1. Make your readers feel invested in your character. When writing any type of fiction, including scary stories or scary scenes, one of the first goals is to make your readers feel invested in your protagonist. It’s important that before the frightening scenes begin, the reader cares about what is happening to your main character. Emotional investment means that when the scary stuff starts, adrenaline levels rise.

2. Create a scary atmosphere. Whether or not your character is in danger, they must feel uncomfortable in order for the illusion of fear to work. Perhaps they see or hear things that frighten them, this can simply be a matter of perception. Focus on the descriptions that add to the feeling of discomfort, rather than the mundane.

3. Keeping tension in the scene. While there are a number of ways to provoke a fright in your readers (scary noises, sudden movements, crazy, unpredictable character shows up), that type of tension can only last a certain number of pages. While tension levels change from scene to scene, there has to be a significant level of change that increases the fear before the resolution.

4. Does it scare you? R. L. Stine gave this advice: “When I write, I try to think back to what I was afraid of or what was scary to me, and try to put those feelings into books.” Chances are that if you’ve written a scene that feels frightening to you, it will also scare your readers. If it doesn’t provoke the right level of fright, time to rewrite.

5. Use humor to balance dark and light. If your scary story causes so much tension and anxiety in your readers that their muscles become tight with suspense, then it’s only fair to relieve them with a bit of humor. Let them relax for a moment before you hit them with the next scary scene. Humor surprises the reader in a different way and helps the reader connect to your characters.