Introduction: Write a Horror Short Story Like Stephen King
Welcome guests, tributes, ghouls and non-ghouls, even! My name is Erkins Hernandez, and if you would like a foundation for how to write like one of horror's most prolifically petrifying writers, his short stories are a traceable way to start. In these instructions I hope to show you some of the patterns that Mr. King likes to use in his stories where he only has 5-7 pages to fill, and hopefully help you with some ideas or some structure that's useful. Thank you for your time.
(Cover Photo of On Writing by Stephen King by Kelly Brito on Unsplash)
(Cover Art of How to Write a Short Story by Stephen King by Erkins Hernandez)
Supplies
(Optional) Related Reading In Case You Would Like a Deeper Look into How to Start:
Public Website Containing all 10 Stephen King Stories Used: (oohhhhhhhhh)
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Step 1: How Did We Get Here?
Write a description of a character living a purely mundane step of their daily routine. Describe the better part of their routine, and what the character typically feels at this part of their day. Describe why they’re in that routine. Describe any intrusive thoughts that come in, any personal events that they usually think about, like the death of their wife, or otherwise large event.
Your characters should have their own specific set of beliefs, passions, life struggles, and personal sacrifices that differ from others in their lives mildly. All ideas are unique in their own right, so make a person up and think of what that person loves to do, dislikes doing, and what type of person those preferences make them. Keep that in mind for the coming steps.
(P.S. The main character(s) liking or disliking their daily routine/place in life helps transition into a scary tone later, either works as long as they're specific about their feelings, narration or spoken. It helps humanize the characters well.)
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Step 2: Today Feels Off
Describe what the environment looks like as they’re doing this step on this day in particular. What do their surroundings look like today? In 1 or 2 sentences of detail.
Steps 1 and 2 are incredibly swappable. You can start your character in the middle of having a specific off day, describe their mind now, and then pull back to show how their life has always been existentially messy. They're not always at the part of their life they'd like to be. Putting in their daily routine from Step 1 is helping to show that.
Your interpretation of how you would like to introduce the tone of your story, and the relatability of your character, is up to you. Do make them relatable, give them burdens that are grounded, so even if the horror later on gets above the Earth, your characters maintain a rock for the audience to feel through.
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Step 3: Character Snaps Back to Reality
Move back into the present. Describe your character coming back to where they were before, them getting situated in this new environment. You can describe the character just sitting down, the last time they were there. Describe also why they mentally left in the first place.
If they're talking with someone, just have them make standard conversation, words that match each of their personalities, until Step 4 presents itself.
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Step 4: Something New Arrives
Weird person/event comes in.
This could be a person coming to confess to your character about their days as a recovering alcoholic, a detective learning about a possessed laundry folder that keeps appearing in the obituaries of factory workers.
It should be noticeable, not overpowering but sufficient to make you say "Huh, that's weird.", as a reader. This idea will come to be continuously more present, so starting with mild intrigue is a strong start.
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Step 5: What's Your Reaction?
The main character reacts normally to this weird event, humanize them with thoughts of how weird this event is. (Note: Think about how a stable person would react to this weird thing. Update that to how your character would think.
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Step 6: The Plot Begins to Spiral
Weird person/event gets weirder, add more details to the nature of this person/thing. Flesh out the weird person/event further. Continue down this character’s intentions. Specifically mention brand names when you’re explaining the related details of this person/thing. Mention a brand name where there would be a product. Wavering around these related details makes the words sound inhuman. If it’s a thing, have the main character discover more details around this thing.
Your description of the character in this moment will be marking how he changes as steps 5 and 6 keep happening, a murkier and more complex view of this event/person.
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Step 7: The Plot Keeps Unfolding
Repeat steps 5 and 6 until you can connect a massive twist that connects each of the previous weird details together. Make one connective skeleton of a thought process that turns the events from weird to scary. Establish a purpose to every weird event before.
Do not overwhelm yourself attempting to create a massive wrench-cracking twist for the end of the story. That is a tough ask of people to produce on the spot, even writers at whatever level. Just look at all the weird events in your spiral before, and ask what would the weird character/event enact now, that makes sense for them, and is piercing. Something that would make you bone-scared.
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Step 8: All Their Cards Are Shown
The main character/main set of characters react to the now-scary plot twist. They react to all the previous steps building up to this action, or if your character is incapacitated and the perspective switches to onlookers, ask how these people passing by would react to this traumatic event they are coming across.
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Step 9: Follow Through
Follow through. The story proceeds into a logical place as the previous events would make it, like a murderer finishing a kill, exact the twist out to the scariest extent. All details that the weird event have to offer have been revealed, all actions that the weird person intended on doing have been done.
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(2nd Photo by cahdequech on FreeImages.com)
Step 10: Who Wins? How Much?
Craft a conclusion that would work out how the characters you’ve set up would act at this point, follow through with whatever their intentions were, and how those clash.
If anyone of the main cast is left, how are they feeling? How are they coping through this? What do they have left? Describe all of these.
In any case, leave a seed of leftover despair, like not everything is fixed. A detail in the remains that recontextualizes how everything before is interpreted, like finding out a demon you thought you killed actually may be alive, or that your husband's dream about the murder of his friend may not have been a dream after all. General ideas along this line will leave fear lingering in the air ever so slightly, wrapping your horror short story up marvelously.
Step 11: End
You've done it! On whatever amount of ideas, structural or creative that this has spurned in you, if any, thank you so much for reading. Writing is a fantastically creative and strenuous art form, and I wish you the best of luck in short stories, horror, horror short stories, or otherwise wordy projects. I hope this helped.
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(2nd Photo by Ian Stauffer on Unsplash)
