There's nothing like the prospect of writing a scary story to get your middle schoolers' writing juices flowing! In the lesson presented here, pupils listen to scary short stories read to them by the teacher. Then, a discussion ensues where everyone shares what they thought were the scariest parts of the stories. The elements that make up a good scary story emerge from this discussion. After writing their stories, students get into groups of three and share them. They get feedback from everyone, then go back and write a final draft. A nicely designed language arts writing lesson.