Fear and unease

If you enjoy scary stories, you might have noticed that their effectiveness depends on a kind of creepy suspense: you know that something bad will happen, you're just waiting to find out when and what.

This feeling can be created through the subtle and unsettling contrasts.

For instance, why is this photo creepy?

Photo of a creepy boat on the shore at dusk with gloomy clouds but a glowing red interior cabin

What contrasts make this photo creepy? Photo by Aakash Bali (Source)

It's weird, isn't it? There's nothing overtly scary about it, but the image still feels... off.

If you think about it, that feeling comes from contrast and juxtaposition:

The boat isolated in the landscape, on the sand and not in the water, tipped not upright.
The clouds and gloomy blue light vs the inappropriately intense red light in the cabin.

These elements combine to make us feel like something bad is going to happen in that cabin, if it hasn't already.

How does this snippet from The Graveyard Book use contrast and juxtaposition to create a feeling of fear and unease?

Every noise she made echoed, in that long room. She turned all of the overhead lights on, even the light on the whiteboard, just to make the place less scary. The room began to feel cold. She wished she could turn up the heat. She walked over to one of the large metal radiators and touched it. It was burning hot. But still, she was shivering.

The room was empty and unsettling in its emptiness, and Mo felt as if she were not alone, as if she was being watched.

The Graveyard Book(2010)

Again, notice how there is nothing obviously scary here: there's no monster, killer, or jump scare.

There's just a set of details that contrast in a way that is somehow wrong:

She's alone in a big, dark, echoing room—and she turns on all the lights to make it less scary.
The room feels cold even though the radiator is burning hot.
She's alone but doesn't feel alone.

Can you see how contrast is used to create a feeling of unease in these examples?

The sea was impossibly still. Like a mirror. It reflected the moon as a perfect yellow disc. There was no wind. Mikolaj stepped cautiously onto the deck, hefting the giant wrench. The screw tinkled lightly. He should not be able to hear such a sound. It was too quiet. Except… there it was again. The sound of something sloshing. Inside the tank where they’d dumped the beast.

He heard it once more, a lazy splash, and then a creepy tap-tap-tap on the metal wall of the tank, like someone beckoning him.

I clocked off at midnight. Ivan had already left so I walked home by myself, which was fine, I normally liked the cool night air and the peaceful walk through a sleeping neighbourhood. But this time I crossed through the little wetland park behind the supplement store, and something felt off. There are no lights in that part of the walk, you have to go by the moon, but the trees and bushes are thick and dark, and at certain points they block your view of the water so you lose your bearings and you’re just walking on the path hoping you haven’t accidentally taken a wrong turn.

And normally there’s no-one, it’s deserted, but tonight there was someone in there with me.

Think about the world you've been building in this lesson. Is there a situation in it that would make one of your characters feel uneasy? Even if it was really nothing to be afraid of?

Imagine what that situation would be, start to describe it, and then focus on unsettling points of contrast: things that aren't as they should be.

Describe a character in an uneasy, creepy scene in which something is not right.

Following on from this, what happens when you build suspense...

And then suddenly release it?

Contrast & juxtaposition