Are you looking for advice on how to write a romantic horror story? We’ve included 10 top tips to help you below!
1. Choose your horror type.
Why it’s important
It’s important before planning a horror story that you know what kind of horror you want to write about: spiritual (demons, ghosts), otherworldly (aliens, unknown earth beings), paranormal (werewolves, vampires), sociological (serial killers, stalkers), or purely psychological. Each type of horror has its own tropes and style to follow (or subvert) so knowing what kind of horror story you’re writing will help in the planning process.
How to use it
Decide on the villain you want to reveal. This will help you choose which kind of horror audience you want to appeal to. Then choose how you want your main characters to originally come in contact with that villain.
It’s important to note that all horror stories have an element of psychological horror, so be sure your main characters feel overwhelmed or like they’re going a bit crazy regardless of which kind of horror you choose to write about.
2. Choose a central character for both the horror and romance elements.
Why it’s important
All good horror stories have one main character that is more impacted by what’s going on than anyone else. Even in stories with ensemble casts (like IT or Birdbox), there’s always one central character the reader follows or becomes more invested in. So, knowing that character’s motivations, backstory, and relationship to the other characters in the story will help develop the horror elements as well as the romance.
How to use it
Once you know what kind of horror story you are writing, then you’ll know what the characters are battling and how to resolve it. You can then explore your main character’s backstory and motivations and use those to plan those intense, suspenseful moments.
Are they taunted by a serial killer or a demon? Then explore what in their backstory causes them to be the target.
Are they running from aliens? Then you need to decide where they are running to, why, and how they meet other people along the way.
Planning these elements will help plan the rest of the horror and romance elements of the story more easily.
3. Consider the setting and its importance early on.
Why it’s important
The setting in a horror story often helps to intensify the suspense. Characters who are trapped somewhere with the horror villain or where the setting itself is the horror villain (in the case of a haunted house story) creates more psychological horror because there is no escape. Our natural ‘fight or flight’ instincts are subverted as the characters are forced to fight or, at the very least, hide to survive. Knowing how the setting will play into the horror elements of your story can help create more suspense and dread for your readers.
How to use it
This is another reason why it’s important to decide what kind of horror story you are writing early on. Deciding how important your setting is will be easier if you know what kind of horror villain you are writing about. If it’s a haunted house story, then your setting will need a backstory of its own: why is it haunted and why is it haunting that main character?
If, like in The Happening or Birdbox, the horror villain has trapped the characters somewhere, then consider how the setting helps intensify the psychological element of horror as well as the physical. Do they get cabin fever? Do they find an escape route? How does the setting help scare or save your characters?
4. Plot the story backwards.
Why it’s important
A good horror story relies on an element of suspense from the start. Knowing how to introduce that horror slowly but effectively is paramount to creating that sense of dread in your reader. The horror villain is rarely exposed early on in the story, so it’s important to know how you want to reveal (and deal with) the villain and build the rest of the story around that.
How to use it
When in the planning stages, plot the story backwards. Start with how you will end the horror element—is it a human that needs be stopped somehow, a demon that needs to be exorcised, a ghost that needs something resolved?
Work backward from the end to decide how your main character comes to that realization. You should end with your beginning—how your main character comes into contact with the villain in the first place. Knowing how the horror begins will help you decide when to introduce the romantic element.
5. Make the romance natural.
Why it’s important
If you’re writing a horror story, then you want the romantic element to complement the horror, not overwhelm it. This means that the romance of your story needs to happen organically within the storyline, not just some tack on for the sake of romance.
This also means that the romance should build naturally in the context of the story. If your story only takes place over a few days, then your romantic characters may not be madly in love by the end. They may just be romantically connected and willing to continue a relationship if they survive the horror plot.
How to use it
Choose a romantic interest for your main character that is an ally against whatever the horror element is. That way, you can slowly develop their love for each other in the context of the storyline. Think of action movies like Speed or The Matrix, where the two main characters are fighting against the main villain and, because they are in such close contact for so long, they start to fall in love.
Also consider the length of time the characters are romantically involved. Don’t make them profess their love for each other if they’ve only known each other for a few days. It’s okay to just have them share some passionate moments without being ‘in love’.
6. Make sure the love interest is relevant.
Why it’s important
Characters who fall in love for the sake of falling in love can seem out of place, especially in a horror story. This means that the romance needs to have some sort of impact on the characters’ actions and interests. Does their love make the horror element worse? Does it make them react differently? Why is it important that they are falling in love while they fight whatever scary thing is attacking them?
How to use it
Decide why those two characters need to fall in love rather than any of the other ones: is the love interest someone important to the horror villain? Are they the horror villain? How will their love impact the way the horror is resolved at the end? This will be easier if you’ve already plotted out the horror elements, as you can then choose how that love will intensify some of the suspenseful moments in your horror story.
7. Put the romance at stake.
Why it’s important
A romantic subplot is only as effective as its impact on the reader. This means that the romance needs to be put at risk so that the reader can feel connected to the story on a deeper level. The horror villain needs to impact the fate of the romance for the romance to matter.
How to use it
You could do this in one of two ways: either the love interest chooses to put themselves in harm’s way to save the main character or the horror villain takes the love interest hostage to force the main character to do something. In either case, you also need to decide whether the love interest survives and how that will impact the ending of the story.
8. Ensure the horror is priority.
Why it’s important
If you’re writing a romantic horror story, then you need to make sure that your readers are more concerned with how the horror element plays out than the romantic element. Once the romance becomes the focus of the plot rather than resolving whatever is scaring everyone, then it becomes less ‘romantic horror’ and more ‘paranormal romance.’
How to use it
Pay attention to how much attention you are giving to the characters’ love for each other. If you are spending more time having the main character wax poetic about their love interest than whether the aliens are going to find them, then you’re not writing a horror story; you’re writing a paranormal romance.
9. The endings don’t have to match.
Why it’s important
What this means is that you can resolve the horror element of the story in a positive way but have the romance subplot end tragically. Consider the movie Scream: the villain ended up being the love interest, so while the killings stopped when he died, the romance died out. Literally. You don’t have to have a happy ending all around; in fact, having the romance die in service of the horror plot usually makes for a better horror story.
How to use it
How you end the romance subplot kind of depends on what you did to put the relationship at stake. Did the love interest have to completely sacrifice themselves to save the main character? Then the story ends happily but the romance dies out.
Did the love interest get kidnapped by the horror villain? Then you could have the endings match depending on whether the love interest is rescued or not.
Did the love interest get murdered by the horror villain? Then you would have different endings. Or, you could have the endings match if the horror plot ends tragically, too (one of the ways to subvert the classic horror story).
10. Choose what horror or romantic trope to subvert
Why it’s important
Twist endings make for really good horror stories. Because readers are on the edge of their seats anyway, twist explanations or unexpected endings have even more of an impact than in some other genres. Subverting horror tropes in service of the romance or vice versa will really wow your readers.
Scream did this really well when they made the love interest and his best friend the horror villains; until that point, the traditional ‘scary movie’ trope was to kill off the love interest to punish or scare the main character. The ‘villain lover’ is more common now, but when Scream did it in the mid-90s, it was a big surprise and a big reason the Scream movies became so popular.
How to use it
If you choose to subvert one of the common horror or romance tropes (you could even do both at once, like Scream did), then decide which one would add to the horror story. It will likely need to come at the end and be connected to the horror villain in some way, maybe to their backstory or their connection to the main character, but be sure to drop little hints throughout your story so that it’s not entirely out-of-the-blue.
Twists have even more of an impact when readers think “Oh, that’s why they said that back in chapter two” and need to reread to find all the little clues you put leading to your twist ending.