You need to create a sense of unease quickly. Use simple but effective words. One way is to play on common fears. For instance, 'She was home alone. Suddenly, she heard the doorknob turn slowly.' Here, the fear of someone unwanted entering is used. Another important aspect is to leave some mystery. Don't explain everything in the two sentences, so the reader's imagination can run wild.
Well, start with a creepy setting like an abandoned house. Then introduce a menacing element such as a lurking figure. For example, 'The abandoned house was dark and silent. A figure in a tattered cloak slunk around the corner.'
Create a sense of the unknown. Like 'There was a noise in the attic, but no one had been up there for years.' By leaving things unexplained, it makes the reader's imagination run wild with fear. You don't need to spell out exactly what the noise is. Let the reader fill in the blanks with their worst fears.
One way is to start with a normal situation in the first sentence, like 'I was taking a walk in the park'. Then, in the second sentence, introduce something terrifying such as 'Suddenly, I realized all the people around me had no faces'. This contrast between the normal and the abnormal creates a sense of horror.
Use strong, vivid imagery. For example, 'The moon was blood - red. A silhouette of a beast lurked beneath it.'
First, think of a familiar setting. For example, 'I entered my kitchen for a midnight snack. An imposter with my hands was already eating my food.' Second, use a sense of the uncanny. Like 'I looked in the mirror. An imposter with my face but dead eyes stared back.'
Playing on common fears. A sentence like 'In the dark basement, I heard the scurrying of a thousand tiny feet.' Taps into the fear of the unknown and things like bugs or rodents which many people are afraid of. It gives the reader or listener a quick jolt of horror.
Well, you need to start with a situation that makes the reader uneasy. Let's say 'I woke up in a room I didn't recognize.' Then you add something unexpected, 'There were chains on the bed.' Build up the fear factor, 'I heard screams from outside the room.' Create a sense of helplessness, 'The door was locked and I had no way out.' And finally, a really spooky ending like 'I saw my own face at the window, but I was still in the bed.'
For an effective 1 - sentence pitch of a fiction novel, start with the protagonist. Let's assume it's a young artist. Then describe the unique setting, like an otherworldly art gallery that exists in a parallel dimension. And the conflict, which could be that the artist has to prove her worth in this strange gallery to save her own world. So the pitch would be 'A young artist in an otherworldly art gallery in a parallel dimension must prove her worth to save her world.' This way, the pitch contains all the key elements that draw the reader in.
Create a sense of mystery in the first sentence and then a sudden shock in the second. Like, 'I found an old diary in the basement. The last entry was written in my own handwriting.' This builds tension as the reader wonders what the diary is about in the first sentence, and then the shock of the second sentence hits.
First, create a spooky setting like a desolate cemetery or a creepy old mansion. Then, introduce a mysterious character or an unexplained event quickly. For example, a figure that appears and disappears. Keep the plot simple but full of suspense.
They work by leaving a lot to the imagination. Consider 'I found a diary in the old house. The last entry was written in my handwriting.' It makes the reader wonder how that could be possible, creating a sense of unease.