Kinder - 101 Horror Writing Prompts

Introduction

Before you are 101 Horror Writing Prompts. Why 101 and not 100? Because even numbers can be too frightening to work with. Also, writing horror is a bit odd. The prompts you will find here range from basic horror (monsters, murders and mayhem) to more subtle horror (phobias, psychological terrors and situations.)

The idea behind any of these prompts is to take them in any direction you desire. Don't feel confined to what is seen in the prompt itself. Turn on some spooky music, read a prompt or two, write when something strikes out at you. Prompts are meant to be a relaxing writing exercise.

If you're seeking a place to share your writing, start a blog. You can also go to http://reddit.com/r/writingprompts and share your prompt inspired work there. Assuming Reddit still exists at the time you read this book . You could also just write for you, which is who you should always be writing for to begin with. Write things that you enjoy that you would like to read.

101 Horror Prompts

1. You witness something horrific in a dream, you imagine yourself taking pictures or video with your phone of this event. Write a story upon waking from this dream.

2. After a scalding hot shower, you notice a message on the mirror in the steam.

3. Waking up in a bathtub full of ice, you don't notice any scars, but you feel like something is missing.

4. I want to give you a step by step view of my process.

5. The email originated from inside your house.

6. You have an ability to see ghosts, but only the ones that have died violent deaths.

7. Most horror stories focus on things that go bump in the night. What is something we should be scared about during the day?

8. You begin to lose one of your senses each day.

9. In a stalled and crowded elevator, someone begins to vomit blood.

10. Take a famously innocent story. Turn it into the most horrifying tale that you possibly can.

11. The Earth seems to stop turning one day. Write from either the dark side of the Earth or the light side of the Earth, one week later.

12. Write from the point of view of a serial killer. Show how they justify their actions.

13. You buy an old video from a yard sale. It was only one penny; you wondered why it was free. Later you find out that the video is cursed and the only way to break the curse is to sell the tape. What is on this tape? How do you get rid of it, or do you?

14. Think of a title for the most gruesome tale ever told. Then write the story behind that title.

15. Happening upon an old newspaper reveals a sinister secret about your house.

16. While performing an exorcism, you realize the person you're trying to heal is possessed by someone you know.

17. Cities begin losing power, a new one each minute. No contact comes from those places after the blackouts. This phenomena is fast approaching your city.

18. While hunting for treasure, a child comes across a mass grave.

19. The air was thick with ash.

20. You go to a crossroads in the middle of the night with the intention to make a deal with the Devil. The Devil actually shows up.

21. A new jail is opened in Antarctica to exile extremely violent offenders. Something there is more frightening than the prisoners.

22. You get a violently worded text message that makes you fear for your life.

23. You start having increasingly homicidal hallucinations.

24. There came a knock at your door. Your bedroom door. You live alone.

25. You kill a single spider. Thousands begin to pour out of the vents afterward.

26. Write about Fatal Familial Insomnia which Wikipedia defines as having no known cure and involves progressively worsening insomnia, which leads to hallucinations, delirium, and confusional states like that of dementia. The average survival span for patients diagnosed with FFI after the onset of symptoms is 18 months.

27. A psychic warns you that all those you love will eventually die by your hands.

28. Vampires are romanticized too much these days. Get back to basics and write about an ugly, snarling vampire.

29. Write a classic hitchhiker story with someone picking up a hitchhiker, but make it unclear which person is the killer in the end.

30. You accidentally dial the wrong number. The person on the other end calmly states that they are coming for you.

31. The person being sacrificed today is you.

32. A scientist has created a cure to a popular disease, with horrible consequences.

33. You are selected! By aliens...

34. Write from the perspective of an agoraphobic who lives in the most populated city in the world.

35. A person is possessed by a wendigo, a spirit that makes them crave human flesh.

36. The worst nightmare you've ever had.

37. My weapon of choice didn't work, so I had to use a meat cleaver.

38. The things that you see out of the corner of your eye all the time are actually...

39. You should have never responded to that ad online.

40. You sign for a package. To your horror, a human finger is inside.

41. A man begins to harmlessly play with a voodoo doll.

42. Alternate Universe: A world where everyone is a homicidal maniac, except you.

43. While visiting a graveyard, you notice that one of the tombstones has your name on it.

44. Everyone in the church turned and stared at your main character.

45. You begin to suspect that you're being watched.

46. Create an urban legend for the town you live in.

47. As a psychiatrist, you've heard a lot of strange stories. The patient with you now is very unsettling in their appearance.

48. You have a twin that never died during child birth as you had been told.

49. The coroner pulled three strange objects from the man's stomach.

50. You come home in the middle of the night. A voice greets you from the darkness: You aren't supposed to be home yet.

51. The house was beautiful, but then the secret room was discovered.

52. A friendly prank turns into a murder scene.

53. You screen all your calls. You decide not to answer a call from an Unknown Caller one day. They leave a voice mail that you don't listen to for hours.

54. There is a person following you home.

55. Get out of my head!

56. The child had control over demons; they didn't realize their nightmares were actually happening to real people.

57. You find out what is really in the towns water supply.

58. Come up with three random words that you associate with horror stories. Use those three random words for the opening paragraph of a tale.

59. We've not had a solid zombie prompt yet. Write about a zombie apocalypse and the unlikely way someone survived the first wave of the outbreak.

60. Alternate Universe: Mouths don't exist. We have a disgusting way with which we hunt and eat food.

61. The deathbed confession.

62. Trapped in a record snowstorm, food having being completely spent, you consider self cannibalization.

63. A zombie and a necrophiliac meet for the first time.

64. Your child's imaginary friend has the same name as a person you accidentally killed ten years ago.

65. She waited until the ten year school reunion to exact her revenge. While home alone, you watch a favorite sitcom. At one of the funny parts, you laugh... and realize someone else laughed with you.

66. She waited until the ten year school reunion to exact her revenge.

67. A long drive cross country brings you to a town that doesn't seem to be on any map. You notice a sign for a strange event.

68. The signs seemed to point to your neighbor being a vicious killer.

69. Ghosts and aliens are popular horror subjects. How about writing about ghost aliens?

70. The out-of-body experience.

71. Write the scariest story you can in two sentences. Then take those two sentences and expand the story to four sentences. Keep expanding out like this as much as you can. See how long you can make the story grow.