I've an idea for a horror story

[AE35Unit]

I've tried to write SF stories in the past but they were always too ambitious with no plan But this came into my head the other night. This is just a rough idea but at least it has an ending.

Couple driving home from party,car crashes near the woods. Man gets out to check the car is ok,and try to find where they are. Its dark,no moon and theyre on the edge of a woodland. He struggles to get a signal on his phone then sees something thru the woods,a light. Thinking its a motorway or town he decides to investigate. He goes back to the car to tell girlfriend his plans and she has to stay in the car(hurt leg/foot perhaps)
He makes his way into the woods but soon gets disoriented and before long he's lost. He hears something and is drawn towards the sound. Stumbling in the dark he trips over a tree root,losing his phone. He gets up,dusts himself off and walks into a huge tree. The noise returns louder and suddenly something is around him,feels like rope. He screams but it is muffled.
Next day girl wakes up and decides to look for him. The day is bright but cloudy,and she makes her way into the woods,calling his name. Then she spots something on the ground;it is his phone! She picks it up and pockets it. Turns around and sees an old oak tree with what looks like tattered ropes around the base(Ivy stems). She stoops then screams;the vines are bloody. Upset she carves his name into the tree and walks back to the car,confused. Behind her the name she carved drips. But instead of sap,blood runs down the tree's trunk…


All I need to do now is work out how to write it into a story!

 

[BookStop]

You've got a good start with a synopsis. try writing it scene by scene as you picture it with more detail and perhaps some mood setting dialog..mwahahaha.

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

HAL: The problem is, then what.

I seem to remember a film about a pyramid that had ivy/trees draped all over it in the Amazon jungle.

Once you had climbed it you never escaped but were absorbed into the ivy when it got to you.

The locals tried to stop anyone getting near it because the dead bodies fed the thing and made it stronger.

 

[Moontravler]

What he's got there will be cool for a short short story, I'd say. He can embelllish the whole night experience a bit to flesh it out, as well as perhaps what happens before the car crashes. Eg> Why did the car crash? Were they perhaps having an argument? Did the guy see the light/phantom before he crashed, actually causing him to crash? ..and so forth.

 

[AE35Unit]

Yea I'm definitely thinking short story here!

Heres the deal:

Jack and Sarah were driving home from a party, she's drunk, well, sloshed, so falls asleep. He's stuck in the car, cant get a signal on his phone so maybe he thinks he'll have better luck outside. Maybe something is drawing him towards the woods, some presence. Maybe years ago Jack carved his name in that tree,and now the tree is calling him back.
Next day Sarah finds the tree , strange, why is Jack's name on that tree? Its faded, nearly grown out-he must have been here years ago, but where's Jack?? Suddenly the carving changes. Is it her imagination or is the wound weeping,like a stuck sapling. Only its not sap thats oozing out....

 

[elfsteel]

I like it, but I think the horror will be better if the reader doesnt know what has happened to the man until the girl finds the blood-dripping name in the tree.

At the same time, the reader need to know at some level that the man found the tree, or it becomes to strange. But I wouldnt tell everything about what happened in the woods, just enough to make the reader understand that something evil is there and you should probably mention the tree in some way so that the tree exists in the readers mind.

Then when the girl goes looking for him and find the tree, the reader is supposed to understand that the tree killed the man in some evil way - but the effect is bigger if this is not told before - so the reader will get scared at the same time the girl is.

 

[BookStop]

Sounds very twilight zone

 

[poisonoustea]

This kind of story should be planned out in a storyboard. Even if you can't draw it can help you skim the content and give the most impact to each scene.

 

[AE35Unit]

I've written a horror story!

OK so I wrote the story up today, now what site do you all use to host your stories? Its in wps and txt format.

 

[BookStop]

AE, you can always post you story in the crit section here, just do it in pieces inside different threads (you may even want to hold back some of the story so it won't count as already published on this site - the must read section has good guidleines) . We can critique for you, then if you've really got something after a tight edit, you can start submitting to sites through Ralan.

I joined Quantummuse (dotcom) last year and have posted a few stories with them. You help critique others' stories and earn credit to post your own story and then folks critique it for you. If it gets enough positive feedback, they publish it in thier ezine. (it's not for payment, and some critiquers can be harsh, but it's more like tough love)

 

[AE35Unit]

Well here it is, warts an all!

I Don't Have a Wooden Heart - 1 by Larry Shone

 

[BookStop]

I really like the urgency when he's in the woods - panic is soo clear *shudder*

 

[AE35Unit]

I really like the urgency when he's in the woods - panic is soo clear *shudder*

Cool, so now how/where to publish?

 

[J Riff]

kevin

He could have carved her name in there.. but tis a good ending either way. Needs a rewrite, these short/shorts are not as easy as they look, but it's worth it.
Blood has burst from trees before, and trees have eaten and beaten people (evil dead for ex. ) but then we have chopped millions of them down. Maybe Kevin can animate the tree in the sequel, and stalk off somewhere...