So, my story revolves around a small city. It's is fairly normal place by day, but it's a dangerous place by night, since every night demonic creatures (I haven't fully fleshed these guys out yet...that may be part of the problem)...come out and walk the streets of the city.
What I can't figure out is, how can I make this even scarier than it already is? I guess the creatures could eat people, but...I'm looking for something a bit more original. And I can't think of anything. Any suggestions as to how I can get as much scary as possible out of these creatures and this situation?
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Abr 23, 2008 - 18 32
I've always found stories scarier when the bad guys want something a bit more than "mass destruction" or "destroy all humans." Enslavement? Impregnation ("Hills Have Eyes 2" the remake cranked up the grossness factor on this one)? Domination in and of itself is a bit of a cliche, but if you tell me why they want to dominate and make it matter to your characters, you'll scare the snot out of me. And trust me, that's not an easy thing to do. :)
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Abr 23, 2008 - 23 36
Well, for some reason I'm instantly thinking of the film 'The Mist'. It was based on a novella by Steven King and I think it could answer your problem.
The reason your current idea doesn't fill me with dread is because I (in a sense) know what these monsters are. Now, if you haven't seen it, in 'The Mist' these monsters take over this little american town. However, rather than just having a bunch of random monsters attack, there's this mist so you never really know what's out there.
So what I'm saying is that you could somehow make it difficult for your characters to see the monsters. They know they're there but maybe only catch a glimpse of them every now and then. That would scare the heck out of me...
Anyway, just a suggestion. ^-^
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Abr 24, 2008 - 01 30
You can add suspense by describing how your non-monster characters start to discover them. Do these monsters leave clues? Droppings? Sheddings? Carcasses? Blood splatters?
Aside from "eating people," do these monsters have some emotional intelligence, like the ability to manipulate fears, control dreams, paralyze victims, etc.
Do they have a tell-tale sound or scent. Are they aimless zombies, or are they stealthy stalkers? Are they defeatable? Are they grotesquely ugly, or just wilted masses of rotten flesh? To they target any particular type of victim?
(When I was younger, I was always intrigued by the Aliens, with their breeding methods, like using facehugger and chest burster on human hosts, and how their exoskeleton was virtually indestructable with extremely acidic blood. That freaked me out for a while before I started to like it.)