General advice for horror writing?

[JoshRaed]

I largely struggle to make things play out on a page in a proper horror way. The story I'm writing now fails at it when I look at it, and the stories I was writing before this failed at it with no one feeling like the stories were scary in any way, or even horror.

[vapidink]

Generally speaking, one of the most important things when writing a horror story is to build up the right atmosphere. It's like when you think of a lot of new horror movies they're not really scary because they rely a lot on jump scares. Then you watch some of the classics and there's this feeling of dread and of something being wrong that just makes you uneasy. A lot of horror movies don't have ghosts and monsters jumping out all the time because they understand that the fear of the unknown is something everyone shares and they take advantage of that. They show little unsettling moments that make you think something's off and build up to the scare at the end when the real horror is revealed.

[An_Alias]

Using unsettling imagery/descriptions is a simple trick that can help build the right atmosphere! It's more about HOW you say it than WHAT you say.

Simple example:
Calling something "white as bone" is spookier than "a cream white"

That being said, the best way to get better at writing is to read. Read a few horror novels/novellas/etc. and note what parts of them make you feel creeped out!

Here is one I read recently that is both short and effective (free to read PDF link)
https://rickmanhchs.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/click-clack-the-rattle-bag.pdf