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

 

Horror picture prompt

 

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 for short stories

 

Writing horror can be a fun challenging way to explore some deeper emotions, fear, hate and jealousy are the first that come to mind with this genre . but one thing to always remember Is love, courage and even forgiveness can be great motivating factors when it comes to writing short stories in the genre of horror... After all what hells would you cross to save your child?

Write a dark poem or ballad inspired by the above picture prompt

 

So check out the below Story starters, themes and my favourite the picture prompt and inspire yourself today in the very much fun world of horror, where the darkest sides of humanity dwell and only the bold dare tread...

 

Story starters

Write a short horror story using one of the opening sentences below

 

Write a short horror story inspired by the above picture prompt

1.There was something wrong with the food...

2. He had sworn it wouldn't happen again...

3. The seat looked empty ...

4. The city had burned for days...

5. There was something stuck to the letter box...

6. Stay behind me...

7. She never knew how many people were watching ...

8. The headstone had been broken in two...

9. The headlights of the car ...

10. The cat shivered on the front step, wet with rain and blood...

 

 

Story themes

Choose one of the themes below to write a short horror inspired story of no less then 750 words...

 

 

1. Doll

2. Writing on the wall

3. Empty shell

4. Gagged

5.Invasion

6. Asylum

7. Green thumb

8. Night dance

9. Following footsteps

10. Yesterday's tears

 

 

Picture prompt

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

 

Horror picture prompt

 

Horror picture prompt

 

Horror picture prompt

 

 

Horror picture prompt

 

 

Horror picture prompt

 

 

Picture prompts for Poetry

Using the horror picture prompts below, write a dark poem, ballad or even a song inspired by one of the horror writing prompts below

Write a dark poem or balled inspired by the picture prompt above

 

Write a dark poem or balled inspired by the picture prompt above

 

 

Write a dark poem or balled inspired by the picture prompt above

 

 

Write a dark poem or balled inspired by the picture prompt above

 

Write a dark poem or balled inspired by the picture prompt above

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Horror writing prompts

Writing horror

what does is it mean to write horror? to many just the mere mention of the word horror brings up thoughts of the many slasher gore filled films that have populated popular culture since nightmare on elm street and hell raiser rose to cult status in the early 1980s. but horror has been around a lot longer than that, from the oral traditions of many ancient civilizations to the thrilling and sometimes fantastical fairy tales and myths that populate the many cultures across the world.

the dictionary defines horror as

an overwhelming and painful feeling caused by something frightfully shocking, terrifying, or revolting; a shuddering fear: to shrink back from a mutilated corpse in horror.

the same dictionary defines fear as

a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid.


So by gaining an understanding of the above, the only requirement for horror is fear
leaving a vast range of situations for the horror writer to use from the mundane, supernatural to the fantastical. all designed to evoke the feelings of fear and dismay in the reader, which of course is the true life blood of horror no matter how lightly or heavily you weave it in...





the following writing prompts are designed for the horror genre, story starters writing themes and of course my favorite the picture prompts are all here in the hopes that something may spark your inner muse

Horror writing prompts

Horror writing prompts 

write a short story based on this pic

Writing for the horror genre can be a lot of fun, be it just playing around the edge with the hints of darkness through your writing or diving deep into the very things that nightmares are made of, there is generally something for all of us to make us shiver with fearful delight as we explore the genre that is horror through our writing

Here you will find writing prompts created to help inspire and motivate your writing in this darker genre, from story starters, over all themes and the wonderful picture prompts please take the time to explore even if you have never written for the horror before, after all its through challenaging ourselves that we find our hidden strengths