Today's Daily Drill #198
Your Mentor
Sam
A bookstore owner who's started thousands of books. He knows in three sentences if he'll finish yours. The question: "Do I want to keep reading?"
Build dread through what your character notices—make small details feel like warnings.
Maya's hand froze on the cave wall. The handprints—dozens of them, pressed into the stone centuries ago—suddenly seemed to be pointing deeper into the darkness, not out. And below the lowest one, three parallel gouges carved deep enough to crack the rock.
Sensory escalation, discovery, dread