A horror story must embody one emotion - fear.
Fear can be in many forms - fear of the unknown, fear of the known, blood-curdling fear, or slow, oozing fear, the story must wrap the reader tight in the tendrils of terror.
Some of the more notable horror writers include Stephen King, H.
P.
Lovecraft, and Anne Rice.
A horror story has to include several elements to make it successful.
It should begin in the ordinary world.
The main character(s) should be people the reader can relate to, but have an estranged or haunted aspect to their personality.
Next, a highly improbable or unexpected sequence of events takes the characters out of the ordinary world and puts them in a world involving supernatural elements.
The mood of a horror story is dark, menacing, bleak even.
Words like obsidian, cool, chill, gray clouds, black knats, are just a few that can help set the mood/tone of the story.
The setting of a horror story should be well described.
The setting helps to contribute to the darker mood/tone the author wants to capture.
The plot moves quickly, containing frightening incidents.
It's not uncommon to have violence laced into these incidents.
Remember to keep the violence appropriate to the story.
Gratuitous violence will bring down the quality of the story.
The same applies to any sexual elements involved.
Keep it appropriate to the story.
Violence and sexual elements are not uncommon to horror stories, but should be complementary to all the other elements.
The main ingredient to a horror story is, of course, fear, and the ability of the writer to invoke it in the reader.
The best way to accomplish this is to build a sense of dread, anxiety, unease in the story.
This is helped along by our estranged, haunted characters, and our dark mood/setting.
The ending doesn't have to be happy or hopeful.
It can even end in death.
The key here is that the ending is appropriate to the story.
Traditionally, the horror genre has embraced demons, witches, vampires, and even werewolves as characters that evoke fear.
In more modern writing, everyday things can take on an element of horror.
Is gothic writing the same thing as horror writing? No.
While gothic writing includes dark themes, there is a separate set of elements for the gothic.
There's usually a prophecy involved, high emotion, and supernatural events that can be explained naturally.
Just remember fear is the main ingredient in a horror story.
If you can give the reader a good scare, your horror story has done its job.