How To Create Your Own Creepypasta Character

So... You like to read creepypastas don't you?

You like the idea of horror evolved, translated from campfires or dusty books in old dark basements at night into something you can tangibly browse on your computer in the depths of the night.

A creepypasta itself can appeal for the simple fact that it is something anyone could feasibly type up and post upon the web. With this in mind one could become the next Stephen King or H.P. Lovecraft based on a measly little tale or two. Unfortunately this is not the case, you are most likely to remain anonymous whether or not you do actually proceed to create an intriguing and widely circulating creepypasta. As such writing for fame or fortune is pointless.

There is of course only one reason to post a creepypasta, and that is simply to write a story, something to share to others in an age where online forums and the glow of a computer screen takes the place of a campfire gathering or a peculiarly quiet night in a dusty abandoned cellar.

Still, if you want to make sure you can write a decent creepypasta, don't be afraid to investigate Write a Story and Be Original if you want to know how to bring your own stories to life.

Creating a believable atmosphere

It is vitally important to maintain the willing suspension of disbelief of your audience, otherwise the story itself will either be dismissed at best or ridiculed at worst. This is perhaps the greatest pitfall of many "Most Dangerous Video Game" stories as it is hard to find suspense or terror when even the narrator of the story himself is seemingly protected by the fourth wall. A much better option would be to instead consider a horror story in a more traditional real-time setting such as:

A group of friends visiting a local forest,
Waking up in an unfamiliar room,
Waking up from a disturbing vision,
Walking somewhere and get the feeling that you're being stalked,
Stories that delve into mental illness (though this might require extra work to make it as believable as possible)

Alternative Considerations

Since the "haunted video game" and "lost episode" classes have been done to death, there are various alternative settings you might want to consider. A demonstrative backstory takes the perspective of a character from a game itself, examining the events of the in-game world from their perspective, establishing a backstory for them, before eventually revealing who they are and their motivations within the game world.

Traditional horror allows one the simple ability to imagine a psychological or cosmic horror story and post that over the web. For advice on these types of stories a simple look into the "How to Write a Horror Story" page would be recommended.

Making the characters believable

When it comes to creating characters (Be it Villain Protagonist OC or otherwise), it's crucial to try and make them interesting. Perhaps the POV character is a Lead You Can Relate To struggling to survive the horrors thrown at them, or the main character goes through a gradual process of Protagonist Journey to Villain due to circumstances that pushed them too far.

If the protagonist isn't believable or relatable, you usually end up not caring about them. This means that Mary Sue characters are even worse than usual, because nobody's perfect and that includes the reader. As such, you should give the protagonist flaws, interests, motivations, and/or redeeming qualities.

For further tips on creating a character, see Make Interesting Characters and Develop Character Personality.

The Horror

The biggest part of a creepy pasta is, as the name suggests, the creep factor. However, what exact type of horror we are dealing with varies from story to story, ranging from Adult Fear to Zombie Apocalypse. You must first determine what frightens you the most. The boogeyman, lurking under the bed? A business man with no face? Inexplicable stairways to nowhere in the middle of the forest? Forgetting your child in the car on a hot day? Ghosts? The end of the world? The devil himself? Or the possibility that you're already dead and this is your Dying Dream? Horror is as varied and diverse as humanity, and as the author of that horror, you must tell us where we are in the Twilight Zone. Read up on Horror Tropes.

Words to watch out for when writing

Among other things in creepypasta to watch out for is what words have been overused to the point where it makes the story redundant or cliché. From a narrative standpoint, words such as 'hyper-realistic' became a constant in poorly written creepypasta with little understanding to the meaning behind it. From the profiling of a character standpoint, one of the most common titles used on characters is 'the Killer', which only serves to create a Self Insert Character clone of pre-existing OCs.

Ideas

Setting/Location Scout

Props Department

Casting

Extra Credit

The Greats:

Any pasta written by SlimeBeast. The man has been known for writing some of the more memorable and creepy pastas during his time as a writer.
Kris Straub's Candle Cove, considered by many to be one of the most brilliant 'lost-episode' creepypastas.

Proceed With Caution:

Lost Episode and Haunted Game stories. Those two have been genres that have been done to hell and back, with very poor execution as a result, although not all video game or lost episode creepypastas are bad.

The Epic Fails: