How to Write Horror Fiction

Genre Writing Series

by William F. Nolan

Details techniques for writing horror stories, including how to develop a plot, create a "monster," and build suspense

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Horror, Reference

143 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 1991

About the author

William F. Nolan is best known as the co-author (with George Clayton Johnson) of Logan's Run -- a science fiction novel that went on to become a movie, a television series and is about to become a movie again -- and as single author of its sequels. His short stories have been selected for scores of anthologies and textbooks and he is twice winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Special Award from the Mystery Writers of America.

Nolan was born in 1928 in Kansas City Missouri. He attended the Kansas City Art Institute and worked as an artist for Hallmark Cards. He moved to California in the late 1940s and studied at San Diego State College. He began concentrating on writing rather than art and, in 1952, was introduced by fellow Missouri native (and established writer) Ray Bradbury to another young up-and-coming author, Charles Beaumont. Moving to the Los Angeles area in 1953, Nolan became along with Bradbury, Beaumont, and Richard Matheson part of the "inner core" of the soon-to-be highly influential "Southern California Group" of writers. By 1956 Nolan was a full-time writer. Since 1951 he has sold more than 1500 stories, articles, books, and other works.

Although Nolan wrote roughly 2000 pieces, to include biographies, short stories, poetry, and novels, Logan’s Run retains its hold on the public consciousness as a political fable and dystopian warning. As Nolan has stated: “That I am known at all is still astonishing to me... "

He passed away at the age of 93 due to complications from an infection.

Reviews

[Vincent Desjardins · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is twenty years old, so the chapter on the publishing market is outdated, but the rest of the book contains a lot of useful information and not just for horror writers. One piece of advice that I appreciated was the author's recommendation: "Never stop to revise." He explains how authors who continually stop to revise what they've already written tend to lose their focus and their forward momentum. He suggest getting the story down on paper and then worry about perfecting it later. He says, "Go with the 'heat' of the first draft." I think it's good advice, because I know from my own experience how easy it is to get caught up in trying to perfect something and then never getting to the finish line. There are also good sections on the types of monsters to employ in a horror story and how to use dialogue to create a sense of menace. A useful appendix in the back, gives a helpful list of Horror anthologies.

[Maria Hill AKA MH Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

How to write Horror Fiction was written in 1991, which is at the very end of the Heyday of the 1970 and 80's mass-produced horror paperbacks. Think of the early works of Stephen King, Anne Rice, Frank Herbert, et al from this period. Aren't they some of their best works?

So it was really interesting to read William F. Nolan's (author of Logan's run) opinions on what this horror was, and how it works.

I would recommend this to readers (almost certainly inspired by Grady Hendrix Paperbacks from Hell) of 1980's horror novels - who would like to understand more about what makes these books tick. As well as a new writer thinking about going into creating darker speculative fiction. To be honest 95% of what he has written still holds true today.

Now I am going to see if I can find a portable cassette recorder to take notes on as he recommends :)

PS some of the attitudes, toward authors that are not white males, and also toward mental health issues, come straight from 1991 - interesting in themselves!

[Dona's Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

Instagram Review: http://www.instagram.com/p/CEqO5DJAMQ7/

The first thing I'm going to tell you about this book is that it was published in 1990, because you're going to keep checking its age. It reads like a much older book, from using twenty-year-old examples (which are now fifty years old? sixty?) to including sections of horror publishers that already appear to be defunct. There's also a section on the success stories, meant to inspire you, but of course doesn't include Hugh Howey, Robert Kirkman, Octavia Butler, or Joe Hill.

Besides glaring issues of age, How to Write Horror Fiction manages to be very basic about its horror writing advice. Stay away from passive voice. Know your characters. Ending your story when you've resolved the central conflict. This is all basic writing instruction.

It can all best be seen in the horror inspiration list. Nolan seems be a fan of little lists -- cool, me too! -- and then I read, "One Writer's Seedbed of Ideas" on page 25. Nolan touts this as a "veritable seedbed for horror ideas." The list includes the classics, mainly, such as "Reincarnation," "Vampires," and "Ghosts and seances." Those topics might have inspired horror writers in the seventeenth century but won't inspire anyone now. Not without the bulk of the inspiration work still ahead of them.

This isn't a very useful book. There are much better ones. If you want a horror primer, read On Writing Horror: A Handbook by the Horror Writers Association, edited by Mort Castle. This is actually a collection of essays covering several useful horror writing topics. This is a favorite anthology for me. If you want to write any novel, definitely read James N. Frey's How to Write a Damn Good Novel: A Step-by-Step No Nonsense Guide to Dramatic Storytelling. You need to read Frey's discussion on premise to strengthen your amazing horror concept! Finally, for any spec fiction concept, Jeff Vandermeer's Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction can provide great inspiration and clarity to your project.

All my best to you, fellow creatives! Stay safe out there, wear your scarves and watch your hands <3 Stay bookish, stay resilient!

[Russ · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book does not give a comprehensive "formula" for writing horror, but it conveys several useful techniques, which I've reorganized and distilled into ten takeaways:

1. For ideas, think about your own childhood fears. Or adult fears.

2. Make your characters as realistic as possible because you'll be putting them through fantastical situations.

3. Establish an aura of menace right away. Horror should have a monster or something monstrous. Normally this is the villain character. (Don't reveal the monster's full powers until the climax.)

4. The monster needs a touch of reality/human quality, not just a rampaging beast. The monster should have some weaknesses so defeating it is credible.

5. In the beginning, nobody believes in the monster. The main character may be skeptical but comes to believe, and may be the only character who believes in the monster apart from its victims.

6. Suspense is a key in horror. Build anticipation by leading your reader to what they know will be a dangerous confrontation. Use techniques such as "don't open the door," isolated locations, bad weather, darkness/night, characters being partially naked, etc., to intensify a sense of the characters' vulnerability. But don't overload the reader with consecutive horror shocks. Give breathing room. Regarding violence, less is more.

7. Do not use false threats. Show the monster in action. For instance, kill off minor characters. Do not dupe your readers by creating false monsters that turn out to be humans like in Inner Sanctum or Scooby Doo.

8. Readers will stick with you as long as the outcome is uncertain.

9. Often there's a near-defeat. The hero should triumph in horror novels. Short stories can end darkly.

10. The protagonist normally meets the monster head-on in the climax and defeats it.

[Jay Rothermel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Proverbially, the long 1980s (1975-1993) saw a gold rush for horror fiction. It was a period when product migrated from Bradbury, Jackson, Matheson, and bestsellers by Bloch and Ira Levin, to gleaming paperback displays at supermarket checkout lines filled with John Saul, J. N. Williamson, V.C. Andrews, and John Coyne, to say nothing of Koontz and King.

William F. Nolan’s How to Write Horror Fiction (1990) exists today as an instructive artifact of the period—a Writer's Digest manual that, while technically useful, effectively seeks to housebreak the fiction tyro, reshaping them into a dependable producer of commercial consumables.

Nolan’s study "wrong-foots" aspiring writers by conflating the visceral power of horror with the rigid procedures of the mid-list thriller. From the outset, How to Write Horror Fiction emphasizes genre writing as a series of replicable steps, prioritizing a mechanical walk-through of plot construction over the valorization of unique or transgressive voices.

For Nolan, horror is not an exploration of the human psyche's dark recesses so much as it is a tactical exercise in "building suspense without overloading your audience." By framing the genre through the lens of "maximum shock and fright" delivery (though not too much gore, please!) Nolan subtly redirects the writer away from any personal taste for the graphic or the ambiguous, and toward the binary efficiency of the Writers Digest best-seller model.

How to Write Horror Fiction is preoccupied with formula, as is most evident in its advice on character and monster creation. Nolan suggests using the "real as a bridge to the fantastic," but his methodology is one of dilution. He advises writers to take real-life inspirations and "change physical appearance, personality characteristics, mannerisms, and life history" until the character is sanitized for the story's functional needs. This ensures that characters remain "believable" and "credible" in a way that serves plot criteria, rather than allowing an author's own motivations or a character's internal dynamics to dictate the narrative's shape.

How to Write Horror Fiction also serves as a time capsule of 1980s stylistic mandates, such as the obsession with the "hook" and the "page-turner." Nolan advocates for a mechanical approach to outlining before a single word of prose is even considered. While this method provides a safety net, it also tames experimental impulse, encouraging writers to see their work as a product to be "constructed" rather than an art form to be discovered.

Ultimately, Nolan’s guide reflects a period where horror was being banalized. He checks the "literary" box by asking if students have read Faulkner or Hemingway, but his actual instruction remains firmly rooted in the TV scriptwriter ethos of efficiency and marketability. For today's reader, How to Write Horror Fiction reveals how the 1980s horror boom sought to trade the genre’s inherent wildness for the predictable comfort of formula.

Which is astounding. William F. Nolan was one of the finest short story writers in any period, an artist without formula and with no comforts or consolations.. Every story he wrote contradicts the stale, rote nonsense in How to Write Horror Fiction.

Jay
19 March 2026

[John “Hoss” · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this probably six or so years ago. There was some nice information in this book. I'd recommend this to someone who wants to write horror or learn how to effectively build the tension and suspense in their writing.

[David Kempf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who better than the greatest living writer of our time to teach us how to write horror (or any other genre)? Nolan is a living legend and perhaps the last true American genius in literature. So...obviously...my highest recommendation.

[Shenoa Carroll-Bradd · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading as much horror and as many craft books as I have, this had little new to offer me. It was a pleasant time spent with a genre legend, though, and encouraged me to try to write down and use my dreams more often.

[Holly Garcia]

Good advice for writing in general. Still holds up 29 years later, but for the final bit regarding publications.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some useful writing tips and ways to think about horror as a genre, but some sections are pretty dated at this point and examples are almost all by male authors.

[Daniel Lawson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd suggest finding a more recent book, there's no ground breaking advice here, and much of it is out of date.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

A classic in the how-to-write genre and deservedly so. Nolan's advice is both accessible and on-point, and perhaps most importantly of all practical. My second time reading it and I enjoyed just as much as the first time.

[Lindsey Goddard · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are many useful tips to be found in this book, even for an established horror author.

[Jason Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was ok, nothing special.