Welcome! this is my first tutorial, so please hang in there! Obviously, if you’re here… you need help with a horror story.
So lets get started.
Characters
1. These are the center of the story world. So come up with at least one lovable character and if “something” were to ever happen to him/her, it would be emotionally wrenching, and that’s exactly what you want. Typically the “innocent”.
2. Now you need to focus past the main tearjerker and instead onto the 2nd important character – the murder/whatever. They need to be created perfectly for this position. That does not necessarily mean that him/her/it needs to be be scary and intimidating, but just that they have everything they need at hand. Keep this in mind ’cause how are they gonna commit the act without the ability to?
3. Work with other characters, unless your story is from the point of view of the murderer, you shouldn’t have TOO many characters laying about the pages. I’d think that 10 or less main characters is optimum. If you must make it more complicated, you may mention other characters or briefly show them then let them fade out.
Example) Higurashi- eye opening arc (my fave); they have a entire group of lovable characters, and as a plot twist, in each arc, one of them takes a turn of being the murderer. The black arcs (question arcs) are from the point of view of the victim or who we often perceive as the murderer, but is not. They exceed the 13 character mark in “cotton drifting” to send us spiraling into a plot of blood, misfortune, and confusion and this keeps us re-reading the book with renewed vigor to find out the truth.
History
1. History of the characters – you need a simple history that summarizes their goals, and the reason for them. A note to yourself to remind you how and why they can change them further down the road.
2. History of the setting – sometimes adding a little creepy spice to the setting can grab the interest of readers, stuff like a culture built around torture and a mysterious “curse” (higurashi), or a town diseased with crazy possessive spirals (uzumaki), are stuff that grabbed me, and many others.
3. History of the story (i.e. timeline) – you will need to lay out the significant events in each of the characters’ lives, from before the actual story… to the end. By doing this you can create complicated webs to ensnare the readers.
From there, it's just a matter of writing your story in order from the intro and moving down the plot line to the ending and then drawing your manga. Sounds a bit much but if you take things one at a time, it'll be more manageable.