One idea could be a person who wakes up every day to find that their memories are slowly being erased. They start to see strange symbols around their house that seem to be related to the memory loss. As they try to figure out what's going on, they realize that there's a shadowy figure in the corner of their vision that disappears whenever they turn to look directly at it.
Imagine a person who receives a series of anonymous letters. The letters contain details about their deepest, darkest secrets that no one else should know. As they try to find out who is sending the letters, they start to feel like they are being constantly watched. Everywhere they go, they sense an unseen presence. Their paranoia grows as the letters become more and more threatening, until they are afraid to leave their own home.
Basically, a psychological horror story focuses on the psychological and emotional states of the characters and the audience. It creates tension and fear through psychological manipulation, like building suspense, creating paranoia, and exploring deep-seated traumas.
Once upon a time, a girl moved into an old house. Every night, she heard strange whispers coming from the attic. One day, she climbed up there and found a diary. As she read it, she felt a cold presence. The diary told of a tragic death that happened in the room years ago. She started seeing a shadowy figure. It was the spirit of the dead. Terrified, she tried to run but felt as if she was being held back. In the end, she managed to escape the house, never to return.
Stephen King is often regarded as the master of the psychological horror story. His works like 'The Shining' are full of psychological depth, exploring the dark corners of the human mind. He has a unique ability to create a sense of dread and unease that lingers long after you've finished reading.
First, build a tense atmosphere. Use vivid descriptions of settings and sounds to make the readers feel uneasy. Also, create complex and disturbed characters to keep the tension high.
Sure. Dracula is widely regarded as a psychological horror. It messes with the characters' mental states, making them question their sanity and pushing them to the brink. The horror isn't just physical but stems from the psychological torment the characters endure.
A psychological horror novel is a novel that uses human psychology as the main clue to create a nervous, fearful, and uneasy reading experience by describing the occurrence of a horror event and the protagonist's experience and reaction.
In psychological horror novels, the protagonist would usually face a series of seemingly harmless events and scenes, but in fact, these events and scenes originated from the psychological problems and subconscious of the protagonist. This kind of novel often explored the fear, desire, loneliness, and contradiction in the human heart. Through the protagonist's experience and reaction, it showed the horror and depth of these topics.
The psychological horror novel was one of the more advanced categories of horror novels. Its plot and atmosphere often attracted the reader's attention and triggered the reader's inner thoughts and reflections. The common psychological horror novels, Faulkner, George Orwell, Margaret Atwood, and others.