How to Build Suspense in a Short Horror Story

Regardless of where you are in your writing journey, knowing how to build suspense in a short horror story is essential to crafting the most powerful tales that you can. Suspense is important, but it’s not always easy to create. Some stories come across it more naturally than others; it never hurts to get a refresher, even if you feel confident in your abilities!

Why Suspense Is the Heart of Horror

Suspense is what keeps readers turning pages. It’s the itch under the skin, the sense that something is about to happen, but hasn’t yet. In short horror stories, suspense is even more important because you don’t have 300 pages to stretch out the dread.

When writing a short horror story, you need to create tension quickly, maintain it, and deliver a payoff that feels earned. Learning how to build suspense in a short horror story is crucial to ongoing success.

Tips for How to Build Suspense in a Short Horror Story

There are many facets of suspense and multiple ways to build it effectively, so don’t feel like you must put yourself in a box. However, there are several baseline elements that you should familiarize yourself with; these serve as the building blocks to intense and exciting suspense.

If you want your horror short story to keep readers glued from the first line to the last, here’s how to build suspense that lingers:

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1. Start With Unease, Not Calm

Don’t waste time with long setups. Drop readers straight into a situation where something feels off. It doesn’t need to be a ghost in the first sentence, just a signal that the world isn’t quite right.

Example:
Instead of:

Sarah walked home after work, enjoying the warm evening air.

Try:

Sarah walked home after work, but the street was too quiet. Every window was dark, though she knew people lived inside.

From the very first line, readers sense something is amiss. Even if it’s quick and unspecific, that unease primes them to expect more. It also sets the tone of the world they’re in; the more immersive your atmosphere, the better.

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2. Control What Readers Know (And Don’t Know)

Suspense thrives on information gaps. Give readers enough to feel oriented, but hold back the full picture. There are a few ways to go about this; you can let the reader remain confused along with your protagonist, or you can use some dramatic irony through a narrator – let the reader in on something the characters don’t know.

This is even better if the narrator is revealed to be unreliable.

Some easy ways to leave information gaps:

• Let them overhear fragments of conversation.
• Show them a character lying, but don’t reveal why.
• Describe something strange, but don’t name it.

Example:

The mysterious letter on the table was addressed to her, and somehow the handwriting was her own.

We don’t know who left it, what it means, or how it’s possible. That gap demands resolution, but it doesn’t come right away. This keeps readers interested; they will keep reading to find the answers to all the questions posed by this letter.

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3. Use Pacing Like a Rollercoaster

Pacing is everything in suspense. Too fast, and tension collapses into action. Too slow, and readers lose interest. The trick is to vary your rhythm: short, punchy sentences in moments of rising fear; longer, descriptive ones to build atmosphere.

While you don’t want the suspense to falter and disappear, you want to avoid burning your readers out. This requires striking the perfect balance.

Technique:

• Short paragraphs and sentences can mimic a pounding heart and racing thoughts.
• Longer ones slow readers down, letting dread pool in the silence. You can dance back and forth between the two, giving your readers a chance to breathe without letting them off the hook entirely.

Example of a short sentence scene:

She reached for the door.

The knob was warm. Too warm, like something had just released it.

The break between lines forces readers to pause, heightening the reveal. The quick and punchy sentences keep the pace up and encourage readers to keep barreling through.

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4. Seed Red Herrings

Give readers false answers so they think they’ve figured it out. Then pull the rug. Red herrings keep tension alive because readers are never certain what’s real.

Example:
A character believes the noises upstairs are just rats. Excentuate this by letting them see a rat. Later, when the noises continue, readers feel a sharper jolt because their expectation has been overturned.

Or, let the clues mostly point to a specific character as the culprit, but it’s actually someone else. This is a classic tactic in a good “whodunit,” but it’s classic because it consistently works when executed well.

The trick is balance. Too many misdirects frustrate readers; just enough keeps them off guard. Especially in a short horror story, you should stick to just one major red herring, if you’re using one.

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5. Exploit the Ordinary

The most effective suspense often arises from ordinary objects and settings being transformed into something strange. Readers recognize them, so when they’re twisted, the fear feels closer to home. It feels more real and more believable.

Examples:

• A phone that rings once at 3:00 a.m. every night, but no one is there.
• A child’s toy that moves when nobody’s watching.
• A kitchen clock that skips backward a minute whenever someone leaves the room.

When the everyday becomes unpredictable, suspense builds naturally.

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6. Limit Escape Options

Suspense thrives on claustrophobia, physical, emotional, or psychological. If readers feel there’s no easy way out, tension skyrockets.

Examples:

• Trap your character in a specific location (e.g., locked in a house, lost in the woods).
• Cut off communication (dead phone battery, power outage).
• Create internal traps (a secret they can’t reveal, a fear they can’t admit).

The more trapped your character feels, the more suspense your reader experiences. Be creative with your “traps.” It doesn’t always have to be a physical place. You can even place them under threat or blackmail to further heighten mental and emotional claustrophobia.

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7. End Scenes on Uncertainty

Don’t tie up every moment neatly. Let readers slide into the next section already on edge.

Example:

He opened the box. His face went pale. “It’s not possible,” he whispered.

Stop there. Don’t explain immediately. Force readers to follow you deeper into the story to find out. After this line, you can switch to another character, move to another setting, cue a flashback or dream sequence, etc. – This forces readers to continue if they wish to find out what’s “not possible.”

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Common Pitfalls When Building Suspense in a Short Horror Story

• Revealing too soon: If the monster steps out on page two, there’s nowhere left to go. Considering your limited word count, you must reveal details at just the right moment. Even in a short horror story, there is such a thing as too soon.
• Padding with filler: Long, irrelevant transitions (e.g., “She thought about what to do next, then she slowly turned and walked…”) kill momentum. These things are commonly trimmed in the first and second rounds of editing. It’s ok if these appear in your first draft – you have to finish the story eventually!
• Confusing suspense with shock: Suspense is the stretch; shock is the snap. You need the build-up first for the snap to matter. If there is no foreshadowing, no clues, no hints, no information gaps, etc, the “shocking reveal” or major twist will fall flat; no one will be shocked.

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Putting It Into Practice

Try this exercise:

1. Write a 500-word scene set in a normal location (kitchen, bus stop, office cubicle).
2. Add one detail that doesn’t fit (a dripping sound with no source, a light that flickers in rhythm).
3. Build tension around that single detail without explaining it.

This helps you practice drawing suspense from the ordinary, rather than rushing straight to the reveal.

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How to Build Suspense in a Short Horror Story: Final Thoughts

Suspense isn’t just about what happens in a horror short story; it’s about how you withhold and reveal. By starting with unease, controlling information, pacing carefully, and twisting the ordinary, you can keep readers hooked until the final line. This is how you learn how to build suspense in a short horror story.

And if you’d like to see how suspense works in finished stories, you can check out my collection, Uncovered: The Story of Eva Courtland and Other Spooky Tales. Many of its most chilling moments come not from what’s shown, but from what’s left unsaid.