A Meta Horror Story about Horror Writing

I've gotten the odd request for advice on horror writing and decided to write this meta horror story as a result. It contains a few different ideas I've picked up in various places but obviously it's not the gospel truth on writing horror. There are plenty of other ways to do it.

Hopefully you'll get something out of it.

Thanks, and happy writing!

Jordan Grupe

The story:

I'm in the basement as I write this, the smell of mildew suffocating in the moist air. The cobwebs hanging overhead are under construction by a collection of small spiders. My eyes are dry and sore from lack of sleep.

But the story is almost done, and I'll be able to sleep once it's complete. Finally I'll be able to sleep.

One more round of editing and then I'll feel like it's ready to send in to the podcast. But until then, it's just not up to snuff.

The editing is what will make it readable, without that it would be full of typos and improper grammar, throwing off the reader and making them want to put it down before finishing.

I searched for improper punctuation, and mispellings, but also for tense shifts, since those always bugged me the most.

I go over my first paragraph again. It's okay, but not perfect. I managed to insert the reader in the protagonist's shoes by using sensory details, like touch, smell, and sight. I also let them know who the storyteller is right from the beginning - and that helps a lot.

But it's a little bit cold and impersonal. It needs something. It's hard to know exactly what, but I'll try a few things and see what works.

Finally, after some experimentation and several read-throughs, I'm satisfied with it.

Now, I get to the meat of the story. The setup. The hook.

The genre and the character's identity are obvious in the first sentence or two, which is great. But what is the challenge the character is trying to overcome? Is it obvious in the first few pages?

I remember that there are four basic types of challenges - milieux, inquiry, character, and event. This is a tidbit I learned from a great online lecture about short story writing

My character is in a basement and he hears a noise, then goes to investigate. So, I suppose it's an event, or maybe a milieux.

A milieux is like a maze or a travel story where the character must get from point A to point B, but that journey can be as long or as short as the writer wants. An event is just something happening.

Or, maybe the story is about an inquiry. The character is trying to solve something, like what the noise is in the basement. So it could be that too. The protagonist also has some internal struggles as he's coping with the recent loss of his deceased father, so it is definitely a character story as well. But that's okay - I remind myself again that a story can have all four types happening within it, and can even have multiple instances of each of these.

The important thing is you need time to parse out these ideas. If you're doing all four, you're probably writing a novel - or maybe you should be.

And also, if you open an inquiry first, you should solve that quandary last. This way it will be more satisfying for the reader. Tie up the loose ends in sequence, like this:

Character - can the protagonist continue his writing career after his father died?

Inquiry - what is the noise?

Millieu - can the character navigate the dark basement to find the source of the sound

Millieu - Yes, he finds the sound

Inquiry - the sound is a rat chewing on a corpse

Character - no the protagonist finds himself unable to write again after the death of his father, it's too difficult.

The ending of the story doesn't have to be happy, either. It can be tragic or disturbing or whatever else you want it to be.

A skittering, scratching sound from the darkness at the other end of the basement breaks me from my thoughts.

What the hell was that? I wonder.

It comes again and this time I can't help but think whatever it is must be large. Bigger than a mouse or a rat.

Getting up from my writing station, I go to investigate the noise. It continues steadily as I move forward into the darkness of my dungeon-like basement. The place is the best I can afford on my meager income - but it's always moist and mildewy, full of mice and rats and all sorts of different bugs.

Even the floors resemble an old medieval dungeon - huge slabs of grey rock loosely assembled with crumbling mortar. I can't even walk barefoot for fear of stepping on a loose shard of the petrified mortar which chips and flakes whenever it gets stepped on.

I can just feel the memory of the last time a piece of it sliced into the soft meat of the bottom of my foot, cutting it open like a razor blade.

The scratching sounds stop suddenly and I try to determine where I heard the noise coming from. The closet, maybe?

I wrench it open and peek inside, terrified of what might jump out at me. But there's nothing.

And then the scratching sounds come again, louder this time, from deeper in the basement. From down the stairs on the lowest level where I never venture unless I have to. It's a crawl space with a dirt packed floor and a single bare lightbulb for illumination.

Of course that's where it's coming from…

I feel like a character in one of my stories as I go forward on shaky legs, moving towards the sound. The characters in any story should face obstacles, and go through a process of trial and error, in order to complete their objective and therefore satisfy the reader. If they get everything they want without any struggles, it's just boring. Everything the protagonist does should be a struggle. Each step should be an ordeal. You should always be torturing them as the writer and making their life as difficult as possible.

Especially when they're trying to get away from something evil in the darkness…

I consider leaving the sound alone, but then think about whatever that thing is being with me in my space while I'm asleep.

No, it needed to go. Whatever it was.

I think about calling the owner of the place, to see if he'd deal with it. But then I reconsider. I'm past due on my rent and he is notoriously frugal.

The landlord won't pay for an exterminator. Whatever is down in the crawl space, it'll be up to me to get rid of it.

As I descend the stairs, I see nothing but darkness on the lowest level.

That is, until a pair of red eyes appear. And another. And another.

Soon the crawl space is full of glowing red eyes, staring at me in the pitch black.

As I turn to flee, I stumble and fall, tumbling down the stairs and twisting my ankle beneath my body weight.

And then as I hit the floor, I feel the bone snap as I land on it awkwardly.

I lay writhing and bleeding on the crawl space floor, calling for help, but no one seems to hear. And my phone was back at my desk.

Something scurries towards me in the darkness, and again I have that same thought.

It isn't a rat. Whatever that is, it's bigger than a rat. Bigger than a possum or a raccoon.

The sound comes closer and I have time to think - that sounds like it's the size of a person, not an animal.

And then it's behind me. I can feel the warmth of its breath on my neck, and can hear the guttural growl of its breathing.

Whatever it is, it's not a person, either.

…

So, what happens next? Leave a comment and decide how the writer escapes, and what exactly he is escaping from…