Being a horror author, I often hear questions about how I can write such scary stories and where that inspiration comes from. The most interesting thing is readers often don’t realize that it isn’t just the story that gets them scared but the evil characters.

For me, both as an author and even more as a reader, the characters are particularly important in a story. Of course, in horror stories the scarier the characters are, the better.

They are fascinating. If we look back in time, we find characters like Dr. Frankenstein, Dracula and Mr. Hyde, just to name a few, who still haunt horror fans around the world to this day. How about the disturbing characters created by Lovecraft? Or Stephen King’s unusual characters; after all, who could imagine that a dog or a car could be so scary?

What makes these scary characters so alluring?

Characters that can easily exist in real life are scary by nature. Who does not dread being face-to-face with a serial killer? So, it would be enough to create half a dozen gruesome deaths and that’s it. However, it doesn’t work that way in practice.

Would 100% fictional characters, like monsters or mystical beings, be easier? A gigantic octopus with tens, maybe hundreds of tentacles destroying everything in its path? Oh yes, it could live out of water. Or maybe even a mix of the two. Seemingly ordinary people with extraordinary and/or supernatural powers annihilating humanity? Easy? But that’s not so.

So how to make them scary?

In fact, there is no rule. Each author has his or her own way. I would love to get into the mind of The Master of Horror and find out how he creates his stories and particularly his terrific characters. Surely, this would only be for my own pleasure, since no matter how strongly he inspires me, each author has a single process of his/her own.

I always create a plot first, in which one or more characters may or may not be outlined. These characters are usually people (or sometimes events), but they will always be the elements that will scare the wits out of you throughout the story.

For me, nothing is scarier than things that can happen in real life. Therefore, as fictional as the story is, I will always try to add real elements to it.

How do I do this? Research!

I think research is crucial, even if my stories are 100% fiction. It’s what I do to render credibility to the stories and their characters.

In my first book, the main character is a serial killer who commits the most heinous crimes depicted graphically in the book. To build the character, I watched countless documentaries, read several books and articles on serial killers and murders, interviewed a psychologist, all to make the character as close to a true psychopath as possible. He became so believable that many readers told me they had nightmares about him.

In another book, the story has supernatural elements. Once again, I engaged in research, this time seeking references from real people and events to bring some truth to the story by inducing the reader to believe that yes, everything can indeed happen.

I have used technology as the scary ‘character’ in short stories. I relied on scientific news about breakthroughs to create the scary factor. Then, I researched its effects and that’s it, the reader will spend a few days willing to stay away from those devices.

I’m committed to providing my readers with stories whose characters are so frightening that they will make the readers chill to the bones, taken by that strong terrifying feeling of looking back and finding something horrible or scary in their own shadows.