please give why not just yes/no
2006-10-09 03:01:14 · 19 answers · asked by Noah G 2 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
If you have really great tension and description I believe it can be. I think that scary stories are based more on tone than words. So yes I think it could be truly scary
2006-10-09 03:13:28 · answer #1 · answered by Loved By Someone Above 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
800 words is a very short short story!
Yes, I think a short story can be scary. There are some excellent and gripping stories (my favourites are Roald Dahl's - the adult ones). I find that some people have a knack of writing in such a way that one feels part of the story - gets into it, somehow - almost in the first few sentences. Then it doesn't really matter how short the story is, provided it has a suitable twist at the end. One's mind, having been ensnared, begins to live in the story and to see beyond it in some way, so one almost creates one's own horror and the writer is merely a catalyst for it.
I can understand, however, that not all people read like this and a story that one person finds scary may hardly affect another person.
2006-10-09 03:10:41 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
There are some zines out there that won't publish anything over 500 words or just around 1000 words. 800 words is actually quite a good space in which to tell a story, so if you choose your scenario carefully, you could definitely tell a truly horrifying story in 800 words or less!
2006-10-09 05:35:46 · answer #3 · answered by jennybeanses 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, but only if you're scared by reading; I have read short stories that are more terrifying than novels, but i never found them truly scary because I am not scared by reading.
Poppy z. Brite (older work) has some really messed up stories. Her book wormwood is a collection of horror short stories.
2006-10-09 03:51:46 · answer #4 · answered by Voodoo Experience 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes.
If you put enough horror into the few words that you use, it can definately be scary in 800 words or less:
Ex:
The two girls walked in silence through the dark woods at midnight, shivering. They had one more mile to walk; it would be fine. But the woods were kind of spooky. Owls hooted, leaves crackled underfoot.
A noise was heard, that of a truck. The girls turned to see a black pick-up heading towards them, silver paint reading "I'm gonna get you." painted on the side. It stopped, the tinted windows opened,and the first girl climbed willingly in.
"It'll be fine," she assured the second, but when the second wouldn't get in, the driver of the truck got out of the car, carrying a silver dagger that glinted in the moonlight.
Two hours later, the doorbell of the first girl's house rang. When the weary mother opened the door, the second girl, drenched in blood, stumbled in, fell to the floor, and died. Her last words. "He got her. He got me. The...the...silver dagger."
Three days later, the first girl's body was found with a silver dagger in her chest, the words "Silver Dagger" drawn on the ground in blood. Now, on nights when two girls walk through the woods alone, the Silver Dagger comes, and after that? Nobody knows.
2006-10-09 03:09:05 · answer #5 · answered by Shrinkydinks 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, take a look at Poe's writings. "The Raven", "The Tell-tale Heart" are scary stories. And I agree with the person who mentioned Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery." I read it with my daughter when she was in high school a few years ago, and it still haunts me!
2006-10-09 03:18:22 · answer #6 · answered by not_so_little_black_dress 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Oh yes, the art would be in the skills of the writer. How well the story is written.
2006-10-09 03:20:55 · answer #7 · answered by Victoria 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes! But still I'll tell you shortest scary story of the world.
Two guys were travelling in a train.
One turns to another and says, "Do you believe in ghosts?"
The other says, "No.", and disappears.
Get the idea!
2006-10-09 03:04:18 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes it can....have you ever read edgar allen poe...he can scream the bejesus out of someone very quickly.....also there are very scary poems...which are considered "short" to some people....it all depends on the storyteller....how descriptive...how concise...you can't go rambling on about something for 4 pages when one sentance would suffice....
2006-10-09 04:08:11 · answer #9 · answered by apost 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, of course. Here's one of less than forty: "The door opened. We huddled together in fear. What was that image in the doorway? I felt my hands go cold and numb. The door closed and it was dark. Was the thing gone--or in the room? None of us knew."
2006-10-09 05:14:27 · answer #10 · answered by bot_parody 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋