Top Ten Story Elements That Terrify Me

Posted October 26, 2020 by Jana in Top Ten Tuesday / 26 Comments

Welcome to another TTT! This week’s topic is a Halloween-themed freebie. I woke up in the middle of the night on Wednesday with the most terrifying thing ever: food poisoning. Or maybe a stomach bug? Who really knows? Anyway, I still haven’t bounced back yet and am drinking Gatorade in bed right now. I’ve decided to do a topic I did way back in the olden days that didn’t get a ton of love, and share the top ten things in books that terrify me. I’m basically the biggest chicken ever so this won’t even be hard. So here we go!

1. Ghosts. I don’t do haunted things. I just can’t. Seriously. I keep trying and I’m getting better at this, but it’s slow going.

2. Murderers. I can handle murderers. I like murder mysteries! I just get terrified really fast.

3. Stalkers. It’s the waiting, you guys. Waiting for something to happen. I call it scary tension.

4. Foggy, craggy shores at night. What foggy, craggy shore doesn’t have a deadly person/thing hanging around it?

5. Zombies. I’m just not a fan of people eating other people.

6. The entire Southern Gothic genre is creepy, but I love it! It’s atmospheric!

7. Possessed animals. I’m talking The Hound of the Baskervilles. Or Nancy Drew’s Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake. Wait, that’s a computer game. In any case, it’s scary.

8. Curses. No no no no no no no no.

9. When a character is home alone and they hear something bump or creek in their house. All of a sudden, I have Vulcan hearing and can hear all things.

10. Medical stories that don’t go down so well. Like if the character is drugged and can’t do something! Or a surgeon is also a serial killer and can kill patients but make it look like an accident??

What creeps you out in books? Do you have a high threshold, or are you totally wimpy like me?
What topic did you come up with this week?
Have a safe Halloween this weekend!

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26 responses to “Top Ten Story Elements That Terrify Me

  1. Honestly I’m not super creeped out by things in book that often, if it were movies I’d probably be super creeped out, but I know that I just really don’t like reading about dolls or clowns. I read Dollhouse by Anya Allyn and it featured both of them; I couldn’t sleep that night after reading that part!
    Nessa Luna recently posted…Ten Books That are Perfect for Halloween!

  2. I can read most horror but demons/possessions scare me to death! I don’t sleep for weeks afterwards! I can’t watch serious horror movies at all . Goosebumps is about it as far as scary movies go! 😂

    I hope you feel better!

  3. Hallo, Hallo,..

    I actually planned this week’s TTT in advance whilst I had the chance to have a guest feature by an author respond to a topic I felt was wickedly fitting for Halloween week: Top Ten Reasons Ghost Hunting is a Spookified Experience whilst connecting to the author’s new ghost story! I hope everyone enjoys the post! It is a wicked lovely read – as it feels more like a short story! Happy Halloween, everyone!

    PS If your on Twitter – look for our #SpooktasticReads tag and see if you find some new lovelies to be adding to your TBR!
    Jorie recently posted…A Hauntingly Brilliant #TopTenTuesday during #SpooktasticReads! | Guest Post featuring A. Lawrence who wrote the spookified “Grave Reflection: Ghost Punch” novel!

  4. RS

    Your entire list is basically what I love to read during Spook Season (except zombies, but only ’cause they gross me out). Ghost stories are the best, but I love “things that go bump in the background” stories too so I leap 8 feet in the air thanks to my, as you say, newfound Vulcan hearing.

    The other thing that genuinely freaks me out is realistic post-apocalyptic survival stories — when something happens as a result of climate change or a mega-deadly flu virus (oh hey). Susan Beth Pfeffer’s Life As We Knew It was the first one I ever read and even though I was already 20 as opposed to a young and more impressionable teen, I was legitimately scared to look at the moon for like 2 weeks in case it might have gotten closer!
    RS recently posted…Top 10 Spooky Kids Books

  5. I’m with you on the medical, and even in non-horror. Like if I watch Grey’s Anatomy for a few days, that’s it, unrelated panic attacks and nightmares all week long.