A Scaredy-Cat's Scaring Guide

Well, I'll leave the treats for now and get to the tricks. By tricks, I don't mean ringing the doorbell of one of your neighbors and then running away. Come on, not even Doctor Sloth goes to those kind of cheap tricks. What I mean is the scaring.

Or more, specifically, getting to the point of this article, which is a guide on scaring. Are you called a fraidy-cat? Do your friends say that you're frightened by your own shadow? Are you frightened by your own shadow?

Well, that's what I'm here to help you with. It's time to turn those tables around; read through this guide and you'll soon be the one doing the scaring.

1. Use Your Talents to Your Advantage

By this, I'm mostly referring to ghost pets and/or other 'scary' pets. Obviously, there are places you can go with this. If you're a Plushie Poogle, just a few alterations to your costume, and voilà! You're now a super-bad MSPP Poogle.

2. Disguise

This is one of the most important things for good scaring. If any of your friends/family recognizes that it's you, the game is up. You're going to have to really go in-depth with disguising.

I'm not saying buy a morphing potion; that's way too much. Rather than that, you need to disguise those parts of your body which might give you away. Stand on stilts to disguise your height, wear a mask, gloves, a cloak, extend your wings with dark paper to give them a deadly look. It's all really up to you.

3. The Site

This is another important aspect; the place where you're going to scare someone is very important. A rather unoriginal, but still useful tip is the old haunted house trick. I'm sure there's one in your neighborhood, or some other place that looks mysterious that you can use.

But really, you can choose any place so long as it has been prepared well. Your living room can easily function as the site of the scare, so long as you are sufficiently prepared.

Set up your traps right there. You can easily hide a CD player to play that spooky music, or to get that rumble of lightning when you want it too. Make a nice hiding spot for yourself, one you can be sure of that you can get out from after the scare.

4. Get an Accomplice

If you're doing this for the very first time, going solo might not be the very best idea. After all, it's much better to have a friend who can help with your plans when you're not there or something comes up.

Do be careful who you choose, though. Petpets are a great option for this. Go into shops. Many cheap petpets like Spyders or Cobralls can be scary enough if you just give them the right accessories. Rather than accessories, though, the important thing is to choose a petpet that's scary. You don't want to go with a petpet that's scared of its own shadow, do you?

Another interesting option is faeries. I mean the bottled ones. You can easily buy a bottled faerie for some neopoints, and as a reward, ask for help. After all, magic can always come in handy while planning the scare. The only thing you need to be careful of is dark faeries. True, they might be better than the other faeries in scaring, but then they also might curse you. It's up to you, really, what you decide, and whether you want to take the risk.

5. The Suspense

This is the most crucial part of the scare. Build up the suspense. To give a bit of a clear example, imagine this:

You're sitting on your couch, reading a book when a ghost pops out of nowhere and says, 'boo'.

Okay, that might scare some people, but honestly, it isn't half as fun as a real scare, and won't scare most professionals.

See, the mistake above is that all the scarer did was jump out. There should be some suspense. If your plan is to scare your family in your house, tell them that you've been hearing weird noises lately. A few nights before the scare, make actual weird noises outside their doors. Say that you find an old paper in your attic which says that your house is haunted. You could even make it yourself beforehand.

If it's another place, say that place is haunted. Tell stories of it to your friends; you can even make a paper saying that as well.

Finally, when the time comes for the scare, don't rush with it. Allow the scarees to walk into the place. Make some strange noises. Make the lights go on and off. Remember that CD player idea? Dramatic music.

And finally, the scare happens. What you do after that is your wish. You could either take off your mask and reveal it to all of them, or let them be scared for a few more minutes and then reveal it later. You could even not tell them at all; after all, it is a secret.

6. Amateur Mistakes

Here are some things that you are NOT supposed to do. We're clear on the not part, right?

1. On the page that you forge saying that your house is haunted, don't do things like write your name on it so it doesn't get lost.

2. Don't plan your scare in Usukiland. It's possible, but leave that to the top-notch scarers, okay?

3. Be sure none of your friends/family see you buying all of that stuff. If they get the slightest idea beforehand, all of your effort will go to waste.

4. Don't try to scare people in the middle of the day. The night is way easier, trust me.

5. Be creative! You don't have to do everything that's given in some book. You can change it. After all, scaring people is an art, and no art is fixed.

Well, that's all. Follow this guide, and you'll soon be one of those people who you're terrified of because they're so scary, and no one will call you a scaredy-kadoatie anymore. Soon, Doctor Sloth will ask you for tips on terrifying people. Or maybe not. Good luck and happy scaring!