Writing.Com General Discussion

What a cool, fun question. I don't often think about how I come to plot ideas, or what is the common thread in my own themes. It's actually, really worth thinking about.

I'm guessing someone has already recommended this (sorry, I haven't read all the replies,) but you should get over to this daily contest:

FORUM

SCREAMS!!!  (GC) A Terrifying Contest Of Horror And Three Time Quill Award Winner! #2020439 by Lilith of House Martell

It's a daily short story contest where they give you a prompt, 1,500 words, and then just set you loose on the page. Good people. Very cool.

My own advice about plots... I tend to like the horror genre for short stories. If a spooky image, or sentence pops into my head, I usually start writing a story about it. The other day, I had a random thought about how it would be creepy to find your child down in the basement, talking to the plumbing pipes in the dark. So, I thought a bit about why that might be happening, and now I'm writing a story about it.

On an interesting, if not slightly unrelated note, my girlfriend and I were on a kick where we were watching a lot of A Haunting. After a while, we noticed most of the episodes follow a similar structure:

- Family moves into new home.
- Family is already under some type of stress (recent divorce, loss, illness, financial, etc..)
- Family notices strange things.
- Some sort of paranormal expert shows up and gives everyone the heebie jeebies, effectively freaking them right the heck out.
- Ghosts crank it up to 11.
- Family leaves or has an exorcism (sometimes both)
- Family shares afterthoughts: How this changed them. Where/who they are now.

I think there is a fundamental lesson in the lay out of those episodes. They're very formulaic, but they have all the essentials: Setting, characters (developed and with arcs that usually resolve at the end) 5th business, confrontation and climax, etc..

Often, I think a horror plot is just like any other plot, except the antagonist is supernatural.

I'm still figuring out this whole writing thing too. But that's my input.

Good luck!

- James