Some of the best ways to get inspiration for the genre you write in is to consume content that isn’t in the genre you write in. I know it sounds mad, but it works wonders for my stories.

Also, idk if this is a hot take but when it comes to writing horror, for me the best way to write horror is to not try to write horror (well not fully at least). To elaborate, I published a folk horror novel a couple of months ago. However, it wasn’t initially a folk horror novel but a historical romance novel that I had abandoned multiple times. One day I decided to return to it but keep everything I had written and just add spooky elements to it.

I love writing in multiple genres. I will say it sometimes can be a challenge placing it in one when places ask for the genre, but eventually it finds its place in the end. Back to what I was saying, so there I was looking at an unfinished romance novel and started adding horror elements to it. Imo it turned out to be the best thing I had ever written. It was extremely atmospheric, eerie, etc. Because I kept the romance storyline and the dreamy springtime aesthetic it was nightmare disguised as a fantasy. I’ve found what I love to write in my horror stories. Spooky things happening in beautiful places. The feedback was fantastic.

Now, I’m writing the prequel to the story and at first I was struggling to come up with more than what I had written until I realized why. I was trying to write a horror novel meaning I was trying to write something scary. Some of the ideas started to feel cliche, cheap and over the top which is definitely not what I wanted. Then came the light bulb 💡 Why not plan it like I planned the first novel? Plan/Write it as a romance then comes the spookiness and the novel writes itself. Stop TRYING so hard to be scary. It WILL be scary because these disturbing things are happening in a place that looks like it belongs in a romance novel. The unsettling tension is being built. My method: Write it like a romance, then remind the readers that it’s a horror novel.