Horror Writing Prompts

Horror Writing Prompts

Horror Writing Picture Prompt
Artist

When writing horror there are so many things to consider. What are your readers meant to be afraid of? do your readers care about your characters ? and what is truly scary?

Horror writing legend Stephen king has stated in the past that there is only three types of terror.

“The 3 types of terror: 
The Gross-out: the sight of a severed head tumbling down a flight of stairs, it's when the lights go out and something green and slimy splatters against your arm. 
The Horror: the unnatural, spiders the size of bears, the dead waking up and walking around, it's when the lights go out and something with claws grabs you by the arm. And the last and worse one: 
Terror, when you come home and notice everything you own had been taken away and replaced by an exact substitute. It's when the lights go out and you feel something behind you, you hear it, you feel its breath against your ear, but when you turn around, there's nothing there...”

When writing Horror remember what it is that scares you, what makes your heart pound a little quicker in the dark. What makes you hesitate.What sense's do you r

R.L Stien Said
“There’s no formula. I think you have to create a very close point of view. You have to be in the eyes of the narrator. Everything that happens, all the smells, all the sounds; then your reader starts to identify with that character and that’s what makes something really scary.”


Horror can be one of the most rewarding genres to write for, with so many twists and turns and emotional range to choose from it gives us writers immense range to draw from

Story starters for writing horror

Write a short horror story of at least 750 words inspired by one of the story starters below

“You don’t have to do this...”

Hitting the ground hard, he stared to crawl...

The ship horn sounded loud in the fog...

The cot was empty...

.

The dress was perfect...

The door buckled...

Staring into the camera she smiled...

The rocks cut into her feet as she climbed...

My grandmother had always had the painting over her bed...

The gun clicked empty...

Coffin, I was in a coffin...

All he had to do was knock...

I never believed the story's about the old man...

My family has a secret...

The house remembered everything...

"I cant marry you"...

Funerals on sunny days were his favorite...

The book was the only thing left...

The camera never lied...

The radio blared to life...

Horror writing prompts...theme ideas

Write a short horror story or a dark poem inspired by one of the themes below


Delivery Boy

Caged Romance

Woven Nightmares

Sedated

Forgotten Lies

Deaths Kiss
                                                                                                   
Yesterday's Memory

Father's Soul

Broken Cross

Robotic Eyes

Half Sister

Nana's Recipe

Poisoned Lamb

Falling Petals

Dirt Poor

Neighbors Gift

Underneath

Nun's Habit

Spider's Eye

Radio Death

Horror picture prompts

Choose one of the horror picture prompts below and write a short horror story of at least 750 words

Horror Writing Picture Prompt
Artist

Writing prompts for horror

Horror is a feeling, it is the fear that twists out stomach and the hair rising on our necks. The dread that fills our step and the gasp of revulsion we can't hold back.

Writing for the horror and thriller genre can be often an intimidating Idea, one of the first things you need to understand about horror is that it is not always about the blood splatter or the headcount. Sometimes it can be as simple as a child's whisper "I see dead people".

At its most basic it's a story like all others, filled with tension, surprise,the right setting and of course the biggest ingredient,emotion. Some of the worlds biggest selling authors have been found in the genre of horror, from King to Barker and even children's authors such as R.L Stien.

Face what scares you, grasp the "what if" of the dark and write. There are over 40 horror writing prompts here on this page to get you started. From the story starters, themes and of course picture prompts

Horror picture prompt

"When I write, I try to think back to what I was afraid of or

What was scary to me, and try and put those feelings into

Books" R.L Stine

 

"Horror fiction shows us that the control we believe we have

is purely illusory, and that every moment we teeter on chaos

and oblivion.”

—Clive Barker

 

"Beauty is the sole legitimate province of the poem.”

Edgar Allan Poe

 

Story starters for writing horror

Write a short horror story of at least 750 words inspired by one of the story starters below

 

1. The writing on the wall was still warm...

2. He couldn't afford to lose...

3. Keep it buried, a promise now broken....

4. The hospital was the worst place to go...

Horror picture prompt

5. The taxi sat still running...

6. There was something behind her eyes...

7. The clock in the kitchen iced into silence

8. The gun and the whiskey were both empty...

9. You don't know hell....

10. His fingers shuffled the photos....

11. The grave was empty...

12. The school gates were locked...

13. The phone wouldn't stop ringing...

14. Nobody liked old man Cambell

15. Please, she had said staring down the barrel....

16. He hated the colour yellow....

17. " don't you remember me?"...

18. There was smething creepy about grandma's dolls....

19. The bulldozer roared to life...

20. Breath loud in her ears casey cursed herself for all the after work doughnuts....

 

Horror writing prompts...theme ideas

Write a short horror story or a dark poem inspired by one of the themes below

1. Traffic

2. Cold lover

3. Late arrival

4. Judgement

5. Church bells

6. Safe and sound

7. Jail cell

8. Demon eyes

9. Killing time

10. Sunset

11. Scaring

12. Dog with a bone

13. Broken nails

14. Medicines altar

15. Lost child

16. Ghostly tears

17. Dead mans lies

18. Bad habits

19. Chained love

20. Summoning

 

 

Horror picture prompts

Choose one of the horror picture prompts below and write a short horror story of at least 750 words

Horror picture prompt

 

Horror picture prompt

 

Horror picture prompt

 

 

Horror picture prompt

 

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Horror picture prompt

 

 

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Horror picture prompts for poetry

Choose one of the horror picture prompts below and write a dark poem or a ballad

 

 

Horror picture prompt

 

 

Horror picture prompt

 

 

Horror picture prompt

 

 

Horror picture prompt

 

 

Horror picture prompt

 

 

Horror picture prompt

 

Happy writing :)

 

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Horror writing prompts

It's not always a scream in the dark or the flash of a blade that creates horror. Sometimes it's the small things, the things we don't notice until it's too late. It's the sudden jerk of "what if?" That compels our feet down the path of horror. As a writer I find it almost an inevitable part of my creative journey no matter how far I wander, I always find myself back here, peering into the dark in apprehensive wonder.
So please take a peek at the following writing prompts, let your mind wander down a twisting path and see what snags your creativity

Story starters

Write a short horror story of at least 750 words using one of the story starters below...

1. She didn't know what he was building...
2. The sound of scratching was getting on his nerves...
3. Just one more signature, that was all he needed...
4. "There is nothing left that I can do"....
5. It was supposed to be just another witch burning...
6. He was late again, another full moon she would spend alone...
7. Pushing the window up slowly, careful not to wake them...
8. The wedding dress had lain hidden and forgotten in the attic...
9. The inmates weren't the ones she was worried about...
10. She was being followed again ....
11. No one noticed her bloody hair or shaking fingers...
12. What kind of mother was scared of their six month old baby?
13. It was two hours till sunrise, moving fast Deacon ran...
14. Forcing herself out of the car, every step towards the old house heavier then the last ...
15. Staring at his own face in the newspaper ...

horror writing prompts

Horror has been part of human culture for centuries if not thousands of years, starting first in the myths and

horror writing prompt

legends told around campfires, in warnings weaved throughout dark fairy tales and now splashed across our screens in a nail biting ride of fear and mayhem.

With so many twists and turns the genre has taken and has to take there is a journey of discovery to be made for all of us when we pick up the pen and write.The horror writing prompts here are meant to get you started on new, possibly unthought of journeys of dark creativity, be it a short story, poem or even the inspiration for something even bigger. I hope you enjoy the following story starters, themes and of course picture prompts.

Horror story starters

Write a short horror story of at least 750 words using one of the following story starters below...


the glow of the moon bathed the cross roads with a gentle light...

Stumbling out of the fortune tellers tent ..

The noise of the tv was loud in the dark room...

The body was different to anything she had ever seen...

It was there in every photo, staring back at her...

The asylum didn't look as insidious as she had first imagined...      

write a poem inspired by the above picture
prompt

The key turning in the lock was the only warning...

The smile that crossed his face as he laid his cards down said it all...

When the order came down we didn't even think to question...

It was time, I could hear the whispers stirring again...

I had always thought that death was going to be more final then this...

watching the wedding cars pass, he couldn't help the cruel smile...

The road was rough and course under her bare bloody feet...

Just one more peek, his hands tightened on the window sill...

the letter arrived amongst the normal bills...

There was no way I was going to be the same now that I had met her...

The house waited, forgotten and hungry...

having never been able too turn down a dare, i was starting to think it was time that i learnt...

the old house hadn't changed at all in the last twenty years,

Daily writing prompts for the third week of June

Daily writing prompts for the 15th of June

Choose one of the following creative writing prompt

Daily story starter

Write a short story of at least 750 words using the following opening sentence....

There was no way I was going to be able to fix this mess in time...

Not one person noticed the blood...

Writing theme

Write a poem or short story of a least 750 words inspired by one of the following theme

Greedy eyes

Captured Time

Picture Prompt

Write a short story inspired by the picture prompt below

Writing prompts for horror writers

Writing prompts for horror and how to

make your own...

 

Write a short horror story or poem inspired by the above
picture prompt



Horror writing prompts are not only fun to create but are a great way to kick start your horror writing.  Creating your own horror prompts for your own use is very simple. In fact writing my own horror prompts is what prompted this blog. The three easiest ones are the ones I have focussed on, story starters, themes and picture prompts.