How I write horror short stories: (Patreon)

• SURPRISE the reader. When you think about your story, if you are not EXCITED by just IMAGINING the big reveal, it’s not an interesting enough story.

• Think about an experience from your PERSONAL life that relates to the twist. The intense FEELING you get when you think about that memory is your GUIDING STAR. Story isn’t working? Recreate the feeling you got from the experience.

• Make sure the story is CHARACTER-MOTIVATED. Give your characters HIDDEN MOTIVATIONS that cause them to make a series of DECISIONS that gradually ESCALATE into the “big twist”.

To summarise:

Rule 1: Excite yourself with a twist

Rule 2: Use personal experience to inform story decisions.

Rule 3: Give characters hidden motivations → which cause them to make decisions → that escalate into the twist.