Writing TIPS WITH PRAISE

Monthly Issue: August
Creative Article
Written by Praise O.

Hello Episodians! It’s Praise O. here, and I would love to share some tips with you! I understand that a large chunk of the community enjoy and write horror and thriller stories, but that can get difficult to pull off. One of the hardest parts about writing horror on episode is making it scary! We are obviously limited in this area due to several issues with copyright and the guidelines, so I decided to help out! Here are three ways to make your horror or thriller story scarier!

1. Music. The right music can set the tone for any story. Having your readers turn up their volume can instantly set them in the mood or tone intended for the story. Now the biggest problem with this is that most of the sound available on episode are upbeat and happy which do not give your story the right effect. I recommend using music_darrkeys or music_pianotheme to give it a neutral tone, but if you're going for something a little darker I recommend music_doom, music_doom2, music_emoprogression, and music_funeralprogression. Don’t forget to input music instead of sound in the script to keep it playing on a continuous loop!
2. Custom Backgrounds. There aren’t many scary or spooky backgrounds in the episode art catalogue and this can really affect your story. One way authors fix this is by uploading their own custom backgrounds to give it a more spooky feel! All of the authors who won the previous contest had done this and this had maximized the tone of the story as well ass increased the reader's engagement.  However, you might want run into some trouble with what goes against episode’s guidelines. Always make sure to check them before uploading these backgrounds. If you found that your background was not approved even though it didn’t contradict with the rules try uploading it a second time! I’ve found that sometimes the episode team may make a mistake and accidentally deny the background so it never hurts to double check.
3. Spooky Characters. This is not as huge as the other two tips so I’ll keep this short and simple. Well made scary characters can have the same effect as the music as well as the custom backgrounds. They draw the reader's attention  and some could get inspired and write another short horror tale of their own. Please keep this in mind.

There you have it guys!
Three tips to making your horror story more impactful and well written.