Conjuring up thrills and chills

How to craft a Halloween tale filled with just enough scares to satisfy your young audience

October 22, 2013|By Cheryl Stritzel McCarthy, Special to Tribune Newspapers
(John Eder, ImageBank/via Getty Images)

Don't be afraid to tell a scary story.

Whether your audience is a Scout troop, a travel sports team or your own child, you can do this, says Kelvin Saxton, a professional storyteller in Bellingham, Wash.

And when you understand that your audience can handle what you've got to offer, scary stories offer the same sort of thrill as a roller coaster, says Kirk Waller, a professional storyteller who teaches the craft at Stagebridge Theatre Company in Oakland, Calif.

"We know it's safe," Waller says, "but in the back of our minds there's that gullibility that asks, 'What if it's true?'"

There's something special about a live storyteller, amateur or professional, Waller adds. "A real person is telling about something that happened to him or someone he knows. You can see the emotion, the expression. It's more credible."

"Parents should feel comfortable storytelling to kids," says Saxton, who adds that it doesn't take years of practicing the craft. Just jump in and try it.

"With one adult telling the story to a child or group, the experience is immediate," Saxton says. "Kids recognize your commitment. You're there, you're making eye contact, they're seeing you and hearing you."

Choosing your tale

First, find a scary story to tell. Search the Brothers Grimm and other classic folk tales in the library or online.

"Pick one you think you know," Saxton says. The originals are usually darker than modern versions. "There's a reason those tales were tamed down for the screen. Find a version closer to the bone."

Search for traditional scary folk tales and urban legends suitable for children. The website features scary stories written by kids, which can help you learn what children find frightening.

Waller suggests choosing a tale that you not only like, but which also frightens you, not one you think is cute.

"If it doesn't affect you, it won't affect your audience," Waller says. "If a story hits you in the pit of your stomach, that's the one to tell."

Choosing a story you enjoy will also help you remember it. Read the tale to yourself a few times, but put it away before telling the story live.

"You don't want to stumble," Waller says. "That takes away credibility. Don't memorize it, but know each scene well."

Saxton and Waller recommend these techniques for telling scary stories:

•Start the story in the normal world, with everyday elements. A believable world, Waller says, will draw your listeners in. "You have to suck 'em in for it to be scary later. What's the location look like? Any sounds? Particular smells? Colors? The audience can create this world in their imaginations."

•Create likable characters. "You need empathy, to feel impending doom," Waller says.

•Change it. Make it uncanny, different.

•Make it worse. A sense of trouble coming will "put your audience on edge," Waller says. "Make them wonder what's around the corner. All stories have tension. A scary story has more, sooner."

•Make the situation worse yet. Do this a couple of times within the story, each time making the situation more dire.

•End it, either by solving it happily or deliberately extending the problem into the present day, with it never fixed, never made better.

The traditional tale of Hansel and Gretel is an example of this technique. The children start at home with their parents. That's normal. Then, the change: They're abandoned by their parents, who can no longer feed them. It gets worse: Hansel and Gretel are lost and alone at night in the forest. It gets worse yet: They encounter a witch. And worse yet: She's planning to cook and eat them! Finally, the situation is resolved with Hansel and Gretel escaping.

In a scary story, it doesn't always have to get better in the end, Saxton adds. "You don't have to end on a happy note. Tailor it to the age of your audience."

Crowd control

It's scary for children to face survival against the odds, a situation common in traditional folk tales. It's scary for kids to find themselves alone when they shouldn't be. In a modern story, a child might return from school to find his normally bustling house empty, the door creaking eerily and the neighbors' houses empty too. Equally scary is when you expect to be alone, such as a teen on a backpacking trip into the wilderness, and find out you are not.

"Some kids want to be scared, and it's fun to give them something beyond what they're prepared for," Saxton says. "Others feel triumphant when they survive the storytelling experience. Younger kids show it in their faces, even if they're sitting in mom's lap, that they triumphed through the oohs and ahhs."

Youngsters often feel that they personally, along with the characters, survived the dark forest.

"A scary story easily engages your imagination," Saxton adds. "Fear is a prominent emotion. It's visceral."