Lesson 2 - Essential Characters

Which ones will YOU choose...?

First, let us outline your basic few characters needed for a successful horror novel.

Psycho: Every horror story needs their psychopathic, chainsaw/shotgun wielding, possibly undead, bloody effing insane character. These sort of characters are my favourite to write about when I write my stories. There are many types of psychopathic freak in these horror stories. My personal favourites are characters like Carrie White, from Stephen King's "Carrie" a highschool girl with something gone wrong. These are good if you want to write a horror story without instantly delving into the supernatural. Also, you don't need to create alternative worlds for her type of character.

Hero/Heroine: The hero or heroine is not essential, but is a nice one to add if you want to do a classic "good vs evil" sort of story. I favour the villain, but many writers favour the hero. A hero can be the likely "strong and handsome" or (my favourite) the unlikely hero who goes against all preconcieved notions.

Extras:A story needs lots of characters to flesh it out, but not too many, and not to much of the same kind of character. Create colorful, diverse beings to capture and hold your readers' interests! Have mixtures of good, evil, upfront or mysterious. Sometimes the most open-seeming characters can be the ones with the most to hide. Consider all of this in your quest to create the most potent, memorable variety of characters!

That concludes our second lesson :)

Yours horrifically,

KatDarkness xxx

Photo - Carrie White from the movie of "Carrie" written by Stephen King. One of my favourite characters.

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