essay topics for horror fiction

101 Horror Writing Prompts That Are Freaky As Hell

Looking for some scary story ideas for your next writing project?

Sometimes, a good scary prompt idea is all you need to get started on a dark story your readers won’t be able to put down.

And that is the goal. What’s a horror story without white-knuckle suspense?

You want your readers at the edge of their seats, unable to stop though they know something bad is about to happen.

You also want to reward them for reading to the end and leave them wanting more.

So, how can this collection of horror writing prompts help with that?

What Are the Main Elements of Horror Writing?

List of most common horror themes and tropes to write on .

66 Horror Writing Prompts

Halloween Writing Prompts

Mystery writing prompts, psychological horror story ideas, “the monster you know” story ideas, ghost story writing prompts, funny horror story ideas, horror story ideas.

Every good story needs an idea that takes root in your imagination and doesn’t let go. Horror stories in particular need to affect you a certain way. If they don’t sound an alarm in your head, they won’t sound one in the heads of your readers, either.

They need to reach into your psyche, take a scrap of memory, and turn it into something that would keep you up at night.

And as you’ve no doubt read already, “No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.”

Look through the prompts that follow, and choose one that calls out to you and lingers in your imagination.

Paint a picture in your mind of the characters involved. Give yourself a reason to invest in them by giving each one some interesting backstory.

Then set a timer and write.

Since Earl Horace Walpole’s gothic horror The Castle of Otranto hit shelves in 1764, English readers have clamored for dark plots that excite primitive instincts and tickle our fear bones.

Many horror authors leverage shadowy impulses by sprinkling stories with uncomfortable happenings and gruesome fatalities.

But that’s not all it takes to write within the genre, begging the question: What are the main elements of horror? Traditionally, there are five: suspense, fear, violence, gore, and the supernatural.

Suspense : Creating anxious tension is a critical component of horror as it keeps the audience glued to the story. They need to find out what happens! Traditionally, suspense is valued as a sophisticated form of horror, and building it well is a skill.
Fear : Confronting fearful things is a powerful emotion with chemical reactionary consequences, making it a hallmark of horror writing.
Violence : Savagery is scary because it’s inextricably linked to death and pain — two of the four great human fears.
Gore : Brains and guts are a cornerstone of classic horror. For better or worse, our neural pathways light up when confronted with intestines, brain matter, and gushing fluids. Successful horror writers keep readers and watchers engaged by deploying gore effectively.
Supernatural: The main difference between “true crime” and “horror” is a supernatural element. While horror stories draw people in with realism, they usually feature an emotional detachment valve in the form of an explicit or implicit otherworldly presence.

Vampires, ghosts, zombies, and murderers are big-picture mainstays of the horror genre. But what are some other, more detailed tropes associated with scary storytelling?

Babysitter Alone in Big House: The naive babysitter trope is oft-repeated because it works. The sitter acts as a stand-in for the reader or audience in that, like you, they’re vulnerable. Horror-sitters are the character conduit through which readers and viewers can experience the impending fear.
Manipulative Vampires: Maybe it’s their piercing eyes, snappy attire, or mysterious penchant for the “nightlife.” Whatever the case, people stan vampires, and sensual and manipulative ones are an incredibly effective horror character trope.
Ghost-Haunted House: Ghost-haunted houses are a recurring horror motif. Whether you approach it from a traditional or modern angle is up to you. Both can work.
Creepy Kid: In real life, it’s kind to see all kids as precious and special, no matter their quirks. But when it comes to Horror World, creepy kids are a dime a dozen! Sometimes they’re the main attractions or “red herrings” (which we’ll get to more below); other times, they’re supernatural catalysts that serve as a story’s MacGuffin. Whichever the case, unnerving kids go a long way when devising a disturbing scene and fomenting suspense.
The Nonbeliever: Most horror stories have at least one character whose lack of fear or faith (in the story’s “supernatural” element) lands them six feet under.
The Red Herring: A “red herring” is a false clue. The term dates back to the 1400s to describe a culinary preparation for fish, but the first known use as a euphemism for “distraction” appeared in 1884.
Isolation: Few things frighten people more than being all alone while danger looms. As such, isolation can be a helpful trope when crafting horror stories.
Graveyard Chase: A well-conceived chase around a graveyard is another horror mainstay that continues to deliver. Try adding a twist to modernize the trope.
Distorting Mirrors: Whether a single reflecting glass or a full-on maze, using mirrors as a motif is a tangible and effective way to signal distortion.
Aliens and Cultists: The human psyche can’t resist rubbernecking when confronted with the possibility of aliens and the sociopathic underbelly of cults. Resultantly, they work well as engaging frameworks for horror stories.

101 Horror Writing Prompts

Whether you’re writing for a special occasion or just to experiment with the horror genre, any of the scary story prompts in the following groups should get you started.

Go with your gut on this one, and choose an idea that feels both familiar and provocative. Then give it a go!

1. A mysterious gift from an estranged aunt arrives on Halloween with a crystal ball and a note addressed only to you, her godchild.

2. One of the trick-or-treaters bears an uncanny resemblance to your departed sibling and repeats that sibling’s last words before picking your sibling’s favorite candy bar.

3. On Halloween night, you find a box at your door that contains a strange note and a little something from each of the people who have hurt you in the past year.

4. On this Halloween night, your guinea pig won’t stop running in circles, and your dog keeps staring at the door, emitting a low growl.

5. You run out for candy on Halloween afternoon to find the streets empty and the store abandoned. A single car cruises into the lot and pulls into the spot next to yours.

6. Every time you went to answer the doorbell, no one was there. The next day, you heard about the missing children. The worst part? Your kids spent Halloween with your ex and were supposed to come trick-or-treating last night.

7. You arrive home on Halloween to a large package from your new boss, who’d bought every piece of your favorite candy from local stores. The note reads, “Save some for me.”

8. You’re watching TV on Halloween night when your show is interrupted by a faintly familiar someone declaring their love for you and saying they’ve watched you all your life.

9. You come home to find a stranger walking through your home, sipping your wine and admiring your collected antiquities. They startle at your approach and act as though you’re the intruder.

10. The night before Halloween, you have a dream in which you wake up to see a dark shape standing outside your closet. You wake up screaming with your hands around your spouse’s throat.

11. Election day looms, and Halloween feels more ominous than ever. You’ve kept the lights off, but that doesn’t stop one visitor from leaving a note: “Knew you lived here.”

12. Your best friend has gone missing, and someone keeps leaving small reminders of them in your mailbox. You see someone approach to deliver something else, and your heart nearly stops when you recognize them.

13. You’ve always wanted a dog, so when a rain-soaked mutt shows up on your front step, you let him in. Unfortunately, something else hitched a ride.

14. Someone moves into the apartment next door and starts playing loud music at night. You call the police, who find the guy dead holding a note with your name and address.

15. Someone keeps replacing items in your home with different objects that look vaguely familiar. No one else has a key to your home, and there are no signs of forced entry.

16. You bake some cookies to share with the new neighbor, but the terrified woman backs away from the plate, shaking her head. Someone from inside calls out, “I’ll have those.”

17. Someone at work has offered to do a tarot card spread for you, and you politely decline. You find a single tarot card in your mailbox when you return home.

18. You don’t remember wandering alone on a country road as a small child, but someone does. And he wants to make sure you’re not around to testify against him.

19. Someone has gotten to your laundry before you and left it neatly folded in piles on top of the dryer. A note reads, “For more TLC, knock on #303.”

20. The window of your apartment leads to a fire escape, but twice you’ve come home to find it open. Nothing is missing. But someone keeps leaving a ring on your kitchen table.

21. You order a Christmas wreath for your door and the company sends you a package with money instead. The note reads, “Keep half. I’ll pick up the rest in 72 hours.”

22. A child knocks on your door and tells you you’ll be visited by three people that night. One of them will show you your future. The child’s face reminds you of someone.

23. Your best friend is dating a woman who seems familiar to you — and not in a good way. Turns out, she’s got a bad feeling about you, too, and she warns your friend.

24. You receive a surprise delivery of a holiday flower arrangement with a note from someone who went to jail for assault. The message reads, “I’ll be home for Christmas.”

25. An abuser from your past has written you a long letter of apology, and you agree to meet them for coffee. You find your favorite coffee place deserted — on Black Friday.

26. You broke up with your sweetheart when he lied about taking you to the prom and begged you to run away with him so he could escape an abusive home. He’s back.

27. An old friend, who had tried to warn you about an ex-boyfriend years ago, has come back to town to run a diner. Within a week, known bullies start disappearing.

28. For the past three dates, the guy you met ended up dead and posed as if proposing. A note on each one’s empty chest cavity reads, “My heart belongs to [your name].”

29. You’re with a friend at the home of the guy she’s dating. In the bathroom, you find a box with jewelry for almost every birthstone. Yours is the only one missing. You hear a scream.

30. Everyone keeps telling you your memories can’t be trusted. You’re safe with them. They’ll protect you. But you haven’t left the house in years.

31. You thought it was cute when your little sister wanted to wear your aunt’s high heels and pose with a hand on her hip. But your sister had an uncanny way with accidents.

32. You never expected to win the ‘57 Chevy from the church raffle. Neither did the car’s owner, who immediately tried to buy it back. He didn’t respond well to “No, thanks.”

33. Every time you saw anything like “Tornado Warning” or “Flash Flood” in the news, you knew someone would end up dead. And your ex would blame the weather.

34. You come home to a dozen roses from a guy who’s been telling his friends you’re dating, and you get angry. For some reason, though, everyone you know is on his side.

35. Your “Secret Santa” leaves an expensive bottle of wine with a note, “Drink me.” You call a familiar number and hear the phone ring on the other side of your door.

36. Your dad has a secret known only to his twin brother, who mysteriously disappeared but left a note with a box of his belongings in the attic. You take it with you when you leave.

37. You just broke up with the person who’s catering your best friend’s wedding. They also made the cake.

38. Some of your in-laws have decided to deliver their sibling from you. When they cross the line, you make a promise to them and to your spouse. One by one, they disappear.

39. Your health is steadily declining, and you don’t know why. Neither do your doctors, who test for the usual health issues and find nothing. Then someone calls to warn you.

40. Your estranged father sends you a porcelain doll — the one he swears you told him you wanted. It has the face and hair of your missing mother. And her eyes are glued open.

41. You’ve just told your family you’re asexual, and they seem to accept it. Out of the blue, the handsome guy next door shows up to ask you out, and your parents quietly nod.

42. A cop pulls you over for driving a few miles over the speed limit, tells you to get out of your car, slams you against the hood and whispers in your ear, “This is from your ex.”

43. You emailed your fiancé for months before meeting him for the first date. Now, you’re getting strange phone calls from someone claiming to be his wife and telling you to run.

44. You stood numb at the coffin of a close friend and flinched when your father rested a hand on your shoulder. “Had to be done,” he whispered. “Remember the bigger picture.”

45. A small package bears the name of your sister, who died five years ago. It contains a pendant that matches her own and a note asking you to activate it by chanting, “Sisters Forever.”

46. Your elderly neighbors died on the same day of an apparent suicide pact. In their will, they left their pug to you, along with a small box of what they called “magical items.”

47. You receive a note penned by your best friend, who died in a car accident the month before, His parents had found it in his room and hand-delivered it, barely looking at you.

48. You pounce on a new opening in the apartment building close to your favorite coffee place. The first night there, you wake up to ghostly shapes surrounding your bed.

49. At your first slumber party, your friend’s older brother surprised you during a late-night run to the bathroom. He died a decade later in prison. Now you see him in your dreams.

50. Your home is the high-tech brainchild of your best friend, who bequeathed it to you (rather than to his wife). It anticipates your every need and desire.

51. You’ve been having dreams about a door that shows up in your room. In one, you walk through it and see someone you love being murdered . You warn them the next day.

52. You’re the lone survivor of a horrific train crash, and everywhere you go, you see the ghosts of some of the passengers. Some have told you the crash was no accident.

53. You’re looking through your mother’s possessions when a note slips out of the book she’d been reading, warning you about “the ghost who runs this house.”

54. Your new boyfriend is obsessed with ancient artifacts, but when something hitches a ride on his latest find, you witness disturbing changes in his behavior.

55. Your life is already complicated when your boss asks you to stay at his home to care for his dog while he’s away. You soon learn the house is as mischievous as the dog.

56. You’re an editor for the college literary journal, and you’ve been getting poetic hate mail from a student who’s angry you didn’t choose their poems for the latest issue.

57. Your favorite neighbor is a trans woman named Lani who looks out for you. She warns you about a guy down the hall, who keeps trying cheesy pick-up lines to get you to smile.

58. Your co-workers tease you about your weight gain. One is found dead in the bathroom, her mouth stuffed with candy. Everyone but the custodian suspects you.

59. An anonymous admirer sends you a singing telegram with a chilling question. Now you have less than 24 hours to sing your answer in a public square, with a flash mob.

60. You sign up for wine deliveries but are disappointed by the first bottle you open and taste. On the label, you find a crass, insulting note from an old enemy.

61. Your date finds out your BFF is asexual and starts asking intrusive and insensitive questions. When your friend shuts him down, he insults and warns you both.

62. You’re working the dinner rush, and a customer loudly insists on changing her order the moment you deliver it. Someone quietly follows her as she storms out the door.

63. You’re having an open house for your new shop, and you catch a customer shoplifting. She says, “I was told to come in here and take these. You’re being watched.”

64. You arrive at your new house, and the keys from the realtor don’t work. Someone answers the door with a disarming smile. “So, you’re here about the room? Come in!”

65. Your date is going well until you reveal that you have a dog. “I’m not really a dog person,” you hear. When you get a bad feeling and end the date, things get messy.

66. Your journal goes missing, and within a week, a goofy, adorable guy starts showing up at your usual stops. He seems surprised to see you, but something isn’t quite right.

Creepy Writing Prompts

67. The old tunnel had been blocked off for as long as anyone could remember, but late at night, you could still hear the faint screams echoing from deep within.

68. As you walk past the abandoned house on your way home from school, you notice one of the curtains move slightly in an upstairs window, but the house has been empty for years.

69. You wake up suddenly in the middle of the night and see two small handprints on the foggy bathroom mirror that are far too small to belong to anyone in your family.

70. Every night when you go to sleep, you feel an uncomfortable pricking sensation on your skin, yet every morning, you find strange symbols carved into your arms that you don’t remember making.

71. While exploring the attic, you find an old doll that looks eerily like you did as a child, and when you pick it up, its eyes suddenly open.

72. The scraping sound from the closet stops whenever you turn on the light, but it always returns as soon as the room goes dark again.

73. Every time you glance in the mirror, your reflection behaves slightly differently than you do – blinking at the wrong time or moving too late.

74. You wake up covered in mud and scratches with no memory of where you’ve been all night, and the soles of your shoes are worn through as if you had walked for miles.

75. Lately, your pets have refused to go into certain rooms of your house, but you have no idea what frightens them so badly about those areas.

76. You discover a trap door hidden under an old Persian rug in your basement and shining a light into it reveals a set of footsteps descending into the darkness below.

77. You wake up one morning to find all the mirrors in your home have been turned around to face the wall, even though you live alone.

78. Your television is switched on in the dead of night, the static slowly resolving into shapes, and what looks back at you from the screen makes your blood run cold.

79. You keep finding sticky notes around your house with messages written on them in unfamiliar handwriting, like “GET OUT” or “I’M WATCHING YOU SLEEP.”

80. Every time you look at a clock, the time is exactly 3 minutes slow, though all the clocks in your home are set correctly and keep perfect time when others view them.

81. On your way home, you notice a figure standing motionless at the end of the street, staring directly at your house with its face hidden in the shadows of its hooded robe.

82. Your dog comes running inside with its leash still attached but hanging limply, yet when you call the number on the leash’s tag, your own cell phone starts ringing from within your house.

83. Your computer camera activates unexpectedly while you’re working, and you see your own bedroom behind you from an impossible angle near the ceiling, suggesting someone is watching through the camera right now.

84. You hear your name called out softly in an empty room, and even though the voice sounds familiar, you live alone, and you know no one else is inside.

Spooky Writing Prompts

85. Every night when you lie in bed, you hear the floorboards outside your room creaking as if someone is pacing back and forth, but every time you quickly open the door to check, the hallway is empty.

86. While exploring the woods behind your new house, you discover a crumbling old stone well, and when you peer down into the darkness, you think you see pale faces staring back up at you.

87. Your reflection in mirrors and windows often moves independently, quickly looking away whenever you try to catch it, watching you from impossible angles that don’t align with where you’re standing.

88. An unfamiliar chat window opens on your computer screen with only the message “I can see you through your webcam” written inside it by an unseen sender.

89. Plants within your home have been dying overnight no matter where you place them, the leaves and stems drained of all color as if the life has been completely sucked out.

90. You wake up to find a pile of dead birds on your lawn, their wings broken and necks bent at odd angles as if they crashed directly into the ground from high altitudes.

91. The old paintings hanging on the walls of your recently inherited mansion seem to follow you with their eyes, and occasionally, you notice mysterious new figures added in the backgrounds that disappear by morning.

92. Turning on all the faucets causes blood to drip out instead of water, yet when others in your home check them, the liquid running from the pipes is perfectly clear.

93. You wake from a nightmare convinced someone was standing silently at the foot of your bed, only to find the imprint of two bare feet seared into your bedroom carpet right where the figure was standing.

94. Whenever you look in the bathroom mirror late at night, you see dead relatives standing silently behind you who disappear when you turn around to check if anyone is there.

95. The baby monitor in the nursery suddenly emits a strange crackling sound followed by a singsong voice you don’t recognize whispering your baby’s name over and over.

96. Your shadow appears to have a mind of its own, often following you more slowly or quickly than it should and reaching areas you know your body has not moved to.

97. Photos taken with phones or cameras in and around your home show blurry figures lurking in the background that do not match any of the people in the images.

98. Any writing you leave out overnight – from sticky notes to notebooks – has mysterious reoccurring symbols added in unfamiliar handwriting scattered among the existing text.

99. You wake in the middle of the night to the sound of your locked window being forced open from the outside, but when you jump out of bed to check, it’s closed securely as if nothing happened.

100. From your garden, you can see directly into your neighbor’s bathroom mirror, but instead of the neighbor’s reflection, you swear you sometimes see your own face staring back with an expression you don’t recognize.

101. While searching through the attic in your recently purchased Victorian home, you find an old portrait of a severe-looking woman whose eyes seem to follow you around the room; later that night, you wake to find the same woman standing at the foot of your bed, silently watching you sleep.

How Do You Come Up with Horror Ideas?

Coming up with fresh, frightening ideas is key to crafting an effective horror story. While horror inspirations can spring from ordinary events and observations, it helps to have strategies to unleash your most sinister creativity. Here are some tips for conjuring bone-chilling tales:

Mine your nightmares. Dreams often access our deepest fears. Pay attention to recurring nightmares or startling images from your subconscious, as these can inspire terrifying new monsters or situations.
Twist tropes. Take common horror archetypes like haunted houses, demonic possession, or slashers and put a new spin on them. Surprise readers by changing elements they assume to be familiar.
Extrapolate fears. Think about phobias you or others have, like darkness, insects, or tight spaces. Imagine those fears exponentially intensified to petrifying extremes.
Research real horror. Study disturbing historical events, murders, superstitions, or unexplained phenomena and fictionalize them in a new horror setting.
Observe people. Carefully watch those around you and look for small creepy details in their appearances or behaviors that could be expanded into something sinister.

With an observant eye and inventive mind, creators can find endless inspiration from both mundane moments and their most nightmarish dreams. Putting ordinary things in an ominous light or letting one’s imagination run wild with “what if” scenarios generate the kinds of situations and figures that fuel truly frightening tales.

Pay attention to the world around and inside you, and plumb the depths of your creativity, and you’ll never run short on horror ideas.

132 Best Horror Writing Prompts and Scary Story Ideas

Horror stories send shivers down our spines. They are gruesome, shocking, and chilling. Scary stories are meant to horrify us, and there are many ways to make a powerful impact on the reader. The element of surprise is crucial to make the readers’ blood freeze.

There are different types of horror stories. They often deal with terrible murders, supernatural powers, psychopaths, the frightening human psychology and much more.

Although many horror writing prompts and scary ideas have been written, the following 132 horror writing prompts can spark great creativity in aspiring writers of the horror genre.

A family is on a camping trip. The parents are walking with their two children, a daughter and a son. The little boy trips and falls into a dark river. His father jumps to rescue him. Somehow the boy manages to swim to the surface. The father is nowhere to be found. When the mother gets a hold of the boy, she can’t recognize him. She tries holding him, but the moment she touches his wet body, her hands start burning.
A young girl goes missing in a nearby forest. The whole town is searching for her. Her parents find her sitting and smiling in a cave. Her eyes are completely white.
A woman starts watching a movie late at night. The movie seems all too familiar. Finally, she realizes that it is a movie about her own life and that she might be already dead.
A house finds a way to kill every visitor on its premises.
A child makes her own Halloween mask. She glues a lock of her own hair on her mask. The mask comes to life and threatens to take over the girl’s body.
While digging in her backyard, an old lady discovers an iron chest. She opens it and finds a pile of old photographs of her ancestors. All of them are missing their left eye.
A priest is trying to punish God for the death of his sister. He is getting ready to burn down the church, when supernatural forces start to torture him.
Every year a woman goes to the cemetery where her husband is buried, and when she looks at his tombstone, she notices her own name carved in it.
A woman puts a lipstick on in the bathroom when she hears a demonic voice saying to her: “Can’t you see?”
A mysterious child psychiatrist promises parents to cure their children if they give him a vile of their blood.
A group of 10 friends decide to rent an old English castle for the weekend. The ghosts are disturbed and seek their pound of flesh.
A photographer travels to an Indian reservation for his next project. He starts taking photos, but there are only shadows in the places where people should have been.
A young married couple decide to renovate an abandoned psychiatric hospital and turn it into a hotel. Everything is going well until their first guest arrives.
Three sisters are reunited for the reading of their grandmother’s will. She has left them a diamond necklace, but they have to fight psychologically and physically for it.
An old woman pretends to be lost and asks young women to help her get home. She offers them a cup of tea and drugs them. When the women wake up, they are chained in the basement. The old woman gives them tools and boards, so that they can build their own coffin. If they refuse, she inflicts pain on them.
A mysterious stranger with a glass eye and a cane commissions a portrait. When the portrait is finished, the painter turns into stone.
A little girl’s sister lives with a monster in the closet. She exits the closet on her sister’s birthday.
The demons under the nuclear plant get released after an explosion and start terrorizing the families of people who work at the plant.
A woman gets trapped in a parallel universe where every day she dies horribly in different ways.
A cannibal hunts for pure children’s hearts hoping they will bring him eternal youth.
A politician hides his weird sister in the attic. She’s had her supernatural powers after their family home burned to the ground.
A 16-year-old girl wakes up on a stone-cold table surrounded with people in black and white masks. They are chant and start leaning forward. All of them carry carved knives.
A boy hears screaming from his parents’ bedroom. He jumps and hides under his bed. Suddenly, everything becomes quiet. A man wearing army boots enters his room. He drags the boy from under the bed and says: “We’ve been searching for you for 200 years.”
A husband and his wife regain consciousness only to see each other tied to chairs, facing each other. A voice on the radio tells them to kill the other, otherwise, they would kill their children.
A mysterious altruist gives a kidney to a young man, who has potential to become a leading neuroscientist. After a year, the altruist kills the young man because he proves to be an unworthy organ recipient. The following year, the mysterious altruist is a bone marrow donor.
A group of friends play truth or dare. Suddenly, all the lights go out and in those ten seconds of darkness, one of the group is killed.
A young man becomes obsessed with an old man living opposite his building. The young man is convinced that the old man is the embodiment of the devil, and starts planning the murder.
Concerned and grieving parents bring their 8-year-old son to a psychiatrist after their daughter’s accident, believing that the boy had something to do with her death.
A woman is admitted to a hospital after a car crash. She wakes up after three months in a coma, but when she tries to speak, she can’t utter a sound. When the nurse sees that she is awake, she calls a doctor. The last thing the woman remembers is hearing the doctor say: “Today is your lucky day,” right before four men in black robes take her out.
A small-town cop becomes obsessed with a cold case from 1978. Three girls went missing after school, and nobody has seen them since. Then one day, in 2008, three girls with the same names as those in 1978 go missing. The case is reopened.
After his parents’ death a cardiologist returns to his small town where everyone seems to lead a perfect life. This causes a disturbance in the idyllic life of the people since none of them has a heart.
A man is kidnapped from his apartment on midnight and brought on a large private estate. He is told that he will be a human pray and that ten hunters with guns will go after him. He is given a 5-minute head start.
A strange woman in labor is admitted in the local hospital. Nobody seems to recognize her. She screams in agony. A black smoke fills in the entire hospital. After that, nobody is the same. A dark lord is born.
A young girl finds her grandmother’s gold in a chest in the attic, although she isn’t allowed to go there by herself. She touches the gold and she starts seeing horrible visions involving her grandmother when she was younger.
An anthropologist studies rituals involving human sacrifice. She slowly begins to accept them as necessary.
A family of four moves in an old Victorian home. As they restore it, more and more people die suddenly and violently.
An old nurse has lived next door to a family that doesn’t get older. Their son has remained to be a seven-year-old boy.
A girl wakes up in her dorm and sees that everybody sleepwalks in the same direction. She acts as if she has the same condition and follows them to an underground black pool where everybody jumps.
A bride returns to the same bridge for 50 years waiting for her husband-to-be to get out of the water.
An old woman locks girls’ personalities in a forever growing collection of porcelain dolls. Parents of the missing girls are in agony and they finally suspect something. When they tell the police, their claims are instantly dismissed.
A chemistry teacher disfigures teenagers who remind him of his childhood bullies. One day, he learns that the new student in his school is the son of his childhood’s archenemy.
A girl starts digging tiny holes in her backyard. When her mother asks her what she is doing, the girl answers: “Mr. Phantom told me to bury my dolls tonight. Tomorrow night I am going to bury our dog. And then, you, mother.”
Twin brothers were kidnapped and returned the next day. They claim that they can’t remember anything. The following night, twin sisters disappear.
A boy has a very realistic dream about an impending doom, but nobody believes him until during a storm all the birds fall dead on the ground.
Room 206 is believed to be haunted, so hotel guests never stay in it. One day, an old woman arrives at the hotel and asks for the key to room 206. She says that she was born there.
A genius scientist tries to extract his wife’s consciousness from her lifeless body and insert it into an imprisoned woman who looks just like his wife.
Two distinguished scientists develop a new type of virus that attacks their brains and turns them into killing machines.
A woman steps out of her house only to find four of her neighbors dead at her doorstep. Little does she know that she isn’t supposed to call the police.
A bachelor’s party ends with two dead people in the pool. Both of them are missing their eyes.
A young woman wearing a black dress is holding a knife in her hand and threatening to kill a frightened man. She is terrified because she does not want to kill anybody, but her body refuses to obey her mind.
A strange religious group starts performing a ritual on a playground. The children’s hearts stop beating.
A woman discovers that her niece has done some horrible crimes, so she decides to poison her. Both of them take the poison, but only the aunt dies.
A man encounters death on his way to work. He can ask three questions before he dies. He makes a quick decision.
An older brother kills his baby sister because he wants to be an only child. When he learns that his mother is pregnant again, he decides to punish her.
A husband and his wife move to a new apartment. After a week, both of them kill themselves. They leave a note saying: “Never again.”
A man is trying to open a time portal so that he could kill his parents before he is ever conceived.
A famous conductor imprisons a pianist from the orchestra and makes him play the piano while he tortures other victims, also musicians. Every time the pianist makes a mistake, the conductor cuts of a finger from his victims.
A popular French chef is invited by a mysterious Japanese sushi master for dinner. A powerful potion makes the French chef fall asleep. He wakes up horrified to learn that he is kept on a human farm, in a cage.
A nuclear blast turns animals into blood-thirsty monsters.
A mysterious bug creeps under people’s skins and turns them into the worst version of themselves.
A kidnapper makes his victims torture each other for his sheer pleasure.
Four friends are invited to spend the afternoon in an escape room. A man’s voice tells them that they have won a prize. They happily accept and enter the escape room. They soon realize that the room was designed to reflect their worst nightmares.
Two sisters have been given names from the Book of the Dead. Their fates have been sealed, so when they turn 21, dark forces are sent to bring them to the underground.
A mother-to-be starts feeling severe pain in her stomach every time she touches a Bible. Despite the fear for her own life, she starts reading the New Testament out loud.
A literature professor discovers an old manuscript in the college library. He opens it in his study and suddenly a black raven flies through the window.
You are the Ruler of a dystopian society. You kill every time your control is threatened.
You are an intelligent robot who shows no mercy to humanity.
You are a promising researcher who discovers that all the notorious dictators have been cloned.
A nomad meets a fakir who tells him that he would bring agony to dozens of people unless he kills himself before he transforms into a monster.
A most prominent member of a sect goes to animal shelters to find food for the dark forces.
A man hires unethical doctors to help him experience clinical death and then bring him back to life after a minute. Little does he know that one minute of death feels like an eternity full of horrors.
You travel home to visit your parents for the holidays. Everything seems normal until you realize that demons have taken over their consciousness.
A mysterious woman moves into your apartment building. One by one, all of the tenants start hallucinating that monsters chase them and jump into their own deaths.
Divorced parents are kidnapped together with their son. Both of the parents have been given poison, but there is only one antidote. The boy needs to decide which parent gets to be saved. He has 30 seconds to make that decision.
A patient with a multiple-personality disorder tells you that you are one of six characters.
You wake up in bed that is a blood-bath.
The Government abducts children with genius IQ and trains them to fight the horrors in Area 51.
A woman who has just given birth at her home is told that the baby is predestined to become the leader of the greatest demonic order in the country.
A man signs a document with his blood to relinquish his body to a sect.
A woman enters a sacred cave in India and disappears for good.
A man opens his eyes in the middle of his autopsy while the coroner is holding his heart.
You look outside the windows in your house only to see that the view has changed and there is black fog surrounding you.
The gargoyles from the Notre Dame have come to life and they start terrorizing Paris.
Somebody rings your doorbell. You open the door and a frightened girl with bloody hands is standing at your doorstep. “You’re late,” you reprimand her.
You wake up in the middle of the night after a frightful nightmare, so you go to the kitchen to get a glass of water. You turn on the light and a person looking like your identical twin is grinning and pointing a knife at you.
A renowned book editor receives a manuscript elegantly written by hand. The title grabs her attention and she continues reading page after page. When she finishes, the manuscript spontaneously starts burning, and the editor is cursed forever.
The last thing you remember before losing consciousness is fighting a shady Uber driver.
You find yourself in a cage in the middle of a forest and black mythological harpies hovering above the cage.
A woman wants to quit smoking, so she visits a therapist who is supposed to help her with the use of hypnosis. She goes under and when she wakes up, she feels like a born killer.
Five hikers get stranded during a horrible storm. One of them kills the weakest and starts burning his body.
A mother goes in the nursery to check up on the baby and discovers that the baby is missing and, in her place, there is a baby doll.
A killer is willing to pay a large sum of money to the family of a volunteering victim. A cancer patient contacts the killer. The killer ends up dead.
The sacred river in a remote Asian village fills up with blood. The last time that happened, all the children in the village died.
A tall, dark, and handsome stranger invites a blind woman for a romantic date in his botanical garden. The garden is full of black roses in which women’s souls have been trapped. He tells her that she will stay forever with him in his garden.
A frightened man is trying to lead a werewolf into a trap and kill him with the last silver bullet.
An architect designs houses for the rich and famous. What he doesn’t show them is that he always leaves room for a secret passageway to their bedrooms, where they are the most vulnerable.
A man’s DNA was found on a horrible crime scene and he has been charged with murder in the first degree. He adamantly negates any involvement in the crime that has been committed. What he doesn’t know is that he had a twin brother who died at birth.
Every passenger on the Orient Express dies in a different, and equally mysterious way.
A magician needs a volunteer from the audience in order to demonstrate a trick involving sawing a person in half. A beautiful woman steps on the stage. The magician makes her fall asleep, and then he performs the trick. In the end, he disappears. People in the audience start panicking when they notice the blood dripping from the table. The magician is nowhere to be found. The woman is dead.
A mother discovers that her bright son is not human.
Specters keep terrorizing patients in a psychiatric hospital, but nobody believes them.
A man’s mind is locked into an immovable body. This person is being tortured by a psychopath who kills his family members in front of him, knowing that he is in agony and can’t do anything to save them.
A bride-to-be receives a DVD via mail from an unknown sender. She plays the video and disgusted watches a pagan ritual. The people are wearing masks, but she recognizes the voice of her husband-to-be.
A man turns himself to the police although he hasn’t broken the law. He begs them to put him in prison because he had a premonition that he would become a serial killer.
Jack the Ripper is actually a woman who brutally kills prostitutes because her own mother was a prostitute.
A ticking noise wakes her up. It’s a bomb, and she has only four minutes to do something about it.
After a horrible car crash, a walking skeleton emerges from the explosion.
A world-famous violinist virtuoso uses music to summon dark forces.
A philosopher is trying to outwit Death in order to be granted immortality. He doesn’t know that Death already knows the outcome of this conversation.
A beautiful, but superficial woman promises a demon to give him her virginity in exchange for immortality. Once the demon granted her wish, she refused to fulfill her end of the deal. The demon retaliated by making her immortal, but not eternally youthful.
A voice starts chanting spells every time somebody wears the gold necklace from Damask.
Three teenagers beat up a homeless man. The next day all of them go missing.
Thirteen tourists from Poland visit Trakai Island Castle in Vilnius. Their bodies are found washed up the next morning. They are wearing medieval clothes.
A group of extremists ambush the vehicle in which a head of a terrorist cell is transported and rescue him. They go after anybody who was involved in his incarceration.
A hitman is hired to kill a potential heart donor.
A man is attacked by the neighbor’s dog while trying to bury his wife alive.
A woman disappears from her home without a trace. He husband reports her missing. The police start to suspect the husband when they retrieve some deleted messages.
After moving to a new house all the family members have the same nightmares. Slowly they realize that they might be more than nightmares.
A psychopath is drugging his wife, pushing her to commit a suicide so that he could collect the life insurance.
A woman loses her eyesight overnight. Instead, she starts having premonitions.
A vampire prefers albino children.
A man commits murders at night and relives the agony of his victims during the day.
A black horse carriage stops in front of your house. A hand wearing a black glove make an inviting gesture. Mesmerized, you decide to enter the carriage.
Demons rejuvenate by eating kind people’s hearts.
People are horrified to find all of the graves dug out the morning after Halloween.
Men start jumping off building and bridges after hearing a mysterious song.
A voice in your head tells you to stop listening to the other voices. They were not real.
A severed head is hanging from a bridge with a message written in the victim’s blood.
A delusional man brings his screaming children to a chasm.
A 30-year-old woman learns that a baby with the same name as her died at the local hospital 30 years ago.
A vampire donates his blood so that a child with special brain powers can receive it.
A teenager is determined to escape his kidnapper by manipulating him into drinking poison. He doesn’t stop there.

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110+ Horror Writing Prompts (With A Twist)

Give yourself the chills with this list of over 110 horror writing prompts. From scary ghost stories to creepy stories about animals and monsters. Now is the time to write your own horror story , just like Goosebumps or The Haunting of Aveline Jones.

From the gory to the scary, from the monstrous to the supernatural, from the humorous to the wacky, we have it all! Use this horror writing prompts generator to get a random horror writing idea to write about:

Keep on reading for a list of horror story prompts.

Most horror stories are based on one thing, fear. And it’s always a good idea to have a bit of that in your own life. Fear makes us all think differently, it makes us do things we wouldn’t normally do. And it’s the same thing that makes horror stories so scary. It’s a good idea to think of something that scares you, and then write about it. As a starting point, we have provided you with this list of horror prompts. For some of these gory ideas, we have included a twist, while for others it’s up to you how the story goes! Feel free to use any of these prompts in your writing, and to expand on any of the ideas.

List of Horror Writing Prompts

This list of horror writing prompts will you give you the well-needed inspiration for a good horror story:

The Haunting Hospital: A small girl named Julie is walking down a country road when she finds a cemetery and realises it is her home town. She goes to her house and finds that it has been turned into a hospital. She finds her father and her mother there. Her father tells her that she is now a part of the hospital and that she must work to be paid. Julie and her mother go to work as nurses.
Chasing Shadows: A girl named Becky is walking in her neighbourhood when she sees a little boy playing in the street. Becky runs over to him and asks him what he is doing. He tells her that he is a little monster and that he will kill her if she does not leave him alone. Becky takes off running and the little monster chases her.
Park of Peril: A little girl named Melissa is walking through the park when she finds a little boy who tells her that he will eat her if she does not take him home. Melissa takes off running and the little boy chases her.
Claws of the Night: This one involves a kid named Angela. One night she goes to sleep and when she wakes up the next morning her hands have turned into the claws of a cat.
The Poisoned Harvest: A boy named Billy is walking down the street one day when he sees a homeless man. He notices some fruit by the man. When the homeless man is not looking, Billy steals the fruit. Later on, he goes home and eats this piece of fruit. The fruit is poisoned, and Billy goes blind.
Carnivorous Confrontation: A story of a kid who loves to eat the flesh of dead animals, but one day a man appears and tells him not to eat them.
Invisible Menace: Write a story about a young boy who is terrorized by an invisible monster.
Nightmare Room: The invisible monster is eating kids and it is in their room all the time.
Enchanted Chaos: A handsome prince on a quest to learn magic wants to marry the beautiful princess, but the kingdom is being attacked by demons, ghosts, and…his dad.
Insanity’s Feast: The whole little town goes insane. They start killing people with their mouths. They kill them in the most gruesome way.
Shuttered Nightmares: A serial killer is taking photos of their victims. He is telling them how he is going to kill them. And then he starts his killing.
Witch’s Chains: Two kids named ‘Bud’ and ‘Chip’ got separated from their parents. They live next door to a witch and are unable to leave the house. One day, the witch makes their parents get into a container, and leaves them in the backyard, chained to a tree.
Enchanted Camp: A summer camp where a powerful wizard casts a spell on the children to make them do his bidding.
The Weeping Specter: A ghost that follows you around and cries on your shoulder and if you get sad it gets angry and turns into a ghostly voice that spooks people.
Haunted Truths: The lead character is haunted by a ghost who knows the truth about their past.
Distrustful Shadows: A girl named Dana, who works at a daycare centre, doesn’t trust anybody. This causes her to make sure she does everything she can to stop any other person from ever entering her place.
Realm of Nightmares: One day, the princess wakes up in a terrible nightmare. She is being chased by something, she cannot see what it is. And then she hears the voice of her mother, telling her to run away. She goes to her room and sees that the covers on her bed are in a shape that reminds her of the monster she just saw. She knows she cannot sleep in this place. She goes to the other side of her room and sees a window. She goes to the window and finds that it is an opening to a new world…
Witch’s Wrath: A girl named Misty lives with her parents and their next-door neighbour who is an evil witch. One day her father and the witch get into a fight and the witch accidentally kills him.
Brief Awakening: A boy named Sam is suffering from a terrible disease and he only has days to live. He’s in a coma, and he’s not responding to any medical treatments. Until one night he starts to experience some new changes…
Vengeful Wishes: A little girl named Mina finds a genie. The genie grants her 3 wishes. Because Mina has been a victim of bullying, she uses all her wishes to punish her bullies with ghoulish consequences.
Jar of Horrors: One day, a boy named Marcus went out to take a walk, and he found a jar that he thought was full of gold. Marcus had also found a bag that was heavier than he could lift, but he drags it home anyway. When he opens to bag he discovers something disgusting…
Game Over: A creepy character named Nemesis is trying to kill Luke, who plays video games and lives in his basement. At night, Luke hears voices telling him to hide. He goes to the basement and a creature knocks him out. He ends up as a character in his gruesome game.
Bracelet of Resurrection: A boy named Josh loses his best friend to a freak accident. He finds the other half of a bracelet he gave his friend that day. He hangs on to it until one night the bracelet brings his best friend back to life.
The Ghost Writer: Write a story titled, The Ghost Writer. Write about the ghost of someone who haunts you.
Eternal Specter: Write a scary ghost story about a man who is cursed to spend eternity as a ghost.
Hidden World: A boy named Brody is having problems adjusting to life in his new home after his parents divorced. He tries to see his dad, but they don’t want him around. One day he discovers a secret passage to a hidden underground world where his father now lives.
Stuttering Shadows: A story about a young man named Kenny, who works as a garbage man. He also has a terrible stuttering problem that he has to deal with. One day he discovers that his stuttering is getting worse and worse and he becomes scared to death because of it. He thinks that the talking squirrel next to him is a demon.
Haunted Corner: Write a story about an object in your room that becomes haunted.
Ghostly Deception: A boy named Bryce has been hiding out from his abusive father. One day his father is gone and his dad’s new girlfriend walks into the house. He thinks it’s the ghost of his dead mother. The ghost shows him that his dad’s new girlfriend has been lying to him about how his birth mother died.
Trapped in Terror: A young boy named Spencer and his sister Sarah, are on a camping trip when they find a box of mysterious objects. When they open it, one of the items shoots at them, striking Sarah and trapping her in a pod inside a tree. While locked inside the tree, Sarah meets an evil doll named Alice.
Possessed Playtime: A young girl named Cassandra is babysitting her neighbour’s two kids. One day the kids eat some forbidden foods and a demon spirit possesses one of the kids and turns him into an evil creature who haunts the neighbourhood.
Eyes of the Bunny: A little girl named Hayley discovers a secret house that no one in the neighbourhood knows about, and is welcomed inside by a red-eyed white bunny. One day when Hayley goes to a party, her newfound friend kidnaps her and traps her inside this mysterious house.
Eternal Echo: Write a horror story about a horrible accident or a nightmare that has haunted you your whole life.
Drowning Destiny: A boy named Joshua falls into a river and is about to drown when he gets rescued by a beautiful mermaid. She tells him that he will die the next day because that is his destiny.
Keys of Madness: A young boy named Alex finds a set of glowing door keys and uses them to enter a huge abandoned mansion. When he explores the mansion, he is visited by a dark spirit who attacks him and drives him insane.
Alien Abduction: A boy named Sam wakes up one day to find that his parents have been missing for over a year. The day he discovers them, they tell him that he was kidnapped by aliens, and they built an experimental human brainwashing machine.
Dreams of Stella: A young boy named Toby starts having strange dreams of a girl named Stella. One day, he sees Stella when he’s on a roller coaster, but it turns out to be a ghost who is trying to take over his mind.
Eye of the Leaf: A little boy named Ben is playing outside one day when he finds a strange leaf. When he picks it up, it turns into a leaf with a red eye and starts to follow him.
Vengeful Spirit: Write a horror story about a ghost who just wants to kill the person who called him a monster when he was alive.
Nightmare Adoption: A young girl named Annabelle is adopted by a family that lives in a very old house. One day when is playing outside, she is kidnapped by a scary man named the Nightman.
Stuffed Shadows: A young boy named Jack gets lost in the woods and finds an old abandoned house. He enters the house and finds a huge stuffed animal. When he touches it, it wakes up and attacks him.
Depths of Fear: Imagine your worst fear and write a scary story about it.
A Rude Awakening: Write a horror story titled, A Rude Awakening. What would you do if you woke up in a place that you weren’t familiar with?
The Mysterious Case: What happens when someone goes missing and no one knows where they’ve gone?
Dreamstalker : Write about a monster that might be stalking you in your dreams.
Write a story titled, When The Wind Blows. This story could be about a sudden change in weather that comes with a new problem.
Mirror Demon: Continue the following story: Suddenly, the demon in the mirror reappeared and she began to scream.
Doctor’s Dread: When the doctor gave her the news, she screamed out loud and ran in circles.
Safekeeping Shadows: In her final hours, she told me to be thankful that I had done my best to keep her safe. That I had made sure no evil would ever hurt her again.
Camping Secrets: Continue the following horror story: As I was growing up, every year our family went camping in the woods. My grandfather passed away a few years ago. He was a rich man, and I wanted to visit his grave at the cemetery.
Forest of Shadows: While walking around the forest, I came across a monstrous-looking creature. I was scared and ran back home. The next day, I decided to go back and see what the monster was doing.
Echoes of Dread: Write down your biggest fear. And then write a story based on this fear.
Silent Stalker: When I looked in her file I saw that she had gotten five serious stab wounds. But, I could not see any sign of her attacker. Her wounds were all over her body and all over her arms.
Arachnid Terror: After discovering that a spider was sleeping in her bed, a young girl named Amy screams and runs away, locking herself in the bathroom.
Electric Fury: A scientific team is doing research on electricity. They find a very strong cell that could create many things when it is exposed to electricity. Suddenly the electricity static comes alive. It gets angry and attacks the scientists.
Imaginary Friend: A little girl named Amber loves to play with her new imaginary friend. She calls him “Giant” and she makes up stories about him. She believes that he is her friend for real.
Melting Nightmare: Continue the following story: As it continued attacking, it even caused my teeth to start to melt off of my jaw. My skin would start to burn, and my hair would become brown.
Friday Night Terrors: It’s Friday. The TV is on, and you are wide awake. As you lie there listening, you begin to feel tired. And just as your eyes begin to close, you hear a creak of the floorboards. Your eyes snap open. What you see scares the living hell out of you.
Blood Dawn: You wake up one morning to find your entire body covered in blood. What do you do?
Room of Despair: How would you react if you were locked in a room and told you could never leave?
Haunting Memoirs: What is the scariest thing that has ever happened to you? Can you explain this in great detail?
Chilling Chronicles: Make a top ten list of the creepiest books or stories you have ever read.
The Gruesome Creation: Describe the most gruesome and disgusting creature you can imagine.
Zoo’s Menace: Write a horror story where there is a threat of animals getting out of the zoo.
Red-Eyed Pursuit: Continue the following starter: A red-eyed man of tall and dark build looms over a bus stop on a lonely, deserted country road, staring at me intently. I run like hell to get to the other side of the street, but it’s too late…
Homebound Horror: A strange animal has been following you through your home. Have you been doing anything strange or dangerous that has made it freak out?
Midnight Messages: Someone is leaving you messages in the dead of night. What’s the creepiest message you’ve received?
Ghostly Watcher: Create a ghost story about a creature that watches and waits in the corners of dark, abandoned places.
Jack and Jill’s Nightmare: Jack and Jill went up the hill, but they never came back down. Will they ever make it to the bottom? Write a horror story based on this idea.
Dark Secrets: The history of your town has a long dark secret that nobody wants to talk about. What is it?
Mutated Reality: Reality show participants get kidnapped and sent on a dangerous mission, where they must learn how to blend with mutated creatures.
Beastly Intrusion: In a small community in Japan, a supernatural force enters the community through a sewer. To beat it, the village must learn to work as a team and think like a beast.
School of Shadows: School kids don’t believe in ghosts until they’re suddenly being terrorised in their school at night.
Vampiric Genesis: Someone is using a contaminated strain of bat DNA to create vampires in real life. And it’s up to a group of scientists to put an end to it.
Promised Souls: The dead walk, and all they want to do is get what they were promised. Will you figure it out?
Spellbound Silence: An aspiring rapper, who always dreamed of singing in front of an adoring crowd, becomes the target of a spell that makes him unable to sing, his most cherished talent. Will he survive the consequences of his initial desire to be a star?
Mirror Man: Continue this story: You look into the mirror and see a man in black standing in the corner…
Cryptic Chronicles: Imagine that you stumble upon a really creepy story in your local library and it leads you on a very strange and frightening journey.
Lost in a Strange World: When night falls, people get teleported to an area far away, in a very different world! The only way to return home is by combining body parts with the different elements of the land.
Wicked Takeover: A small town gets taken over by a wicked witch, who’s on a mission to suck the souls of all the inhabitants.
Soul Seeker: When someone posts an ad online about finding a soul and bringing it home for a price, things get really interesting.
Human and Beast: What would happen if human DNA was spliced with that of a deadly monster?
Unknown Beyond: A guy receives an advance warning from his friends in the afterlife to get ready for the afterlife, or something worse may happen…
Death’s Present: A girl gets a letter that someone wants to give her a present before they die, but the present comes with a very specific clause. What happens when she follows the instructions?
Dark Diary: As a local woman is trying to recover from the death of her husband, she discovers an old diary, in which she discovers something that happened in her past that has led to events that followed.
Christmas Carnage: It’s beginning to look like Christmas! But there’s more to Christmas than Santa and presents. A deadly secret is hidden away in a child’s bedroom. And with a massive killer about to make an appearance, it’s a race against time to track him down.
Empire of Evil: A ship sets sail for the distant colony of the Empire, but its mission becomes a mission to find the source of evil.
Hell Town: Using a sinister new machine, a small-town mayor is convinced to turn his town into a hell-like world.
Wild Dogs: A group of four friends are lured into an abandoned house by a pack of wild dogs.
I Went To A Party: Complete the following sentence in three different spooky ways: I went to a party and…
Sea’s Claw: The captain was anxious to get home, but the sea was so rough that his ship could not make it. Suddenly, from the fog, a giant black claw appeared. The giant black claw grabbed the ship and then brought the ship to the bottom of the ocean.
Dybylu’s Awakening: A monster named Dybylu wakes up one morning, alone in her room. She can feel it in the air; her pet cat is afraid. She goes to look in the mirror and see’s a human staring back at her.
Murdered Spirit: A little boy is asked to help a spirit of a man who was murdered, but as he hears the story, it sounds weird and a bit confusing, and he begins to wonder if the story is even true.
Playground Horrors: In a playground near an orphanage, there are many playgrounds where kids play. The best playground is found next to an abandoned asylum.
Barn Cat’s Secret: A drifter named Mick goes to a farm with his friend Sam, and the owner of the farm is a creepy scientist. Mick climbs a barn ladder and sees a strange cat in there…
Cape Creature: A sweet girl named Annie and her sister, Charley, are having an adventure in their neighbourhood. Suddenly, Annie spots a strange black cape creature lurking in the distance. It was the most feared and horrible creature Annie has ever seen.
Island of Souls: The main character goes to an island that no one has visited before. He is enjoying his vacation, but one night he finds out that his home is being invaded by creatures who want to steal his soul.
Spookie’s Nightmares: A witch known as ‘Spookie’ causes horrible hallucinations to victims of her nightmares. Her victims can’t scream or cry or run. All they can do is panic.
Stick’s Mischief: A girl named Paige finds a stick that attracts a mysterious creature that will play a sick joke on her.
Black Blood: One day, a girl named Robin started having problems in school. Her parents, who are very smart and caring, see something is very wrong with Robin so they take her to the doctor. The doctor makes her go through a lot of tests, and everything is okay except for one last thing. Robin has black blood running through her veins.
Mirror’s Curse: A teenage girl named Sarah who is obsessed with her appearance starts turning into an old, ugly witch every time she looks into a mirror.
Bee Killer: When bees start dying suddenly out of nowhere, the lead detective in a bee colony must find the culprit.
Demon’s Puzzle: A strange jigsaw puzzle holds a horrific secret… In it, a grinning demon holds a girl’s head in its giant mouth.
Forbidden Drawing: A little boy sees a drawing of him in a forbidden book he had found. He is then transported to a never-ending forest, lost forever…
When the Past Comes Back: An adult is being haunted by their younger self.
Beast of the Woods: A reporter goes into the woods where there was a fierce animal attack. In this attack, five women and a little boy were killed. He decides to search for evidence on who this killer creature might be…
Letters of London: A man lives by himself in a flat in London. A mysterious person starts sending him letters which talk about how scary things will happen if he doesn’t leave his flat.
The Ghost in Her Friend’s Mother: A 7 year old girl is having a sleepover at her friend’s house. Her friend’s mom leaves them alone, but they soon find out that she was poisoned, and that a ghost has taken over her body.
Creepy Crawlies in Your Kitchen: The first animal the kids see is a snake that eats people’s brains. It sneaks around in people’s kitchens.
Revolving Nightmares: The story starts off with a character telling the readers about the night he and his parents got stuck in a revolving door. The night would haunt him for the rest of his life.
Tommy’s Window: A long time ago there was a man named Tommy, who was lost in a forest. Tommy thought he heard a ghost calling him. Tommy went in the direction of the noise and found a scary-looking house that has windows that never opened. Tommy finds out that the house belongs to a witch and that if he opens the windows, the witch will turn Tommy into a puppet.
Tommy the Dog: This is a story about a little boy and his dog. The little boy goes to a big park, and he sees a dog that is alone. He walks over to the dog, but it just barks and then runs away. The next day Tommy starts turning into a human-sized dog.

Fear no more! Just use this list of horror writing prompts to start writing your own fantastic horror story! Use any of these scary prompt ideas to take the story from your mind to your computer screen.

Looking for more creepy horror prompts? Check out this list of Halloween writing prompts , as well as this scary Halloween picture prompts .

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What are the 5 elements of a horror story.

Every good horror story contains the following five elements: Character, Setting, Action, Horror and Resolution. You can’t write a good horror without these elements.

How do you write in creepy writing?

To write in creepy writing, you need to immerse yourself in the world of horror. You think to think exactly like your main character or antagonist. Imagine yourself as a ghost, a demon, a monster, or a murderer. You can be a ghost who haunts people in their dreams or a monster who stalks them in the real world. Use extreme details to describe scenes of horror with gory and disgusting elements.

How do you get inspiration for horror?

Most horror stories are based on fear. Think about the things that scare you or haunt you in your nightmares. You can also get inspiration from watching scary movies or reading about scary stories. Finally, horror stories can also be inspired by real-life situations. For example, a girl who is bullied decides to take revenge on her bullies in a gruesome way. Of course, you can also use this list of horror writing prompts to inspire you too!

What are common horror themes?

Horror themes can be based on personal experiences, fears, or nightmares. Here are some common horror themes to explore:

Stalker: Someone who stalks you in your dreams or in the real world.
Monsters: Someone or something who appears to be human, but isn’t.
Revenge: Someone who is still haunted by a past event, and needs to seek revenge to overcome it.
Secrets: A deadly secret that could shake the lives of anyone involved.
Psychopaths: People who just kill or hurt others for the fun of it.

Did you find this list of over 110 horror writing prompts useful? Let us know in the comments below.

Marty the wizard is the master of Imagine Forest. When he's not reading a ton of books or writing some of his own tales, he loves to be surrounded by the magical creatures that live in Imagine Forest. While living in his tree house he has devoted his time to helping children around the world with their writing skills and creativity.

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101 Terrifying Horror Story Prompts

Welcome to the story den of horror, scares, and the macabre.

Most writers are often asked, "Where do you get your ideas from?" A majority of the time, writers find it difficult to answer that question.

We get our ideas from a plethora of sources — news headlines, novels, television shows, movies, our lives, our fears, our phobias, etc. They can come from a scene or moment in a film that wasn't fully explored. They can come from a single visual that entices the creative mind — a seed that continues to grow and grow until the writer is forced to finally put it to paper or screen.

In the spirit of helping writers find those seeds, here we offer 101 originally conceived and terrifying story prompts that you can use as inspiration for your next horror story.

They may inspire screenplays, novels, short stories, or even smaller moments that you can include in what stories you are already writing or what you will create in your upcoming projects.

But beware! If you scare easily — and have active imaginations like most writers do — turn up the lights and proceed with caution...

1. A girl goes missing in the woods, and her parents find only a decrepit and scary doll left behind. They soon learn that the doll is actually their daughter. And she's alive.

2. New residents of an old neighborhood are invited by their friendly neighbors to a Halloween party. The neighbors are vampires.

3. A family dog runs away from home. He returns a year later to the delight of his family. But there's something different about him. Something demonic.

4. A girl goes missing. Fifteen years later, her parents get a call from her older self. But they listen in fear because they killed their daughter that dark night years ago.

5. A man reads a novel, soon realizing that the story is his very own — and according to the book, a killer is looming.

6. A scientist clones his family that died in an airplane crash — but soon learns the repercussions of playing God.

7. A man wakes up bound to an electric chair.

8. A man wakes up in a coffin next to a freshly dead body.

9. A woman wakes up to find her family gone and her doors and windows boarded up with no way to escape.

10. A man afraid of snakes is shipwrecked on an island covered with them.

11. Serial killers worldwide are connected by a dark web website.

12. The world's population is overtaken by vampires — all except one little child.

13. A woman afraid of clowns is forced to work in a traveling circus.

14. An astronaut and cosmonaut are on the International Space Station when their countries go to Nuclear War with each other. Their last orders are to eliminate the other.

15. A treasure hunter finds a tomb buried beneath the dirt.

16. A young brother and sister find an old door in their basement that wasn't there before.

17. Winged creatures can be seen within the storm clouds above.

18. A man wakes up to find a hobo clown staring down at him.

19. Residents of a town suddenly fall dead while the dead from cemeteries around them rise.

20. A doctor performs the first head transplant — things go wrong.

21. A man is texted pictures of himself in various stages of torture that he has no memory of.

22. A girl wakes up to find a little boy sitting on his bed, claiming to be her younger brother — but she never had one.

23. A scare walk in the woods during Halloween is actually real.

24. A bartender serves last call to the only remaining patron, who is the Devil himself.

25. Earth suffers a planet-wide blackout as all technology is lost.

26. A boy's stepfather is actually a murderous werewolf.

27. Something has turned the neighborhood pets into demonic killers.

28. A priest is a vampire.

29. A woman wakes up with no eyes.

30. A man wakes up with no mouth.

31. A monster is terrified by the scary child who lives above his bed.

32. An astronaut jettisoned into the cold of space in a mission gone wrong suddenly appears at the doorstep of his family.

33. A woman answers a phone call only to learn that the voice on the other end is her future self, warning her that a killer is looming.

34. A boy realizes that aliens have replaced his family.

35. A woman wakes up in an abandoned prison that she cannot escape.

36. A bank robber steals from the small town bank that holds the riches of witches.

37. A door-to-door salesman circa the 1950s visits the wrong house.

38. Deceased soldiers return to their Civil War-era homes.

39. Kidnappers abduct the child of a vampire.

40. An innocent circus clown discovers the dark history of the trade.

41. A homeless man is stalked by faceless beings.

42. A spelunker stumbles upon a series of caverns infested with rattlesnakes.

43. A group of friends is forced to venture through a chamber of horrors where only one is promised to survive.

44. He's not the man she thought he was. In fact, he's not a man at all.

45. Suburbia is actually purgatory.

46. Someone discovers that we are all actually robots — who created us and why?

47. She's not an angel. She's a demon.

48. An old shipwreck washes ashore.

49. A sinkhole swallows a house whole and unleashes something from beneath.

50. A man has sleep paralysis at the worst possible time.

51. A woman out hiking is caught in a bear trap as the sun begins to go down.

52. Naked figures with no faces stalk campers in the woods.

53. An astronaut is the sole survivor of a moon landing gone wrong — only to discover that the moon is infested with strange creatures.

54. A woman is wrongfully condemned to an insane asylum.

55. A mother's baby will not leave its womb and continues to grow and grow and grow while doctors try to cut it out but can't.

56. Friends on a road trip stumble upon a backcountry town whose residents all dress up as different types of clowns.

57. Tourists in Ireland retreat to an old castle when the country is taken over by greedy and vengeful leprechauns.

58. A boy on a farm makes a scarecrow that comes alive.

59. A figure dressed in an old, dirty Easter Bunny suit haunts the children of a town.

60. The abused animals of a zoo are unleashed and wreak havoc on a small town.

61. A deceased grandma's old doll collection comes alive.

62. Little Red Riding Hood was a vampire.

63. Somebody clones Hitler and raises him as a white supremacist.

64. A pumpkin patch comes alive — beings with heads of pumpkins and bodies of vines.

65. An endless swarm of killer bees wreaks havoc on the country.

66. Christ returns to Earth — at least that is who people thought he was.

67. A natural anomaly brings all of the country's spiders to a horrified town.

68. A woman finds old 16mm film from her childhood and sees that she had a sister — what happened to her?

69. Something ancient rises from an old pond.

70. A woman suddenly begins to wake up in somebody else's body every morning — each day ends with her being stocked and killed by the same murderer in black.

71. An Artificial Intelligence begins to communicate with a family online, only to terrorize them through their technology.

72. A family buys a cheap house only to discover that an old cemetery is their back yard.

73. Years after the zombie apocalypse subsides, survivors discover that the epidemic was caused by aliens that have appeared to lay claim to the planet.

74. A woman has memories of being abducted by aliens — but she soon learns that they weren't aliens. They were...

75. A boy has a tumor that slowly grows into a Siamese twin — the older they get, the more evil the twin becomes.

76. A cult that worships history's deadliest serial killers begins to kill by copying their methods.

77. Stone gargoyles suddenly appear on the tops of buildings and houses of a small town.

78. A family on a boat trip stumbles upon an old pirate ship.

79. A winter snowstorm traps a family in an abandoned insane asylum.

80. A little girl comes down from upstairs and asks her parents, "Can you hear it breathing? I can."

81. A town is enveloped in unexplained darkness for weeks.

82. A jetliner flies high in the sky as Nuclear War breaks out below.

83. Children discover a deep, dark well in the woods — an old ladder leads down into it.

84. A child sleepwalks into their parent's room and whispers, "I'm sorry. The Devil told me to."

85. As a woman showers, a voice comes from the drain whispering, "I see you."

86. A child finds a crayon drawing of a strange family — it's inscribed with the words we live in your walls .

87. All of the cemetery's graves are now open, gaping holes — the dirt pushed out from underground.

88. A woman is watching a scary movie alone on Halloween night — someone, or something, keeps knocking at her door.

89. Someone is taking a bath as a hand from behind the shower curtain pushes their head into the water.

90. A farmer and his sons begin to hear the laughter of children coming from his fields at night — no children are in sight.

91. Someone looks out their window to see a clown standing at a corner holding a balloon — staring at them.

92. Mannequins in a department store seem to be moving on their own.

93. What if the God people worshiped was really Satan — and Satan had somehow kept God prisoner?

94. A man dies and wakes up in the body of a serial killer — and no matter how hard he tries to stop killing, he can't.

95. A prisoner awakens to find the prison empty — but he's locked in his cell.

96. A woman jogging stumbles upon a dead, bloody body — she then hears a strange clicking sound and looks up to see a dark figure running towards her.

97. A girl hears laughter downstairs — she's the only one home.

98. An Uber driver picks up the wrong person — and may not live to tell the tale.

99. There's someone or something living and moving up in the attic — but it's not a ghost.

100. A child's imaginary friend is not imaginary.

101. The reflections that we see of ourselves in the mirror are actually us in a parallel universe — and they are planning to do whatever it takes to take our place in this world.

Share this with your writing peers or anyone that loves a good scary story.

For some more scares, check out ScreenCraft's 20 Terrifying Two-Sentence Horror Stories and 8 Ways Horror Movies Scare the S*** Out of Audiences!

Sleep well and keep writing.

Once you're inspired, take your idea to the next level and Develop Your Horror Movie Idea in 15 Days .

Ken Miyamoto has worked in the film industry for nearly two decades, most notably as a studio liaison for Sony Studios and then as a script reader and story analyst for Sony Pictures.

He has many studio meetings under his belt as a produced screenwriter, meeting with the likes of Sony, Dreamworks, Universal, Disney, Warner Brothers, as well as many production and management companies. He has had a previous development deal with Lionsgate, as well as multiple writing assignments, including the produced miniseries Blackout , starring Anne Heche, Sean Patrick Flanery, Billy Zane, James Brolin, Haylie Duff, Brian Bloom, Eric La Salle, and Bruce Boxleitner. Follow Ken on Twitter @KenMovies

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Horror Story Ideas: 55+ Scary Writing & Picture Prompts For Your Next Killer Story

When it comes to writing horror stories, the possibilities are endless. From creepy ghosts lurking in dark corners to terrifying monsters waiting in the shadows, there’s no limit to what you can come up with. But coming up with a truly original and frightening plot can be a challenge.

Fortunately, I’m here to help! With my years of experience – and some well-placed references from classic horror films – I’ve come up with some ingenious horror story ideas that blend elements of classic horror with modern-day scares.

So grab a pen and paper (or laptop) and get ready for some spine-tingling fun!

👉 Want more story ideas? Check out our list of 365 Short Story Ideas .

Let’s Talk

Are you a writer aspiring to pen a masterpiece that never fails to captivate? Look no further. Reach out to us and uncover how we can help you to take your writing to unprecedented heights!

What is horror?

Horror is a genre of fiction that aims to instill fear, dread, and terror in its readers. It employs elements like the supernatural, psychological horror, and suspense, horror stories that are designed to make people feel scared or unsettled.

For me, horror means one thing: hours of endless brainstorming for that perfect story idea. You know the one—the kind that will keep people up at night, their minds racing with all sorts of frightening possibilities. It’s a challenge I absolutely love to take on, and one I’m happy to share with you.

What are the Elements of A Horror Story?

It takes more than just a few spooky creatures to craft a good horror story. You’ll need suspense, tension, the unknown, and plenty of jump scares. It also helps if you can build up an atmosphere of terror – think creaky floors, flickering lights, and strange noises at night.

Music is also an important element in horror stories – it can help to create an atmosphere of dread and increase the intensity of scenes. Horror stories often feature protagonists that are either unwilling or unable to fight their fears, leading them into increasingly dangerous situations.

The elements of a horror story typically include:

Atmosphere : An eerie atmosphere can be created through setting and mood.
Suspense/tension : This is the feeling of unease that builds up as the story progresses.
Jump scares : These are sudden, shocking moments meant to startle readers or viewers.
Foreshadowing : This technique hints at what’s to come later in the story.
The supernatural : Supernatural elements, such as ghosts and monsters, can lend a sense of dread and mystery to horror stories.
Common themes : Common themes associated with horror stories include death, revenge, the afterlife, and the unknown.
Psychological horror : This type of horror deals with fear on an emotional level, rather than relying on jump scares or gore.
Gore : While not necessary for a good horror story, gore can be used to create an even more frightening atmosphere.

Head over to our guide on How To Write Gore In Horror: 17 Tips For Writing Terrifyingly Gruesome Scenes .

What’s the Appeal of Horror Stories?

Horror stories have long been a staple of entertainment, with people being drawn to the sense of dread and fear that they evoke. People often seek out horror stories because they can help us process our own fears – whether it’s irrational anxieties or more logical worries about life and death.

Horror stories also provide an escape from the mundane and everyday, allowing us to take a journey into a world of suspense and terror. With horror stories, we can let our imaginations run wild as we explore dark and mysterious places that we might never set foot in real life.

At its core, the appeal of horror stories is the promise of a thrilling adventure — one that will both excite and terrify us in equal measure.

Now, let’s explore some horror and scary story ideas .

55+ Horror Story Ideas

Horror story ideas with a twist.

A babysitter is hired to take care of a small child in an old and eerie mansion. The child’s parents are gone for the night, and the babysitter soon realizes that there is something very wrong with the house – strange noises, flickering lights, and even ghostly apparitions lurking in the shadows. When they finally come face to face with the forces of darkness, can the babysitter make it out alive?

A group of friends decide to spend the weekend camping in a remote forest, far away from civilization. They arrive late at night and set up camp, but as soon as they do, strange things start to happen. The wind howls through the trees as if it is trying to tell them something, and a thick fog begins to roll in. They soon realize that they are not alone in the forest, and something sinister is lurking just beyond their campfire.

A family moves into a new home that has been vacant for years. While exploring the house, the children find an old portrait of a woman who looks strangely familiar. Little do they know, this woman is the ghost of a previous inhabitant – and she is determined to get revenge on anyone who dares to enter her domain.

An amateur filmmaker sets out to make a horror movie with his friends, but soon realizes that the plot he has chosen is disturbingly similar to an unsolved mystery from the past. When their film starts to attract strange and dangerous attention, the group of friends must face a terrifying truth that could cost them their lives.

A young couple decides to take a drive out into the woods late one night. As they explore further, they come across an old abandoned cabin in the middle of nowhere – just when it seems like all hope is lost, a strange figure appears in the doorway. With no way to escape, they must confront their deepest fears in order to survive.

A group of ghost hunters sets out to investigate an old and supposedly haunted castle. As they explore further, they make the startling discovery that something more sinister is at work – something that could cost them their lives.

A high school student discovers a mysterious book in the library that seems to hold all the answers to life’s questions – until they start reading it and realize that it is actually cursed. What dark secrets will be uncovered as they continue to read?

While out exploring, an adventurer stumbles upon a hidden underground city that is inhabited by creatures of the night. With no way out, they must brave the unknown and face their deepest fears in order to survive.

A group of friends decide to spend their summer vacation at a secluded lake house deep in the woods. Little do they know, an ancient evil lurks below the surface – and it is determined to make them its prey.

A family moves into a new home, only to find out it was once the site of a gruesome murder that has never been solved. As they start to explore further, strange occurrences begin to take place – and soon they realize that the spirit of the murderer is still lurking in the shadows.

After being invited on a camping trip, a group of teenagers discovers an old abandoned cabin in the woods. Inside, they find evidence that suggests something sinister has taken place there long ago – and now they must fight to survive against whatever dark force is still present in the cabin.

A caregiver is hired to look after an old Victorian mansion, but soon realizes that there is something very wrong with the house – strange noises, flickering lights, and even ghostly apparitions lurking in the shadows. When they finally come face to face with the forces of darkness, can the babysitter make it out alive?

A group of friends decides to take a road trip, but soon find themselves lost in the middle of nowhere. They come across an old abandoned mansion and decide to explore it, only to discover that something sinister is lurking inside its walls. Will they be able to escape before it’s too late?

More Horror Story Ideas

1. Campfire Tale: A group of campers gather around the fire on a moonless night and tell each other horror stories. Little do they know, there’s an unseen monster lurking in the woods, waiting for its next victim.

2. Grim Reaper: A serial killer is stalking the streets of a small town, leaving behind a trail of bodies with the same strange symbol carved into their chests. Meanwhile, a mysterious figure in a long black cloak stalks the killer wherever they go.

3. Haunted House: On Halloween night, three friends break into an abandoned house and discover its dark secrets.

4. Zombie Apocalypse: A virus has spread throughout the world, turning people into mindless zombies. The survivors must find a way to survive in this new post-apocalyptic world.

5. Witchcraft: A coven of witches is determined to bring about the apocalypse by summoning dark forces from beyond. One brave teen stands up against them and discovers witchcraft is real after all.

6. Alien Invasion: Aliens have invaded Earth and brought with them an army of terrifying monsters. Humanity must band together to save the planet from total destruction.

7. Haunted Hotel: A family checks into a hotel on vacation, only to discover it’s haunted by the ghosts of its past guests.

8. Demon Possession: A teenager finds out they’ve been possessed by a powerful demon, and must battle both the creature inside them as well as the forces outside trying to take it away.

9. Monster Hunter: A group of monster hunters is tasked with finding and destroying an ancient beast before it destroys the world.

10. Time Travel: A scientist experiments with time travel, only to find themselves locked in an endless loop of horror and bloodshed.

11. Witch Hunters: A group of witch hunters must rescue a group of innocent people from the clutches of an evil coven.

12. Creepy Doll: An old, creepy doll comes to life and terrorizes a family in their home.

13. Curse of the Undead: A cursed object brings an ancient evil back from the dead, with terrifying consequences for anyone who possesses it.

14. Haunted School: A group of kids discover that their school is haunted by the ghost of a student who died there years ago.

15. Supernatural Forces: A group of paranormal investigators must uncover the secrets of an old house, where supernatural forces are at work.

16. Evil Scientist: An evil scientist is creating a deadly virus that could wipe out all life on Earth. The only thing standing in their way is a group of brave survivors.

17. Ghost Ship: A mysterious ghost ship appears off the coast, and those who go to investigate find themselves trapped in a nightmare from which they may never escape.

18. Possessed by Evil: A young girl has been possessed by an evil entity, and only a priest can save her.

19. Dark Rituals: A coven of witches is planning a dark ritual to unleash an ancient evil upon the world.

20. Werewolf Curse: A cursed family must fight to break the werewolf curse that has plagued them for generations.

21. Curse of the Mummy: An ancient Egyptian mummy is brought to life and starts to terrorize a museum.

22. Vampires in the City: A group of vampire hunters must protect their city from an army of bloodthirsty vampires.

23. Killer Clowns: A small town is terrorized by a group of killer clowns

24. Witch Trials: A group of innocent people are accused of witchcraft and face trial by fire in a desperate attempt to save themselves from execution.

25. Zombie Island: A group of survivors must battle their way off a zombie-infested island before it’s too late.

26. Demon Lord: An ancient demon lord has been unleashed upon the world and is determined to bring about its destruction.

27. Ghost Town: A small town is overrun by ghosts, and the only way to save it is to uncover the dark secrets that lie beneath.

28. Monster Factory: A mysterious factory is producing monsters and it’s up to a small group of brave adventurers to shut it down before it’s too late.

29. A Magical Portal: A magical portal opens in an abandoned house, leading to a terrifying alternate dimension filled with monsters.

30. Alien Invasion: A strange alien species invades Earth, and humanity must unite to fight them off or face extinction.

31. Dark Mansion: A mysterious mansion is said to be haunted by a powerful evil force, and only the bravest of souls can survive its terrors.

32. Secret Society: A secret society of dark magicians is plotting to take over the world, and a group of brave heroes must stop them before it’s too late.

33. Necromancer: An ancient necromancer has been resurrected and is determined to unleash a plague of darkness upon the world.

34. Vampire Hunter: A brave vampire hunter must battle an army of bloodthirsty vampires in order to save a small town from their evil clutches.

35. Witch’s Curse: An old witch casts a curse on a small town, and the only way to break it is to find the source of her power.

36. Curse of the Vampire: A powerful vampire lord has cursed a family and it’s up to them to find a way to break his spell.

47. Haunted Forest: A group of brave adventurers must venture into a haunted forest and uncover its dark secrets before an evil force can take control.

38. Robot Uprising: A powerful artificial intelligence has declared war on humanity.

39. Curse of the Pharaoh: An ancient pharaoh has been resurrected and is determined to reclaim his kingdom by any means necessary.

40. Ritual Sacrifice: An evil cult is planning a ritual sacrifice, and the only way to stop them is to uncover their sinister plan before it’s too late.

41. Supernatural Powers: A group of teens discover they have supernatural powers

42. Cult Leader: An evil cult leader is determined to spread his dark gospel across the world

48. Evil Wizard: An evil wizard is determined to bring about the end of the world

44. Witch Hunt: A town is terrorized by witch hunters, who are determined to eliminate anyone they deem to be practicing witchcraft.

45. Forbidden Spell: An ancient spell is discovered, and its power threatens to destroy the world if it falls into the wrong hands.

Even More Horror Story Ideas

A family moves into a creepy old house and discovers it is haunted by the ghost of an evil scientist.

A small town is terrorized by a mysterious hooded figure who stalks its streets at night, leaving behind a trail of blood and corpses.

After inheriting a creepy old mansion from her eccentric uncle, a young woman discovers its dark secrets.

An ancient being is released after centuries of imprisonment and goes on a rampage, killing anything in its path.

A family moves into an abandoned house in the countryside only to discover that it has been cursed by something sinister beyond their

A group of teenagers explore an abandoned factory and find themselves being stalked by a dangerous creature.

After entering a mysterious portal, a group of friends finds themselves transported to another world filled with monsters and

A group of kids explore an abandoned mental hospital that has been shut down for decades – only to discover that the place is still inhabited by a mysterious and sinister entity.

A small town experiences a series of bizarre and unexplainable events – from missing persons reports to sightings of strange creatures – leading them to realize they are in the middle of an ancient supernatural battle that threatens their very existence.

Horror Picture Story Ideas And Prompts

Final notes on horror story ideas.

Horror stories have an undeniable allure, especially when they’re based on true events. There’s something about a real-life tragedy – or even just the idea of one – that captivates our imaginations and sends chills down our spines. The same can be said for horror fiction—the more outlandish the tale, the more fun it is to read.

Is it the fear of the unknown? Or is it something more sinister lurking behind the shadows, ready to pounce when you least expect it? No matter what your definition may be, one thing’s for sure – horror stories have been keeping readers on the edge of their seats since time immemorial.

So whether you’re an aspiring author looking for inspiration or a reader who just wants to be scared out of their wits, I’m sure you found these ideas worthwhile.

365 Short Story Ideas
75 Short Story Ideas With A Twist
How to Write A Story In 9 Steps [With Examples & Pictures]
How To Write A Story Outline In 6 Steps [Simple Visual Guide]
What Are The Elements Of A Story? [Explained With Examples]

Chioma Ezeh is an author, digital marketer, business coach, and the founder of chiomaezeh.com, a blog that teaches how to build successful online businesses. Get in touch.

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13 Creative Writing Prompts for Psychological Thrillers and Horror

by Lauren du Plessis @lauren.duplessis

Get inspired for your Halloween writing projects with these warm-up exercises and ideas from pro writers

From campfire tales to creepypastas, scary stories have taken many forms over the years. While a thriller tends to have a fast pace, and horror focuses more on suspense and tone, these two genres have a lot in common, like high tension and unsettling effects.

From haunted houses to serial killers to ancient monsters, there seems to be a limitless well of ideas out there for thriller and horror writers. But if you’re looking for somewhere to start with your Halloween creative writing , we've rounded up 13 prompts shared by professional writers below .

These prompts can be used for any narrative fiction, whether you write short stories, novels, screenplays, or just about anything else .

What is a writing prompt and how do I use it?

Writing prompts are everywhere online nowadays, with sites like Pinterest and Instagram being packed with aesthetically-pleasing bullet point lists of story ideas. They provide a core concept that you can base your own original work around . Not only can this help to beat writer’s block , it can also open your creative mind .

There are many reasons why writers might turn to these exercises. Some choose to do “morning pages”, or free writing sessions to warm up, with no intention of showing the work to anyone. Others might be looking for fresh ideas during the research phase for a project they hope to work on. Finally, some might use writing prompts for fun, trying them out with friends or a workshop to find out how everyone responds differently.

Emily Barr shares her writing tips in a course on psychological thrillers, which you can find at the bottom of this post.

Halloween creative writing prompts

It’s the perfect time of year to get cozy at your desk or in a café, and lose yourself in composing a spooky story. That’s why we teamed up with some of Domestika’s writing teachers to get you started with creepy characters, scary scenery, and unsettling situations .

Our three teachers are screenwriter and indie author Mark Boutros ( @mboutroswrites ), who wrote The Craft of Character ; award-winning novelist Emily Barr ( @emily_barr ), who writes thrillers for adults and young adults; and Raquel Castro ( @raquelcastrom ), author of teen horror novels, essays, short stories, and much more.

Without further ado, find their prompts below, and start writing!

Opening sentence prompts

Let’s start with two chilling opening scenes from Mark, which could form the beginnings of a “whodunnit” or mystery thriller. Try considering what plot beats or key moments would follow, and what the end point might be.

1. Sarah searched through the final dusty box, the last of her dead mother's belongings, and while she couldn't find her mother's will, there was a photo album, and in it, several photos of her mother with a child that wasn't Sarah nor her sister, Bronagh.

2. He hadn't had any visitors for years, ever since he'd told everyone in the village exactly how he felt about how they'd treated his wife before she passed away. So who could be ringing the doorbell at this hour? He limped towards it, his slipper souls slapping against the wooden floor. He called out but nobody answered, so he opened the door forcefully, but nobody was there in the darkness, but on the doorstep, a cassette with a sticker and a nickname he hadn't heard since school, 'Stinger', written on it.

Meanwhile, Emily offers this intriguing opener...

3. I was sleeping soundly, for the first time in years, when I was woken by a bang on the door, an urgent shout, and barking dogs.

Raquel Castro's course covers how to write horror for a younger audience.

Setting and situation prompts

Here, think about your own strong opening image, then consider whether flashbacks, dialogue, or action scenes will reveal key information.

Raquel shares three imaginative exercises.

4. A certain classic horror story starts with the words “It was a dark and stormy night”. But how exactly does a “dark and stormy night” look? Describe it in as much detail as possible.

5. Imagine you are in a place where you usually feel comfortable and safe. Only now it’s totally in the dark. There’s no light that you could use. And then, you hear a noise that frightens you because it seems completely out of place there. What was that noise? What could be its source?

6. Look around your neighborhood and find a place that looks strange or eerie. Dream up (and then write) a story that could be told as the disturbing legend of that place.

7. Imagine that, near a crime scene, you find a backpack. When you open it, you sense it belongs to the criminal. Why is that? What does the backpack look like, and what’s inside it?

Emily offers the following ideas…

8. You go to visit your friend, but the person who opens the door tells you your friend moved away ten years ago. That can’t be true, because you saw them last week.

9. You’re standing at the top of a tall building, clinging on to a window frame to stop yourself falling, and you don’t know you got there.

10. You’re walking in your neighborhood, when a stranger hands you a package. You take it without thinking, and are immediately arrested.

11. You’re staying in a secluded holiday cottage by the beach. On the first morning you go out onto the terrace, and find that someone has spelt out the word MURDERER in stones on the ground. How did they know?

Finally, Mark offers these two prompts…

12. A young girl who keeps seeing a black, mangy dog every night when she looks outside the farmhouse window, ever since she overheard her parents discussing divorce.

13. A man in a broken marriage walks along a quiet beach when he finds a message in a bottle. It simply reads: Kill her.

These protagonists appear to hold dark secrets, or stand on the edge of huge discoveries. If you choose to turn one of these prompts into a story, feel free to link it in the comments below!

Craft chilling stories with these writing resources

If you’re keen to start but want a step-by-step guide to help you become a confident storyteller, check out these resources.

1. Master the tension and big reveals of horror writing for teens with this introductory course by Raquel Castro.

2. Character is key: learn about motivations, arcs, and more in this character development course by Mark Boutros.

3. To learn how to weave travel-inspired thriller narratives , discover Emily Barr’s course on psychological thrillers .

4. Unmask your fearless creativity with this Halloween-inspired Domestika courses pack .

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Writing Advice & Epic Fiction

19 Current Resources for Horror Fiction Writers

Because of its long and bloody history, and its mass appeal, it’s not easy to break new ground in the Horror genre.

New horror writers must be aware of the numerous tropes, themes, and key storytelling elements that have haunted horror authors for centuries.

People want to read fresh new stories, not the same old tropes that have been beaten to death.

This is intended to be a resource guide for Horror Writers. With this you will know how to write terrifying stories that claw into the hearts (and brains) of your readers:

What is Horror?

“I do not love men: I love what devours them.” – André Gide

Horror is, above all other things, about evoking feelings of fear or dread.

It does not have to have thrills and “jump scares.” It does not have to be about monsters, demons, and evil deities.

You could have a horror about a cubicle employee, filled with dread about a wave of downsizing that he knows is coming .

Horror is a Genre. But it Also Transcends Genre.

You can have horror elements in almost any story or piece of writing.

Anything from the terrifying beating scenes in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass to the teenage dread of death in The Fault in Our Stars can be considered horror.

Most great novels have at least one scene that I would firmly classify as “Horror.”

When you understand how to write horror, you’ll find a use for it in almost every story you write.

19 Resources That Will Make You a Better Horror Writer

There are only two ways (that I know of that) to become a better writer:

Write more.

So, this list is broken up into two chunks: resources that specifically focus on improving your horror writing abilities…

…and resources for reading some of the best, contemporary horror fiction out there right now.

The former will directly improve your writing abilities. The latter will show you what the market is currently looking for – and, if you read widely enough, you might find a niche that hasn’t been filled yet.

In this list you will find:

Horror podcasts
Online Horror fiction collections
Publications looking for Horror Authors
And various other Horror blogs, websites, etc.

Resources for Writing Better Horror

1. the writing excuses podcast.

I strongly recommend the episodes from Seasons 3 – 10.

These are great authors, slightly geeky, and most of them are successful. They have great interviews, great editing, and it’s just a pleasure to listen and learn from them … especially the earlier seasons.

One of the creators of the Writing Excuses podcast, Dan Wells , found his success as a Horror Writer.

Notable episodes:

What Makes a Good Monster?
The Horror Genre as an Element

2. How to Avoid the Old Horror Cliches

Sick of the same ol’ vampires and boogiemen?

Afraid that you, yourself, might be using old horror cliches ?

This quick article from Writer’s Digest will give you a few tips on avoiding them. Mostly, the advice boils down to “read more” and “understand why common horror themes are common.”

3. Tips to Get Your Horror Novel Published

Want to get published?

Heading to a big publishing house is no longer the only way. Self-publishing works.

Here’s how horror author Todd Keisling self-published and grew his audience through word of mouth, and broke out as a horror author.

Everything on this page is extremely valuable insight, particularly for newer authors.

4. Lovecraft’s Essay on the Rules of Writing Horror

One of my favorite horror authors. (Except for the blatant racism).

H.P. Lovecraft may not be a master of Horror by today’s standards, but his work paved the way for so much that is great about the genre. Here is his essay on the rules of writing horror , or what he calls “weird fiction.”

If you haven’t heard of Lovecraft, he was the king of Eldritch Horror (ancient evils, old ones, and the idea that simply seeing something so evil could drive a man mad).

5. 11 Tips from 11 Horror Writers

LitReactor put together a collection of quotes from some notable Horror Authors.

This is a quick, inspiring read that might give you that extra little nudge if you feel like your story isn’t quite “horrifying” enough.

6. An Interview With Stephen King

Here’s a 25-minute interview with one of the masters of horror , Stephen King.

King is a strangely humble genius, and his advice is crucial to newer authors. If you’re looking for something to read, King is amazing at creating horrifying villains .

7. Screenplays: Horror Writing Advice for Film

Even if you don’t write screenplays, you’ve probably been inspired by the great horror movies.

This is an excellent blog post that will remind you of a few important elements to creating a great Horror story. Of course, it’s directed at the film crowd, but the ideas work for every writer.

It covers structure, emotions, atmosphere – and where to start with your writing.

8. What One Horror Author Wishes He Knew as a Beginner

Horror author Tim Waggoner has over 50 published novels, and has earned the Bram Stoker Award for Horror.

In this interview , he breaks down everything- everything -he wishes he knew as a beginner, including…

Why you MUST do something different with your tropes
Why Horror fictions needs an emotional core (and how to find yours)
How Horror isn’t about monsters, it’s about internalized fears

This article is incredible for new horror authors.

9. Elements of a Good Horror Story

What makes great horror fiction?

Horror Writer C. M. Humphries outlines the 5 elements he likes to see in a Horror story, and talks about how writers can create those elements.

10. Why People Love Horror

If you’re a horror writer, who is your audience? Why do they want to be terrified?

This article from the Nerdist muses on what kind makes people fall in love with Horror.

11. A Handful of Links for Horror Writers

Aptly named “ Really Useful Links for Horror Writers ,” this one is a quick aggregate of some of the most popular horror writing tips on the web.

My biggest gripe with the list is the 25 Horror Writing Tips from Chuck Wendig. There’s something about his blogging style that I find frustratingly unenjoyable. He has so much personality… but it’s not for me.

12. Dehumanization and Monsters (A Literary Look at Horror)

Want to elevate your horror stories to the next level?

Want to go beyond simple jump scares and frightening plots?

Here’s a fantastic, literary look at monstrosity in literature , and what really gets the human psyche sucked into horror stories. Read this, and you’ll have a few new ideas on how to sink your writing teeth into readers’ minds long after they finish your books.

Best Places to Read, Listen to, or Publish Horror Fiction Online

13. nightmare magazine.

Nightmare Magazine is consistently high-quality horror. They have tons of Horror short stories for free – you can even listen to some of them via Podcast.

These are new horror stories told by professional authors. Most of them also deal with social justice issues in a tangential way.

14. Apex Magazine

Another professional-grade magazine that made it into the Digital Age.

Apex is a little different than everything else on this list – they print “ science fiction, fantasy, horror, and mash-ups of all three.”

However, they’ve showcased some rising names in Horror, so I figured they belong here. You can read many of these stories online for free .

15. Weird Tales Radio

“Your fortnightly fix,” of horror, weird, and magic.

Weird Tales is a folklore show about … well, about the Weird. Paranormal, haunted, and with just the right amount of melodrama.

16. r/NoSleep

Reddit is one of the best time waster’s on the internet.

But it’s also a great place for people to share their writing.

One of the best subreddits for horror? A little place called r/NoSleep. Many of the more popular posts have gone on to publish books. It’s kind of like a crucible for writers.

Here, you’ll find stories ranging from several hundred words… to several hundred pages.

17. Spine-tingling Podcasts (via Vox)

Vox curated a list of their favorite horror podcasts to get you in the mood for Halloween.

Many of these are one-off podcasts, so you can think of them as campfire stories, rather than “serious literature.”

18. Even More Spine-tingling Podcasts

Just in case you’re starving for more Horror Podcasts…

Player.FM updates their list pretty regularly.

From this list: I’m a big fan of Last Podcast on the Left . They take horrifying serial killers and other weird stories and they add a comical spin… because the reality is terrifying.

19. CreepyPasta

Creepy Pasta is a blanket term for creepy internet folktales (that is, folktales that spread through the internet, instead of around the campfire).

If you’ve ever heard of the Slender Man , it’s probably because of Creepy Pasta.

There are numerous places to read Creepy Pasta – and I highly recommend it. These are some of the best Horror Micro-fiction stories around. Try starting with CreepyPasta.com or the CreepyPasta Wiki .

Conclusion: …at the Mountains of Madness…

Whether you just like reading it…

Or you’ve got demons that can only be exorcised by putting them on a page…

Horror is one of the most rewarding genres in fiction. Hopefully, with these resources, you will have at least 19 more reasons to go and explore that which terrifies.

Read Next: The 13 Best YouTube Channels for Writers

How to Choose the Right Novel Software – Interview with Katja Kaine from The Novel Factory

The daily routine of a full-time author, 4 thoughts on “19 current resources for horror fiction writers”.

Bookmarked this. Thank you!

Pingback: The 3 Vital Keys to Every Great Horror Story | P. S. Hoffman

Pingback: 21 Writing Tips from My Last 21 Drafts | P. S. Hoffman

This is an excellent resource. Thank you!

Essays on Horror

The importance of writing an essay on horror.

Writing an essay on horror is essential for several reasons, as it allows individuals to explore the genre's significance, impact, and cultural relevance. Horror literature, films, and art have long been integral parts of human culture, reflecting societal fears, anxieties, and taboos. By delving into the genre through essays, individuals can gain a deeper understanding of its complexities and contributions to literature, cinema, and art.

One of the primary reasons for writing an essay on horror is to explore fear and its profound effect on human psychology and society. Horror confronts us with our deepest fears and forces us to confront the darker aspects of human nature. By analyzing horror works, individuals can gain insights into human behavior, emotions, and the human condition itself.

Furthermore, essays on horror allow us to understand the cultural and social dynamics that shape the genre. Horror often reflects the fears and anxieties prevalent in society during specific historical periods. By examining horror works within their cultural contexts, individuals can gain valuable insights into societal norms, values, and concerns.

Moreover, writing essays on horror provides an opportunity to examine the literary and cinematic techniques used to evoke fear and suspense. From Gothic literature to contemporary horror films, the genre employs a wide range of stylistic devices, symbolism, and narrative structures to create chilling experiences for audiences. By analyzing these techniques, individuals can deepen their appreciation for the artistry and craftsmanship behind horror works.

Essays on horror also challenge assumptions and stereotypes associated with the genre. While horror is often dismissed as mere entertainment or dismissed as lowbrow, it encompasses a diverse range of themes, styles, and perspectives. By critically evaluating horror works, individuals can challenge preconceived notions and recognize the genre's artistic and intellectual merits.

Finally, writing essays on horror encourages individuals to engage in meaningful discussions about important societal issues. Horror often addresses topics such as power dynamics, gender roles, identity, and morality in thought-provoking ways. By analyzing these themes in horror works, individuals can contribute to broader conversations about culture, politics, and human nature.

Writing essays on horror is essential for gaining insights into the genre's significance, exploring fear and humanity, understanding cultural dynamics, examining artistic techniques, challenging stereotypes, and engaging in meaningful discussions. Through thoughtful analysis and reflection, individuals can appreciate the richness and complexity of horror as a genre and its enduring impact on literature, cinema, and art.

What makes a good Horror essay topic

When it comes to choosing a horror essay topic, it's important to consider what will captivate and engage your audience. To brainstorm and choose an essay topic, start by considering your own interests and fears. What scares you? What keeps you up at night? These personal experiences can serve as a great starting point for a horror essay topic. Additionally, consider the cultural and societal fears that are prevalent in today's world. What are people afraid of? These considerations can help you choose a horror essay topic that is relevant and thought-provoking. A good horror essay topic should be intriguing, thought-provoking, and capable of eliciting strong emotions from the reader.

Best Horror essay topics

The psychological impact of isolation in horror films
The role of the supernatural in modern horror literature
The evolution of the zombie in popular culture
The use of sound and music in creating horror in film
The portrayal of mental illness in horror movies
The significance of setting in gothic horror literature
The cultural significance of urban legends in modern society
The symbolism of monsters in horror literature
The impact of technology on the horror genre
The intersection of horror and comedy in film
The role of gender in horror storytelling
The influence of folklore on modern horror narratives
The portrayal of fear in contemporary horror literature
The impact of censorship on the horror genre
The representation of trauma in horror films
The use of suspense in horror storytelling
The depiction of evil in horror literature
The role of religion in horror narratives
The use of body horror in contemporary cinema
The impact of social media on horror storytelling

Horror essay topics Prompts

Write a horror story from the perspective of the monster.
Imagine a world where everyone's deepest fears come to life - what would this look like?
Write a horror essay exploring the concept of "survival horror" in video games.
Create a horror story set in a haunted house, but with a unique twist.
Write an essay analyzing the role of the final girl in slasher films and its impact on gender representation in horror.

The Babadook: a Psychological Analysis

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Godzilla Movies: Analyzing The Horror Genre Through Theoretical Lenses

Life lesson in reality through horror movies, analysis of the evolution of vampires approaching the twenty-first century, representation of white supremacy in the movie "get out", the film ‘psycho’ by alfred hitchcock, exploring the gothic horror of tim burton, fear and fantasy: intersections of horror and sexuality in bastard out of carolina, theory about horror films popularity, the cabinet of dr. caligari: and the features of expressionism, dark theme in 'it comes at night', tutsi and hutu differences and genocide in "hotel rwanda" by terry george, summary of the movie "the silence of the lambs", portrayal of the civil war horrors in nigeria in tears of the sun, a movie by antoine fuqua, a review of jen frankel’s tale "undead redhead", analysis of the lowest animal by mark twain, review of tim burton’s film edward scissorhands, the horror genre's attractive characteristics, the ways transformations play a role in stories meant to scare us, cozy facade, hidden horrors, the abject in horror film.

Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes.

Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apocalyptic events, and religious or folk beliefs. Cinematic techniques used in horror films have been shown to provoke psychological reactions in an audience.

Body horror, Comedy horror, Folk horror, Found footage horror, Gothic horror, Natural horror, Slasher film, Supernatural horror, Teen horror, Psychological horror.

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Scriptwriting

How to Write Horror — Horror Writing Tips for Fiction & Film

Best Horror Movies of All Time
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Midsommar Script PDF Download
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S o, you want to learn how to write a good horror story? Whether you want to know how to write a horror movie or how to write a horror book, the four steps outlined in this guide will get you started on the appropriate course of action and help you to align your creative goals. Writing horror isn’t all that different from writing for other genres, but it does require the right mindset and a creepy destination to work towards. Before we jump into the first of our four steps, let’s begin with a primer.

How to write horror

Before you get started.

The steps outlined in this ‘how to write horror’ guide assume that you already have a grasp over the fundamentals of writing. If you do not yet understand the basic mechanics of prose, screenwriting , or storytelling, then you might not get everything you need out of this guide. Luckily, we have a litany of informative resources that can bring you up to speed on everything you need to know.

If you intend to tell the horror story you have in mind as a screenplay, then the best way to fast track your screenwriting education might be to read through some of the best screenwriting books or to enroll in one of the best online screenwriting courses .

Our guide to writing great scenes is another good place to start, and our glossary of screenwriting vocabulary is a great resource if you encounter any unfamiliar terminology. When you’re ready to start writing, you can get going for free in StudioBinder’s screenwriting software .

Now, we’re ready to jump into step one of our how to write horror guide. But, be warned, if you don’t already have a basic story concept in mind, you should consider that Step Zero.

There’s no concrete way to generate story ideas, but you can always look to creative writing prompts and indie films to kickstart inspiration .

HOW TO WRITE A HORROR MOVIE

Step 1: research and study.

Writing horror often begins by consuming great horror . We look to the stories of the past when crafting the stories of the present. Someone who has never read a horror novel or seen a horror film is going to have a much harder time writing horror than someone who is a voracious consumer of horror stories. By watching and reading, you can pick up plenty of tips for writing scary stories.

Before writing your opening line, be sure to do your research. It can be worthwhile to explore all manner of horror media. But for the purposes of this step, it’s best to focus in on the type of material you wish to create.

If you want to learn how to write a horror novel, then read as many horror novels as you can get your hands on. Our list of the greatest horror films ever made is a good place to conduct your research if you plan to write a horror screenplay. You can also check out our rundown of underrated horror films for even more research.

Here are tips on how to write horror from the master himself, Stephen King. And, while you're at it, might as well catch up on the best Stephen King movies and TV based on his work!

How to write good horror • Stephen King offers horror writing tips

It’s important to go beyond simply reading and watching horror and to begin to analyze the material. Drill down into why certain decisions were made by the writer and try to figure out why certain elements work or don’t work. It can often be worthwhile to explore material you consider bad as well as what you consider good, so you can learn what not to do.

Check out our analysis of Midsommar below for an example of how you can break down and explore the horror films that inspire you. You can also download the Midsommar script as a PDF to analyze the writing directly. You should check out our Best Horror Scripts post for more iconic script PDFs.

Midsommar Script Teardown - Full Script Download App Tie-In - StudioBinder

How to Write Horror • Read Full Midsommar Script

When consuming material to learn how to write a horror story, pay particular attention to the pacing and structure of the stories you’re inspired by. For example, if the style you find yourself most drawn to is slow-burn horror, then you might want to aim for a much slower pace than average with your story as well, but the build-up will become even more important.

Horror story writing

Step 2: decide your type of horror.

So, you’ve decided you’re writing horror, congratulations, you’ve settled on a genre. Now, it’s time to pick your sub-genre (s) and to decide on the specific avenue of horror to explore. There are many horror sub-genres to choose from. Just take a look at our ultimate guide to movie genres for quick rundown. And, check out the video below to see horror sub-genres ranked.

Ranking subgenres for inspiration • Horror story writing

Keep in mind that genres and subgenres can be mixed and matched in a multitude of combinations. For example, The Witch blends together the horror and historical fiction genres. From Dusk Till Dawn fuses action, crime-thriller, and vampire elements. And Shaun of the Dead fuses the horror and comedy genres by way of the zombie subgenre.

Our video essay below offers insights into Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright’s creative process. Check out our ranking of Edgar Wright’s entire filmography if you want even more.

How Edgar Wright writes and directs his movies • Subscribe on YouTube

Step Two is also the time to decide on the specific avenue you will exploit when writing horror. By “avenue of horror,” we mean the primary source(s) of tension and scares. Witches? Zombies? Cosmic horror? Body Horror ? Social Horror? These are all different avenues that your horror story can take on, and just like with genres and sub-genres, mixing and matching is encouraged.

A horror story that exploits kills and gore as its avenue of horror will be written in a much different manner than one that focuses on a sense of creeping dread and leaves more to the viewer or reader’s imagination.

What is a Giallo film? →
The Best Christmas Horror Movies →
How to Master a Storyboard like Jordan Peele →

Step 3: Mine your fears and phobias

You have decided on your genre and your avenue of horror, now it’s time to get more specific and drill deeper. For Step Three, go beyond asking what makes a story scary and instead figure out what makes your story frightening.

Depending on what you chose in Step Two, this might already be baked into your sub-genre and avenue of horror. For example, the home invasion sub-genre by nature mines a very real phobia that many people share.

The best home invasion films

However, if you chose to go with the zombie subgenre for example, you may need to work a little harder to discover what it is about your story that will scare audiences. Zombies on their own certainly hold the potential to be frightening, but audience overexposure to them throughout the years has gone a long way to lessen the scary impact they once had.

For examples of how to do it right, check out our rundown of the best zombie films ever made . And, for a different yet equally effective take on the sub-genre, check out our list of the best zombie comedies .

How to write a horror story • Exploit common phobias

The above video breaks down the statistics surrounding a number of phobias. One common piece of writerly wisdom is “write what you know.” When writing in the horror genre, we can tweak that advice to, “write what scares you.” Mine your own fears and phobias when crafting your horror story; there are sure to be others out there who get creeped out by the same things.

This is also the step where you should try to discover your X-factor. What is it that sets your story apart from similar horror stories? If the answer is “nothing really,” then it might be time to take your concept back to the drawing board.

How to write a horror story

Step 4: keep your audience in mind.

From this point on, you are ready to start writing your horror story. Much of the writing process will be carried out in the same way as you would write a story in any other genre. But there are a few extra considerations. Put all that research you did in step one to work and ensure that your prose or screenwriting is well balanced and doles out the scares at a good pace.

You will want to find a good middle ground between sacrificing story and character development and going too long without something to keep your audience creeped out.

Narrative pacing is important in every genre, but horror writers also need to worry about pacing their scares, similar to how someone writing an action film needs to deliberately pace out their big action sequences.

How to write a horror story • Keep pacing in mind

Decide on who your target audience is from the jump and keep them in mind while you write. There can be a significant difference between horror aimed at teens vs. horror aimed at a mature audience. In film, this can mean the difference between shooting for a PG-13 rating instead of an R rating.

In fiction, this decision might manifest as a plan to market directly toward the young-adult crowd. Horror aimed at children, like Frankenweenie or The Nightmare Before Christmas , is drastically different from other types of horror aimed at older audiences.

Use your target audience as a guiding star that informs all of your narrative decisions as you write. Now, it’s time to put everything you just learned about how to write good horror stories to use.

The Greatest Horror Movies Ever Made

If you are stuck on step one and looking to find some inspiration, our list of the greatest horror films ever made is a great place to look. You are sure to find something to get your creative juices flowing within this lengthy list. Writing great horror starts with consuming great horror, coming up next.

Up Next: Best Horror Movies of All Time →

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50 Fiction Writing Prompts and Ideas to Inspire You to Write

Hannah Yang

How fiction writing prompts can help writers, top 50 fiction writing prompts, how prowritingaid can help with fiction writing, conclusion on fiction writing prompts and ideas.

Have you ever wanted to write a story but had no idea what to write about?

If you’re familiar with that feeling, you’re not alone. At some point in their lives, every writer has sat down in front of a blank page with no idea what to write next.

When you’re in that situation, it might be helpful to look at a list of potential story ideas. A great prompt can help kick-start your creativity and get you in the mood for writing again.

In this article, we’ll give you all our favorite fiction writing prompts to inspire you to write.

There are countless ways fiction writing prompts can benefit you. Here are a few reasons you might want to use a writing prompt:

To start a new short story or novel

To practice writing in a new genre or writing style so you can expand your skill set and try something new

To warm up at the beginning of each writing session

To make sure you’re in a creative state of mind when you tackle your existing writing projects

So, pick up a pen and a notebook, and let’s get started!

Here are 50 fantastic fiction writing prompts that will help you start your next story. To help you choose a prompt that excites you, we’ve split them into several categories: fantasy, sci-fi, mystery, romance, and contemporary.

Fantasy Prompts

You’ve inherited your grandfather’s antique shop, and you’re surprised to find strange objects with magical powers inside.

You set out to break the curse that’s followed your family for generations.

You can see visions of the future, but you learned long ago to keep them to yourself. Now, you have to speak up or risk losing everything you love.

You work for a zoo filled with magical creatures.

You’re a lawyer in a fantasy world, and your job is to negotiate contracts between the humans and the gods.

A company harvests dragon scales, unicorn hair, and other magical items to sell for profit.

You find a portal to a fantasy world in your backyard.

You find a magical item that will make all your wishes come true—but it’s extremely literal in its interpretations.

A supernatural monster kidnaps your best friend. You set out to rescue her.

Your parents gave different aspects of their magical powers to each of their children. Compared to your siblings, you definitely got the short end of the stick.

Sci-fi Prompts

Write an adaptation of your favorite classic tale—in space.

Aliens come to Earth, but they’re here for reasons no one expected.

Scientists have found ways to transfer memories between different people. You're the first person to sell all of yours.

Write about an entire world where people can buy and sell years of their lives.

What would happen if you woke up in someone else’s body and they woke up in yours?

You live in a moon colony surrounded by high walls. One day, someone breaches the walls.

Your parents send you to a summer camp filled with time travelers.

You accidentally stumble through a portal to a parallel universe where everything is the same as our universe, except for one key difference.

In a world where everyone’s DNA is genetically engineered to best suit their roles in the community, you have to hide that your DNA doesn’t match your chosen career.

You land on a new planet and realize the plants there are more intelligent than humans.

Write like a bestselling author

Love writing? ProWritingAid will help you improve the style, strength, and clarity of your stories.

Mystery Prompts

You wake up with no memory of who you are, except for a single name.

Every day, a strange drawing appears in your mailbox, and they get more and more disturbing.

You receive a letter inviting you to a free weekend getaway, and you have no idea who the host is.

Your father is keeping something strange in the attic.

A man throws an elaborate party in an attempt to conceal a crime.

You realize you’ve been sleepwalking every night, and you have no idea what your sleeping self has been up to.

You thought your husband was dead. So why is he still writing you letters?

Your brother was murdered years ago. The police have stopped investigating, but you’re still looking for the killer.

Two friends discover a serial killer's secret hideout.

A young woman discovers a frightening secret while she's on her first hunting trip with her husband's family.

Romance Prompts

Two soldiers on different sides of a war develop feelings for each other.

A member of the royal family falls in love with her bodyguard.

You’ve resigned yourself to a loveless arranged marriage, but fate has other plans.

You’ve had a crush on your best friend your entire life. Now, he’s about to get married to someone else.

You go on a first date and find yourself stuck in a time loop, so you have to keep going on that date over and over.

Two rivals have to pretend to be in a relationship—and end up accidentally falling for each other.

After a bad breakup, you move to a new town—and find yourself attracted to your next-door neighbor.

When two exes are forced to work together, they rekindle old feelings.

You fall in love with someone from a different dimension, so you can only see each other once a year when the portal opens.

After your plane crash-lands on a deserted island, you develop a bond with one of the other survivors.

Contemporary Prompts

Write an adaptation of your favorite classic tale set in the town you grew up in.

Two best friends go on a road trip and encounter a problem they never expected.

An adopted orphan goes on a journey to reconnect with her birth family.

You’re told a family secret that changes everything you think you know about your life.

A group of friends takes a practical joke too far, leading to disaster.

A college student creates an invention for a technology class and accidentally goes viral.

A painter in her early eighties struggles with her slow descent into blindness.

A couple breaks up, but the ramifications of their breakup follow them for decades.

A carefree playboy is forced to adopt a child, which changes his whole life.

You’re framed for a crime you didn’t commit, and nobody believes you’re innocent—except for your estranged sister.

No matter what type of story you’re writing, ProWritingAid is a great tool to help you make your writing shine.

ProWritingAid will suggest ways to improve various weaknesses in your writing, such as grammar mistakes, repetitive words, passive voice, unnecessary dialogue tags, and more.

You can even tell ProWritingAid what type of fiction you’re writing, such as fantasy or historical fiction, to get customized suggestions that match your genre.

There you have it—our complete list of the best fiction writing prompts to inspire you to write.

Try out your favorite one, and see if you can turn it into a unique story.

Good luck, and happy writing!

Hannah is a speculative fiction writer who loves all things strange and surreal. She holds a BA from Yale University and lives in Colorado. When she’s not busy writing, you can find her painting watercolors, playing her ukulele, or hiking in the Rockies. Follow her work on hannahyang.com or on Twitter at @hannahxyang.

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Home Essay Samples Literature

Essay Samples on Horror

Horror story about the halloween.

One Halloween night my 3 friends and I decided to go trick or treating. This was my first night out on Halloween and I was honestly ecstatic. Our parents had informed us to not stay out for too long and emphasized we only stay in...

Bad Memories

Fantastique Aspects In Guy De Maupassant Horror Story Le Horla

Le Horla, written by the popular French writer Guy de Maupassant, is a horror story composed of fantasy. There are two versions in which the story has been framed, both describing the thoughts of a man who is completely convinced that an 'invisible being' is...

Review of one of the Most Iconic Horror Movies, Jaws

'Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...' If you've ever heard this phrase then you know it's synonymous with the film franchise Jaws. More specifically, in this review, I'd like to discuss the original film. Released forty-four years ago...

Horror Movies

The Shining Film Analysis: Music and Sound

The use of music and sound is an integral part of horror movies, and The Shining is no exception. The Shining film analysis essay will explore the various methods and reasons for the use of music and sound in The Shining. The film, directed by...

Film Analysis
The Shining

Brave New World: The Horrors of Totalitarian Government

Imagine your life controlled by someone you didn’t know, your every move watched and judged as if what you were doing was wrong. In the book “Brave New World” characters are forced to abide be the rules of the government with no control over their...

Brave New World

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The Origins Behind Many Vampire and Horror Stories

Horror movies, scary stories or anything related to ghosts: we all love to be scared sometimes! The ten places we have selected for you take us beyond fiction, All these places have the reputation of being haunted and would make the most adventurous trip! Sensitive...

An Overview of Zombies: Epidemiology of Fear

This article aimed to rationale how science fiction content describe and illustrate human culture through zombies. There was no formal concept of probability in Europe prior to the mid-17th century [3], despite the idea of randomized objects was already commonly seen. Asides from the first...

The Variation of Horror Genre and Its Examples

When I was a kid, I used to hate horror films, as the matter of fact, I refuse to watch them as I didn’t fathom why would anyone purposely scare themselves. For many people, horror movies are a horrendous experience. They hate to see graphic...

A Personal Theory of Aesthetic Horror

A fear or paranoia of pain, vulnerability and death, the feeling that someone is watching you, the feeling that your life is in jeopardy. Aesthetic horror is the same feeling as horror but through what we see. It is similar to horror because it is...

The Debate About the Horror Genre as Appropriate to Children

Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice! Everyone remembers the iconic 1980s movie Beetlejuice. This classic horror movie has been enjoyed by many kids and adults for years now. Beetlejuice is not the only iconic horror movie that is enjoyed by all age ranges. Gremlins another class favorite is...

Edgar Allan Poe: Life of The Most Famous Horror Author

Edgar Allan Poe born in Boston in 1809, Edgar Allan Poe was the second son of David Poe, who died before Edgar was three years old. Next years his mother died. He was taken by a wealthy Virginia merchant named John Allan - who gave...

Edgar Allan Poe

The Life of Edgar Allan Poe

Introduction Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston Massachusetts On January 19, 1809. Edgar Allan Poe had imaginative way of storytelling, tales of mystery and horror gave birth to the modern detective story. Poe never really knew his parents Elizabeth Arnold Poe, and his father...

An Observation of a Student Towards Mystery Horror Game: A Case Study

This thesis is based on research in observing on a frightening reaction of Akademi Seni, Budaya dan Warisan Kebangsaan student, and their experience while they are still playing the ‘SULUH’ Game. Their story is then captured into digital form and with the result of the...

Observation
Video Games

Shaun of the Dead and Tucker and Dale vs Evil: The Mix of Horror and Comedy

Horror and Comedy are complete opposites, yet they seem to work rather well together. The genre of horror-comedy was first introduced into film in 1922, with D.W. Griffith’s One Exciting Night. And since then, countless comedy horror films have been made. The thing is, both...

The In-Depth Meaning and Definition of Horror Genre

With frightful films about vampires, werewolves, and zombies earning so much attention in this last number of decades and new cinematic bloodbaths releasing regularly, the culture appetite for horror raises a question, why do people enjoy the feeling of being terrified? Watching horror is more...

Best topics on Horror

1. Horror Story About The Halloween

2. Fantastique Aspects In Guy De Maupassant Horror Story Le Horla

3. Review of one of the Most Iconic Horror Movies, Jaws

4. The Shining Film Analysis: Music and Sound

5. Brave New World: The Horrors of Totalitarian Government

6. The Origins Behind Many Vampire and Horror Stories

7. An Overview of Zombies: Epidemiology of Fear

8. The Variation of Horror Genre and Its Examples

9. A Personal Theory of Aesthetic Horror

10. The Debate About the Horror Genre as Appropriate to Children

11. Edgar Allan Poe: Life of The Most Famous Horror Author

12. The Life of Edgar Allan Poe

13. An Observation of a Student Towards Mystery Horror Game: A Case Study

14. Shaun of the Dead and Tucker and Dale vs Evil: The Mix of Horror and Comedy

15. The In-Depth Meaning and Definition of Horror Genre

Sonny's Blues
Hidden Intellectualism
William Shakespeare
A Raisin in The Sun
A Christmas Carol
A Rose For Emily
Babylon Revisited
A Farewell to Arms

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Try These Books on Writing to Make Your Horror Fiction Bleed

Write what scares you.

It doesn’t matter what genre you’re in, writing—and doing it well—is a challenge. Your job is to bring characters to life in ways that evoke emotions in your reader. And when it comes to horror, one of the primary emotions you seek to provoke? Fear. Don’t get me wrong, you’ll bring a lot of other emotions to life if you’re writing a fully developed story, but at the heart of a horror story is an exploration of what scares us the most.

So how do you create vivid monsters and captivating villains and scenes that drip with tension? We went through piles of craft books and found seven books that have the best advice, interviews, tips, tricks, and analyses on how to write compelling horror stories.

Essential Tips for Aspiring Horror Writers

On Writing Horror: A Handbook by the Horror Writers Association

By Mort Castle

There’s nothing better than getting writing advice from the greats, and this book has some of the biggest names in horror to guide you.

On Writing Horror is not as much a step-by-step lesson on craft, but more a broad perspective on horror as a genre and industry. Voices like Stephen King, Jack Ketchum, Ramsey Campbell, Harlan Ellison, and more offer a wide range of thought and explore the essence of horror from a variety of viewpoints. With 58 essays, there is something for every writer at every stage of their career.

Searching for chills? Sign up for The Lineup 's newsletter to get terrifying recommendations delivered straight to your inbox.

The Horror Writer: A Study of Craft and Identity in the Horror Genre

By Joe Mynhardt

If you’re looking for the ultimate book diving into everything from craft to rejection to finding your creativity while under pressure, this is the book for you.

Filled with essays from Bram Stoker Award winners and bestselling authors, The Horror Writer offers insight into how to handle rejections, elevate your craft through effective scenes, create vivid and realistic characters, and avoid cliché horror tropes. Sprinkled between essays are interviews in which authors delve into the challenges they’ve faced and give a glimpse into their own creative process. It’s a fantastic guide for every horror author from indie to commercial, short fiction to novels, and everything in between.

40 Best Stephen King Quotes That Every Horror Fan Needs to Read

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

By Stephen King

There really is no one better to turn to for advice than the King of Horror himself. Part memoir, part craft master class, On Writing takes you through a variety of tools that Stephen King learned and used throughout his career. By sharing his own experiences, King manages to take an intimidating subject and make it approachable.

Whether you read it for the craft or to learn about the reality of life as one of the world’s most successful horror writers, this is a book you’ll return to again and again as your writing evolves.

Writing in the Dark

By Tim Waggoner

If you’re looking for a textbook on the horror genre, Writing in the Dark is it. Each chapter is structured to delve deep into how to compose a horror story, writing truly terrifying monsters, avoiding cliched tropes, leaning into the physiology of fear, and so much more. A teacher himself, Waggoner knows how to construct a lesson effectively and efficiently.

Woven within each chapter are also tips from some of the industry’s leading authors. But what makes this book stand out are the critical evaluations, ideas to help with developing your character arcs and plotlines, and references to help you with further research.

8 Emerging Horror Authors Who Are Changing the Face of Horror

Where Nightmares Come From

By Joe Mynhardt & Eugene Johnson

The first in a series of craft books from Crystal Lake Publishing, Where Nightmares Come From features articles and interviews exploring how to take an idea from its raw form into a finished horror story. The authors and editors inside these pages cover everything from short fiction, graphic novels , films, and novels.

Perfect for writers in all stages of your career, this is a go-to guide for ideas, new views on structure, exploring different types of fiction, and more.

Nightmare Fuel: The Science of Horror Films

By Nina Nesseth

It might seem counterintuitive to study films instead of writing, but understanding the anatomy of what makes horror films work can help elevate your fiction. Nightmare Fuel is a deep analysis of the psychology and physiology of fear through the lens of horror films. Nesseth dissects why these movies either follow through with their promise to terrify you or fall flat. By the end, you’ll have a new way of looking at fear and will understand how audiences respond to stories in visceral ways.

Nightmare Fuel: The Science of Horror Films

On the Boundless Catharsis of Horror with Award-Winning Author Zin E. Rocklyn

Writing Scary Scenes

By Rayne Hall

Sometimes the ideas you have in your head fizzle out on the page. Understanding how to insert the right amount of tension into a scene in a way that evokes a physical response is hard. Hall tackles how to insert fear into any scene by showing you techniques that will play with the readers' expectations to get the biggest emotional punch. Is your villain not scary enough? Is your climax not climactic enough? This short but powerful book will give you specific examples and applicable tips to take your draft from bland to memorable.

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Halloween Resources for Fun and Research

History of Halloween
Library Staff Picks
Classic Scary Films

Subject Headings for Horror Genre Research

Sampling of books about horror films and literature, a selection of classic (and modern) horror literature, spooky graphic novels.

Book to Film Adaptations
Costumes and Makeup
Spiritualism and the Occult

Subject headings...

...are words and phrases which constitute a "controlled vocabulary" to categorize books by subject field. Subject headings often indicate the contents of books in terms that their titles do not use, which often may be very general. Subject headings in online databases are often referred to as descriptors, but they serve the same purpose in locating valuable resources. Using a "keyword" search will identify catalog entries that contain those specific terms which can add value to a search; however, the terms can be found anywhere - author, notes, publisher, etc. - therefore there is no indication of the value of the term(s) as content matter of the items in a results list.

Use general subject headings for searching a broad topic or more specific subject headings for a specific text, film, or play. You will find (more) headings specific to the subject category within the left-hand facets in our online catalog, Bobcat. If you want to see the subject headings for a specific title in Bobcat, scroll down in the title record.

Here are some subject headings you may want to try:

Horror films
Horror films - Europe - History and criticism
Horror films - United States - History and criticism
Horror films - History and criticism
Horror tales
Horror in literature

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Next: Book to Film Adaptations >>
Last Updated: Apr 10, 2024 2:23 PM
URL: https://guides.nyu.edu/halloween-resources-for-fun-and-research

The Horror Genre: Novels and Stories Essay

Horror novels and stories are a dying brand of media in today’s world. Once so popular, they now are somewhat of a rarity. While the horror publication has lost its acclaim, it has given way to the rise of the horror movie. It is a shame that films with amateur acting and shoddy writing are replacing these works of art. The classics are forgotten, such as Dracula and Frankenstein, diverting our attention to these inferior film pieces. Therefore, the once exorbitant quantity of horror writers is starting to become a dying breed. Unfortunately it has become quite a dilemma to find quality horror writing and authors. However, there is one story “Holiday” by M. Rickert, which encompasses all of the true elements of a horror story. This story fits the genre of horror due to the display of serious intense fear and unease. It is not similar to the horror pieces of today that revolve around gore and violence, but it sticks to the principles of an original horror story.

First of all, this story is considered a horror story because it has many of the elements of classic scary pieces. In essence it is a ghost story, but deals with much more than the average novels of this type. This narrative revolves around a writer who is visited by a ghost of a small girl around the age of six. As time passes he starts to form a relationship with her, as well as other ghosts of children that have begun to appear. The author’s father was a child molester and he is attempting to write a novel about his father’s life. This story utilizes this revolting back-story to incite fear into the audience. Although the author is not a pedophile like his father, nearly everyone that he interacts with in the story believes him to be one. This is due to the fact that he is attempting to entertain all these ghost children, and thus has to keep buying items for them, such as Shirley Temple DVDs. It is as if only the children know of the author’s innocent nature. Fear is generated in the audience because one concludes that since the author’s father was an abuser of children, he will have to pay for what atrocities his parent committed. It really keeps the reader on edge. This is an excellent feature of the story and a staple of an effective horror piece. “’Horror is not a genre, like the mystery or science fiction or the western. It is not a kind of fiction, meant to be confined to the ghetto of a special shelf in libraries of bookstores. Horror is an emotion.” (Horror Writer, 2009, p. 1). I whole-heartedly agree with this statement and this story does a fantastic job of galvanizing apprehension and fear into the audience. Additionally, the author sets the mood of the story very well. This is a very dark narrative. The elements of a house full of ghost children, a disturbed father, a drug addict brother, and a greedy publisher make it nearly impossible to feel any positive feelings when reading this piece. This is the strength of the work and another effective aspect of the horror genre that is portrayed.

Another substantial feature of this story is the descriptive writing. It puts very creepy and fearful imagery into your head. One passage that really stuck with me was when the main character sees the ghost for the first time. “Her body starts jerking in a strange way as she moves across my bedroom floor, her arms out”. (Rickert, 2009, p. 27). This depiction really was one of the parts that encouraged fear and unease. Another description that was effective and demonstrative of the aspects of the horror genre was when the protagonist decides to research the ghost girl’s story and the reason for her death. “When I read about how her father found her, wrapped in a blanket, as though someone was worried she would be cold, but with that rope around her neck”. (Rickert, 2009, p. 28). That is a terrifying depiction of nearly the worst occurrence that can happen to someone. It was memorable, yet disheartening A third passage that aids in supporting the elements of a horror story is when the main character begins to find that the ghost girl is bringing more ghost children into his house. “’And today is her birthday.’ I turn to the girl who looks up at me with her beautiful black eyes. ‘Your birthday?’ Both girls nod solemnly. This description really does a great job of setting the scene and extenuating a hair-raising vibe. This story goes for unease rather than in your face violence or heart-pounding excitement. It is a consistent depiction of a chilling atmosphere.

Although this story is quite hair-raising, it does have some novelty moments that make it somewhat comical. There are many lines and depictions that stand out for their novelty, rather than their terrifying nature. One in particular was the passage at the beginning. It did an amazing job of instilling intrigue into the reader; as well as urging them read more. “She says her name is Holiday, but I know she’s lying. I remember her face. It was all over the news for weeks, years, even but of course she doesn’t know that. I briefly consider telling her ‘Hey, did you know you’re a star?’ But that would necessitate bringing up the subject of her death, and I’m not clear if she knows that she’s a ghost, or that almost everyone thinks her parents killed her.” (Rickert, 2009, p. 27). This was just great writing by the author, and has to be considered as one of the most effective passages in the story. Another striking depiction was actually one of the few comical occurrences in the piece. It takes place after the protagonist has begun to care for all these ghost children. “Suddenly it’s like I’m running some kind of day care center for dead kids. She keeps bring them to me, I don’t know why. We watch Shirley Temple movies”. (Rickert, 2009, p. 31). This just is a humorous happening within the story, which is one of the few happy elements that occur. The last thing that an individual would expect in a ghost story is that the main character would be running a ghost day care. The last memorable depiction is near the end of the narrative. The protagonist decides to throw a party for the ghost children that he has been taking care of. He also purchases a clown costume for this gathering. “The doorbell rings and I run to answer it, laughing because it’s very funny the way she’s hidden outside but when I open the door, my brother is standing there. ‘Oh, fuck,’ he says. ‘It’s not the way it looks.’” (Rickert, 2009, p. 34). This is a humorous coincidence that occurs in the novel due to these ghost characters. Although the main character attempts to care for them they end up getting him into trouble. In fact, the protagonist is beginning to get the same reputation as his father, except for the fact that he is not abusing anyone. It is possible that the main character feels that he has to take care of these ghost children to make up for the fact that his father was so horrible to adolescents. He may have reasoned that there has to be some type of repentance.

Rickert’s story “Holiday” is a horror story that is chilling and hair-raising. The author does a great job of setting a dark and gloomy mood, by covering disgusting and scary subject matter. There also is effective utilization of the English language, making the piece ripe with memorable passages. The author clearly has a substantial grasp on what is high quality writing. Furthermore, there is clear and efficacious understanding of the elements that should make up a horror story and they are convincingly employed in this piece. Rickert is a rarity in today’s generic and untalented author pool. It is comforting to see that some still value the classic elements of the horror genre and in “Holiday” this is forcefully demonstrated.

Horror Writers. (2009) What is Horror Fiction? Web.

Rickert, M. (2009). Holiday. Urbana, IL: Golden Gryphon Press.

Chicago (A-D)
Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2022, January 12). The Horror Genre: Novels and Stories. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-horror-genre-novels-and-stories/

"The Horror Genre: Novels and Stories." IvyPanda , 12 Jan. 2022, ivypanda.com/essays/the-horror-genre-novels-and-stories/.

IvyPanda . (2022) 'The Horror Genre: Novels and Stories'. 12 January.

IvyPanda . 2022. "The Horror Genre: Novels and Stories." January 12, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-horror-genre-novels-and-stories/.

1. IvyPanda . "The Horror Genre: Novels and Stories." January 12, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-horror-genre-novels-and-stories/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "The Horror Genre: Novels and Stories." January 12, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-horror-genre-novels-and-stories/.

Is Kafka's The Metamorphosis Horror Fiction?
Literary Devices in "Dis Mem Ber" by J. C. Oates
The Ghosts in Homer’s The Odyssey
The "Inventory" Short Story by Carmen Maria Machado
Debunking Ghosts in the World Literature
Cognitive Dissonance and Reduction Strategies
Consideration of the Ghost in "Hamlet" by Shakespeare
Antianxiety Drug Therapies and Prescriptions
Ghost's Fear
I do not believe in ghosts
"The Illness of the Mourning & the Fantasy of the Exquisite Corpse" by Maria Torok
“Catfish and Mandala” by Andrew Pham: The Methods Used in The Novel and Their Functions
Chekhov’s Writing Style in ”The Lady With the Pet Dog”
“Since Cleopatra Died” by Neil Powell
The Use of Allusion in "Drown" by Junot Diaz

Mariah Brewer

Freelance Writer for Hire | B2C Blogging On Creative Writing Products & Services

9 Horror Magazines That’ll Pay For Your Stories!

Do you feel that chill in the air, the stormy night approaching, or the ghost in your attic waking up from its hundred-year slumber?

Or maybe it’s that old horror story collecting dust. Perhaps it’s time to finally put pen to paper and submit it to a magazine?

Well, I have good news for you. Today I want to share 9 horror magazines that’ll pay you for your horror stories!

I’ll have information on their submission periods, what they’re looking for in submissions, what they pay for accepted submissions, and the types of work they accept (short stories, flash fiction, poetry, etc.) with their word count.

Some of these magazines aren’t exclusively publishing horror stories, but they will accept works within the genre. For example, one publisher below is a sci-fi magazine, but they accept dark/horror sci-fi. So if you’re into that specific sub-genre, there’s an option for you!

Please, please, please always read the guidelines before submitting, they’re your best friend when it comes to getting seen and potentially published.

Plus, it makes everything easier on the editors who get to accept or reject you.

If you’d like more information on how I update these magazine lists, or the importance of following guidelines, please read this post on what to keep in mind when submitting to magazines !

Now go out there (read the guidelines), and submit those stories!

Thanks for reading, and happy writing!

1. The Dark Magazine

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is the-dark-magazine-horror-magazine-submissions.png

Submission Period:

No submission deadline that I can find.

They’re looking for:

They publish Horror and Dark Fantasy.

“Don’t be afraid to experiment or to deviate from the ordinary; be different—try us with fiction that may fall out of “regular” categories. However, it is also important to understand that despite the name, The Dark is not a market for graphic, violent horror.”

$0.06 per word ($120-$360 per piece).

Categories:

Fiction: 2,000 – 6,000 words.

Artwork: submissions are closed.

2. Uncharted Magazine

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is uncharted-magazine-horror-magazine-submissions-1.png

“All fiction categories are open year round . . . .”

“Uncharted Magazine publishes Horror/Thriller Short Stories . . . . We want stories that keep us up at night, afraid to turn the corner. Stories that take us into the resonant fear of looming monsters and haunting ghosts. We want stories that thrill us by keeping us on the edges of our seats, hearts pounding, wondering how it will end! Stories with characters who refuse to stay in the shadows! We want stories that thrill us, that make us feel alive, that awaken our desires to explore and go on adventures.”

Small note from The Grinder:

“ Note: we have received several reports of issues receiving finalized contracts, either publishing before any contract is received or difficulty receiving a countersigned contract. “

General Submission: $200 for original fiction ($0.20 – $0.04 per word).

(paid via check or PayPal)

Short Stories: 1,000-5,000 words.

3. The No Sleep Podcast

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is the-no-sleep-podcast-horror-magazine-submissions.png

Submissions seem to be always open! Flash Fiction seems to close occasionally, but for now it’s open.

“We want you to frighten us and mess with our heads, so we in turn can terrify our listeners. . . . We welcome and encourage a broad, diverse range of submissions from all across the horror genre, and can’t wait to read the spine-tingling tales you send us.”

Something to keep in mind:

“Audio production of your story remains the property of Creative Reason Media and may not be altered, sold or distributed outside of The No Sleep Podcast without prior written permission.”

Short Stories – $100 ($0.08 – $0.04 per word)

Regular Stories – $125 ($0.05 minimum per word)

(paid via PayPal or Amazon gift cards)

Short Stories: Between 1200 – 2499 words.

Regular Stories: Over 2500 words.

Flash Fiction: Up to 1,200 words, prefers around 800 words.

4. Nightmare magazine

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is nightmare-magazine-horror-magazine-submissions.png

They try to open submissions twice a year (usually in September and March).

“ Nightmare is seeking original horror and dark fantasy stories. All types of horror and dark fantasy are welcome. No subject should be considered off-limits, and we encourage writers to take chances with their fiction and push the envelope.”

The Horror Lab:

“[‘]The Horror Lab[‘] is where Nightmare puts a spotlight on experimental horror. It’s a place to explore the boundaries of form, trope, and genre—a playground for writers and readers alike. We’re looking for poetry (all styles and forms, but due to the limitations of ebooks generally and Kindle Periodicals specifically our typographical options are limited), flash fiction, and creative non-fiction. (And yes, dark fantasy is fine!)”

Nightmare short stories: $0.08 per word of short stories ($120 – $600 per piece)

The Horror Lab: $0.08 per word of short stories, nonfiction, and flash fiction ($120 – $600 per piece)

The Horror Lab poetry: $40 per poem (one 1,500-word poem is 2.6 cents per word, one 300-word poem out of five poems is 13 cents per word.)

“If there are any payment processing fees associated with your payment (i.e., if we use PayPal, WorldRemit, Western Union, Wise, or the like to pay you), we cover the processing fee.”

Short Fiction: 1500-7500 words, but prefers 5000 words or less.

“The Horror Lab” (Poetry, Flash Fiction, and Creative NonFiction): less than 1500 words. You can submit up to 5 poems in one document, and all poems in that document should be less than 1500 words.

NonFiction: “All nonfiction outside of ‘The Horror Lab’ submissions are by invitation only, and all feature interviews are assigned in-house.” [Although you can pitch essay ideas.]

5. Ghost Orchid Press

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They occasionally have open calls for anthologies! So you’ll have to check out their “ Submission Calls ” page to see when their submissions are open.

Novel & Novella submissions are open from July 1st to August 31st, 2022.

Anthologies:

The anthologies vary in theme and topics. So you’ll have to check out their “ Submission Calls ” page to find out what they’re looking for in a story.

Novellas/Novels:

“We’re looking primarily for horror, Gothic, and dark fantasy. We love genre mixing, works that stray from the well-trodden path, or that offer a fresh perspective on existing tropes.”

Anthologies: $0.06 USD per word, and a paperback contributor’s copy.

Novels/Novellas: small advance plus 50% of net royalties, and 5 free paperback copies.

(paid via PayPal)

Short Stories: 1,000 – 5,000 words (prefer 2,000 – 4,000 words)

Novellas: 20,000 – 40,000 words.

Novels: 40,000 – 100,000 words

6. Baffling Magazine

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Reopens in December.

“We are looking for speculative stories that explore science fiction, fantasy, and horror with a queer bent. We want queer stories and we want trans stories and we want aro/ace stories. We want indefinable stories. We welcome weird, slipstream, and interstitial writing.”

$0.08/word.

Flash Fiction: Under 1,200 words, especially interested in stories under 500 words.

7. Cosmic Horror Monthly

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Opens twice a year from January 1st – January 7th and July 1st – July 7th.

“Cosmic Horror Monthly is seeking Cosmic Horror, Lovecraftian, Weird stories, original only. If you aren’t sure if your work qualifies, submit it and we can decide. No subject is off-limits and we do encourage writers to try and push the status quo.”

“At this time, we are strongly favoring stories with a contemporary narrative style. Lovecraftian themes and mythos works are welcomed but try to avoid Lovecraft pastiche and styles mimicking that of his writer circle from the early 20th century. In terms of style, we are fans of Laird Barron, John Langan, Mike Allen, Hailey Piper, etc.”

$0.06 per word of original fiction. ($60 – $360 per piece)

$50 for interior artwork (negotiable).

$200 for cover art (negotiable).

Story Lengths: 1,000-6,000 words, prefers 3,000-5,000 words.

They now accept nonfiction, as well!

Art Guidelines: “If you are an artist, please submit pieces that you feel might be fitting to appear on the cover or in the interior of the magazine. If it is helpful, the magazine runs at a size of 5.5 x 8.5 inches.”

8. PseudoPod

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Their submission period is subject to change, BUT they have a yearly schedule available for perusing!

“PseudoPod is a genre magazine in audio form. We’re looking for horror: dark, weird fiction. We run the spectrum from grim realism or crime drama, to magic-realism, to blatantly supernatural dark fantasy. We publish highly literary stories reminiscent of Poe or Lovecraft as well as vulgar shock-value pulp fiction. We don’t split hairs about genre definitions, and we do not observe any taboos about what kind of content can appear in our stories. Originality demands that you’re better off avoiding vampires, zombies, and other recognizable horror tropes unless you have put a very unique spin on them. What matters most is that the stories are dark and compelling.”

$0.08/word for fiction.

$100 flat rate for reprints.

$20 flat rate for flash fiction reprints.

Short Fiction: 1,500 and 6,000 words, prefers 4,500 words.

Flash Fiction: under 1,500 words, prefers 500 and 1000 words.

If you’re also interested in auditioning for narrating stories, they’re not open right now, but they do plan on opening it sometime in the future.

9. The Martian Magazine

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I can’t find a current submission period, but they mention they do have a set submission period. So maybe check back in a few months.

This IS a science fiction magazine, BUT they also accept sci-fi horror and dark sci-fi. So if that interests you, there’s another option to submit your work!

They have a somewhat large want/don’t want list on their submissions page that I suggest checking out before submitting.

$0.08 per word of fiction.

$0.04 per word of a reprint.

“Martian magazine publishes drabbles, stories of exactly 100 words (excluding title). Stories submitted of greater than or less than 100 words will be rejected.”

Unintended Bonus Section?!

Lamplight magazine.

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So! When I was updating this post, I found out that LampLight Magazine had published its final issue back in June this year (2022). Here’s a blog post talking about it a bit more.

But why am I putting this here?

I dunno, I kinda wanted to honor the magazine.

So I’m keeping it here in a little bonus section at the bottom, and if you feel like it, you can read the first issue for free on the website. You don’t gotta feel compelled to buy every issue (or any, for that matter), but if you got the time, why not look at the issue that got it started?

Anyway, thanks again for reading, and happy writing!

Topics in English Topics in english to learn and fluent pronunciation and writing and facilitate conversation between you and others, whether in school, work or daily life

Short horror story essay 8 Models

Last updated Friday , 15-03-2024 on 11:35 am

Short horror story essay is one of the popular intimidation methods that help parents in correcting children and improving their behavior in many educational aspects.

Through this article, we will provide you with many models that talk about stories of horror and intimidation that may help or influence the behavior of children, show the goals of horror stories, and the extent of the impact of these stories on improving children’s instincts, and strengthening their personality.

Short horror story essay

The school plays an important and significant role in educating children and improving their behaviour. In a similar article that talks about horror stories, the student can learn about the dimensions of these stories, the extent of their impact and why they are used.

The student can talk about his fears and terrifying situations he went through. The teacher can take advantage of these events and try to address these fears by guiding him and talking to him, or by making him research more about the dimensions of the problem and the benefits that he benefited from despite going through a terrifying situation.

At the beginning of the article we will put several points that show the goals that must be present within the topic, and several models will be created using these points inside them, so that the articles are useful for the student in case he wants to present them to the school, or if he wants to know the aspects that he should talk about inside a similar article he talks about the horror stories and the bad situations he was exposed to.

Objectives of the article

1- To obey orders.

2- Giving up bad behavior.

3- Repressing the evil instincts that are inside every human being.

4- Controlling the child in the safety zone next to the parents.

5- Planting correct means and methods through intimidation.

Several years ago, my father told me a story about a boy who went out without telling his family where he was going. And this was late at night. After he left, he met some children and played a little with them and enjoyed this, but because of the late time these children left him, some of them returned to their home alone, and some of them their families came to to pick them up, and he found himself alone in the end.

He decided to walk around for a while, so that he might encounter other children and continue playing with them. But after walking for a long time, he found that all the streets were empty, and it was dark everywhere, and he could no longer discern where he was, and that he was far from home and lost his way.

And whenever he tried to return from where he came, he found himself in dangerous areas with street dogs, and in order to avoid them, he kept entering other streets, until he lost the way completely. So he sat crying and did not find anyone to bring him home because all the people of the town were asleep.

The time at night was getting hard for this naughty little boy. Every minute that passes feels like it’s a long time and he’s so afraid of darkness and loneliness. And whenever he heard the sound of dogs howling, intensified in crying. And whenever he called his father, he did not come to take him, because he was far from the house and did not tell them that he was going out, and did not tell them where he was going.

Then he learned that he had made a big mistake and that his father would not come to look for him because he thought he was asleep. And he decided to try to call for help and search for any place where there are people and tell them what happened.

And he kept walking in the dark crying for a long time until he found some people, and told them his name, where he lived, and the name of the neighborhood in which he lived. Fortunately for him, they weren’t bad guys, and they brought this guy home.

The father was very angry with him for this behavior and punished him for a week for this behavior. But the boy was happy that he came home and learned the lesson well and knew that this wrong behavior was dangerous and could have lost his family for life.

While hearing this story, I was very afraid and put myself in the place of this boy, and I found myself learning from him what to do. And that I must tell my family where I am going, and watch the time, and take care of myself and not stay away from home. When I finish playing, I go home.

In the early morning, I was very careful to memorize my full name, the name of the neighborhood in which I live, the name of my mother, and the house number.

Although the story was scary for me, I learned a lot from it and had a reaction to every event that takes place in it.

Dear student, a basic form was submitted for the topic on short horror story essay, In addition to many other models such as, horror short story essay, creepy short horror story essay, a short horror story essay, short ghost story essay, short ghost story essay, scary short story essay, scary experience essay.

If you prefer to add any other topic, you can contact us through the comments of this article and we will study your request and add it as soon as possible.

horror short story essay

At the weekend I went on a trip with my friends to the forest. We took camping equipment, some food and water. The weather was nice, the trees were leafy, the birds were flying from tree to tree, the landscape was beautiful.

We wandered in the woods and ate the fruits on the trees, and as we wandered, a huge bear appeared in front of us, looked at us and prepared to attack us.

We were all very terrified, but the instructions reminded us not to run, not to scream, and to act calmly. I took out of my bag a self-defense spray bottle, which should be used in this case. But the bear left quietly and none of us were hurt.

creepy short horror story essay

I get up early and sit in the garden of the house, enjoying the fresh air, listening to the sound of birds, watching beautiful flowers and other beautiful landscapes, but yesterday something terrifying happened to me.

When I sat on the bench in the garden and was enjoying nature I felt something moving under the chair.

I quickly looked under the chair and found a large black snake.

It moves slowly, I felt very terrified and could not move, I remained frozen in my place, the snake crawled slowly and I looked at it with horror, until it moved away several meters, I called the competent authority immediately and a trained man came and caught the snake.

a short horror story essay

Last week I went with my family to the zoo, the weather was nice, and we were enjoying the nature, where there are a lot of green leafy trees and decorated with beautiful flowers and large areas that allow us to run and play, everything was beautiful.

Then we went to the animal cages and watched the animals from a distance.

But there is a person who got very close to the lion’s cage, even though there is a sign on it that says Do not go near the animal cages.

He was not satisfied with that, but he extended his hand into the cage, and the lion grabbed his hand with force, and this person was unable to rid his hand of the lion’s fangs.

The man screamed loudly from the severity of the pain, and the guard came quickly and tried to give the lion a piece of meat to leave the man’s hand, but to no avail.

The veterinarian quickly intervened and gave the lion an anesthetic injection, and the man was able to get his hand out of the cage, but it had many wounds and was taken to the hospital. It was really terrifying moments.

Short ghost story essay

There are many people who feel terrified in the dark, and my brother is very afraid of the dark and feels terrified and imagines frightening things.

So when the electricity went out and the house became dark. I went to his room quietly without feeling, and stood in front of him, making some strange sounds.

My brother jumped quickly and came out of the room saying a ghost of a ghost, but he hit the wall and cut his head and bled a lot, it was a big wound.

At that time I was telling him don’t be afraid, I am your brother, but he was very frightened. I was very sorry for him and regretted that I had caused him to feel terrified and made him crash into the wall.

And I told him I was just trying to joke with you and I wouldn’t do it again but you should train yourself not to be afraid of the dark.

A Short Scary Story Essay

Last weekend I went with my friends on a fishing trip. We chartered a fishing boat with all our fishing gear and went into the sea for a long distance, so that we could see neither the beach nor the city.

We started fishing and we were very happy because there are many fish and they are also big, and the weather was nice.

Suddenly strong winds blew and the waves rose, and the fishing boat was swinging with us over the water, up and down, and we couldn’t control it.

At this time we felt so afraid that we would drown.The fishing boat cannot withstand these bad weather conditions.

But after a while the wind calmed down a bit and we miraculously survived.

Scary short story essay

Last weekend I went with my colleagues on a school trip to one of the archaeological sites, and we had some teachers with us organizing the trip and supervising our transfers.

We entered a museum that houses great antiquities and stood listening to the tour guide talking about the history of these antiquities.

I was fascinated and listened to the tour guide with great interest, so that I did not feel the departure of my colleagues and teachers, as they left the museum and got on the bus and left this place and did not feel my absence.

When I found myself alone in the museum, I felt very afraid and searched for them all over the museum, but I could not find them, so my fear increased and my crying became louder.

Suddenly I found one of the teachers entering the museum and looking for me, so I ran towards him and grabbed his hand and felt safe.

Scary Experience Essay

At the end of the year I had a frightening experience. I went to the beach and decided to snorkel, so I bought wetsuits, put them on, and dived into the sea. But it was not what I expected and almost drowned.

I was so scared when I found myself unable to dive, and could not swim to the top.

It was a difficult situation but one of the lifeguards on the beach saw me, knew I was going to drown and ran to save me.

Therefore, I advise others to learn before we do anything that might endanger our lives.

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8 Personal Stories That Use Horror as a Lens

Reading Lists

Richard scott larson, author of "the long hallway," recommends books by writers who use horror as a way to understand themselves.

Horror has always been deeply personal to me. Our obsessions can often come to structure and shape our inner lives while at the same time rendering the most intimate parts of ourselves illegible to those who don’t share them, and my love of horror as a child was a kind of closet where I could hide before I understood that I was already living in one as a queer boy who wanted nothing more than to the conceal desires I believed marked me as a monster. My memoir, The Long Hallway , uses the language of horror to construct a critical frame around my coming-of-age and family story. The familiarity of the genre becomes a narrative scaffolding that brings with it a universal vocabulary to describe experiences of isolation, fear, hopelessness, and shame, which to a closeted kid are the ingredients of a daily life in which survival is the only imperative.

I watched John Carpenter’s Halloween relentlessly as a child during the years in which my family broke apart while father succumbed to alcoholism and I faced my own demons in front of the television screen, and I realized later that I inadvertently allowed the film’s characters and events to become a guide for how to understand the world, as well as what my own place in it would ultimately be. The memoir that emerges from my misguided queer education—through my identification with a masked, knife-wielding villain chasing down hyper-sexualized teenagers—grafts scenes of personal experience onto the structure of Halloween, and thus allows the genre conventions of horror to say out loud and more clearly what I couldn’t when I was learning and reckoning with these unwanted truths about myself.

I’ve encountered various other personal stories told through the lens of horror, either before or during the construction of my own, and I now understand more deeply how the genre can both inflect and infect our experiences of the world, especially as queer and marginalized writers attempting to universalize an experience that we once believed only we could ever understand. Horror gives us a lineage of tropes and terminology with which to describe the things that haunt and frighten us—the things we dread the most—which so often reflect elements of our personal histories back to us, metaphorically or otherwise. And these are some of the books that helped me understand how writing about horror can be a way of writing about ourselves.

Night Mother: A Personal and Cultural History of The Exorcist by Marlena Williams

Night Mother offers exactly what its subtitle suggests, as this memoir-in-essays serves up a blend of memoir, criticism, and reported history regarding the original production and reception of The Exorcist in popular culture as Marlena Williams explores complex ideas regarding faith, family, sexuality, womanhood, and grief. “ The Exorcist , when you really get down to it,” Williams writes, “is just a story about a mother and a daughter.” The personal obsession at the book’s core is her relationship with her own mother before and after the latter’s death from cancer, as well as how the two women’s powerful responses to William Friedkin’s iconic film connected and bonded them forever. Horror works here as a shared experience and collective memory giving voice to distinct fears and preoccupations, and the film functions now for Williams as a family heirloom of sorts, a site of reckoning with the past as she forges a future without her mother to guide her.

This Young Monster by Charlie Fox

As a young writer raised on the iconography of genre films and having formed a worldview based on imaginary worlds that reflect our own in sometimes frightening or shocking ways, Charlie Fox’s essays diagnose a history of queerness and monstrosity: “Being bad in art, stimulating outrage or horror, is just another way of behaving monstrously (cathartic? Oh yes!) and a role to live up to when society proclaims your desires to be ‘sinful.’” Fox’s voice is mostly critical and intellectual until it suddenly isn’t, and the way he portrays his younger self learning about the world through popular culture is striking evidence for his broader claims. “Self-Portrait of a Werewolf” takes the form of a letter written to the titular monstrous shape-shifter and interrogates Fox’s early obsession with the archetype, directly asking probing questions about its expansive influence on the world beyond the screen: “I’m through with thinking of the monster as a wholly negative role, which is your curse, since you live in wait for a love that will probably never arrive.” There’s a restless and brilliant mind at work in these pages that brings the world of the popular imagination alive in completely new ways.

Night Rooms: Essays by Gina Nutt

Gina Nutt’s Night Rooms is an exquisite essay collection that centers the idea of escape as a presiding principle, not just in form—as these essays break from conventional expectations in provocative ways—but also in content. In these pages, the grounding conventions of horror films serve as handholds as the narratives circle around themes of the body and grief and survival. All the while, something sinister lurks in the white space between the paragraphs, an unnamed threat that’s felt rather than seen. Nutt orbits traumatic personal experiences, including family deaths by suicide, with a poetic reliance on imagery and suggestion to convey the reality of her life’s shocks and their reverberations. Horror becomes a telling touchstone to link these essays together, because what is horror if not the deliberate recasting of our greatest fears and traumas into entertainment, making something meaningful from what is otherwise just darkness?

Ghostland: In Search of a Haunted Country by Edward Parnell

Film and literature of the ghostly and supernatural can evoke other reckonings beyond those based on identity and belonging, as Edward Parnell demonstrates in Ghostland , a deeply moving meditation on grief and loss. In the context of revisiting the horror stories that had once perhaps incongruously provided him with a kind of comfort in his youth, he now asks them to do the same for his haunted adulthood. Deceptively a survey of canonical horror stories that have been meaningful to him over time, the book’s autobiographical elements ultimately provide a deeper and incredibly heartbreaking relationship with what the ghost story really is: a visitation from the past that can never again be made flesh, and in this case also a reminder of devastating personal losses that can come to define us for as long as we remain among the living.

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

“The memoir is, at its core, an act of resurrection,” writes Machado in the opening pages of In the Dream House, an innovative account of her experience of domestic abuse that embeds her personal story within an extensive cultural history. The book is structured as a series of brief sections titled after various tropes—many of them from horror film iconography, such as “Dream House as Creature Feature,” “Dream House as Haunted Mansion,” “Dream House as Demonic Possession,” “Dream House as Apocalypse,” and “Dream House as Nightmare on Elm Street”—expressing elements of her time in a house in Indiana where her girlfriend lived during most of the duration of their relationship while Machado was a graduate student in Iowa. Her story is punctuated by harrowing moments of conflict that feel, because of their specificity, almost uncannily familiar. Readers come to inhabit her mind so wholly that the claustrophobia of her relationship with this other woman is made present first in the mind and then in the body, a cancer spreading quietly beneath the skin.

With Bloom Upon Them and Also With Blood by Justin Phillip Reed

Much is made of the “poet’s novel,” a genre in which prominent poets bring their careful lyricism to book-length fictional prose and inevitably reach a broader audience while also attending faithfully and fervently to the rigor of their craft. But there should perhaps be more attention given to the poet’s essay(s) as well. Justin Phillip Reed has been widely celebrated for his experimental body of poetry that centers its speaker’s urgency and frequent rage about white supremacy, the suppression of queer sexuality, the trap of masculinity, and the politics of Blackness in America, and the essays collected here orbit similar concerns in the context of popular horror films. “What is it I want from horror?” Reed asks. “What does it want with me? What is it?” And he proceeds to both answer and deepen these questions by interrogating images from popular horror films against their cultural origins—Drew Barrymore’s lynched body dangling from a tree is one striking example—and ultimately concludes with another question: “What if horror is not yet for Black people?”

Lunar Park by Bret Easton Ellis

Hear me out: I know this is a novel, but the fact that Ellis superimposes a horror narrative onto a mock memoir—in which the author channels his own real-life career and hedonistic excess into a (non-auto)fictional exploration of his earlier body of work literally coming back to haunt him as he enters middle age—speaks volumes about the genre’s capacity to reframe lived experience into a terrifying odyssey toward self-recognition, and perhaps a kind of peace. In the novel, the character of Bret Easton Ellis attempts to reconnect with a former lover and the son they share together, and in doing so launches himself into a bizarre and frightening world that is perhaps, in the end, one of his own making, as his fictional creations seem to come to life. Ellis is an expert in the language of violence, especially when it crosses the line between the real and the unreal, the remembered or the dreamed—even as it’s always somehow personal.

It Came From the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror , edited by Joe Vallese

My essay on John Carpenter’s Halloween that first explored ideas later developed in my memoir (and which originally appeared here in Electric Literature ) is anthologized in this wide-ranging collection of essays that feature queer writers reflecting on canonical horror films and how they informed or expanded their understandings of variously defined identities. The formula of juxtaposing personal narrative with non-scholarly film analysis offers readers new perspectives on popular subgenres that we might have thought we already understood, the queer experience being one that necessarily refracts and reshapes our conceptions of the world. As editor Joe Vallese writes in his introduction, “These essays don’t draw easy lines between horror and queerness but rather convey a rich reciprocity, complicating and questioning as much as they clarify.” Carmen Maria Machado on Jennifer’s Body is essential reading, but the collection as a whole gathers strength as it moves through the canon and shows us all the possibilities of identification and longing that we may have missed on those first viewings in the dark basements of our childhoods, always looking for something of ourselves in what we saw on screen.

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Bibliography
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Relevant bibliographies by topics
Referencing guides

Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Horror Fiction'

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Consult the top 50 dissertations / theses for your research on the topic 'Horror Fiction.'

Next to every source in the list of references, there is an 'Add to bibliography' button. Press on it, and we will generate automatically the bibliographic reference to the chosen work in the citation style you need: APA, MLA, Harvard, Chicago, Vancouver, etc.

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Hervey, Benjamin Alan. "Late Victorian horror fiction." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2002. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.397430.

Stewart-Shaw, Lizzie. "The cognitive poetics of horror fiction." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2017. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/43340/.

Reinhart, Marilee J. "The evolution of women's roles in horror fiction." Instructions for remote access. Click here to access this electronic resource. Access available to Kutztown University faculty, staff, and students only, 1990. http://www.kutztown.edu/library/services/remote_access.asp.

Shafiq, Zubair. "Beyond 'Masala' : horror and science fiction in contemporary Bollywood." Thesis, University of Southampton, 2015. https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/383878/.

Ethridge, Benjamin Kane. "Causes of unease: Horror rhetoric in fiction and film." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2004. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/2766.

Bodley, Antonie Marie. "Gothic horror, monstrous science, and steampunk." Pullman, Wash. : Washington State University, 2009. http://www.dissertations.wsu.edu/Thesis/Summer2009/a_bodley_052109.pdf.

Dutra, Daniel Iturvides. "O horror sobrenatural de H. P. Lovecraft : teoria e praxe estética do horror cósmico." reponame:Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertações da UFRGS, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10183/128999.

Ogunfolabi, Kayode Omoniyi. "History, horror, reality the idea of the marvelous in postcolonial fiction /." Diss., Connect to online resource - MSU authorized users, 2008.

Price, Thomas. "Wolf at the Door: A Novella." ScholarWorks@UNO, 2018. https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/2485.

Melo, Marcelo Briseno Marques de. "ZÉ DO CAIXÃO: PERSONAGEM DE HORROR." Universidade Metodista de São Paulo, 2010. http://tede.metodista.br/jspui/handle/tede/894.

Kermode, Mark James. "The radical, ethical and political implications of modern British and American horror fiction." Thesis, University of Manchester, 1991. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.493395.

Elens, James N. II. "Facility 47 - A Novel." FIU Digital Commons, 2012. http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/598.

Gilder, John M. "The First Rule of Improv." ScholarWorks@UNO, 2019. https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/2607.

Miguel, Alcebiades Diniz. "A morfologia do horror : construção e percepção na obra lovecraftiana." [s.n.], 2006. http://repositorio.unicamp.br/jspui/handle/REPOSIP/268922.

Holcomb, Will. "The Sunken Country & Other Stories." OpenSIUC, 2020. https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/theses/2735.

Johnson, Jessica Leigh. "Shriekers." Cleveland State University / OhioLINK, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=csu1512509179302886.

Tomlinson, Emily Jane. "Torture, fiction, and the repetition of horror : ghost-writing the past in Algeria and Argentina." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2002. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/284634.

Tan, Sumei Karen Anne. "The comfort of horror and the ambiguities of youth : contemporary Gothic fiction and young readers." Thesis, University of Southampton, 2017. https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/417859/.

McAvan, Em. "The postmodern sacred: popular culture spirituality in the genres of science fiction, fantasy and fantastic horror." Thesis, McAvan, Em (2007) The postmodern sacred: popular culture spirituality in the genres of science fiction, fantasy and fantastic horror. PhD thesis, Murdoch University, 2007. https://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/188/.

McAvan, Em. "The postmodern sacred : popular culture spirituality in the genres of science fiction, fantasy and fantastic horror /." McAvan, Em (2007) The postmodern sacred: popular culture spirituality in the genres of science fiction, fantasy and fantastic horror. PhD thesis, Murdoch University, 2007. http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/188/.

Shinholser, John H. "The Wolves of Gehenna." ScholarWorks@UNO, 2014. http://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1832.

com, estrangedcognition@hotmail, and Em McAvan. "The Postmodern Sacred Popular Culture Spirituality in the Genres of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Fantastic Horror." Murdoch University, 2007. http://wwwlib.murdoch.edu.au/adt/browse/view/adt-MU20080908.140222.

Wagner, Carsten. "Sie kommen! Und ihr seid die Nächsten! politische Feindbilder in Hollywoods Horror- und Science-Fiction-Filmen." Marburg Tectum-Verl, 2009. http://d-nb.info/999258834/04.

Dadswell, Aksel. "Unravel. A novel – and – A diverse palette: Cosmic horror and weird fiction with/out Lovecraft. A critical essay." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2019. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/2179.

Salles, Karina dos Santos. "Penny bloods: o horror urbano na ficção de massa vitoriana." Niterói, 2017. https://app.uff.br/riuff/handle/1/3115.

Crowley, Dale Allen. "Eldritch Horrors: The Modernist Liminality of H.P. Lovecraft's Weird Fiction." Cleveland State University / OhioLINK, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=csu1496326220734249.

Döring, Lutz. "Erweckung zum Tod : eine kritische Untersuchung zu Funktionsweise, Ideologie und Metaphysik der Horror- und Science-Fiction-Filme Alien 1-4 /." Würzburg : Königshausen und Neumann, 2006. http://deposit.ddb.de/cgi-bin/dokserv?id=2756348&prov=M&dok_var=1&dok_ext=htm.

Wallace, Nathaniel R. "H.P. Lovecraft's Literary "Supernatural Horror" in Visual Culture." Ohio University / OhioLINK, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1417615151.

Jespersdotter, Högman Julia. "Repeating Despite Repulsion: The Freudian Uncanny in Psychological Horror Games." Thesis, Malmö universitet, Malmö högskola, Institutionen för konst, kultur och kommunikation (K3), 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-42829.

Döring, Lutz. "Erweckung zum Tod eine kritische Untersuchung zu Funktionsweise, Ideologie und Metaphysik der Horror- und Science-Fiction-Filme Alien 1-4." Würzburg Königshausen und Neumann, 2005. http://deposit.ddb.de/cgi-bin/dokserv?id=2756348&prov=M&dok_var=1&dok_ext=htm.

Crotty, Tammy J. "Left of mainstream : genre fiction and its ability to transcend formula." Virtual Press, 2005. http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/1313073.

Richards, Samantha. "The Construction of Truth in Fiction: An Analysis of the Faux Footage Genre in Television." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2018. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/1197.

Ruben, Jennifer Lynn. "Illusionary Strength; An Analysis of Female Empowerment in Science Fiction and Horror Films in Fatal Attraction, Aliens, and The Stepford Wives." Wright State University / OhioLINK, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=wright1355753729.

Hodgen, Jacob Michael. ""Boot Camp for the Psyche" : inoculative nonfiction and pre-memory structures as preemptive trauma mediation in fiction and film /." Diss., CLICK HERE for online access, 2008. http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/ETD/image/etd2506.pdf.

Levine, Jonathan David. "'One wiser, better, dearer than ourselves' : gothic friendship /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/6643.

Björnström, Lovisa. "Vampyr och nagelbitare : En genre- och diskursanalys av barn- och ungdomsrysare och deras ämnesord." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för ABM, 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-253494.

Taiari, Hassen. "'Brains are Survival Engines, not Truth Detectors': Machine-Oriented Ontology and the Horror of Being Human in Blindsight." Thesis, Malmö universitet, Fakulteten för kultur och samhälle (KS), 2018. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-22298.

Snoey, Abadías Christian. "Experiencia y sentido: la escritura de la historia y del horror en la obra de Martín Caparrós." Doctoral thesis, Universitat de Barcelona, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/668523.

Koras, Demetra. "Primrose and Other Stories." Digital Commons @ Butler University, 2020. https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/grtheses/519.

Bezarias, Caio Alexandre. "Funções do mito na obra de Howard Phillips Lovecraft." Universidade de São Paulo, 2006. http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/8/8147/tde-08012008-101659/.

Williams, K. E. R. "Manifestations of the house in the Victorian ghost story." Thesis, The University of Sydney, 2005. https://hdl.handle.net/2123/28032.

Littlejohn, Amonte. "HOPEFUL HOSTILITY:AN ANALYSIS OF THE EVOLUTION OF AMERICAN NATURALISM." Cleveland State University / OhioLINK, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=csu1313609535.

McKenzie, Keira Jane. "A fabulist’s alternity & Lovecraft and the grotesque sublime." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2015. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/1657.

Mattsson, Filip. "“We Did Not Trust Ourselves” : A study of the unreliable narration in Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation." Thesis, Karlstads universitet, Institutionen för språk, litteratur och interkultur (from 2013), 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-82905.

Söderström, Jonatan. "The Uncanny Thing : Paranoia and Claustrophobia in The Thing and “Who Goes There?”." Thesis, Karlstads universitet, Institutionen för språk, litteratur och interkultur, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-41926.

Bomhoff, Gary. "Toward the Red Shore." Master's thesis, University of Central Florida, 2013. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETD/id/5914.

Khalidi, Anbara Mariam. ""It was the worst of times; it was the worst of times" : popular prophecy, Rapture fiction, and the imminent apocalypse in contemporary American Evangelism." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2014. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:e2e7da46-9462-448c-88ae-8a98a9482b8d.

Attåsen, Micaela. "Sommarborna : En konstprosaisk översättning med kommentar av en skräcknovell av Shirley Jackson." Thesis, Stockholms universitet, Tolk- och översättarinstitutet, 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-193660.

Wiley, Antoinette Marchelle. "The Familiar Stranged." Cleveland State University / OhioLINK, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=csu1513009183178476.

Nahrung, Jason. "Vampires in the sunburnt country : adapting vampire Gothic to the Australian landscape." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2007. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/16668/1/Jason_Nahrung_-_Exegesis.pdf.

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6 New Books We Recommend This Week

Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times.

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Our recommended books this week include two satirical novels — one about identity politics and victimization, the other about artificial intelligence and gender roles — along with Tana French’s second crime novel about a Chicago police officer who retired to the Irish countryside. In nonfiction, we recommend the story of a deadly avalanche, a philosopher’s exploration of the concept of giving up, and the gratifyingly intimate audio version of Barbra Streisand’s recent memoir, which she narrates herself. Happy listening, and happy reading. — Gregory Cowles

MY NAME IS BARBRA Barbra Streisand

Certain of the, shall we say, eccentricities (oh … the ellipses!) in Streisand’s 992-page doorstop of a memoir get wonderfully ironed out in audio form. Its sprawling a-star-is-born anecdotes seem to find their natural form in the towering performer’s 48-plus hours of discursive, disarming and often gloriously off-the-cuff narration.

“As Streisand recites the story of her life … she ad-libs off the written text, splices sentences, audibly shakes her head at dubious decisions, and altogether places us opposite her on the sofa with a cup of coffee for a two-day kibitz.”

From Zachary Woolfe’s review

Penguin Audio | 48 hours, 17 minutes

VICTIM Andrew Boryga

Boryga’s debut is a lively social satire about the fetishization of victimhood, following a young working-class student, Javi, who uses exaggerated stories of tragedy to earn attention and success. Boryga is having fun, and he’s inviting us to join in.

“Let’s be clear: Though Boryga is playing, he’s not playing around. Through Javi’s story, Boryga humorously and scathingly calls out the gluttonous consumption of stories of victimhood.”

From Mateo Askaripour’s review

Doubleday | $27

ANNIE BOT Sierra Greer

On the surface, “Annie Bot” is a story about an A.I. sex robot that grows more and more sentient, but underneath this high-tech premise is a sharp and smart exploration of misogyny, toxic masculinity, selfhood and self-determination.

“A brilliant pas de deux, grappling with ideas of freedom and identity while depicting a perverse relationship in painful detail.”

From Lydia Kiesling’s review

Mariner | $28

ON GIVING UP Adam Phillips

In his latest book, Phillips’s exploration of “giving up” covers the vast territory between hope and despair. We can give up smoking, sugar or a bad habit; but we can also give up on ourselves. Phillips proposes curiosity and improvisation as antidotes to absolute certainty.

“Phillips doesn’t try to prevent us from thinking whatever it is that we want to think; what he does is repeatedly coax us to ask if that’s what we really believe, and how we can be sure.”

From Jennifer Szalai’s review

Farrar, Straus & Giroux | $26

THE DARKEST WHITE: A Mountain Legend and the Avalanche That Took Him Eric Blehm

In January 2003, seven skiers and snowboarders were killed in an avalanche on a glacier in western Canada. Among them was the American snowboarder Craig Kelly, and the adventure writer Blehm turns this page-turner not just into a biography of the athlete, but a tribute to the sport itself: addictive, thrilling — sometimes deadly.

“Probably the most unremittingly exciting book of nonfiction I have come across in years. I found myself reading late into recent nights wholly transfixed by every paragraph, every word.”

From Simon Winchester’s review

Harper | $32

THE HUNTER Tana French

For Tana French fans, every one of the thriller writer’s twisty, ingenious books is an event. This one, a sequel to “The Searcher,” once again sees the retired Chicago cop Cal Hooper, a perennial outsider in the Irish west-country hamlet of Ardnakelty, caught up in the crimes — seen and unseen — that eat at the seemingly picturesque village.

“The novel’s greatest pleasures — genuine twists aside — reside in the specific intersection of outsider and native, and particularly the former’s determined need to idealize, to claim, to tint whole rivers green.”

From Sadie Stein’s review

Viking | $32

Explore More in Books

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What can fiction tell us about the apocalypse? The writer Ayana Mathis finds unexpected hope in novels of crisis by Ling Ma, Jenny Offill and Jesmyn Ward .

At 28, the poet Tayi Tibble has been hailed as the funny, fresh and immensely skilled voice of a generation in Māori writing .

Amid a surge in book bans, the most challenged books in the United States in 2023 continued to focus on the experiences of L.G.B.T.Q. people or explore themes of race.

Stephen King, who has dominated horror fiction for decades , published his first novel, “Carrie,” in 1974. Margaret Atwood explains the book’s enduring appeal .

Do you want to be a better reader? Here’s some helpful advice to show you how to get the most out of your literary endeavor .

Each week, top authors and critics join the Book Review’s podcast to talk about the latest news in the literary world. Listen here .

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5 New LGBTQ Nonfiction Books to Read in 2024

Check out these memoirs, essays, and narrative nonfiction works, american teenager.

GLAAD Award–winning journalist Lang profiles eight trans and nonbinary teens from across the U.S. in their debut, foregrounding the voices of kids whose lives are frequently debated and legislated over. Lang spent a year traveling the country and interviewing the teens, their families, and members of their communities in order to portray the experience of growing up trans.

Another Word for Love

In this memoir, Wallace, a journalist known for writing profiles, crafts a self-portrait. He delves into his experiences of growing up Black in the white suburbs of Pittsburgh, struggling with the constraints of masculinity, getting divorced and getting sober, becoming a father, and exploring his queerness. “What elevates the narrative is Wallace’s capacity for forgiveness and his virtuosic—but never indulgent—prose,” PW ’s starred review said. “This profoundly compassionate volume hugs the reader tightly and doesn’t let go.”

Dancing on My Own

Curator Wu weaves the works of Swedish pop singer Robyn throughout his debut essay collection as he reflects on art, class, fashion, sexuality, and identity. In “A Model Childhood,” he catalogs the plastic McDonald’s toys and other childhood detritus his parents saved in their garage, and the meaning they take on in light of his family’s move from Myanmar to suburban America in the late 1990s. “Party Politics,” meanwhile, examines the performance of identity at raves hosted by queer people of color. Per PW ’s starred review, “This dynamic first outing heralds the arrival of a promising new talent.”

Kissing Girls on Shabbat

In her debut memoir, New York Times “Modern Love” contributor Glass writes about growing up in the ultra-Orthodox Hasidic community in Borough Park, Brooklyn, and struggling with her attraction to women. After an arranged marriage at age 19, fighting for a divorce and custody of her children, and marrying another man to avoid the scrutiny of her community, Glass finally made the decision to stop hiding her sexuality and break away from her Hasidic upbringing.

A Place of Our Own

This cultural history zeroes in on six archetypal lesbian spaces—the commune, the bar, the bookstore, the sex toy boutique, the softball field, and the vacation spot—in order to memorialize the past 60 years of queer women’s culture. Journalist Thomas uses archival research, personal experience, and interviews with figures like the late New York lesbian bar owner Elaine Romagnoli to bring these spaces to life, while also highlighting today’s LGBTQ communities.

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COMMENTS

101 Horror Writing Prompts (Scream-worthy prompts for horror stories)
Funny Horror Story Ideas. 56. You're an editor for the college literary journal, and you've been getting poetic hate mail from a student who's angry you didn't choose their poems for the latest issue. 57. Your favorite neighbor is a trans woman named Lani who looks out for you. She warns you about a guy down the hall, who keeps trying ...
132 Best Horror Writing Prompts and Scary Story Ideas
Although many horror writing prompts and scary ideas have been written, the following 132 horror writing prompts can spark great creativity in aspiring writers of the horror genre. A family is on a camping trip. The parents are walking with their two children, a daughter and a son. The little boy trips and falls into a dark river.
110+ Horror Writing Prompts (With A Twist)
September 30, 2022. Give yourself the chills with this list of over 110 horror writing prompts. From scary ghost stories to creepy stories about animals and monsters. Now is the time to write your own horror story, just like Goosebumps or The Haunting of Aveline Jones. From the gory to the scary, from the monstrous to the supernatural, from the ...
Top 101 Bone-Chilling Horror Writing Prompts
Horror writing prompts. 1) You are accused of beating a man but you have no memory of the incident. You start hearing voices in your head and realize that evil spirits have entered your body. 2) A psychologist suggests a new therapy to a patient after which the patient starts getting scary nightmares.
101 Terrifying Horror Story Prompts
101 Terrifying Horror Story Prompts. 1. A girl goes missing in the woods, and her parents find only a decrepit and scary doll left behind. They soon learn that the doll is actually their daughter. And she's alive. 2. New residents of an old neighborhood are invited by their friendly neighbors to a Halloween party.
25 Horror Writing Prompts: How to Write Scary Stories
25 Horror Writing Prompts: How to Write Scary Stories. Written by MasterClass. Last updated: Sep 3, 2021 • 1 min read. Not all horror stories need to be set during Halloween. Looking for inspiration to start writing a scary story or creepy film? See these 25 creative writing prompts for writing your own horror story.
Horror Story Ideas: 55+ Scary Writing & Picture Prompts For Your Next
More Horror Story Ideas. 1. Campfire Tale: A group of campers gather around the fire on a moonless night and tell each other horror stories. Little do they know, there's an unseen monster lurking in the woods, waiting for its next victim. 2.
13 Creative Writing Prompts for Psychological Thrillers and Horror
6. Look around your neighborhood and find a place that looks strange or eerie. Dream up (and then write) a story that could be told as the disturbing legend of that place. 7. Imagine that, near a crime scene, you find a backpack. When you open it, you sense it belongs to the criminal.
19 Current Resources for Horror Fiction Writers
King is a strangely humble genius, and his advice is crucial to newer authors. If you're looking for something to read, King is amazing at creating horrifying villains. 7. Screenplays: Horror Writing Advice for Film. Even if you don't write screenplays, you've probably been inspired by the great horror movies.
How (and Why) To Write Horror That Feels Like It Could Really Happen
Author Michael J. Seidlinger shares what makes our reality perfect fodder for horror, and how to write horror that feels like it could really happen. Wake up, reach for your phone, hit snooze on your alarm until you've created a sense of urgency. Work beckons, yet the first thing you turn to is social media. Twitter, followed by a few podcasts.
Horror Essays
Sinister Film Analysis. 2 pages / 738 words. Sinister is a 2012 horror film directed by Scott Derrickson and written by C. Robert Cargill. The film follows a true-crime writer who discovers a box of home movies that unveil a series of murders connected to a supernatural entity. Sinister has received both critical...
How to Write Horror
Step 4: Keep your audience in mind. From this point on, you are ready to start writing your horror story. Much of the writing process will be carried out in the same way as you would write a story in any other genre. But there are a few extra considerations.
50 Fiction Writing Prompts and Ideas to Inspire You to Write
There are countless ways fiction writing prompts can benefit you. Here are a few reasons you might want to use a writing prompt: To start a new short story or novel. To practice writing in a new genre or writing style so you can expand your skill set and try something new. To warm up at the beginning of each writing session.
Free Horror Essay Examples and Topic Ideas
Paper Type: 750 Word Essay Examples. This paper is a personal essay presenting the author's personal feelings on horror novels, the challenge they offer, and why s/he loves to write horror.This is no fantasy. This is no fallacious delusion of a sick, twisted mind. This is the honest-to-God truth. I love horror novels.
Horror Essays: Samples & Topics
The Debate About the Horror Genre as Appropriate to Children. 11. Edgar Allan Poe: Life of The Most Famous Horror Author. 12. The Life of Edgar Allan Poe. 13. An Observation of a Student Towards Mystery Horror Game: A Case Study. 14. Shaun of the Dead and Tucker and Dale vs Evil: The Mix of Horror and Comedy. 15.
What are some horror-related research topics? : r/horrorlit
Horror has the ability to turn 'friendly' domesticated farmyard animals into objects of horror and loathing. The obvious examples are the dogs in 'The Omen' and 'Cujo', but also the horse from 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow', Black Phillip from 'The Witch', the cat in 'Cat's Eye', and very recently, the alpacas in the ...
Try These Books on Writing to Make Your Horror Fiction Bleed
There's nothing better than getting writing advice from the greats, and this book has some of the biggest names in horror to guide you. On Writing Horror is not as much a step-by-step lesson on craft, but more a broad perspective on horror as a genre and industry. Voices like Stephen King, Jack Ketchum, Ramsey Campbell, Harlan Ellison, and more offer a wide range of thought and explore the ...
Horror Films and Literature
The topics examined include: horror's roots in the Gothic romance and antebellum American fiction; the penny dreadful and sensation novels of Victorian England; fin-de-siècle ghost stories; decadent fiction and the weird; the familial horrors of the Cold War era; the publishing boom of the 1980s; the establishment of contemporary horror ...
The Horror Genre: Novels and Stories
The Horror Genre: Novels and Stories Essay. Horror novels and stories are a dying brand of media in today's world. Once so popular, they now are somewhat of a rarity. While the horror publication has lost its acclaim, it has given way to the rise of the horror movie. It is a shame that films with amateur acting and shoddy writing are ...
9 Horror Magazines That'll Pay For Your Stories!
Pay: Nightmare short stories: $0.08 per word of short stories ($120 - $600 per piece) The Horror Lab: $0.08 per word of short stories, nonfiction, and flash fiction ($120 - $600 per piece) The Horror Lab poetry: $40 per poem (one 1,500-word poem is 2.6 cents per word, one 300-word poem out of five poems is 13 cents per word.)
Short Horror Story Essay 8 Models
2- Giving up bad behavior. 3- Repressing the evil instincts that are inside every human being. 4- Controlling the child in the safety zone next to the parents. 5- Planting correct means and methods through intimidation. Several years ago, my father told me a story about a boy who went out without telling his family where he was going.
8 Personal Stories That Use Horror as a Lens
Lunar Park by Bret Easton Ellis. Hear me out: I know this is a novel, but the fact that Ellis superimposes a horror narrative onto a mock memoir—in which the author channels his own real-life career and hedonistic excess into a (non-auto)fictional exploration of his earlier body of work literally coming back to haunt him as he enters middle age—speaks volumes about the genre's capacity ...
Free Essays Examples on Horror Fiction Genre
Horror Fiction genre. Get free essay samples on books in the Horror Fiction genre. Find essay topic or paper ideas for free and authors who write in Horror Fiction genre ... Essays and topic ideas on Horror Fiction; 1 Psychology Analysis on Disney Character. Words • 1127. Pages • 5. Save to my list. Remove from my list. Extra Credit The ...
Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Horror Fiction'
Video (online) Consult the top 50 dissertations / theses for your research on the topic 'Horror Fiction.'. Next to every source in the list of references, there is an 'Add to bibliography' button. Press on it, and we will generate automatically the bibliographic reference to the chosen work in the citation style you need: APA, MLA, Harvard ...
6 New Books We Recommend This Week
Stephen King, who has dominated horror fiction for decades, published his first novel, "Carrie," in 1974. Margaret Atwood explains the book's enduring appeal . Do you want to be a better reader?
5 New LGBTQ Nonfiction Books to Read in 2024
In this memoir, Wallace, a journalist known for writing profiles, crafts a self-portrait. He delves into his experiences of growing up Black in the white suburbs of Pittsburgh, struggling with the ...