Read on Twitter
I'm doing a close read of some MG spooky/horror texts, and something helpful is jumping out at me: all of them have scary, perilous chapters, but the best have some perilous chapters that aren't scary and some scary chapters that aren't perilous.
I'm going to use SMALL SPACES by @arden_katherine as an example here because I just read it and it's fresh in my head. (No serious spoilers.)
In one chapter, we have evil scarecrows pursuing them. They're in definite peril from the scarecrows, and the scarecrows are scary.
In one chapter, we have evil scarecrows pursuing them. They're in definite peril from the scarecrows, and the scarecrows are scary.
But after escaping, they have to cross a rotting bridge. One false step, and they'll plunge in the river below. That's perilous--but it's not scary. We get to watch them problem-solve and work together when they aren't fleeing supernatural evil, but the stakes are still high.
Later, they encounter a ghost. She looks terrifying, and the setting of the encounter is creepy as heck, but the protagonist comes right out and says in her internal monologue that she doesn't think the ghost will hurt them (and she's right). Scary, but not perilous.
I think every horror writer knows the value of a scary-but-not-perilous scene for atmosphere and suspense, but it wasn't until I saw it right after a perilous-but-not-scary scene that I realized how important those are, too.
Hopefully helpful to other spooky MG writers.
Hopefully helpful to other spooky MG writers.
