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How to Tell Scary Stories. You can be the life -- or death -- of the party the next
time you're sitting around the campfire if you can tell a good scary story. You will
need "What-if" scenario Protagonist Modern twists Details Values Pacing
Drama Acting skills Twists Listening skills and props (optional). Step 1. Invent a "what-if"
scenario that seems impossible to solve and terrifying to face. Describe closed rooms,
dark hallways, and sudden obstructions or tests for the hero. Step 2. Choose a protagonist
who resembles your audience -- someone their age, belongs to the same group, or shares
one of their names. Manufacture a spooky or evil villain, alien, or monster who has flaws
that the hero can exploit to defeat them. Don't make it so scary that kids are frightened
to sleep alone or be in the dark. Step 3. Try a modern twist on a classic scary storyline.
Use basements instead of caves or limos instead of horses and carriages. Select eerie details
that convey the smell, taste, touch, sound, and vision of the story. Step 4. Maintain
a theme of good triumphing over evil and insert lessons throughout about universal values
of kindness if you're telling your story to kids. The hero's success should come from
virtue or strength. Step 5. Keep the story short, well paced, and dramatic. Tell the
story in a whisper, and raise the volume and intensity of your voice as the situation dictates.
Act out character parts using different voices. Get creative and prepare the story ahead of
time with props like sheets, hats, sound effects, and music to bring the story to life. Step
6. Involve your audience by asking what they suppose happens next and change direction
to insert surprising and frightening reversals. Step 7. Listen in the days after to what they
recall of the scary story, which reveals what was effective and what has to be cut, sped
up, replaced, or refined. If done right, they will want to hear it over again, and again.
Did you know A quarter of British parents polled in 2009 complained that traditional
fairy tales contained politically incorrect references to dwarfs or unnecessarily scary,
dark, or outdated elements.