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

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

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,

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