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Horrors! It’s Halloween story time!

To ensure your horror plot kills, check out these how-to articles from our archives.

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photo by Moyan Brenn via flickr

 

Halloween season is here, and surely the urge to write a creepy crawly, twisted tale of horror and mayhem is hitting you like a sword.

You can take a your story in many directions: mystery, thriller, suspense, macabre. To ensure your plot creeps out even the most experienced horror fan, check out these articles from our archives.

bates motel carlton cuse

 

For creating a new work based on a horror classic, get some clues from this interview with Carlton Cuse, screenwriter and showrunner of Bates Motel.

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Like vampires and werewolves? Glen Duncan, author of By Blood We Live, talks about maintaining a balance between cinematography and storytelling.

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No post on horror writing would be complete without the genre’s master Stephen King, who says he didn’t meet the killer of his book Joyland until it was nearly finished.

The father of the detective story, Edgar Allan Poe, gives craft advice from the grave, including: Keep it short.

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Truth often inspires fiction. But sometimes, as in the case of writing true crime, real-life plot twists rule.

John 5What two qualities  must every killer have?
Thriller writer John Katzenbach 
has the answer.

Learn how to build suspense with tips from 8 mystery and thriller authors.

Violet Kupersmith’s grandmother used to talk to dead people. Maybe that’s why Kupersmith incorporates so many ghosts into her stories. Find out how she does it.

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Going with graphic detail and police gore? You’ll need these tips from The Killing‘s Veena Sud.

 

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