Short & Spooky - Two Sentence Story Challenge

Happy Halloween everyone! This is definitely going to be an odd Halloween this year with less Halloween parties, trick or treaters, and other spooky shenanigans’ than ever before. Plus, I get more candy for myself.

Anyways, I wanted to provide you all with a fun Halloween challenge that you could post to social media or exchange with friends and family (if they are into spooky stories).

This was a trend a few years ago, but there is still a page on Reddit dedicated to these simple, two sentence horrors. Be warned, they are scary; so, if it doesn’t interest you, stay clear.

However, it’s a great challenge to tell a condensed story that helps us practice using the building blocks of good stories. Here is an example I found from last year by AtomFarmer:

“I finally found my wife the kidney she needed. It took forever to track down everyone she’d donated organs to after the crash.”

— AtomFarmer

The story told us a lot about the character going on the journey, why they were doing it (at least partially), and the twist of it coming from the perspective of a potential killer. The story also leaves a ton of questions that could be used as a jump off point when developer a longer story.

If you don’t want to do a scary story, that’s fine. I would suggest to try telling any story in two-sentences for this challenge. Here is one of my horror attempts:

“I meet my daughter for the first time. I just wish she were alive for it.”

— J.J.

Spooky? Disturbing? Sad? Yes, to all three, but it says a lot about the character. The character could’ve been an absent parent, arriving to a funeral. It could’ve been a parent that never knew they had a child, then saw them for the first time as a ghost. It could’ve been something else altogether. The possibilities are endless when creating short two-sentence stories.

What does it say about tension? It builds this potentially happy moment and then absolutely flips it on its head. I think twists, especially with short horror stories, can be far more compelling for a reader.

I would like everyone to give it a try and see what you come up with. This challenge is about being economical about creativity. Great stories don’t have to be 60,000+ words long. There is no size requirement for enjoying a story or telling one.

So, what are your thoughts on two sentence stories? Do you like them or are they not your cup of tea?

Let me know in the comments and feel free to put a few of your own there as well.

Until next time, write, read, Happy Halloween!

-J.J.

Fear & Pace: Crafting A Powerful Horror Story

I have been reading through a novella called, Gwendy’s Button Box, written by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar, and while I was reading, I started to realize why so many people enjoy the horror genre of novels. I’ve never been a fan of horror movies (I get scared too easy) and it led me to fear approaching the horror genre of novels as well. I didn’t want to read a story that would give me insomnia and have me constantly checking every lock in the house. However, that changed, at white elephant Christmas party last year. As part of the gift exchange, I received the novella as a gift. I had never heard of the book, let alone knew that legendary Stephen King put out novellas.

After I got home, I didn’t pick up the book. Instead, I placed it on my bookshelf, thinking I would probably never get around to reading it, considering my already atrociously high queue of books waiting patiently for me to read, and moved on.

Then, just this month in fact, my lunchtime was filled with boredom and out of curiosity, I thought I’d give the novella a look. Almost instantly, I was captivated. The story moved with expert pace; not too fast to cause confusion, but not too slow to feel like a drag. Short chapters, comfortable pace, compelling opening, everything you need for success.

As of writing this, I have not finished it. Why? It’s not just because I’m a slow reader, but I’ve only had like 10 minutes each day. I get about chapter done each day, but I might take this weekend and finish.

Yet, it’s what I learned why reading it that made me re-evaluate my own approach to writing and how to better improve my story’s tense moments and build a bit of a thrill. I can boil it down to two points: Fear & Pace.

FEAR: NOT AN BAD FOUR-LETTER WORD

Honestly, those two points seem to be the bread and butter of horror and thriller stories. Without fear, you can’t create tension, build suspense, or have your character make the ill-informed decisions that they do. Fear disorients both the character and reader, warps reality, and can bring an almost suffocating experience to the everyone in and around the pages. Fear is a powerful emotion and when you used right, it gives the first part of a successful horror story equation. Well, maybe not the first part.

PACE: KNOW WHEN TO RACE AND WHEN TO SLOW WITH GRACE

The first part of our horror story equation is more reserved for pace. Pacing a story, any story, is important from the get-go. We don’t want a large fantasy epic to be moving at breakneck speed with short sentences and intense drama if we know nothing about the characters. We also don’t want a long winded, two pages on the description of the killer as they plunge a knife in an innocent character’s back. Proper pacing is appropriate spacing. To do that, for horror stories, it’s important to build characters, give us some time with them in the beginning. We need to get comfortable, at least in the beginning. Maybe sprinkle in some subtle foreshadowing of the events to come. Striking the right balance is key to delivering a killer story.

Obviously, there is a lot more to crafting a horror story. Put if you keep these two ingredients in mind, making your next horror story might just be scary easy. Well, I doubt easy, no story is, but I’m not you. You might be the second coming of Stephen King for all I know, pumping out 2,000 words a day or something crazy. If so, your awesome! If not, your still awesome!

Anyways, what do you think is important in a horror story? Am I completely off base on what is important in a horror story? Please let me know in the comments. Also, remember that NaNoWriMo is less than 10 days away, so get prepared and ready to write!

Until next time, write, read, edit, repeat.

-J.J.