I haven't written a pure horror piece for a while, so when I sat down to brainstorm for horror short story for my blog, the perennial difficulty of this genre really rattled me--how to cook up new motifs and flavors of fear. So, partly to help us find fresh constructs by exposing the old, and partly for fun, I thought we could build a list of common horror constructs and examples. I'll start.
--The terrible secret in the past which bleeds over into the present. Traditional ghost stories are often based on this construct. The key is the gradual exploration of the mystery. Examples: The Changeling, Night Stalks the Mansion, The Tommyknockers, The Others.
--The pursuer/predator who has an unnatural, inescaple method of finding you. The key is the chase. Examples: The Ring, Halloween, Seven.
Care to add some of your own?
--The terrible secret in the past which bleeds over into the present. Traditional ghost stories are often based on this construct. The key is the gradual exploration of the mystery. Examples: The Changeling, Night Stalks the Mansion, The Tommyknockers, The Others.
--The pursuer/predator who has an unnatural, inescaple method of finding you. The key is the chase. Examples: The Ring, Halloween, Seven.
Care to add some of your own?