gore at the reader and call it a day, but the art of raising goose bumps is an elusive one indeed. Are you ready to inspire nightmares? then follow me hellip people don rsquo t fear death. Monsters, murderers, darkness mdash none of the horror staples are really terrifying.

If you rely on your audience being scared simply because your story includes any of the above, you rsquo re doomed to fail. They don rsquo t know what rsquo s making that noise in the other room, so they call it a ghost and get scared. Darkness could be hiding anything mdash what exactly, we don rsquo t know mdash so we get scared. That rsquo s why feeling a touch on your shoulder when you rsquo re all alone is so frightening: it should be impossible.

You won rsquo t see the ghost you rsquo ll only hear it, smell it, feel it. A ghost is like the wind you rsquo ll only see a curtain flutter, and the question will remain in your mind, what is it? in my story the babysitter. Everything is described through the limited point of view of a boy who refuses to look at it. Remember: your readers, by the very act of reading, have activated their imaginations. Use this against them! don rsquo t bog them down with long visual descriptions of a gruesome specter i guarantee whatever you describe will not be nearly as scary as what they come up with on their own. I offer only a few words of explanation, just enough to guide the reader rsquo s imagination down a suitably dark path.

A less severe example can be found near the end of the room with the dolls. Another way you can introduce an element of the unknown is to limit how often you use trope words. If you rsquo re constantly mentioning ghosts or vampires, then the reader knows exactly what they rsquo re up against. Why is it that one smile can put you at ease, while another makes you want to get out of the room as quickly as possible? does it reveal just a few too many teeth? are the eyes above it just a little bit soulless? is the accompanying laughter a tad too enthusiastic? we may not be able to tell what. You were listening to a pleasant tune, but that one note mdash was it off key? what rsquo s wrong with this picture? this is a natural extension of our fear of the unknown.

It tips us off that someone around us bears a sickness that we don rsquo t want to catch, that someone is pretending to be something they rsquo re not. So how can you leverage this in your ghost story? there rsquo s the obvious, of course: characters with slightly deformed features or unnatural movements. An unexpected behavior works as well, as is the case with the crying security guard in boxes. Then there rsquo s the more subtle: mentioning a detail that would be innocuos anywhere else, but in this particular scenario is out of place. There rsquo s nothing quite like a child rsquo s laughter mdash especially coming from your basement at 3 in the morning. Is it really a child? or something like a child? you can also work it into your writing style.

Just don rsquo t overdo it, or you rsquo ll come across as illiterate instead of terrifying. Think of it like you rsquo re taking the reader on a journey from the safety of their world to the nightmare of yours. If you skip that transition by presenting your scariest scene right up front, it won rsquo t have any effect.

The audience is still comfortably seated at point a: a soft armchair by a warm fire. That rsquo s not to say you can never start with a spooky scene mdash in fact, it rsquo s a good way to catch the audience rsquo s interest and entice them to keep reading. Wait until the reader has gotten out of their comfy chair wait until they rsquo re curled up in the cold, damp corner of the basement.

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I use this steady progression of dread in the expedition of howard rickson. The explorer goes from dismissing the sounds as those of his teammates to the gradual realisation that he is the only living soul in the place. Fortunately, your audience is gracious enough to suspend their disbelief, but you have to meet them halfway. Give your readers enough detail without violating the ldquo fear of the unknown rdquo principle that they can immerse themselves in your world. Not only is it more believable, but it rsquo s scarier if it rsquo s something that could happen to anyone. You don rsquo t have to and really shouldn rsquo t explain everything point by point, but give the audience enough clues to figure it out for themselves.

Give them personalities, quirks, and struggles mdash give them a life beyond the story. At first, they may seem like good ways to make your tale more realistic, but they can actually pull your reader out of the story: ldquo this story is true! rdquo no, it rsquo s not. ldquo you did this, you felt that hellip rdquo when i read a second person narrative, all i can think is ldquo no, i wouldn rsquo t have done this, and i rsquo m certainly not feeling that. ldquo you rsquo re next! rdquo this might work on little kids, but to everyone else it just comes across as desperate.

If you have to rely on breaking the fourth wall and threatening the reader directly, your story wasn rsquo t scary. While you should avoid corny tricks like those listed above, there are exceptions to every rule. If you must employ second person perspective, or you feel your story has to have a ldquo you rsquo re next rdquo moment, do it well. Remember, the end goal is to make your reader feel what the protagonist is feeling: pure, unbridled terror. They allow the reader to more easily identify with the struggles of the main character. This isn rsquo t to say that first person is the only way, but it rsquo s my preferred method. If you choose to go with third person, make sure you allow the reader access to the protagonist rsquo s thoughts and emotions.

Rdquo for example, here rsquo s one way of saying your character is frightened: i was scared as the footsteps approached my bed, but i refused to look. Now, consider this excerpt from my short story, i looked: i wrapped the blankets tighter around me and let out a sick whimper. I would not, i would hellip not hellip both examples communicate the same thing, but which one made you feel the character rsquo s dread? here rsquo s an excersise: whenever you rsquo re writing a scene about someone being scared, forbid yourself from using the following words: scared/scary afraid frightened horror/horrified terror/terrified or any other similar terms instead, write what the character rsquo s body is doing. Write exactly what they rsquo re hearing or smelling, even if it rsquo s only in their head. Don rsquo t say they got pins and needles say a thousand tiny spider legs went scuttling down their back.

Establish strong personalities, allude to events in the past that have shaped them mdash make them feel alive. If your characters don rsquo t seem like real people, they rsquo re just ink on paper, and who cares about that? remember, in a ghost story, there are at least two characters. But what about the one doing the scaring? what about the ghost? i rsquo ve found the scariest ghosts always project some kid of emotion. It doesn rsquo t matter what that emotion is as long as it rsquo s dangerous: a dangerous emotion doesn rsquo t necessarily have to be a negative one.

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Dysfunctional love, overzealous affection mdash as long as the ghost rsquo s emotions project some kind of threat, you have the makings of a terrifying specter. Do you want to write a great, memorable ghost story? come up with something unique. A plot that relies on overdone clich s won rsquo t hold your readers in suspense they know what to expect.