Thread:Danatblair/@comment-4740494-20131113031753/@comment-7706473-20131117122452

Trick the audience - if you're trying to make a psychological thriller, play with their expectations. The protaganist/s should think they're on the right track, even while the reader has a gnawing feeling that something is wrong. Change little details on the scenery, or play with the way the narrator tells the story - if you can make the reader stop, feel a chill, and go back to re-read something you're on the right track.

Atmospherically - again, that's something you need to search your heart for. What scares you? What, to you, conveys a horrible atmosphere? Is it sewage, mist, decay - loneliness, sorrow? Perhaps something unexpected - a sweet scent, people smiling, the buzzing sound after stepping off a long flight... Make a mental (or even written) list of things that would unnerve you and then start figuring out which ones you could work into your story.