This week: Spooky Vocabulary Edited by: W.D.Wilcox  
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Despite my ghoulish reputation, I really have the heart of a small boy. I keep it in a jar on my desk.
― Robert Bloch
When I write, I try to think back to what I was afraid of or what was scary to me, and try to put those feelings into books.
—R.L. Stine
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Using Spooky Words
Eventually we all have to face the things that scare us most.
That line says so much. In your heart you know what scares you, but to also know that sooner or later you're going to have to face that fear, is frightening.
What makes a horror story standout is the use of creepy vocabulary to create the perfect atmosphere. Now it could be a Dark and stormy night, but because it has been so over used no one is going to be scared of what's going to happen next, or read any further.
How about, The thunderous wild seas thrashed against the rocks and cliffs like the frantic labor of the ocean's heart. Here you're using 'thunderous', 'wild', 'thrashed' and 'frantic'. All of these words are descriptive and fresh.
Here's one, Mute as an unmarked grave. Only five words here, and yet three of them are scary: 'Mute', and 'unmarked grave'.
I love this one, He told them his story as if he were tearing away a scab from an unhealed wound. This man is telling about a horrifying experience that is so fresh in his mind that it's like ripping away a fresh scab.
I added this one because it's not so much scary as it is descriptive. The look in his eyes was agony. That speaks volumes.
Here's a few more, His face was etched in details of grimaces and fear, clenched expectations.
 The sun, as orange as a dragon's egg cracked on the western peaks.
His eyes wept anguish.
A twisted path between the dead fields of headstones.
The dark cloak flapping behind her like an owl that has settled upon its prey.
The thump came again like the fleshy part of a balled fist.
It skirted across the yellowed linoleum, flipped, wiggled, squirming like an animal with a broken back.
The old man imagined it escaping from a freshly covered grave like some grotesque moth climbing from a diseased cocoon.
It was a horrific sound, shrill and urgent, feverish as hysteria
There are so many I could use as an example. I could even give you a list of 100 scary words. But don't be lazy . . . Google It.
Most of these came from just one of my stories. I like to use scary words to describe the things in the scene, combine them in an original way, and put the reader deeper into the story.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY WRITING DOT COM
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Reading Spooky Words
|  | "UNGH!" (13+)
A Family Reunion Around The Christmas Dinner Table Takes A Strange Turn
#2021019 by Angus  |
| | Possession (18+)
In an asylum for the criminally insane, a young orderly discovers true possession...
#1028269 by W.D.Wilcox |
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DEAD LETTERS
Quick-Quill 
Regarding: "THE LOTTERY"
I too grew up reading Shirley Jackson.
hullabaloo22 
I love Shirley Jackson's writing and own many of her books. As you say, like Stephen King she has a fantastic ability in building up a threatening atmosphere.
Mike W
Yes! It's an absolute classic. Anyone with a love of horror needs to read that book. And watch the 60s movie adaptation, also a classic. The banging on the door and hand-holding scenes seriously scared (and probably scarred!) me as a kid.
ForeverDreamer 
I haven't read it. I have read several of her short stories. I would like to read it.
s
Great book. I never read it until I read Stephen King's Danse Macabre and he recommended it as one of the best horror books ever. It is a near-perfect example of writing atmosphere, Have yet to see a decent film adaptation, but that's because Jackson wrote such an amazing book that nothing could compare.
Sum1 
I watched the movie in the mid 60's (B&W), scared me for years. I mean scared so bad I wouldn't go into dark places alone, and had trouble walking in certain areas. Still makes me shiver. Then I read the book. In today's words... OMG. Even scarier than the movie! Shirley Jackson was the early MASTER (MISTRESS) of horror. The Lottery was excellent, but not near as scary as The Haunting (original title I think).
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Horror/Scary: September 02, 2020 Issue [#10342]
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