• characterisation
• setting and location
• atmosphere
• plot
• personal nightmares

The interviewees draw on examples from their own work.

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00.45: The Hook

A group of young people listen as characters and setting are established for a story of romance and horror.

Celia Rees reflects on what makes an urban myth – such as The Hook – believable to an audience.

01.59: The Vanished by Celia Rees

A network of dark, underground tunnels is imaginatively transformed into an extraordinarily terrifying setting.

Celia Rees explains her decisions about this setting for her novel, The Vanished. She reveals how she used her own experience to create 'a dark underworld filled with the ancient dead'.

04.50: Setting

'Point Horror' editor, Kirsten Skidmore, reiterates the importance of setting. Jenny Jones takes us through her childhood home and explains how a copse viewed from her bedroom provided inspiration for the setting of The Carver. 'Anywhere can be a horror location if you use all your imaginative skills on it.'

06.53: The Carver by Jenny Jones

In the extract from the novel, the use of imaginative language transforms both the house and the copse. Jones then examines the question 'what if?' – providing a useful basis for initial ideas about plot.

09.50: Credibility

The interviewees make several points about how to build belief. The believability of horror writing depends upon creating realistic characters, accepting that the ordinary can become truly frightening by adding detail and description, and by gradually and minutely subverting this reality in order to create the horror itself.

10.50: R L Stine

R L Stine offers examples of the kind of minute details he uses to ensure that his readers will 'feel the fear'.

11.13: The Hook (continued)

This development of the story illustrates how the building of sound into the narrative helps to increase tension.

12.10: Fear

Ramsey Campbell examines the subtle techniques needed to create fear in the mind of the reader. To write vividly and effectively, it is essential to use your own knowledge of real fear.

12.34: The Chimney by Ramsey Campbell

The narration illustrates how Campbell allows his personal fears to intensify into sinister images.

13.06: R L Stine

R L Stine recounts an experience where real personal fear developed into 'an incredible moment of panic... It was one of the most frightening moments of my life'.

14.00: The Premature Burial by Edgar Allan Poe

In The Premature Burial, Edgar Allan Poe chose to develop a fear that he knew was common among his readers.

15.07: Suspense

The point is made that true suspense is created by avoiding the obviously gory or horrific, and building slowly and painstakingly towards the climax. 'If you go for "gross out" straight away, then what are you holding in store?'

15.48: R L Stine

The importance of sustaining interest is emphasised by R L Stine, who justifies using even 'cheap tricks'.

16.16: The Hook (concluded)

The young narrator effectively builds the suspense for the tale's climax.

17.05: Tips for Writers

• Don't wait for inspiration, write every day.
• Make your settings interesting, dangerous, difficult, isolated.
• Cut down on blood and gore.
• Learn to rewrite every single word.
• The twist: build up expectations, and then confound them.
• Look for the fear inside yourself.

The programme concludes with a hint: 'The best horror stories are yet to be written!'