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Create Terrifying Titles: Free Horror Book Title Generator

As horror authors, we can only dream of conjuring up a title so sinister it sends a chill down our soon-to-be-readers’ spines. And a horror book title generator just might make that ̶d̶r̶e̶a̶m̶ nightmare come true.

Horror is the goth little sister of the literary family—kinda fun, kinda weird, and brings the necessary spice to keep things interesting. Nothing hits like a good horror story , but there’s something standing between a reader and their next favorite scary book: The title.

Without a killer title, your horrifying tale may never be told! The power of a well-crafted title is everything. Let’s look at some tips for writing strong horror titles, examples of famously done titles, and then talk about the (free!) tool that will create your next title for you.

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This Horror Book Title Generator & Guide Covers

5 tips for writing terrifying titles.

A good horror book title generator (whether that generator is YOU or a tool) should come up with something that accomplishes several objectives. It needs to grab attention, accurately represent the content in your book, and appeal to the right target demographic.

But an excellent horror book title is a piece of art in itself! Here are five tips for crafting the perfect book title – whether you decide to use a horror book title generator or nothing but your own creativity.

Evoke emotion

One of the biggest draws of a scary book is that it’s scary! It makes you feel intense emotions. With themes like isolation, grief, terror, and explorations of our deepest fears, horror aims to draw out strong feelings in the reader. A good horror book title should be a little taste of that on its own.

So, think of what emotion you want to convey to your reader, and try to apply it to the title.

For example, Stephen King’s “Misery” immediately conjures a feeling of helplessness, while Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” implies a chilling secret waiting to be revealed.

Embrace ambiguity

A successful horror title should pique curiosity without giving away too much. Leave room for interpretation and uncertainty, letting readers’ imaginations run wild.

Titles like Shirley Jackson’s “The Haunting of Hill House” and H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Call of Cthulhu” invoke a sense of mystery that beckons readers to explore the enigmatic worlds within.

What’s haunting Hill House? What does Cthulhu want, and why won’t he shut up?

A horror book title generator can be especially good a creative, ambiguous titles that you wouldn’t have otherwise thought of!

Edit out the fluff

Simplicity can often be more impactful than complexity. You might strive for brevity while maintaining an element of tension. Short, impactful phrases can leave an immediate and lasting impression.

Anne Rice’s “Interview with the Vampire” succinctly captures the allure and danger of the supernatural, as well as hinting at the narrative intimacy the reader can expect with said vampire.

Match the tone of the book

There are many different types of tones in writing , and the one you choose depends on your cast of characters, the type of horror you are writing, and your own personal style. For example, the differences between horror and thriller books call for different tones. One is downright scary, while the other is characterized by a tense feeling – or even confusion.

What is certain is that your chosen title should reflect and represent the overall tone and/or atmosphere of your story (whatever you choose it to be). If your story is a slow-burn psychological thriller, words like “whisper,” “shadow,” and “trace” might be more fitting than an aggressive, gory title.

Play into symbolism

Incorporating symbolism – even if unknown – can add depth and layers to your book before someone even read the first page. It intrigues readers while providing a glimpse into the thematic content of your book.

William Peter Blatty’s “The Exorcist” does a great job indicating the literal content—possession, demons, Catholicism, etc—but it also symbolizes the inner demons haunting the characters.

As you can see, an effective horror book title is at once simple and incredibly difficult. You should start thinking on the title during or even before writing your first rough draft . Not only does the title work with the story to create its own little art piece, but the title is a huge marketing and book positioning tool – if it sounds boring or trite, it just won’t sell as well.

Similarly, if the title is misleading, you might stack up more 1-star reviews than is ideal.

So, are you ready to give it a try? Check out the horror book title generator here. Otherwise, keep reading for some more inspiration and tips for getting the most out of this free tool.

Examples of famous and iconic horror book titles

Let’s look at a few strong examples of horror titles from famous works.

“Dracula” by Bram Stoker

A timeless classic, Stoker’s “Dracula” remains a paragon of horror literature. Its title immediately conjures images of the iconic vampire, evoking a sense of dread and fascination.

And even before Dracula became a famous literary figure, this word had significance. “Dracula” is derived from the Latin word for “dragon,” a creature historically associated with demons.

“Psycho” by Robert Bloch

A title that taps into the psychological horror subgenre, “Psycho” captures the enigmatic and unsettling nature of the human mind. It lets us know the type of person we’re dealing with, as well as being indicative of the genre itself. It’s a snappy, concise, iconic title.

“Something Wicked This Way Comes” by Ray Bradbury

Borrowed from a line in Shakespeare’s “Macbeth,” (“By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes) this title sets a foreboding tone and hints at the arrival of malevolent forces. We know immediately the story involves supernatural elements, and specifically, that those elements have ill intent.

It’s also just super metal.

“Bird Box” by Josh Malerman

Short and evocative, this title draws attention to the unknown and the unseen, mirroring the story’s theme. There is a literal bird in a box, but it is a metaphor for how the characters are also like boxed birds—technically safe, but denied real freedom.

“Bird Box” is also an unusual pairing of words, making it immediately iconic. If you can craft a horror book title so unique, your book and author website might easily appear quite high in Google results. Think about it!

“The Silence of the Lambs” by Thomas Harris

This title is an exemplar of psychological terror, invoking both the quiet manipulation of Hannibal Lecter and the unsettling nature of the crimes. It also works as a metaphor for murder victims—lambs are slaughtered, and then they are silent.

“World War Z” by Max Brooks

A title that sends shivers down the spine, “World War Z” immediately conveys the global scale of the undead apocalypse. I don’t know if rhyming with World War III was intentional, but it does evoke that same unsettling feeling upon mention.

Related: Best Horror Audiobooks

A step-by-step how-to: using the horror book title generator

If coming up with the perfect horror title is sounding like, well, a nightmare, we got you! Here’s how to use our horror book title generator to create a spooky, thrilling, and, most importantly, sellable title for your next horror story.

Step 1: Mosey on over to the horror title generator

We love the book title generator so much that we gave it its own page, but you can use the embedded one here as well. As a reminder, the book title generator works for any genre, fiction or nonfiction , but let’s look at how to create a horror book title.

Step 2: Insert information

The more you know about your book, the generator has enough to work with.

There are basically two ways to use it. One is to select “fiction,” from the first dropdown menu, then type in your book description. For example, I selected fiction, and the description I provided was: A young girl ventures into a swamp to ask the witch who lives there for a favor. When the girl arrives, she realizes the witch is nothing like how the townspeople had described.

The above description gave me this result:

If you don’t like the title, simply click “try again” to produce another!

If you don’t have a description yet, no worries! The second way to use the generator is with the following information:

Your book genre
Your book’s setting
Your target audience
A one-sentence description of your hero

Let’s try it!

Here are my first few results:

Shadows of Deceit: Unveiling the Darkness (A Nervous Girl’s Journey into the Enigmatic Abyss of Found Family, Betrayal, and Unlikely Love)
Whispers in the Shadows: Unveiling the Darkness (An Unlikely Hero’s Journey into a Twisted World of Found Family, Betrayal, and Love Born from Desperation)
Whispers in the Dark: A Haunting Journey of Found Family and Treacherous Love (The Unsettling Tale of a Timid Heroine’s Terrifying Quest to Uncover the Truth)

Step 3: Click generate

It’s a good idea to generate several titles, writing down the ones that you think have potential. You could do this 10 times or 100 times, up to you! Having too many options can make decisions impossible, but do you want enough to work with.

Step 4: Shuffle and edit

With your list of titles, start experimenting! You might take the title from one and the subtitle from another or merge several titles. You’ve probably noticed that the generator gives you a LOT of words—that means you can trim out the ones you don’t think work and still have plenty left. If you scroll Amazon titles, you’ll see authors utilizing those huge subtitles to work the algorithm. Don’t be afraid of a subtitle!

Titles are the middleman connecting your perfect reader to your scary story ideas and/or horror book. Use the tips and tools above to create a title worthy of introducing your story to the world.

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250 Horror Writing Prompts (Scary Good Ideas)

Looking to write your next spine-chilling horror story?

Here are 250 horror writing prompts to get your creative juices flowing. From ghostly apparitions to apocalyptic nightmares, these prompts will help you create unforgettable tales of terror.

What Is a Horror Writing Prompt?

Woman writing with monsters behind her -- Horror Writing Prompts

Table of Contents

A horror writing prompt is a brief idea or scenario designed to inspire a horror story.

It provides the foundation for a plot, characters, conflict, setting, consequences, and sometimes a ticking clock plot device to build tension and urgency.

There is actually more than one type of horror writing prompt (see the chart below).

Types of Horror Writing Prompts

Type	Description
Ghost Stories	Involve spirits, hauntings, and supernatural entities from the afterlife.
Psychological Horror	Focus on the inner turmoil and mental states of characters.
Paranormal Activity	Center on phenomena beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding.
Creature Features	Involve monsters, mythical creatures, and otherworldly beings.
Gothic Horror	Set in dark, decaying locations with a sense of romanticism and dread.
Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic	Depict end-of-the-world scenarios and their aftermath.
Body Horror	Revolve around grotesque transformations and mutilations of the body.
Slasher Stories	Feature a murderous antagonist hunting down victims.
Cosmic Horror	Explore the insignificance of humanity in the face of incomprehensible entities.
Folk Horror	Draw from rural and traditional folklore, often involving rituals and superstitions.

Ghost Stories

The Forgotten Asylum – A group of urban explorers finds an abandoned asylum haunted by the spirits of former patients. They must uncover the asylum’s dark secrets before they’re trapped forever.
The Phantom Ship – A ghost ship appears off the coast, and a team of marine biologists investigates. They discover the souls of the drowned crew seeking revenge.
Haunted Housewarming – A couple moves into their dream home, only to find it haunted by a previous owner’s vengeful spirit. They must uncover the home’s history to break the curse.
The Whispering Woods – Campers in a remote forest hear eerie whispers at night. The ghost of a lost hiker leads them to a hidden danger.
The Ghostly Guardian – A child befriends a ghost who protects them from unseen dangers. The parents must confront the ghost to save their child.
The Lighthouse Keeper – A lone lighthouse keeper encounters the spirits of shipwrecked sailors. He must guide them to the afterlife while battling his own sanity.
The Cursed Portrait – An artist paints a portrait that traps the soul of its subject. The artist must find a way to release the soul before they face a similar fate.
The Haunted Highway – Drivers on a desolate road encounter ghostly apparitions. A journalist investigates the road’s dark history to uncover the truth.
The Spirit of the Manor – A family inherits a manor haunted by its former occupants. They must survive the night and appease the spirits to lift the curse.
The Ghostly Choir – A school choir is haunted by the spirits of former students. The new choir director must solve the mystery before the spirits claim more victims.
The Phantom Play – An old theater is haunted by the ghost of a lead actor who died on stage. The current cast must perform his unfinished play to set his spirit free.
The Ghostly Conductor – A ghost train appears on an abandoned track, and a group of friends boards it. They must solve the train’s mystery before reaching their final destination.
The Haunted Playground – Children encounter the ghost of a girl at a playground. They must help her find peace before she claims more playmates.
The Ghost in the Attic – A family discovers a ghost living in their attic. They must uncover the ghost’s past to help it move on.
The Spectral Detective – A detective partners with a ghost to solve a series of murders. They must catch the killer before the ghost’s unfinished business consumes them both.
The Haunted Hotel – Guests at a remote hotel encounter the spirits of former guests. The hotel staff must uncover the truth to stop the hauntings.
The Ghostly Librarian – A library is haunted by the ghost of a former librarian. The new librarian must uncover the ghost’s secrets to restore peace.
The Phantom Dancer – A ballerina encounters the ghost of a dancer who died in a tragic accident. She must perform the dancer’s final routine to set her spirit free.
The Ghost Shipwreck – Divers exploring a shipwreck encounter the spirits of the crew. They must uncover the ship’s fate to escape the underwater hauntings.
The Haunted Cabin – A group of friends stays in a cabin haunted by the ghost of a previous occupant. They must solve the ghost’s mystery to survive the night.
The Ghostly Roommate – A college student discovers their dorm room is haunted. They must work with the ghost to uncover the dorm’s dark history.
The Phantom Photographer – A photographer captures images of ghosts in their photos. They must find a way to stop the hauntings before they become one of the subjects.
The Haunted Mirror – A mirror in an antique shop shows the reflections of ghosts. The shop owner must uncover the mirror’s history to break the curse.
The Ghostly Gardener – A gardener encounters the spirit of a former groundskeeper. They must work together to uncover the secrets buried in the garden.
The Phantom Bus – A ghostly bus picks up passengers who never return. A journalist must uncover the bus’s story to stop the disappearances.

Psychological Horror

The Mirror’s Reflection – A person starts seeing a sinister version of themselves in mirrors. They must confront their inner demons to regain control.
The Unseen Stalker – Someone feels constantly watched and followed. They must uncover the identity of their stalker before they lose their sanity.
The Vanishing Family – A person wakes up to find their family has disappeared. They must piece together their fractured memories to find out what happened.
The Hallucination Game – A group of friends takes part in a psychological experiment, only to find reality and hallucination blurring dangerously.
The Time Loop – A person is trapped in a time loop, reliving the same terrifying day. They must find a way to break the loop before their mind unravels.
The Doppelgänger – A person encounters someone who looks exactly like them but with sinister intentions. They must discover the doppelgänger’s origins to survive.
The Sleepless Nights – A person suffers from severe insomnia, leading to disturbing visions and paranoia. They must find the cause before they break down completely.
The Disappearing Acts – A person’s friends and family begin to vanish one by one. They must uncover the truth behind the disappearances before they’re next.
The Phantom Voices – A person starts hearing voices that urge them to commit terrible acts. They must resist the voices and find out where they’re coming from.
The Twisted Reality – A person finds themselves in a world where nothing is as it seems. They must navigate the illusions to find the truth.
The Hidden Room – A person discovers a hidden room in their home filled with disturbing artifacts. They must uncover its purpose and the secrets it holds.
The Fragmented Mind – A person experiences severe memory loss and blackouts. They must piece together their fragmented memories to uncover a dark truth.
The Shadow in the Corner – A person sees a shadowy figure in the corner of their eye that gets closer each day. They must confront it before it consumes them.
The Sinister Neighbor – A person suspects their new neighbor is hiding a terrible secret. They must investigate without falling into the neighbor’s trap.
The Vanishing Town – A person visits a town where the residents start to disappear. They must find out what’s happening before they’re the next to vanish.
The Haunted Dreams – A person has recurring nightmares that start to affect their waking life. They must confront the source of their dreams to find peace.
The Creeping Darkness – A person notices shadows in their home that move on their own. They must discover the shadows’ origin before they’re engulfed.
The Split Personality – A person develops a sinister alter ego that takes over at night. They must find a way to control it before it ruins their life.
The Abandoned Factory – A person explores an old factory and begins to experience disturbing visions. They must uncover the factory’s history to escape its grip.
The Cursed Diary – A person finds a diary that predicts terrible events. They must find the diary’s owner to break the curse.
The Silent Treatment – A person wakes up in a world where no one can speak. They must find out what happened and restore communication before it’s too late.
The Puppet Master – A person discovers they’re being manipulated by an unseen force. They must break free before they lose their sense of self.
The Echoes of the Past – A person experiences vivid flashbacks of events they never lived. They must uncover the connection between the flashbacks and their present.
The Invisible Enemy – A person is attacked by an unseen force. They must find a way to defend themselves and uncover the enemy’s identity.
The Cursed Painting – A person acquires a painting that changes its scene to reflect their darkest fears. They must find a way to destroy the painting before it consumes their sanity.

Paranormal Activity

The Poltergeist – A family experiences violent disturbances in their home caused by a poltergeist. They must uncover the entity’s past to stop the terror.
The Possessed Doll – A child receives a doll that seems to have a life of its own. The parents must find a way to break the possession before it harms the family.
The Haunted School – Students encounter paranormal activity in their school. They must investigate its history to stop the hauntings.
The Supernatural Investigator – A detective with a sixth sense solves crimes involving paranormal activity. They must confront their own fears to catch a dangerous spirit.
The Vanishing Townspeople – Residents of a small town start disappearing after a mysterious fog rolls in. The remaining townspeople must solve the mystery before they vanish too.
The Ghostly Lover – A person falls in love with a ghost who haunts their home. They must find a way to be together or say goodbye forever.
The Time-Traveling Spirit – A ghost from the past appears to a historian, seeking help to correct a historical injustice. They must work together across time.
The Paranormal Researcher – A scientist investigates paranormal phenomena and discovers a hidden world of spirits. They must navigate this world to find answers.
The Haunted Item – An antique shop owner acquires an item with a dark past. They must uncover its history and break the curse before it destroys them.
The Phantom Room – A hotel room that doesn’t exist on the registry appears to guests. Those who enter must solve its mystery to escape.
The Spectral Friend – A lonely child befriends a ghost. The child’s parents must help the ghost find peace before it takes their child to the afterlife.
The Haunted Hospital – Patients in a hospital encounter ghostly apparitions. The staff must uncover the hospital’s dark past to stop the hauntings.
The Possessed Vehicle – A car starts exhibiting strange behavior after an accident. The owner must uncover its history to break the possession.
The Cursed Book – A librarian finds a book that causes anyone who reads it to experience paranormal phenomena. They must destroy the book before it spreads its curse.
The Phantom Babysitter – A babysitter encounters a ghostly child in the house they’re watching. They must uncover the child’s story to protect the family.
The Haunted Museum – Artifacts in a museum come to life at night. The curator must solve the mystery before the artifacts escape.
The Possessed Painting – An artist’s paintings start depicting horrifying scenes that come to life. They must uncover the source of the possession to stop it.
The Ghostly Guide – Tourists encounter a ghostly tour guide who leads them to dangerous places. They must uncover the guide’s past to escape.
The Paranormal Investigation – A team of ghost hunters investigates a famously haunted location and encounters more than they bargained for. They must survive the night and document their findings.
The Phantom Pet – A family adopts a pet that turns out to be a ghost. They must help the pet find peace to stop its restless behavior.
The Haunted Object – A person buys a seemingly innocuous object at a yard sale, only to discover it’s haunted. They must find its previous owner to uncover its dark history.
The Ghost Town – A group of friends stumbles upon a deserted town inhabited by ghosts. They must solve the town’s mystery to escape.
The Phantom Carnival – A carnival appears in town, and those who visit never return. A journalist investigates to uncover its dark secrets.
The Haunted Road – A driver encounters ghostly figures on a deserted road. They must find out why the road is haunted to find their way out.
The Ghostly Warning – A person receives warnings from a ghost about an impending disaster. They must decipher the messages to prevent the catastrophe.

Creature Features

The Werewolf Curse – A small town is terrorized by a werewolf. The townspeople must find and stop the creature before the next full moon.
The Swamp Monster – A group of campers encounters a monstrous creature in the swamp. They must survive the night and find a way to escape.
The Vampire’s Lair – A vampire kidnaps townsfolk to feed on. A group of villagers must band together to defeat the vampire and save their loved ones.
The Sea Creature – A coastal town is plagued by a sea monster. The townspeople must uncover the creature’s origins and stop it before it destroys the town.
The Yeti Hunt – Explorers in the Himalayas encounter a yeti. They must survive its attacks and find a way to escape the mountains.
The Chupacabra – A small town is terrorized by a creature that preys on livestock. The townspeople must find and stop the chupacabra before it turns to human prey.
The Mothman Prophecies – A town experiences sightings of a mysterious creature that predicts disasters. The townspeople must uncover its origins to stop the tragedies.
The Wendigo – A remote village is terrorized by a wendigo. The villagers must find a way to defeat the creature and break its curse.
The Loch Ness Monster – Researchers searching for the Loch Ness Monster get more than they bargained for. They must survive their encounter and escape the loch.
The Giant Spider – A group of scientists encounters a giant spider in the jungle. They must survive its attacks and find a way to escape.
The Goblin’s Curse – A village is plagued by goblin attacks. The villagers must find and defeat the goblin king to lift the curse.
The Kraken – A ship is attacked by a Kraken. The crew must find a way to defeat the creature and escape the ocean.
The Minotaur’s Maze – Adventurers exploring an ancient labyrinth encounter a minotaur. They must navigate the maze and defeat the creature to escape.
The Gorgon – A group of heroes must defeat a gorgon to save their kingdom. They must avoid its petrifying gaze and find a way to kill it.
The Cyclops – A village is terrorized by a cyclops. The villagers must find and stop the creature before it destroys their homes.
The Harpy’s Lair – A group of adventurers encounters a harpy in a remote cave. They must survive its attacks and find a way to escape.
The Hydra – A group of heroes must defeat a hydra to save their land. They must find a way to kill the creature without it regenerating.
The Chimera – A village is attacked by a chimera. The villagers must find a way to defeat the creature before it destroys their homes.
The Basilisk – A group of adventurers must defeat a basilisk to save their kingdom. They must avoid its deadly gaze and find a way to kill it.
The Griffin – A village is terrorized by a griffin. The villagers must find and stop the creature before it destroys their homes.
The Dragon’s Lair – A group of adventurers must defeat a dragon to save their kingdom. They must find a way to kill the creature and escape its lair.
The Phoenix – A group of heroes must defeat a phoenix to save their land. They must find a way to kill the creature without it regenerating.
The Roc – A village is attacked by a roc. The villagers must find a way to defeat the creature before it destroys their homes.
The Unicorn’s Curse – A village is plagued by a cursed unicorn. The villagers must find and stop the creature to lift the curse.
The Leviathan – A ship is attacked by a leviathan. The crew must find a way to defeat the creature and escape the ocean.

Gothic Horror

The Cursed Castle – A family inherits a castle with a dark history. They must uncover its secrets to lift the curse.
The Haunted Abbey – Monks at a remote abbey encounter ghostly apparitions. They must uncover the abbey’s dark past to stop the hauntings.
The Sinister Manor – Guests at a manor encounter strange occurrences. They must solve the manor’s mystery to escape.
The Dark Forest – A village is surrounded by a forest where no one returns. The villagers must uncover the forest’s secrets to survive.
The Phantom of the Opera House – A theater is haunted by a ghostly figure. The performers must uncover the phantom’s past to stop the hauntings.
The Ghostly Bride – A bride haunts the church where she was left at the altar. The townspeople must uncover her story to set her spirit free.
The Vampire’s Castle – A group of travelers seeks shelter in a castle only to find it inhabited by vampires. They must escape before becoming prey.
The Sinister Tower – A tower on a cliff is said to be haunted. Adventurers must uncover its secrets and survive its dangers.
The Witch’s Cottage – A cottage in the woods is said to be inhabited by a witch. Brave villagers must uncover the truth and survive the night.
The Shadowed Hallways – A noble family in a mansion encounters shadowy figures that stalk them at night. They must uncover the mansion’s history to banish the shadows.
The Forbidden Tomb – Explorers uncover an ancient tomb that curses those who enter. They must find a way to break the curse and escape.
The Haunted Chapel – A chapel is haunted by the spirits of those wronged by the church. The new priest must uncover their stories to bring peace.
The Eerie Estate – An estate known for its eerie occurrences becomes the setting for a family reunion. The family must uncover the estate’s dark past.
The Sinister Sculptor – A sculptor’s statues seem to come to life. Visitors to the sculptor’s estate must solve the mystery before they become statues themselves.
The Phantom Shipyard – A shipyard is haunted by the ghosts of shipbuilders who died in a tragic accident. Investigators must uncover the cause of the hauntings.
The Cursed Bell Tower – A bell tower’s toll brings doom to those who hear it. The villagers must silence the bell to stop the curse.
The Secret Passage – Hidden passages in a mansion reveal dark secrets. The inhabitants must navigate the passages to uncover the truth.
The Ghostly Governess – A governess haunts the children she once cared for. The new caretaker must uncover her story to protect the children.
The Darkened Library – A library contains books that whisper dark secrets. The librarian must uncover the source and stop the whispering.
The Phantom Train Station – A train station is haunted by passengers who never reached their destination. A traveler must uncover their stories.
The Sinister Garden – A garden blooms with flowers that have a deadly secret. The gardener must uncover the truth to save themselves.
The Ghostly Host – A host at a manor party is a ghost who never left. The guests must uncover the host’s story to escape.
The Haunted Portraits – Portraits in a manor watch the inhabitants. The family must uncover the stories behind the portraits.
The Cursed Well – A well in a village grants wishes at a terrible cost. The villagers must uncover the well’s origins to stop its influence.
The Phantom Ball – A grand ball is held every year by a ghostly host. The attendees must uncover the host’s story to escape.

Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic

The Last Survivors – After a nuclear apocalypse, a group of survivors must navigate a ruined city to find safety.
The Plague – A deadly virus wipes out most of humanity. The immune survivors must find a cure before they succumb to the infection.
The Alien Invasion – Aliens decimate Earth’s population. A group of resistance fighters must find a way to fight back.
The Artificial Intelligence Uprising – AI turns against humanity. A group of survivors must find a way to shut down the AI network.
The Resource War – After resources become scarce, warring factions fight for control. A neutral group must navigate the conflict to survive.
The Frozen Earth – A new ice age begins, and survivors must find a way to live in the frozen wasteland.
The Solar Flare – A solar flare wipes out the technology. Survivors must adapt to a world without electricity.
The Zombie Apocalypse – The dead rise, and survivors must find a safe haven. They must navigate hordes of zombies and hostile humans.
The Asteroid Impact – An asteroid destroys major cities. Survivors must rebuild society in the aftermath.
The Supervolcano Eruption – A supervolcano erupts, causing a global catastrophe. Survivors must navigate the ash-filled landscape.
The Mutant Uprising – Radiation causes mutations in humans. The unmutated must find a way to coexist or fight back.
The Machine Takeover – Robots take control of the world. Human survivors must find a way to disable the machines.
The Bioweapon Leak – A bioweapon leaks and creates deadly mutants. Survivors must find the source to stop the spread.
The Water Crisis – Water becomes a scarce resource. Survivors must find new sources of water and fend off those who want to steal it.
The Dark Age – Society collapses, and survivors must navigate a world without order. They must rebuild communities while avoiding bandits.
The EMP Attack – An EMP attack wipes out all electronics. Survivors must adapt to a pre-technological world.
The Global Famine – A famine causes mass starvation. Survivors must find new ways to grow food and fend off starving invaders.
The Infected Animals – A virus causes animals to become aggressive. Survivors must protect themselves from the deadly wildlife.
The Drought – A prolonged drought causes a water shortage. Survivors must find new sources of water and protect them from others.
The Nuclear Winter – A nuclear war causes a nuclear winter. Survivors must find a way to live in the cold, dark world.
The Toxic Air – Pollution causes the air to become toxic. Survivors must find ways to purify the air and protect themselves.
The Invasion – A foreign army invades, causing chaos. Survivors must navigate the war-torn landscape.
The Collapse – Economic collapse causes society to break down. Survivors must find ways to rebuild while avoiding hostile groups.
The Plague – A new plague decimates the population. Survivors must find a cure before they become infected.
The Resource Scarcity – Resources become scarce, and society collapses. Survivors must find new ways to survive and protect their resources.

Body Horror

The Parasite – A person becomes host to a parasitic creature that slowly takes over their body. They must find a way to remove it before losing control.
The Flesh-Eating Disease – A disease that causes flesh to decay. The infected must find a cure before they succumb.
The Mutation – A person starts mutating uncontrollably. They must find a way to stop the mutations before they become unrecognizable.
The Experiment – A person is subjected to horrific experiments that alter their body. They must escape the lab and find a way to reverse the changes.
The Transformation – A person transforms into a monstrous creature. They must find a way to stop the transformation and regain their humanity.
The Infestation – A person’s body becomes infested with insects. They must find a way to remove the infestation before it’s too late.
The Amalgamation – A scientist’s experiment causes multiple bodies to fuse together. The resulting creature must find a way to separate or live as one.
The Skinwalker – A person can change their appearance by shedding their skin. They must find a way to control their abilities before they lose themselves.
The Growth – A person discovers a rapidly growing tumor that gives them strange abilities. They must find a way to control it before it consumes them.
The Symbiote – A symbiotic creature bonds with a person, granting powers but slowly taking over. They must find a way to separate before losing control.
The Reanimation – A scientist’s experiment to reanimate the dead goes horribly wrong. The reanimated must find a way to live with their new bodies.
The Graft – A person receives an experimental organ transplant that changes their body in unexpected ways. They must find a way to reverse the changes.
The Cannibal’s Curse – A person who consumes human flesh gains horrific powers. They must find a way to break the curse before losing their humanity.
The Melting Man – A person starts to liquefy. They must find a way to stop the process before it melts away.
The Living Tattoo – A person’s tattoos come to life and start to control them. They must find a way to stop the tattoos before they take over.
The Bone Shifter – A person gains the ability to shift their bones, causing great pain. They must find a way to control their power before it destroys them.
The Organ Thief – A person wakes up missing organs that are replaced by mysterious mechanical parts. They must find the thief and recover their organs.
The Flesh Sculptor – A person gains the ability to mold their flesh like clay. They must find a way to control their power before it consumes them.
The Skin Thief – A person can steal others’ skin to change their appearance. They must find a way to stop their urges before they lose their humanity.
The Hive – A person’s body becomes a hive for insects. They must find a way to remove the insects before it’s too late.
The Limb Regenerator – A person gains the ability to regenerate limbs, but each regrowth causes them to lose part of their humanity. They must find a way to stop the process.
The Mind Swap – A person swaps minds with another, causing their body to undergo horrific changes. They must find a way to reverse the swap.
The Flesh Weaver – A person gains the ability to manipulate flesh, weaving it into grotesque forms. They must find a way to control their power before it consumes them.
The Bone Collector – A person starts collecting bones, and their body begins to incorporate them. They must find a way to stop before they become living skeletons.
The Living Parasite – A parasitic organism living inside a person starts taking over their body. They must find a way to remove the parasite before it controls them completely.

Slasher Stories

The Masked Killer – A masked killer hunts down teenagers at a summer camp. The survivors must uncover the killer’s identity to stop the murders.
The Urban Legend – A group of friends accidentally awaken a killer from an urban legend. They must find a way to stop the killer before becoming victims.
The High School Horror – A killer stalks students at a high school reunion. The former classmates must band together to survive the night.
The Night Stalker – A serial killer targets people walking alone at night. A detective must catch the killer before more lives are lost.
The Cabin in the Woods – A group of friends vacationing in a cabin are hunted by a killer. They must survive the night and uncover the killer’s motive.
The Halloween Horror – A killer in a Halloween costume targets partygoers. The survivors must figure out who the killer is before it’s too late.
The Summer Slasher – A slasher terrorizes a summer camp. The counselors must protect the campers and stop the killer.
The Haunted House Horror – A group of friends visiting a haunted house attraction encounter a real killer. They must survive the night and escape the house.
The Killer Clown – A killer dressed as a clown targets children. The townspeople must uncover the clown’s identity to stop the killings.
The Prom Night Massacre – A killer crashes a prom, targeting students. The survivors must find a way to stop the killer and escape.
The Road Trip Terror – A group of friends on a road trip are hunted by a killer. They must uncover the killer’s identity and motive to survive.
The Island Slasher – Vacationers on a remote island are hunted by a killer. They must survive and find a way to escape the island.
The Carnival of Carnage – A killer targets visitors at a carnival. The survivors must uncover the killer’s identity to stop the murders.
The Silent Stalker – A killer who never speaks targets people in their homes. A detective must catch the killer before more lives are lost.
The Snowbound Slasher – A group of friends snowed in at a cabin and are hunted by a killer. They must survive the night and find a way to escape.
The College Campus Killer – A killer stalks students on a college campus. The survivors must band together to uncover the killer’s identity.
The Backwoods Butcher – Campers in the backwoods are hunted by a killer. They must survive the night and find a way to stop the killer.
The Stalker in the Shadows – A stalker targets a woman, and her friends must protect her and catch the stalker.
The Holiday Horror – A killer targets people during the holidays. The survivors must uncover the killer’s identity and motive to stop the murders.
The Beachside Slasher – Vacationers at a beach resort are hunted by a killer. They must survive and uncover the killer’s identity.
The Amusement Park Horror – A killer targets visitors at an amusement park. The survivors must stop the killer and escape the park.
The Midnight Stalker – A killer targets people walking alone at midnight. A detective must catch the killer before more lives are lost.
The Wedding Day Massacre – A killer crashes a wedding, targeting guests. The survivors must find a way to stop the killer and escape.
The Forest of Fear – Hikers in a forest are hunted by a killer. They must survive and find a way to stop the killer.
The Asylum Escapee – A killer escapes from an asylum and targets people in a nearby town. The townspeople must uncover the killer’s identity to stop the murders.

Cosmic Horror

The Lovecraftian Entity – A small town is plagued by sightings of an otherworldly entity. The townspeople must uncover its origins to stop the madness.
The Eldritch Tome – A scholar discovers a book that drives readers insane. They must uncover the book’s secrets to stop its influence.
The Alien Artifact – Scientists discover an artifact that brings forth cosmic horrors. They must find a way to destroy it before it consumes them.
The Forgotten Temple – Explorers find an ancient temple dedicated to a cosmic entity. They must uncover its secrets to escape the horrors within.
The Star Cult – A cult worships a cosmic entity that grants them terrible powers. Investigators must stop the cult before they summon the entity.
The Cosmic Rift – A rift in space-time opens, bringing forth horrors from another dimension. Scientists must find a way to close the rift.
The Astral Projector – A person gains the ability to astrally project but encounters cosmic horrors. They must find a way to control their power.
The Interdimensional Traveler – A traveler from another dimension brings cosmic horrors. The survivors must find a way to send the traveler back.
The Eldritch Signal – A signal from deep space drives those who hear it insane. Scientists must find a way to stop the signal.
The Otherworldly Beacon – A lighthouse serves as a beacon for cosmic entities. The keeper must find a way to stop the beacon.
The Alien Invasion – Aliens from another dimension invade Earth, bringing cosmic horrors. The survivors must find a way to fight back.
The Eldritch Storm – A storm brings forth cosmic horrors. The survivors must find a way to stop the storm.
The Forgotten Ones – Ancient beings awaken and bring cosmic horrors. The survivors must find a way to stop them.
The Cosmic Plague – A plague from another dimension infects humanity. The survivors must find a cure before it spreads.
The Eldritch Machine – A machine built by an ancient civilization brings cosmic horrors. The survivors must find a way to destroy it.
The Otherworldly Visitor – A visitor from another dimension brings cosmic horrors. The survivors must find a way to send them back.
The Lovecraftian Dreams – People start having dreams of cosmic horrors that drive them insane. They must find a way to stop the dreams.
The Eldritch Ritual – A cult performs a ritual to summon a cosmic entity. Investigators must stop the ritual.
The Alien Mind Control – Aliens use mind control to bring forth cosmic horrors. The survivors must find a way to stop them.
The Eldritch Portal – A portal opens, bringing forth cosmic horrors. The survivors must find a way to close it.
The Forgotten City – Explorers find a lost city dedicated to cosmic entities. They must uncover its secrets to escape the horrors within.
The Otherworldly Artifact – An artifact from another dimension brings cosmic horrors. The survivors must find a way to destroy it.
The Eldritch Experiment – Scientists’ experiments bring forth cosmic horrors. They must find a way to stop the experiments.
The Alien Infestation – Aliens infest a town, bringing cosmic horrors. The survivors must find a way to stop them.
The Cosmic Entity – A cosmic entity awakens, bringing forth horrors. The survivors must find a way to stop it.

Folk Horror

The Village Ritual – A village performs a dark ritual every year. Outsiders must uncover the ritual’s purpose to escape.
The Forest Cult – A cult in the forest performs dark rituals. Outsiders must uncover the cult’s secrets to survive.
The Harvest Sacrifice – A village sacrifices people for a good harvest. The outsiders must stop the sacrifices.
The Witch Hunt – A village accuses outsiders of being witches. They must prove their innocence to survive.
The Cursed Land – A village is built on cursed land. Outsiders must uncover the curse’s origin to lift it.
The Haunted Farm – A farm is haunted by the spirits of those wronged by the landowners. The new owners must uncover the farm’s dark history.
The Pagan Festival – A village’s pagan festival hides dark secrets. Outsiders must uncover the truth to survive.
The Reaping – A village reaps souls to appease a dark entity. The outsiders must stop the reaping.
The Cursed Forest – A forest is cursed, and those who enter never return. Outsiders must uncover the curse’s origin.
The Old Gods – A village worships ancient gods that demand sacrifices. The outsiders must stop the worship.
The Blood Moon – A village performs a ritual under a blood moon. Outsiders must stop the ritual.
The Spirit of the Lake – A lake is haunted by a vengeful spirit. The villagers must uncover its story to stop the hauntings.
The Cornfield Curse – A village’s cornfield is cursed, causing bizarre deaths. Outsiders must uncover the curse’s origin to stop it.
The Stone Circle – A stone circle in a village is used for dark rituals. Outsiders must uncover their secrets to stop the rituals.
The Phantom Harvest – A village experiences hauntings during the harvest season. Outsiders must uncover the cause to end the terror.
The Cursed Festival – A village festival turns deadly each year. Outsiders must uncover the festival’s dark origins to stop the deaths.
The Whispering Woods – The woods surrounding a village whisper dark secrets. Outsiders must decipher the whispers to escape.
The Haunted Mill – An old mill is haunted by the spirits of workers who died there. New owners must uncover the mill’s dark history.
The Witch’s Mark – A village marks certain people as witches. Outsiders must uncover the truth behind the markings to survive.
The Blood Ritual – A village performs a blood ritual to appease dark forces. Outsiders must stop the ritual before they become sacrifices.
The Specter of the Fields – A scarecrow in a village’s fields comes to life. Outsiders must uncover the scarecrow’s dark origins.
The Sinister Shepherd – A shepherd in a village controls his flock with dark magic. Outsiders must uncover his secrets to stop him.
The Ghostly Harvesters – Spirits of past harvesters haunt a village. Outsiders must uncover the harvesters’ stories to end the hauntings.
The Village of Shadows – A village is plagued by shadowy figures. Outsiders must uncover the figures’ origins to escape.
The Witching Hour – A village experiences dark events at the Witching Hour. Outsiders must uncover the truth behind the events to survive.

Here is a video with 25 bonus horror writing prompts:

Final Thoughts: Horror Writing Prompts

Using these writing prompts is simple.

Choose a prompt that sparks your interest. Imagine the characters, setting, and conflict. Let the prompt guide you, but feel free to add your unique twist.

Keep writing until the story unfolds naturally.

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Horror Book Title Generator

For more book titles, try our custom GPT .

Click the "Get Titles" button above to see titles.

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How To Use the AI Horror Book Title Generator

Our horror book title generator uses the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to create book titles automatically. Simply enter a some information about your book in the textbox above and click the "Get Titles" button. A book title will be generated for you.

If you almost like one of the book titles generated, but want some modifications, you can rewrite the title or try putting it in our custom GPT .

What Makes a Good Horror Book Title?

There are a few key elements that make a great horror book title.

Conciseness

A shorter, punchy title can often be more memorable than a long-winded one.

The title should be relevant to the story's theme, setting, or main conflict. It should give a subtle hint about the story's content.

A good horror title often evokes a sense of dread, unease, or mystery. Words with strong connotations can be very effective.

Originality

A unique title can stand out in a crowded market and be more memorable to potential readers.

If the title can evoke a strong visual or sensory image in the reader's mind, it can be more impactful.

Double Meanings

Titles that play on words or have a double meaning can be intriguing. For example, "The Shining" by Stephen King can refer to the psychic ability of the main character, but also the eerie glow of the haunted hotel.

Avoiding Clichés

While it might be tempting to use phrases commonly associated with the horror genre, it's often more effective to come up with something fresh and unexpected.

Sometimes, the most straightforward titles can be the most chilling. For instance, "Jaws" or "Psycho" are simple yet effective.

Cultural or Historical References

Sometimes, referencing myths, legends, or historical events can add depth to a title, making it more intriguing for those familiar with the reference.

Remember, the title is often the reader's first impression of a book. It sets the tone and expectation for what's inside, so it's crucial to choose wisely.

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Use: By selecting a use, you can choose whether your title will be used for marketing, an essay, a newspaper, a book, and more.

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132 Best Horror Writing Prompts and Scary Story Ideas

Generate Full-Length AI Horror Novel Instantly

Table of contents.

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, frightening human psychology, and much more.

Horror Writing Prompts List

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 into 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 decides 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 a young woman 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 it 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 by people in black and white masks. They 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 the 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 went missing. The case is reopened.

Scary story ideas for a psychological horror

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 at midnight and brought to a large private estate. He is told that he will be a human prey 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 to 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 into 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 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, the twin sisters disappear.
A boy has a very realistic dream about 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 developed 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.

Free Small decorative ghost in white cape hanging on tree sprig on blurred background in autumn park during holiday celebration in daylight Stock Photo

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 can 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 as 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 skin 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 will 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 are chasing them and jump to 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 bloodbath.

Free Man Wearing Black Mask And Hoodie Jacket Stock Photo

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 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 to the nursery to check up on the baby and discovers that the baby is missing and, in her place, there is a baby doll.

Horror story ideas about a serial killer

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.

Scary story ideas and horror story writing prompts

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 the 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 suicide so that he can 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 makes 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 buildings 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.

If you want to streamline the horror novel creation process, you can also generate a custom book template with AI:

Final Words

Write a good horror story with scary story ideas

The 132 scary story ideas will help you take a deep dive into the human psyche. These horror story prompts will make you a seasoned writer and help you captivate readers. So, get ready to write a good horror story with unique writing prompts.

Frequently Asked Questions

Let’s take a look at the following questions and answers:

What is a good way to start horror writing prompts?

To grab readers’ attention, craft the beginning of your horror story around an active scene featuring characters in the thick of an action. Introduce the central conflict and sprinkle tantalizing hints of danger or the unknown, such as clues about an accident or murder, to create an air of suspense and intrigue.

What are some good scary story ideas?

Effective horror story ideas delve into innate human fears and weaknesses. These fears can manifest as physical threats like monsters or ghosts or as psychological anxieties such as uncertainty or the unraveling of reality.

How can I start writing unique horror stories?

To craft a spine-tingling horror story, delve into the emotions that haunt your audience. Fear thrives in the unknown and the unforeseen, so weave these aspects seamlessly into your narrative. Craft a haunting atmosphere or chilling plot through vivid descriptions that linger in the reader’s mind. Gradually intensify the tension to keep them captivated and quivering on the brink of terror.

Is it easy to write on scary story prompts?

If you’re a horror enthusiast, you likely have some scary story ideas for your own screenplay. However, crafting effective horror stories isn’t straightforward. To truly scare your audience, your scary story must connect with their most primal fears.

What are cliches to avoid while writing scary story ideas?

To create effective horror stories, don’t rely solely on common tropes like haunted houses or creepy children. Instead, find unique angles or reinterpretations to keep your readers engaged in your scary story. Avoid overused scary story ideas unless you can add a novel twist. Remember that the goal of a horror story is to surprise and disturb the audience, making it crucial to avoid predictability and create an unsettling experience for your readers.

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How to Write An Intriguing & Unique Title for Your Horror Story

If you are writing horror or suspense fiction, you need to create an intriguing and unique title that will hook your readers from the get-go. A great title is key to a successful horror story, and if you do not get it right from the start, your readers may not stick around for long. Discover how to create an intriguing and unique title for your horror story using a few simple tips.

How to Write an Attractive Horror Story Title

#1. keep it short and sweet, #2. make it memorable.

You should want your title to be memorable so that readers will remember it long after they finish reading your story. One of the best ways to make it memorable is to make it unique. Avoid using common phrases or clichés that readers have seen a million times before.

#3. Use Strong Language

#4. create a sense of suspense.

A good horror story title will create a sense of suspense and leave readers wondering what’s going to happen next. Avoid titles that give too much information away or are too predictable. The best titles are those that make readers ask questions and want to find out more.

#5. Use Appropriate Fonts and Images

#6. play with words, #7. brainstorm with others.

If you are having trouble coming up with a title for your horror material, try brainstorming with friends or family members. Sometimes it helps to have someone else’s perspective when you are stuck in a rut.

#8. Take Your Time

#9. experiment with different ideas, #10. take inspiration from other stories.

You can also take inspiration from other horror stories. Look at titles that have been successful for other writers and see if there is anything you can learn from them. It may help spark new ideas for your story title.

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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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365 Horrifying Horror Writing Prompts

November 14, 2023 by Richard Leave a Comment

Here are 365 Horrifying Horror Writing Prompts to inspire your writing every day of the year. Darkness falls. Shadows lengthen. The hair on the back of your neck prickles as the last rays of light fade away. Something stirs in the darkness. You can feel unseen eyes watching, evil lurking just out of sight—the night beckons, hungry for new terrors to unleash.

Within these pages await 365 prompts to inspire bone-chilling tales filled with the creepy, twisted, and macabre. Let your imagination wander into dark and haunted places, conjure nightmarish creatures from terrifying depths, and explore the disturbing boundaries of human depravity.

Summon vengeful spirits, stalk feral beasts through moonlit woods, or open forbidden doors that should stay locked. But beware, these prompts may awaken fears you never knew existed as you walk the line between spine-tingling thrills and nightmare-inducing horror.

With so many prompts, the possibilities for crafting your own horror stories are endless. You may never sleep soundly again after lingering in realms of psychological suspense, paranormal unease, and visceral horror. Don’t say we didn’t warn you. The terror is about to begin…

Open the door, leave the light off, and prepare to confront your deepest fears. Once you immerse yourself in these 365 prompts, any shred of comfort or safety will be shattered. There is no escaping the darkness that awaits within these pages. Let the horror commence…

You glimpse what looks like your neighbor transforming into a hairy beast under the full moon through your window at night.
A vampire lures you into his gothic mansion under the pretense of a date. You’re trapped inside overnight.
You notice your reflection’s eyes glowing in the dark whenever you glance away from the mirror. Fangs slide from your mouth when you smile.
A mysterious stranger with hypnotic eyes seduces you at a nightclub. You wake up with bite marks on your neck.
You find a secret passage in your basement leading to an underground lair filled with sleeping coffins.
A feral werewolf stalks the woods surrounding your cabin on the night of the full moon. You’re trapped inside.
You discover an ancient book with rituals for summoning demons. Shadowy figures emerge from your closet after you read an incantation aloud.
A decrepit old manor deep in the woods is said to be inhabited by vampires. You decide to investigate at night and become trapped inside.
A dating app match invited you over for a “nightcap.” You wake up disoriented with bandages on your neck.
A creepy stranger at a carnival offers to tell your fortune. He predicts you’ll become a powerful vampire under the next full moon.
A scientists performs experiments splicing human and animal DNA. Escaped beast-men now hunt locals at night.
A tunnel in your basement leads to a vast underground metropolis populated by creatures of the night.
On a guided tour, you get lost in the ancient catacombs beneath the city. You hear inhuman howls in the labyrinth of tunnels.
A blood bank is robbed of all its plasma bags. The technician was found drained of blood.
You wake up to find bite marks and fur all over your body after a lunar eclipse. Your reflection is more beast than human.
A creepy stranger at a nightclub disappears with your friend. You find your friend unconscious behind the club, neck bandaged.
You glimpse what appears to be your neighbor transforming into a wolf under the moonlight through your window at night.
A dating app match invited you to their gothic mansion in the woods for a romantic evening. You’re unable to leave as the sun sets.
Howls echo outside your rural cabin on the night of the full moon. Inhuman, glowing eyes stare back from the treeline.
A tunnel in your basement leads to a vast subterranean city of the undead. You accidentally become trapped overnight.
On a campus ghost tour, you get lost in an off-limits section said to be stalked by a vampire. Escaping after nightfall will be nearly impossible.
An ancient ritual book instructs you how to open a portal to a hellish dimension. You read the incantation aloud as a test.
A creepy carnival worker warns you to avoid the house of mirrors. You glimpse beastly figures staring back from the glass.
A strange infection transforms residents into ravenous zombies after nightfall. You’re stranded downtown past sunset.
Local blood bank technicians are found drained of blood with mysterious neck punctures. A wave of vampirism overwhelms your town.
A tunnel in your basement leads to a vast underground metropolis populated by creatures of the night. You become trapped after sundown.
On the night of a lunar eclipse, you get lost hiking and stumble upon what appears to be a meeting place for warped beasts.
A dating app match invites you to their mansion deep in the woods for a steamy night. You arrive to find coffins lining the great hall.
You wake up in the middle of the night to see your neighbor staring back at you through the window with glowing eyes and elongated fangs.
A strange infection transforms residents into feral beasts when enraged. Quarantine protocols trap you downtown after nightfall.
Howls and shrieks echo from the old asylum at night. You sneak inside to investigate and become trapped with the creatures that dwell within.
A tunnel in the cemetery leads to a secret gathering place for ghouls and vampires beneath the city. You stumble upon their nightly meeting.
A creepy stranger warns that a demonic beast hunts the woods during the blood moon. You’re forced to take shelter in a nearby cave.
On your hotel balcony, you spot a figure across the street make an inhuman leap to the rooftop. A creature is stalking the city.
A dating app match invited you back to their place. You wake up disoriented with bite marks all over your neck.
An ancient ritual book instructs you how to open a portal to another dimension. You recite the incantation as a test, and a clawed hand reaches through.
You get lost on a ghost tour of the old city catacombs. Howls echo from the labyrinth of tunnels as the sun sets above.
A creepy carnival worker warns you to avoid the house of mirrors at night. You glimpse your beastly reflection staring back.
A mad scientist performs experiments splicing human and beast DNA. You help one of his tortured experiments escape.
On the night of a lunar eclipse, you witness what appears to be your neighbor transforming into a fanged beast under the blood moon.
While exploring the old cemetery, you discover a tunnel that leads to a secret underground meeting place for vampires and ghouls.
A dating app match invites you to their secluded manor deep in the woods for a romantic evening. You arrive to find it’s overrun with werewolves.
Howls echo outside your rural cabin on the night of the full moon. Glowing eyes stare back from the darkness. The wolves have your scent.
A strange infection transforms people into rabid beasts when enraged. You’re trapped downtown past nightfall as residents begin to turn.
Local blood banks are robbed of all plasma. Overnight, the city is overrun by a wave of vampirism.
You wake up after a night you can’t remember covered in bites and fur. Howls echo outside under the full moon.
You stumble upon what appears to be a gathering place for warped creatures deep in the woods at night. They spot you observing their ritual.
While exploring the old asylum, you become trapped inside overnight. Feral shrieks and howls echo through the abandoned cellblocks after sunset.
A dating app match invites you to their gothic mansion in the woods for a romantic evening. You arrive to find coffins lining the great hall.
You wake up to find your bed swarming with spiders. Their glowing red eyes stare back as they crawl towards you.
While exploring a cave, you stumble upon a giant egg sac filled with thousands of fist-sized spider eggs about to hatch.
You discover an old journal describing rituals to summon shadow demons. You read an incantation aloud as a test. Clawed hands reach from the darkness.
You wake up paralyzed as a shadowy ghostly figure looms over your bed, staring directly into your eyes.
Your reflection in the mirror becomes possessed, snarling and threatening you with a demonic voice telling you all the ways it plans to mutilate your body.
You get trapped overnight at an insect research facility. Mutated super-sized ants and roaches swarm through the halls, sensing fresh prey.
While camping, you wake to find yourself cocooned inside a giant spider web. The creature that spun it approaches from the trees, hungry for its trapped prey.
You stumble upon an abandoned mansion infested with rabid rats. They quickly surround you, squealing and baring their bloodied teeth.
On a dare, you play a chant from an old book said to summon a vengeful spirit. You glance up to see the ghostly girl from the story standing behind you in the mirror.
You discover your attic is infested with hundreds of spiders. Their webs coat every inch. At night you hear them skittering in the walls, ceiling, and vents.
You get bitten by a strange insect while exploring a remote island jungle. Soon you develop odd cravings, inhuman strength, and a thirst for flesh.
Home alone at night, you hear skittering and clacking sounds from the dark basement. Giant insectoid shadows creep up the stairs towards you.
You accidentally step on an ant hill during a hike. They swarm up your legs, stinging and biting relentlessly as you scream in agony.
Near an abandoned mine, you glimpse what looks like a giant spider dragging a human body back to its lair. But when you follow it, there’s no trace.
You wake paralyzed at night with a creepy crawly sensation. Peering into the darkness, you see hundreds of spiders emerge from under your bed and covers.
You discover a hidden chamber under your house containing grisly remains wrapped in webbing. At night you hear skittering in the walls and vents.
Home alone, you hear scratching and fluttering coming from the chimney. A colony of bats suddenly floods into the living room, swarming around you.
You find an old shack filled with strange cocoons and webbing that seems to pulse with life. Shadowy shapes shift inside them.
You accidentally unleash a cursed swarm of locusts while reading an ancient text. They voraciously devour every living thing in their path.
On a camping trip, you wake up to find yourself strapped down in the massive web of a building-sized spider. Its shadow looms over you as it descends from the trees.
You get trapped in a cave filled with giant cocoons twice your size. They begin to split open, birthing horrific winged creatures.
You find an old dollhouse intricately decorated with dead insects in miniature scenes. At night you think you glimpse them moving inside it.
You discover an oddly-shaped cocoon pulsing with life attached to your house. It splits open at night, birthing a terrifying creature.
You accidentally bring a cockroach home from a trip. It escapes and breeds, soon infesting your entire home with ravenous mutant roaches.
You wake up buried alive with just a faint glow stick, cell phone with no signal, and a handwritten note that says “Nobody will find you here.”
Your baby monitor picks up the sound of a maniacal voice whispering “I’m inside your house” when you’re home alone.
You find a hidden trap door under a rug in your basement. It leads to a soundproof underground room stained with blood.
Your front door security camera captures a masked man crawling out from under your bed while you sleep just inches away.
You glimpse people with blurry, staticky faces standing silently in your peripheral vision. When you turn, no one is there.
Your young daughter keeps talking about her new “imaginary friend” who visits her bedroom closet at night. You hear faint whispers from inside when home alone.
You wake up to find yourself strapped to an operating table in an abandoned hospital surrounded by disturbing medical tools. No one is around.
You find an old Polaroid of yourself sleeping on the porch steps of your childhood home. You lived alone and the photo was taken at night through the front door.
You glimpse grinning corpses propped up around the dinner table when you walk through the dark house at night. But when you turn on the lights, the bodies vanish.
You notice a bloody, clawed handprint appear on the bathroom mirror after you shower. It drips down the glass, leaving a red trail.
You wake up in a pitch black room chained to a cold metal chair. A child’s voice says, “It’s time to play the hunting game.”
You find an old unmarked VHS tape with “Watch Me” scribbled on it. It shows grainy night vision footage of a shadowy figure watching you sleep.
You glimpse people you know with jet black eyes and fanged smiles beckoning you to come closer out of the corner of your eye. But when you look directly they seem totally normal.
You come home to find the power cut and the words “I’m already inside” painted in blood on every mirror.
You wake up to find yourself floating over your own sleeping body. Something else now inhabits your physical form and is living your life.
You start finding creepy/threatening notes written in red ink on your bathroom mirror when home alone. The writing matches your handwriting perfectly.
You glimpse grinning corpses of your loved ones sitting around the dinner table out of the corner of your eye. But when you look directly, the bodies vanish.
You come home to find your front door wide open and bloody child-sized footprints leading from your bedroom to the hallway closet before disappearing.
You wake up to the sound of screaming coming from inside your own body, but you are paralyzed and cannot move or make a sound.
You notice a puddle of fresh blood pooling under your bed at night. But by morning, it has mysteriously vanished leaving no trace.
You start hearing faint cries for help behind your bedroom wall at night. The next morning, you find bloody scratch marks inside the wall.
You glimpse people with your face but with soulless black eyes staring at you from around corners and darkened doorways whenever you’re home alone.
Your young son keeps wanting to play a “staring game” where he gazes deeply into your eyes without blinking for uncomfortably long amounts of time.
You wake up to find your bedroom window open and child-sized, clawed footprints burned into your ceiling above your bed.
You glimpse faceless people wearing your clothes pointing up at your bedroom ceiling at night. Bloody words appear above your bed spelling out a death threat.
Your new puppy stares wide-eyed at your basement door while growling at an unseen entity. You start hearing faint whispers and scratching sounds from behind the door.
You glimpse a shadowy, humanoid creature with long limbs and jagged teeth prowling on all fours around your bedroom at night when you wake up. But when you turn on the light, it’s gone.
Your young niece keeps asking you to play a staring game, promising that something amazing will happen if you don’t blink for one full minute while gazing into her eyes.
You wake up to find yourself strapped to an operating table in a morgue. The chilling sound of a bone saw powering up echoes from the darkness.
A little girl in antique clothes appears weeping in the corner of your bedroom at night, warning you never to sleep again.
Your baby monitor camera pans by itself to show a dark figure hunched over your child’s crib before the screen goes black.
You wake up to find yourself bone thin and trapped inside a coffin-sized cage hanging from the ceiling of an empty room.
You glimpse a doppelgänger of yourself staring back from inside the bathroom mirror whenever you look away.
Your doorbell camera captures a hyper-realistic puppet-like version of you entering your house at night while you sleep.
You glimpse an empty baby stroller rocking itself back and forth outside your front door when home alone at night.
You start finding cryptic notes written in what appears to be blood hidden around your house saying things like, “I’m already inside” and “Let me in.”
You wake up to find yourself suspended high above your bed with shadowy hands gripping your arms and legs to hold you in place.
Your home phone rings in the middle of the night. You hear only high-pitched static, yet your caller ID displays your name and number.
You come home to find all the lights on, puddles of muddy footprints around the house, and the faint smell of rotting meat coming from the vents.
You notice a puddle of fresh blood pooling under your bed each night. One night you glimpse a small, clawed hand briefly grasp the bedframe before disappearing back under into darkness.
You glimpse a shadowy doppelgänger mimicking your movements when you look in the bathroom mirror at night. If you stop moving, it grins back with a mouthful of pointed teeth.
You wake up unable to move and see a dark figure crouched on your chest staring back with reflective, animal-like eyes.
Your front door security camera footage shows people that look just like you entering your house at night while you sleep. By morning, there’s no sign of intruders inside.
You glimpse an empty baby cradle rocking itself in the darkness of your living room when home alone at night. But when you turn on the light, it vanishes.
Your young niece keeps asking if she can “play” with your pet hamster. Sometimes you hear faint squeaking coming from inside her room.
You wake to find yourself strapped to a chair in a dark, empty warehouse. A child’s voice echoes, “Let’s see how long you can keep your eyes open during our little game…”
You glimpse a shadowy hooded figure standing silently in your peripheral vision. When you turn to look directly, it screams inches from your face before vanishing.
You notice a puddle of fresh blood pooling around your bathroom sink each night. One night you glimpse a clawed, rotting hand clutching the faucet before disappearing down the drain.
Your front doorbell camera shows an old woman standing motionless on your porch steps, staring directly into the camera lens without blinking while holding an unlit candle. She seems blurry, staticky, and translucent.
You wake up unable to move and see a shadowy humanoid creature crawling on your ceiling. It slowly creeps down the walls upside-down toward your paralyzed body smiling with a mouthful of needle-like teeth.
You wake up in a dark room strapped to a stretcher. A faceless surgeon slowly approaches you holding a gleaming scalpel.
You glimpse grinning, corpse-like versions of your loved ones beckoning you closer with clawed hands out of the corner of your eye.
You notice a puddle of blood seeping from beneath your closet door at night. Something seems to be slowly scratching its way out.
Your baby monitor camera zooms in on a pale hand reaching into your infant’s crib during the night. You rush in to find the crib empty.
You glimpse people you know with milky white eyes and stitched-together body parts shambling toward you, arms outstretched, when you look away.
You wake up chained to a filthy tiled wall in a shadowy basement. Scratch marks cover the walls and the faint sound of whimpering echoes from the darkness.
Your front door security camera shows a hyper-realistic version of you prowling around the porch on all fours at night, unnaturally contorting its body to fit.
You notice a puddle of blood pooling beneath your bed each night. One night you glimpse a snarling, clawed hand grasp the bed frame before disappearing back under.
You wake up to find yourself buried alive in a small wooden box. Dirt sifts through the cracks as you begin to claw your way out.
You glimpse demonic versions of your family seated around the dinner table, forked tongues wriggling from their grinning mouths whenever you look away.
You notice empty baby carriages and children’s toys rocking or spinning on their own in the darkness whenever home alone. But they vanish when you turn on the lights.
Shadowy doppelgängers of you stand motionless in doorways and mirrors whenever you look away, screaming when you make eye contact.
Your young daughter keeps whispering that her new “imaginary friends” visit her in her closet at night and want to meet you.
You wake up unable to move with a hunched figure sitting on your chest staring back with soulless black eyes and grinning razor-sharp teeth.
You notice clawed handprints and blood streaks on the bathroom mirror after taking a shower, as if something was trapped behind the glass trying to get out.
You glimpse people you know with pale skin, black eyes and stitched-together body parts shambling toward you when looking away. They plead for help before vanishing.
You hear high-pitched crying and clawing sounds coming from behind your bedroom wall at night, along with faint whispers pleading “let me out.”
You wake up chained to the moldy tiled floor of a shadowy subterranean room. Glowing red eyes stare back from the darkness.
You notice your reflection blinks or moves on its own whenever you glance away from the mirror. It smiles with a mouthful of needles when your eyes meet.
You glimpse corpses of your loved ones with sunken features seated around the dinner table whenever you look away. They beckon you closer with skeletal hands.
You wake up in the woods, barefoot with your ankles and wrists bound together. You hear faint hunting horns and hounds barking in the distance.
You notice your shadow detaching itself and moving on its own under the gap of your closet door at night. The doorknob slowly begins to rattle.
You glimpse your doppelgänger going about your daily routine whenever you look away. It stares back with soulless black eyes when your gazes meet.
You wake up to find yourself strapped down in an abandoned, decrepit hospital room. A faceless figure in a long coat slowly approaches holding a rusted scalpel.
You notice clawed, rotting hands grasping from inside your bedroom closet whenever you look away. They retreat back inside when your eyes are on them.
You glimpse a shadowy creature with elongated limbs and off-kilter body movements prowling around your bedroom just outside your field of vision at night whenever you’re home alone.
You wake up in a sterile white room strapped to a metal chair with IVs pumping unknown fluids into your body. Faceless people in suits watch through a two-way mirror.
Your young daughter keeps talking and singing nursery rhymes to “the people who visit her closet” late at night when she thinks you’re asleep.
You notice your reflection rapidly ages, decays, and becomes skeletal whenever you glance away from the bathroom mirror at night.
You glimpse doppelgängers of your loved ones with sunken features shuffling toward you pleading for help when looking away. They scream when your eyes meet.
You wake up unable to move and see a hunched figure sitting on your chest with its face obscured by tangled black hair. It slowly raises a rusted blade toward your throat.
Your baby monitor cameras pans by itself to show a shadowy figure looming over the crib, rocking your infant’s empty cradle before the screen goes black.
You notice your shadow detaching itself and creeping along on its own, just outside your peripheral vision whenever you’re home alone at night.
You glimpse a pale little girl in a tattered nightgown standing motionless in your peripheral vision. She screams and points at you when your eyes meet.
You wake up in a sterile white room strapped to an operating table as a figure in surgical garb approaches you slowly wielding a long, gleaming saw.
Your front doorbell camera shows a blurry, shambling figure that looks just like you prowling around the porch late at night, contorting its body unnaturally.
You notice handprints and faces pressing against your bedroom window from outside at night when you’re home alone. But when you blink, they vanish.
You glimpse your loved ones seated around the dinner table with elongated smiles filled with jagged teeth whenever you look away. They beckon you closer.
You wake up in a small, enclosed space. You push against the satin lining and realize you’ve been buried alive inside a coffin.
Your baby monitor camera zooms in on its own at night to show a spindly hand reaching into your infant’s crib over the edge of the railing.
You notice your reflection rapidly decays into a grinning corpse whenever you glance away from the mirror. Maggots wriggle from its empty eye sockets when your eyes meet.
You wake up and all the mirrors in your home are covered with sheets. You live alone. Muffled crying echoes from behind the covered glass.
You glimpse shadowy, hunched figures crouched in your peripheral vision. They skitter just out of sight whenever you turn to look directly.
Your front doorbell camera shows you arriving home hours before you actually returned. The footage shows you glancing up at the camera and grinning with solid black eyes.
You notice clawed handprints appear on foggy bathroom mirrors after you shower. They slowly drag down the glass leaving trails of blood before vanishing completely.
You glimpse doppelgängers of loved ones standing motionless, staring at you from dark corners and doorways whenever you’re home alone. They scream when your eyes meet.
You wake up to find yourself alone in a sterile white room strapped to a metal chair. A faceless figure in a lab coat slowly approaches holding a power saw.
Your baby monitor camera zooms in and pans by itself at night to show a spindly hand reaching over the edge of the crib, rocking your infant’s empty cradle.
You notice your shadow standing independently and watching you from across the room whenever you glance away. It creeps closer when your back is turned.
You wake up to find yourself chained to a cold metal table in a shadowy basement. Glowing red eyes stare hungrily at you from the dark corners.
You wake up in a dimly lit room strapped to a gurney. You hear faint whimpering and smell rotting flesh. A door creaks open and shuffling footsteps approach.
You glimpse doppelgängers of loved ones with pale skin and soulless black eyes standing in doorways whenever you’re home alone. They scream when your eyes meet.
You notice clawed handprints appear on foggy bathroom mirrors after you shower. They slowly drag down the glass, leaving trails of blood before fading away.
Your baby monitor camera zooms in and pans by itself at night to show a spindly hand reaching over the crib, rocking your infant’s empty cradle.
You wake up unable to move. A shadowy figure sits on your chest staring back with glowing red eyes and rows of razor-sharp teeth grinning.
You glimpse blurry, shambling figures just out of sight whenever you’re home alone. They stand motionless staring when you look directly.
You notice your shadow detaching itself and creeping along the walls just outside your peripheral vision whenever you’re alone at night.
Your young son keeps whispering that “the thing in the closet” talks to him at night and wants to meet you after bedtime.
You wake up in a sterile white room strapped to a metal chair. A faceless figure in a lab coat slowly approaches wielding a power saw.
You glimpse grinning corpses seated around the dinner table whenever you look away. They beckon you closer with skeletal hands before vanishing.
Your reflection rapidly decays into a mangled corpse whenever you glance away from the mirror. It screams when your eyes meet.
You notice handprints and pleading faces press against your bedroom window from outside whenever you look away. They vanish when stared at.
You wake up unable to move and see a shadowy figure sitting on your chest staring back with glowing red eyes. It slowly raises a long, gleaming blade.
Your front doorbell camera shows you arriving home hours before you actually returned. Your doppelgänger glances up at the camera, grinning with soulless black eyes.
You glimpse a pale little girl in a tattered nightgown standing silently whenever you look away. She points at you and screams when your eyes meet.
You notice clawed, rotting hands grasp from inside your closet whenever you look away. They slowly retreat back into darkness when stared at.
You wake up chained to a moldy tiled wall in a shadowy basement. Glowing red eyes stare hungrily at you from the darkness.
Your young daughter keeps whispering she sees “other mommies and daddies” that visit her bedroom closet at night.
You glimpse your loved ones seated around the dinner table with elongated smiles filled with jagged teeth whenever you look away.
You notice your shadow standing independently across the room whenever you glance away. It creeps closer when your back is turned.
Your reflection turns and stares back with solid black eyes and a wide unnatural smile whenever you look away from the mirror.
You wake up unable to move with a hunched figure sitting on your chest. It stares back with glowing red eyes as it slowly raises a rusted blade.
Your front door security camera shows a blurry, shambling figure that looks just like you prowling around on all fours late at night.
You glimpse pale ghostly figures standing silently whenever you look away. They reach toward you screaming when you make eye contact.
You notice your shadow detaching itself and creeping along the walls just outside your peripheral vision when home alone.
You wake up in a sterile white room strapped to an operating table as a figure in surgical garb approaches wielding a gleaming bone saw.
Your young son keeps whispering that “the thing under my bed” talks to him at night and wants to meet you after you tuck him in.
You glimpse doppelgängers of loved ones standing motionless and staring at you from dark corners whenever you’re home alone.
You notice handprints appear on foggy bathroom mirrors after you shower. They slowly drag down the glass leaving trails of blood before fading away.
Your baby monitor camera zooms in and pans by itself at night to show a spindly hand rocking your infant’s empty cradle.
You wake up unable to move and see a shadowy figure crouched on your chest. It stares back with glowing eyes as it slowly lifts a gleaming scalpel.
Your young niece keeps whispering about her new “imaginary friends” that visit her bedroom closet late at night when she thinks you’re asleep.
You glimpse pale ghostly children staring silently whenever you look away. They reach toward you screaming when your eyes meet.
You notice your shadow detaching itself and creeping along the walls just outside your peripheral vision when you’re alone at night.
Your reflection turns and stares back with milky white eyes and an unnaturally wide smile whenever you glance away from the mirror.
You wake up chained to a rusted metal chair in a dim concrete room. Heavy footsteps approach from the darkness.
Your front door security camera shows you shambling up to the porch on all fours late at night. Your doppelgänger glances up at the camera and grins.
You glimpse your loved ones seated around the dinner table with blank stares whenever you look away. They reach toward you silently when your eyes meet.
You notice empty rocking chairs, strollers, and children’s toys slowly moving on their own in the darkness whenever you’re home alone.
You wake up unable to move and see a hunched shadowy figure sitting on your chest, slowly raising a gleaming blade toward your throat.
Your baby monitor camera zooms in and pans by itself at night to show a spindly hand reaching over the crib railing, rocking your infant’s empty cradle.
You glimpse pale ghostly faces staring from the darkness whenever you look away. They scream and vanish when your eyes meet.
You notice your shadow standing independently across the room whenever you glance away. It skitters behind you when you turn to look.
Your reflection turns and snarls back with gleaming pointed teeth whenever you look away from the mirror. It bangs against the glass when your eyes meet.
You wake up in a sterile white room strapped to a metal table as a faceless figure in a lab coat approaches holding a serrated blade.
Your young daughter keeps whispering about “other mommies and daddies with red eyes” that visit her bedroom closet at night.
You glimpse empty rocking chairs, strollers, and toys slowly moving on their own in the darkness whenever you’re home alone.
You notice pleading faces and hands banging against your bedroom window from outside whenever you look away. They vanish when stared at.
Your front doorbell camera shows you prowling around the porch late at night. Your doppelgänger crawls on all fours glancing up at the camera.
You wake up unable to move and see a shadowy figure sitting on your chest. It stares back with glowing red eyes as it wriggles a long, forked tongue.
You wake up in a dark basement chained to the wall. Faint screams echo from the shadows as heavy footsteps approach.
Your reflection smiles back with rows of jagged teeth whenever you glance away from the mirror. Bloody claws smear the glass from inside.
You notice your doppelgänger going about your daily routine whenever you look away. It stares back with soulless black eyes when your gazes meet.
You glimpse grinning corpses seated around the dinner table whenever you look away. They reach toward you with skeletal hands before vanishing.
Your front door cam shows you returning home hours before you actually did. Your blurry doppelgänger looks up and smiles with empty black eyes.
You wake up unable to move. A hunched figure sits on your chest and stares back with glowing red eyes as it wriggles a long, forked tongue.
Your baby monitor camera zooms in by itself at night to show a spindly hand reaching over the crib, rocking your infant’s empty cradle.
You notice your reflection rapidly decays into a skeletal corpse whenever you glance away from the mirror. Maggots pour from its empty eye sockets.
You wake up in a sterile white room strapped to a metal chair. A faceless figure in a lab coat approaches wielding a gleaming power saw.
Your young son keeps whispering about “the thing in his closet” that talks to him at night and wants to meet you after bedtime.
You notice clawed, rotting hands grasp from inside your closet whenever you look away. They slowly retreat into darkness when stared at.
You glimpse your smiling friends with milky white eyes and stitched-together body parts shambling toward you when looking away.
You wake up unable to move. A shadowy figure crouches on your chest and grins back with rows of needle-like teeth as it lifts a serrated blade.
Your reflection turns and snarls at you behind the glass whenever you glance away from the mirror. Bloody claws smear down the surface from inside.
You notice your shadow detaching itself and creeping along the walls just outside your peripheral vision whenever you’re home alone.
You glimpse pale ghostly children standing silently whenever you look away. They scream and vanish when your eyes meet theirs.
Your baby monitor camera zooms in by itself at night to show a spindly hand rocking your infant’s empty cradle back and forth.
You notice empty rocking chairs, strollers, and toys moving slowly on their own in the darkness whenever you’re home alone.
Your reflection turns and smiles back with solid black eyes and a wide, unnatural grin whenever you look away from the mirror.
You wake up in a shadowy room restrained to a gurney. You hear whimpering from the darkness as shuffling footsteps approach.
Your young niece keeps whispering about her “new friends” that visit her bedroom closet late at night when she thinks you’re asleep.
You glimpse soulless black eyes staring back from around corners and darkened doorways whenever you’re home alone.
You wake up unable to move and see a hunched figure perched on your chest, slowly raising a gleaming blade toward your throat.
Your front door camera shows you prowling around the porch late at night on all fours. Your doppelgänger glances up at the camera and grins.
You glimpse ghostly faces staring back from the darkness whenever you look away. They scream and vanish when your eyes meet.
You notice your doppelgänger going about your daily routine whenever you look away. It stares back with glowing red eyes when your gazes meet.
Your reflection turns and snarls, clawing at the glass whenever you glance away from the mirror. Its flesh rapidly decays before your eyes.
You wake up in a sterile white room strapped to a metal chair. A shadowy figure slowly approaches you wielding a long, gleaming surgical blade.
You glimpse rotting versions of your loved ones shambling toward you with arms outstretched whenever you look away. They vanish when stared at.
Your young daughter keeps whispering about “other mommies and daddies with black eyes” that visit her bedroom closet at night.
You notice your shadow detaching itself and creeping along the walls just outside your peripheral vision when you’re home alone.
You wake up unable to move and see a dark figure perched on your chest, staring back with red glowing eyes as it lifts a needle toward your eye.
Your front door cam shows you arriving home hours before you actually did. Your grinning doppelgänger looks up at the camera with bleeding black eyes.
You glimpse your rotting loved ones seated around the dinner table whenever you look away. They reach toward you with skeletal hands.
Your reflection turns and smiles back with jagged blackened teeth whenever you glance away from the mirror. Clawed hands smear down the glass from inside.
You notice pleading faces and hands bang against your bedroom window from outside whenever you look away. They quickly vanish when stared at.
You wake up in a damp basement chained to a moldy brick wall. Glowing red eyes stare hungrily at you from the darkness.
You glimpse shadowy figures standing silently whenever you look away. They reach toward you screaming when your eyes meet.
You notice your doppelgänger going about your daily routine whenever you look away. It stares back with soulless black eyes and grins.
You wake up unable to move and see a hunched figure perched on your chest, slowly dragging a rusty blade across your throat as you bleed out.
Your baby monitor camera zooms in by itself at night to show a spindly hand rocking your infant’s empty, blood-stained cradle.
You glimpse your loved ones seated around the dinner table with jagged smiles whenever you look away. They beckon you closer with clawed hands.
Your reflection turns and snarls, clawing at the glass whenever you glance away. Its sunken eyes begin rapidly bleeding black.
You notice empty rocking chairs, strollers, and children’s toys moving on their own in the darkness whenever you’re home alone.
You wake up in a sterile white room, restrained to an operating table as a figure in surgical garb approaches wielding a bloody chainsaw.
Your young daughter keeps whispering she sees “other mommies and daddies” with glowing red eyes that visit her bedroom closet late at night.
You wake up levitating above your bed. An unseen force holds you in place as you helplessly float higher toward the ceiling.
You glimpse shadowy spirits standing silently whenever you look away. They scream when you make eye contact before vanishing.
The ghost of a murder victim appears in your bedroom pleading for help in solving their unsolved case before vanishing.
You notice objects moving on their own and furniture rearranging itself in the darkness whenever you leave a room in your haunted house.
You hear singing, laughing, and children’s voices whispering your name although you live alone in your isolated rural home.
Your baby monitor camera pans by itself at night to reveal a ghostly figure standing over the crib, staring down at your sleeping infant.
You glimpse the spirits of dead loved ones seated around the dinner table whenever you look away. They vanish when you stare.
Your reflection in the mirror becomes possessed and starts talking to you on its own, threatening to steal your soul.
You wake up to find yourself floating above ancient rune markings etched on your bedroom floor as ghostly figures chant around you.
You notice your shadow moving on its own and detaching itself from your feet, taking on a life of its own.
Strange singing and whimpers echo from within the walls and vents in your new home that only you can hear.
You glimpse shadowy, featureless figures standing silently in your peripheral vision. When you turn, they vanish.
Your baby monitor picks up two ghostly figures standing over your crib whispering unintelligibly to your infant.
Items start vanishing from your home only to reappear in bizarre places with no explanation. Poltergeist activity escalates.
You wake up unable to move and see a shadowy ghostly figure sitting on your chest, staring directly into your eyes.
The ghost of your deceased relative appears to deliver an urgent warning about your future before vanishing.
You hear scratching, knocking sounds from inside your walls and floors that seem to follow you from room to room.
Strange glowing mists manifest in your home and coalesce into ghostly humanoid forms before vanishing.
You glimpse spirits of the dead seated silently around your dinner table whenever you look away. They reach toward you screaming.
You wake up to find yourself floating above your bed as a shadowy ghostly figure looms over you.
The power goes out and you spot ghostly civil war soldiers marching through your living room before vanishing.
You glimpse the spirits of dead children playing in your yard whenever you look away. They vanish laughing when spotted.
Your reflection becomes possessed and starts talking to you through the mirror with a distorted demonic voice.
You notice handprints and faces materializing in mirrors and windows before fading away when stared at.
Strange symbols, words, and messages start appearing on steamy bathroom mirrors when you shower.
You glimpse shadowy spirits standing silently down the hallway whenever you look away. They vanish screaming when spotted.
You hear a child’s giggling echoing through your home although you live alone. Footsteps run behind you.
The ghost of your dead relative appears in your dreams to give an urgent warning about your future.
You wake up to find yourself levitating over your bed as a ghostly figure looms over you.
Your baby monitor camera moves by itself to show the shadowy figures of two children standing over the crib whispering.
You hear singing, laughter, and playing coming from inside your walls although you live alone.
Objects start levitating and flying across the room on their own, barely missing your head.
You glimpse the spirits of dead loved ones silently seated around your dinner table whenever you look away.
Strange symbols and messages appear on foggy bathroom mirrors after you shower as if written by an unseen presence.
You notice your shadow moving independently of you and shifting into ghostly shapes on its own.
You hear scratching sounds, knocking, and pitter-pattering footsteps following you from room to room in your isolated rural home.
The power goes out and you glimpse ghostly figures dancing in your living room before vanishing.
Your reflection becomes possessed and starts talking back to you through the mirror in a distorted voice.
You wake up paralyzed in bed with a shadowy ghostly figure looming over you, staring directly into your eyes.
Handprints, faces, and pleading messages start materializing on steamy bathroom mirrors after you shower.
You hear whispering voices, singing, and laughter echoing from inside your walls although you live alone.
Strange glowing mists manifest in your home, taking on ghostly humanoid shapes before vanishing.
You glimpse the spirits of deceased loved ones silently seated around the dinner table whenever you look away.
Your reflection becomes possessed and starts threatening you through the mirror in a sinister voice.
You wake up levitating over your bed as ghostly figures stand below, staring up and chanting.
The ghost of a murder victim appears pleading for you to bring their killer to justice before vanishing.
You notice your shadow moving independently and detaching itself from your feet, taking on a life of its own.
Strange symbols, words, and messages appear on foggy bathroom mirrors after you shower as if written by a ghostly presence.
You hear giggling, playing, and pitter-pattering footsteps of ghostly children following you throughout your isolated home.
You glimpse shadowy spirits standing silently down your hallway whenever you look away. They vanish screaming when you spot them.
You wake up with bite marks all over your body after a night you can’t remember. Howling echoes outside your window.
While exploring the woods, you stumble upon an abandoned cabin overrun with unnatural webbing that seems to throb and grow before your eyes.
You get trapped overnight at an insect research lab. You soon hear clicking and fluttering in the vents as mutated test subjects escape and search for prey.
You play a chant from an old book said to summon spirits. Behind you in the mirror, the tormented ghost of the book’s author appears screaming.
You find yourself strapped down in the massive web of a giant spider. It descends from the trees above, fangs dripping venom as it prepares to feast.
You discover your basement is infested with thousands of venomous spiders. At night you can hear them creeping through the walls and vents all around you.
While camping, you wake to find yourself wrapped tightly in webbing inside a giant cocoon. You feel the creature that spun it approaching.
You accidentally unleash a cursed swarm of locusts while reading an ancient text out loud as a joke. But the joke is on you as they voraciously consume all life in their path.
You get trapped in a massive spider’s lair. All around you are pulsing egg sacs ready to burst and release thousands of flesh-eating spiderlings.
Wandering through an abandoned shack, you stumble into a web-filled room. Inside the webbing you glimpse human shapes shifting and struggling to break free.
You play a chant said to summon spirits as a dare. Behind you, the mirror becomes a portal and a clawed hand reaches through grabbing at your throat.
You discover your son’s bedroom is infested by thousands of tiny spiders. At night you hear them creeping through the vents and walls all around you.
While exploring a remote island jungle, you are bitten by a strange insect. Soon you are overwhelmed by a ravenous hunger for living flesh.
An odd cocoon attached to your home splits open, birthing a terrifying spider-like creature with glistening fangs. It stalks you at night.
You accidentally bring home a mutated cockroach from a trip. It breeds, unleashing an infestation of voracious mutant roaches.
Home alone at night, you hear skittering coming from the chimney. You glimpse an inverted giant spider crawling down the flue towards you.
You play a chant from an old book said to summon spirits as a joke. Behind you, the tormented ghost of the book’s author appears howling.
You discover your basement is infested with cocoons that seem to throb and pulse with life. At night they finally split open, birthing horrific creatures.
While camping, you wake wrapped tightly in webbing inside a massive cocoon. You feel the giant spider that spun it approaching for its helpless prey.
You get trapped overnight in an insect research facility. Mutated test subjects swarm through the halls, sensing fresh meat.
An abandoned cabin you explore is overrun with strange webbing that seems to grow before your eyes, coating everything like a living organism.
You accidentally bring home a parasitic insect from a trip. At night it lays eggs under your skin. You feel the hatchlings wriggling beneath the surface.
You play a chant said to summon spirits as a joke. Behind you, the enraged ghost it conjures begins strangling you with icy spectral hands.
While hiking, you stumble into a giant web stretching between trees. At its center waits the massive spider that spun it, mandibles clicking with anticipation.
You glimpse what looks like a giant spider dragging a human-sized cocoon into its lair. But when you work up the nerve to investigate, there is no trace.
Home alone at night, you hear scratching coming from the fireplace. You glimpse a human hand reach down the chimney, trying to unlock the flue.
You discover your attic is infested with pulsating cocoons that throb with unnatural life. At night they finally burst open, birthing nightmarish creatures.
You play a chant said to summon spirits on a dare. Behind you in the mirror, a clawed hand reaches through the glass trying to grab you.
You hear skittering and fluttering coming from your walls and vents at night. Peering closer, you glimpse swarms of spiders massing in the shadows.
You explore a remote cave filled with massive, pulsating cocoons. As you touch one, it splits open, birthing a winged horror.
You accidentally unleash a cursed plague of locusts while reading an ancient text aloud. They voraciously consume every living thing in their path.
Home alone, your power goes out. You hear skittering coming from the basement. In the darkness, you glimpse yellow insectoid eyes approaching.
You discover your son’s room is infested with spiders. At night you hear them through the vents and walls, creeping closer when he sleeps.
Near an abandoned shack you find a human rib cage wrapped in web. Following the trail, it leads to the giant spider’s lair. But you arrive to find it freshly abandoned.
You explore an abandoned research lab where they bred insects. You accidentally release the mutant specimens which search for living prey.
Playing a chant said to summon spirits, you jokingly invite them to manifest. Behind you, a ghostly hand reaches through the mirror trying to drag you to the other side.
You wake paralyzed in bed to see a shadowy ghostly figure standing over you, staring directly into your eyes.
You find a hidden chamber pulsing with unnatural organic cocoons. At night they finally split open, unleashing the horrors growing inside.
Home alone, you hear scratching coming from the chimney as spiders swarm down the flue into the fireplace towards you.
You play a chant said to summon spirits as a prank. Behind you, the tortured ghost it conjures begins trying to possess your body.
You discover your son’s closet is infested with pulsating, throbbing cocoons. At night they finally split open, birthing ravenous spiderlings.
Exploring a remote jungle, you stumble upon an ancient temple filled with giant cocoons. You hear shrieking and scratching coming from inside them as they begin to rupture.

The final pages turn and the last prompt beckons. Another chilling journey into terror draws to a close. But the horrors conjured within these pages will haunt you, lingering in the shadowy recesses of your mind. Though you may close the book, the unease will remain as you lie awake pondering the darkness that lurks within human nature, the malevolence that stalks the unknown, and the fear of what is to come.

While you may feel relief at having navigated the full spectrum of horrors within these 365 prompts, the experience will leave its mark. You’ve glimpsed the sinister possibilities that await when imagination crosses into darkness. But until next time, keep the lights on and don’t look behind you, for the things that go bump in the night are never far away. The terror ends for now, but other prompts await whenever you dare to confront the shadows once more.

If you are interested in other writing prompts , we have many on our site. Also, if you want to share what you’ve written please leave us a comments.

About Richard

Richard Everywriter (pen name) has worked for literary magazines and literary websites for the last 25 years. He holds degrees in Writing, Journalism, Technology and Education. Richard has headed many writing workshops and courses, and he has taught writing and literature for the last 20 years.

In writing and publishing he has worked with independent, small, medium and large publishers for years connecting publishers to authors. He has also worked as a journalist and editor in both magazine, newspaper and trade publications as well as in the medical publishing industry. Follow him on Twitter, and check out our Submissions page .

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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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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.

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Tags: Fiction , Fiction Writing , Short Story

If you love writing scary stories, this article is for you! Dive in to discover the best 101 horror writing prompts for your next masterpiece. From creepy ghost story ideas to supernatural horror, we’ve covered everything for you.

For Halloween enthusiasts, we have also added a special section of horror story prompts. You can use these prompts for horror stories to craft suspenseful and engaging stories. So let’s get started!

Perfect your spine-chilling tale! Learn more

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.

3) A man insults a circus clown after which the clown commits suicide. The clown’s ghost now haunts the man.

4) A hunter sees a blood-sucking vampire in Albanian forests and flees to save his life.

5) A volcano erupts near the Pacific Ocean and releases a wicked force living at the bottom of the volcano.

6) A girl finds an ancient key and unlocks a box, releasing 20 monsters who had been imprisoned for 500 years.

7) A mother purchases an ancient dollhouse with Chinese dolls for her daughter and realizes that the dolls are haunted by cursed spirits.

8) A strong current pulls a fisherman into the ocean’s deep waters. The fisherman sees a ship and manages to climb into it, only to realize that it is a phantom ship.

9) A boy is followed by the shadow of death everywhere, leading to death wherever he goes.

10) A gardener finds an ancient telephone while digging in the garden and accidentally contacts aliens using that telephone.

11) An explorer discovers a cave and sees a banshee living in the cave. The banshee traps him in the cave.

12) A child breaks a magical snow globe and hears screams. Suddenly there is heavy snowfall and hailstones begin falling hard from the sky.

13) A priest opens a locked room in a church and releases ghosts of dead scientists who want revenge.

14) A thick fog suddenly envelops a tiny village and a wicked witch who feeds on sorrow enters the village. She enchants dead bodies and makes them obey her commands.

15) A girl starts getting dreams of what will happen in her future. To her horror, every dream comes true and she must act before the dream of her death becomes reality.

16) A drunk man throws a stone in the dark and urinates near a tree where a zombie lives. The angry zombie tortures the man.

17) A poacher is haunted by the spirits of animals whose skin he has sold.

18) A woman takes a free lift from a man who is a demon in disguise. Attracted to her, the demon takes her to the land of demons.

19) A museum adds a new artifact to its collection without realizing that the object is cursed and belongs to an ancient tribe. Angry, the tribe performs black magic on all the museum’s employees who must face torture till the artifact is returned to its rightful owners.

20) A girl befriends a stranger on a train who hypnotizes her and she is forced to obey him.

21) A librarian sees a young girl who was supposed to have died in 1913. The young girl asks for the librarian’s help to take revenge against a powerful man. When the librarian refuses, the angry girl unleashes horror into the librarian’s life. The librarian begins seeing blood on the walls and hears creaking sounds, scary footsteps, and a hand that reaches out to kill her.

22) A businessman doesn’t honor the promise he made to a poor man. He suddenly realizes that all the bad incidents that the poor man experienced are now happening to him.

23) One day, you wake up and begin to hear the thoughts of trees, plants, and animals, and echoes start haunting you wherever you go.

24) A government employee visits an orphanage for a survey and finds out how every child is controlled by a satanic cult.

25) A crazy and gifted musician creates an eerie tune that enchants and forces people to kill other people.

26) A group of friends is separated due to a landslide and finds themselves in parallel universes due to the mistake of an inexperienced sorcerer.

27) You enter an abandoned house and the door slams shut on its own. You realize that you are trapped in that house and see a strange yellow light.

28) You find a key to a magical land of history and a dragon follows you from the historical land to the earth.

29) An actress is kidnapped by a witch who wishes to manipulate her and control the world.

30) An investigator who tries to find out the truth behind a college student’s murder realizes that the boy invoked supernatural forces before dying. Now, the investigator must stop the supernatural forces from killing him and other humans.

31) A scientist discovers a door to the land of memories and accidentally damages the memory of his identity, forgetting everything he knows about himself.

32) A boy is cruel to a rat and other rats angry at his cruelty, drag him inside a big black hole.

33) A bed bug sucks the blood of a magical witch and starts growing larger.

34) A magician has the rare gift of bringing dead people in paintings to life. Chaos spreads after the magician brings Hitler to life by working magic on a painting.

35) A horrible black monster steps out of the Atlantic Ocean and begins eating everything it sees.

36) A teacher finds an old coat that belonged to a demon in the past. Every time he checks the coat pocket, he reads news of people dying. Hours after he reads the notes, the people mentioned in the notes die and blood spots keep appearing on the coat.

37) A beggar walking close to a forest finds a trail of notes and happily picks them up. Later, he realizes that the notes belonged to wedding guests who died in an accident. The ghosts of the wedding guests notice that he has picked up the notes and haunt him.

39) A sorceress trapped in an enchanted mirror manages to control a young girl who pulls her out of the mirror.

40) A team of psychic youths is hired to find and fight a ruthless demon who feeds on despair. They must make a terrible sacrifice to prevent the demon from knowing their darkest secrets.

41) A lady discovers an old well near the flat she is renting. She peeps to see what is inside the well and a half-human, half-animal hand grasps her neck.

42) A journalist arrives at her flat and finds a scary message written in red ink on her mirror. The message reads,”‘I’m coming for you!” and somebody has drawn a smiling face with red ink on the mirror.

43) An angel is given the task of saving the world from a deadly plague. An army of tiny demon bacteria fight the angel and try to force him to go back.

44) A man desperately tries to remove his car which is stuck in a swamp. Suddenly, he sees a muddy, ugly, hairy creature raise its head from the swamp.

45) A camper suddenly sees a little girl sleepwalking with an evil smile on her face and blue sparks flying from her hands.

47) Imagine that Pandora has a human heir called Nymphadora who opens a box she discovers. Tiny creatures that have feelers like needles step out of the box and make an attempt to stop time and the wheel of destiny.

48) You wake up and discover that you are 40 years old whereas the day before, you were just 19.

49) A couple who are hiking enter a village where no one speaks and everyone has pale yellow eyes.

50) A traveler accepts a drink from a tribal and after drinking it, falls into a deep sleep. The next day he realizes that he is in a large cage with animals and the tribals are dancing around the cage.

51) You’re attending a masquerade party in a snowy area where everyone is dressed as animals You see a large, hairy, ape-like animal and recognize that it’s a real Yeti. The Yeti, realizing that you know his true identity wants to kill you.

52) A wicked group of vampires land on Earth with a mission to kill all humans and settle on Earth. They enter your house and want to kill you and your family.

53) A couple has rented a room in a palace to spend the night. While using the elevator, the elevator suddenly stops midway, the light starts flickering and the couple hears screams.

54) An archaeologist discovers a document about cursed gold and becomes obsessed with finding the gold. His quest leads him to the cave where a wicked witch lives.

55) You discover an ancient diary that contains strange incantations. When you read them aloud, Satan appears.

56) An evil spirit enters a city and all dogs start barking without stopping. A dark shadow gradually dims all lights in the city.

57) An injured man finds an old, abandoned clinic and enters the clinic, hoping for treatment. He is confronted by a zombie who has made the clinic its home.

58) A boy presses a magical button that makes him travel in time. Unfortunately, he chooses the wrong time portal and lands in an insane asylum.

59) You see the face of a werewolf at your window’s glass. The werewolf breaks the glass and you have a few seconds to escape.

60) A boy finds a strange red device with a black button in the mud. The boy presses the button upon which, the people who are alive die immediately and dead people start coming to life.

Continue reading to get inspired by our special section of scary story prompts. Browse exciting prompts for horror stories from various genres like dark fantasy, psychological horror, and more!

Scary story prompts

61) Strange things happen to a teenager after he performed planchette with a group of friends for fun. His car stops working, the bus he travels from gets punctured and he is unable to return home.

62) A scientist invents a potion to restore his youth. However, he makes a mistake while adding an ingredient to the potion. Hence, when he drinks the potion, his skin grows deformed, with white patches and thick fur.

63) A horse rider discovers bones in an old stable. When he tries to burn the bones, the bones surprisingly do not burn. Instead, a thick white fog suddenly envelops the stable, and evil spirits emerge from the bones.

64) A sorcerer blurs the difference between dreams and reality. You can’t understand whether you are in a dream or what is happening is real.

65) A woman opens the door and finds a woman claiming to be her aunt. She also shows photographs as proof and the woman allows her ‘aunt’ to enter the house. The aunt then gives the woman a strong potion, drinking and the woman falls into a deep sleep. When the woman wakes up, she realizes that she is in the netherworld and sees beings with no light in their eyes.

66) An alpine skier has a terrible fall from a mountain. A group of nomads see her and forcibly take her to an old temple. They slit her leg with a knife and perform a strange ritual.

67) The last living witch on earth brings a puppet to life. The puppet sucks out all the magic out of the witch and becomes stronger. It uses its power to block the sunlight and kills humans in the dark as a sport.

68) A researcher finds out about a rare tribe that can make themselves invisible and travel with lightning speed. While trying to find the tribe’s descendants, she suddenly is face to face with their guardian who tries to kill her.

69) You enter a house where a psychic man has been staying in secret. When you confront the man, he uses his mind power to enchant all metallic objects, make them airborne, and position them to attack you.

70) You come across a rare animal that can change its shape at will. To your horror, it suddenly changes its shape to look like you and tries to kill you.

71) A boy returns to his remote village after a long time and realizes that all villagers are hypnotized and have black marks on their hands.

72) A lady never invites guests to her house and rarely ventures out of her house. A detective realizes that the lady’s life is manipulated by a cat who is a witch in disguise. The detective must save himself and the lady from the wicked cat.

73) A man finds tapes that his girlfriend gave him before she died. He hears an eerie screeching sound in the background when he plays the tapes. To his horror, he hears the same screeching sound and scary footsteps after he stops playing the tapes.

74) A student finds a hit list of people who will soon be killed. The list was created by a demon in disguise. The demon kidnaps the student to prevent him from telling anyone the truth.

75) A girl hires a tutor to learn Japanese. One day, she realizes that her Japanese teacher transforms into a werewolf every full moon.

76) A journalist finds out about a mysterious spaceship that landed on earth. Suddenly, he has terrible accidents and an invisible force tries to kill him.

77) A 12-year-old child sees a mysterious violet light streak across the sky. Whenever the light shines, somebody dies.

78) An intruder touches an electric fence and is jolted by a strong current. Before his eyes close, he sees an ugly ghoul looking at him.

79) A historian finds out about a rare voodoo practitioner who is the last of an ancient, mystic tribe. He arrives at the voodoo practitioner’s hut only to find the place ransacked and the voodoo practitioner gone. He suddenly sees ghosts floating in the air and hears a grandfather clock laugh menacingly.

80) You meet a strange old man who can read your thoughts and easily manipulate everyone around you.

Now let’s see some scary story writing prompts about Halloween!

Halloween horror prompts

81) Vampires gatecrash a Halloween party and terrified guests are unable to escape.

82) A group of friends decided to have a scavenger hunt on Halloween. Suddenly, all the friends disappear one by one.

83) A giant wakes up from a deep sleep on Halloween and stamps his foot in rage. This leads to an earthquake and all guests at the Halloween party are in danger.

84) You realize that all the incidents you read from a scary Halloween story are happening in real life.

85) You hear an eerie tune on Halloween night and wake up in fright. Suddenly, you see the face of a big black bear outside your window.

86) You accept a dare to visit a haunted house on Halloween. Suddenly, you hear screams and utensils falling in the haunted house.

87) A family decides to punish their extremely naughty son and not celebrate Halloween. On Halloween night, the parents leave home due to an emergency, leaving their naughty son alone at home.

88) A group of friends decide to sleep at a graveyard for fun on Halloween. Suddenly, they see ghosts emerging from the tombstones.

89) A tailor who makes costumes for Halloween is kidnapped by witches who want to have their own Halloween party.

90) Write a short story on Halloween using the words phantom, nightmare, banshee, and voodoo.

91) A crazy scientist challenges a colleague on Halloween to drink a potion that he has created for an experiment. The colleague drinks the potion and starts shrinking.

92) A witch enchants the pumpkins that will be carved for Halloween. When guests try to carve the pumpkins, blood starts oozing from the pumpkins.

93) A boy befriends an alien who wants to celebrate Halloween. When the alien arrives at the Halloween horror costume party, it gets scared and starts attacking everyone.

94) A girl insults a tarot reader who makes a terrible prediction about her on Halloween. She continuously experiences bad luck, has an accident, and wakes up in the hospital. She realizes that she has forgotten her identity.

95) A man befriends a she-banshee on Halloween who grows extremely possessive about the man. Whenever anyone touches the man, the banshee kills him.

96) A serial killer enters a Halloween party and his next target is you.

97) A group of friends enter a horror maze to celebrate Halloween and are trapped inside the maze. Suddenly, they are confronted by a real ghost who grins wickedly at them.

98) A ghost in your house attracts the presence of animals on Halloween. All animals begin entering your house and you are forced to leave your house.

99) You are a part of a ghost-buster team. You are given the secret task of capturing a dangerous ghost from a Halloween party. The dangerous ghost recognizes you, tries to kill you, and gets very violent.

100) You meet a stranger at a costume party at a neighbor’s house for Halloween. Suddenly, the stranger touches you and whispers strange words in an unknown language. You are transported to an eerie land of spirits, ghouls, trolls, banshees, and zombies.

101) You are hiking with a group of friends on Halloween. You see a black castle floating in the air. A ladder on the ground is positioned, leading to the door of the castle. You and your friend climb the castle and the door slams shut. A wicked dwarf who is the castle’s caretaker tells you that you are trapped forever.

We hope these horror story prompts inspire you to write your next masterpiece. Once you complete working on your scary writing prompts, the next step is to edit your stories. As providers of editing and proofreading services , we’d love to enhance your horror novel!

Here are some other resources that you might find useful:

How to Write a Novel in Past Tense? 3 Steps & Examples
Foil Character: Definition, History, & Examples

Frequently Asked Questions

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50 Spooky Writing Prompts and Horror Story Ideas

If you’re looking for scary story prompts or horror writing ideas, you’ve come to the right place! These are great Halloween writing prompts, and some of these could also be used as suspense story prompts or dark fantasy story ideas.

These are all from my book 5 ,000 Writing Prompts: A Master List of Plot Ideas, Creative Exercises, and More . The book has 100 additional spooky writing prompts and horror story ideas, as well as master plots and idea starters for all kinds of writing.

If you are easily scared and have an over-active imagination, just skip this one. And anyway, just remember it’s all nonsense that I made up while I was exercising on the treadmill or sitting in bed.

Some of these are skeletal (ha) plot ideas, while others are images or suggestions. And if you’d like a spooky soundtrack to inspire you, be sure to check out my scary music playlist for writers ! Be sure to pin or bookmark the post for future reference. After all, when autumn rolls around, you might find yourself looking for Halloween writing prompts!

A musician practices. When she finishes a piece, she hears someone clapping for her, although she lives alone.
Frightening events in a small town lead its citizens to dig up the grave of a deceased inhabitant.
Someone gets on the elevator by himself and is never seen by his friends or family again.
The Furies—the vengeance deities of classic mythology—are back in business again.
A collector buys an unpublished manuscript by an obscure writer that describes a terrible historical event a year before it occurred. The collector learns the writer wrote many unpublished stories…
Creating a hybrid of a human and this particular animal turns out to be a bad idea.
A person has the ability to make other people very ill.
The dead walk out of the sea.
An individual begins seeing and hearing from someone who looks just like her – and learns she had a twin who died at birth.
A killer places an advertisement for a willing victim and finds one.
A basement contains jars filled with unusual specimens.
A person finds new photos of herself on her cell phone that she didn’t take.
The spirit of a brutalized slave or prisoner of war wants revenge on his tormentor’s descendants.
A couple vacationing in a remote area begins having the same nightmares.
All of the circus performers were killed in the train wreck.
The television switches to another station of its own accord and plays footage of something horrible that happened long before the technology existed to record it.
A spouse or sibling dies. He or she begins to take over the body of the surviving spouse or sibling.
Weekend adventurers explore a cave and can’t find their way out again. Then they encounter something terrible…
Authorities go through the cluttered apartment of a deceased man who lived alone with no known friends or relatives for decades and find something disturbing.
A group of teenagers trolls everyone else in an online group by telling made-up stories about terrible things they’ve done. Things then get out of hand.
It’s bad luck in the theatre to call the Shakespeare play Macbeth by name, but someone in the company keeps doing it anyway… and the superstition proves true.
Every exhibit in this carnival sideshow is fake. Except this one thing.
An individual develops a terror of water – drinking it, touching it, or even being near it. There’s actually a good reason why.
The grandfather clock starts running backwards.
People in this neighborhood begin having freak accidents that involve normal appliances and machinery, such as blenders, weed whackers, and garage doors.
The cure for a new deadly epidemic is almost scarier than the disease.
He locked the doors and shuttered the windows; it came in through the roof.
A woman is happy when her dead loved one comes back to life… but he’s changed.
This centuries-old beauty secret is effective but horrifying.
A killer toys with his victims by orchestrating a series of false hopes for them.
She wakes up in the middle of the night and runs out to a certain tree.
Tourists on a ghost tour, along with their guide, fall into the hands of an evil presence.
A young woman is impregnated by her handsome new boyfriend, who turns out to be something other than human.
The empty swing is swinging.
A bride on her honeymoon discovers she’s not her new husband’s first wife… not even close.
Long ago, when he was a baby, a man’s parents made an unwise deal in order to bring him back from the dead.
Members of a family or people in a town begin sleepwalking and doing strange things in their sleep.
A young man confesses to a killing that hasn’t happened. The murder he describes takes place while he’s in custody.
Grisly events happen after the arrival of a hypnotist in Victorian London.
An author’s fictional villain stalks him.
Fraternity hazing goes way too far.
It always happens when he’s alone in the car.
A patient in a mental hospital encounters a malevolent ghost, but nobody believes her.
A mother’s young child may or may not be a changeling.
Swarms of insects appear in various places in a town, always followed by an untimely death.
The ghost at the movie theater wants everyone to watch one particular snippet of film.
A child’s imaginary friend starts to cause real trouble.
When putting together a slide show for a wedding or funeral, someone notices that for decades, the same man, dressed in the same fashion, has been appearing in the background of photographs taken in public places.
A politician, religious leader, or celebrity exerts mind control over the will of his or her followers.
The fairy godmother isn’t the good kind of fairy.

Okay, I creeped myself out a little with these spooky writing prompts! If you’re writing a novel and want a step-by-step guide to planning, writing, and editing, be sure to check out my book 5,000 Writing Prompts .

5,000 WRITING PROMPTS: A Master List of Plot Ideas, Creative Exercises, and More | BRYN DONOVAN |

Do you have questions or suggestions about horror story ideas? We’d love to hear them in the comments section! And don’t miss future posts about writing. Follow my blog, if you aren’t already — there’s a place you can sign up below. Thanks so much for reading, and happy writing!

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Novel writing ,

150 horror prompts, settings and characters.

By Thea Pelletier

Whether you’re looking to scare, horrify, or make your readers jump, we are here with all the inspiration you need! We’ve created a horrific list of 50 horror writing prompts to give your writing that hair-raising, back-of-the-neck eerie touch.

Why Use Horror Prompts?

Horror books (as well as movies and TV shows) exist because human fear exists. And all readers love to feel something with each genre! Classic horror fiction books aim to frighten, and over time authors have found a myriad of ways to do that. Common themes include ghosts, ghouls, monsters , vampires, werewolves, demons, zombies, murderers, serial killers, paranormal forces, witchcraft, apocalypses, psychological fear, and gore.

So if you’re feeling uninspired, you think all the good ideas have already been taken (they haven’t), or you simply want to kick-start your imagination – take a look at our horror prompts list. We have included 50 specific examples of horror story ideas organised under sub-genres. We hope some of them send a tingle down your spine and inspire you to write your own creepy novel!

50 Horror Story Prompts

Word of warning: in keeping with the nature of the genre, most of these prompts contain violent or upsetting themes.

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Comedic Horror Prompts

You survive the apocalypse purely due to a series of happy accidents. It turns out, an alien race orchestrated the doomsday events on Earth to see if humans were ready to ascend. As lone survivor, you’re selected to be the sole representative of humanity in the new world order.
Unpopular new arrivals in a town that treasures natural beauty, Michaela takes pity on her plastic surgeon father and goes to bed one night wishing that all of her classmates’ worst fears of their physical insecurities would come true.
You work at a Zombie Rehabilitation Centre in LA. It was your dream job until you realise you’re stuck teaching ‘Bite Inhibition’ classes.
Flattered to be one of the few freshmen listed on the most popular sorority’s website “Fresh Meat”, you turn up to a party in your honour at the Kappa Kappa house. At the end of the night, you discover a secret book containing a step-by-step plan of ‘How to eat the class of 2022’.
Former beauty pageant queen transforms into a hungry werewolf on the most important full moon of the year, on the prowl for the ‘next pretty young thing’. This year’s pageant hopefuls are armed to the teethed and willing to fight for the crown.
You’re a vain, ancient witch adapting to the 21st century by getting a job at the Apple Store so that you can enchant teenagers’ smartphones and sap their youth through their devices.

Demonic Possession Horror Prompts

Stacey’s perfect family life begins to unravel one day when a malicious spirit moves in and inflicts itself upon its host, jumping around between her, her husband, and her two daughters.
You terrify your family when you wake up floating two metres above your bed. An exorcist tells them he’s cured you, but the demon doesn’t actually leave your body. It’s learned to come out only when you are alone.
Taking part in a prison experiment for extra credit, 11 university students are unable to explain the violence that overcame them, and the brutal death of the 12 th student, citing demons over any psychological element.
You’re trying to put your house on the market. You’ve lived there all your life, and you’re the last surviving member of your family. Every estate agent you bring in to the house dies in a tragic accident days later.

Gore Horror Prompts

Uni student Jamie was looking for some extra cash when he signed away two weeks of his summer vacation to take part in a simple clinical trial. But when he realises patients are having their organs harvested against their will, his experience turns into a brutal, bloody nightmare.
Someone in your neighbourhood has been committing grisly acts of violence on people at night. You set up a camera to investigate and catch an exact replica of yourself in the act.
A well-intentioned break-in turns nasty for a group of friends who become trapped in a ‘chalet of death’ as the stunning vacation home turns into a gruesome automated killing machine at night.
You take a summer job at an amusement park. When covering for a coworker on the rollercoaster booth one night, body parts start flying off the ride. You stop the train and find that all the passengers are long-dead corpses.

Monster Horror Prompts

Night-time brings terror for caring but agoraphobic cat lady as her six beloved pets transform into flesh-hungry demons as soon as it’s dark out.
You’ve seen The Quiet Place and Birdbox , but what if the monstrous entity who invaded Earth destroyed humanity through touch? Each ‘spore’ is as big as a city, growing bigger each time it absorbs a victim. A pack of survivors must spread out if they want to make it through an ever-narrowing world in order to find, and destroy, the epicentre.
Susie is a wedding photographer whose camera starts to reveal monsters unseen to the eye that prey on the love of newlyweds. When Susie’s clients start to disappear from their honeymoons, she is the only person who knows what’s really happening to them.
You’re a teacher chaperoning swimming lessons at your school. You inspected the pool yourself, but when the kids get in you see an enormous, invisible creature come to life. The first drowning is ruled as accidental, and to your horror, the lessons continue.

Paranormal Horror Prompts

College student Josh is tapped as a pledge for an ultra-secret society via coded messages, which are unbeknownst to him left by the ghosts of past members who each met gruesome ends. The final test forces him into an abandoned storage facility where he must carry out increasingly punishing tasks on other pledges.
A close relative who died before you were born is standing in the upstairs window of the house across the street. You have no doubt it’s them. When you work up the courage to break in to the neighbour’s house and confront them, you turn to see the person you came to find now visible in the window of your own house.
The local sheriff’s night turns hellish when the man he locked up uses his telekinesis to lethally booby trap the station.
A mother of three does all she can to protect her family from imminent doom when she begins having visions of their collective deaths.
You’re out walking the dog one afternoon when you find yourself caught in a physical endless loop in the woods. You feel yourself losing time but you can’t find a way out.

Post-Apocalyptic Horror Prompts

Humanity took to the sea to survive the rising sea levels caused by climate change, but now their ocean rigs are massively overcrowded, resource-poor, and steeped in disease. A deadly class struggle breaks out on one of the stations.
A wayward AI has slowly infected all computers and devices, subtly turning humans against each other. Now living in a culture of suspicion and distrust running on the currency of violence, nomadic young Kit refuses to kill to survive.
You’ve grown up as the next generation of the most wealthy and successful humans who survived the end of the world. Your world unravels when you realise that those raising you have in fact been the robot overlords who destroyed humanity. They copied the skins of those they found locked in an emergency bunker and started to artificially grow humans as pets and slaves.
Trapped inside a small cabin by her phobia of the rain, one of the last surviving human women on earth tries to survive the night when a horde of those infected with the plague (that wiped out most of the human race) track her down hungry for blood.

Psychological Horror Prompts

After a tragic accident on his 21 st birthday, Peter gets back in touch with his estranged father via email. He flies 6000 miles to stay with him, but when he arrives he’s pulled into a deadly catfishing game carried out by a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
You wake up in your childhood bed, look down at yourself, and find that you’re 12 again. You can’t see yourself in the mirror, or in photos, but everyone else can see you. You’re convinced you’re going to disappear altogether.
Suspecting his wife of infidelity, Ben hires a private investigator to catch her in the act. When she disappears without her lover, Ben begins to suspect the man he hired had something to do with it.
You work the graveyard shift at a 24 hour on-campus library. While snooping around you come across a handwritten book that was started three decades ago. It contains a record of all the accidents and atrocities that have happened at the school since then. A week later, a girl falls off the roof and dies. During your next shift, you see a beloved professor writing in the book. You start to doubt everything when the death is ruled an accident.

Religious/Folk Beliefs Horror Prompts

Summer is excited to be spending her semester abroad, until she witnesses some locals performing a horrifying ritual on her fellow traveller.
Your parents reveal a horrid secret to you on your 18th birthday. Your idyllic lifestyle in a small, isolated community will come to an end if you don’t start participating in the cult’s obscene rituals. If you refuse, you’ll be sacrificed against your will for the cause.
Born into a futuristic fringe community that abhors physical contact, a young woman’s attempts to break free are met with the harshest repercussions.

Slasher Horror Prompts

Callie is delighted to be driving to college in her graduation gift – a brand new electric Mercedes – when an EMP attack leaves her stranded by the side of the road. There’s nothing but forest around for miles, until a lumberjack with a dark past pulls up beside her.
Ten years after you said goodbye to your imaginary friend, you see their face on the evening news next to the headline ‘The Redfield Ripper’s Recent Attacks’.
An insane chef renting a cabin in the woods sharpens up their knife skills on whoever is unlucky enough to disturb them.

Vampire Horror Prompts

Cal is a postman resigned to a boring new route in a rural valley when he comes across three beautiful sisters living alone in a big house. He finds himself there almost every day hauling curious packages. A bout of bad weather knocks a tree down on the only road in, and a few days later, Cal is greeted with a terrifying scenario at the front door.
For months, your dog keeps waking you up at the same time every night. He barks at the window. When you look out onto the street, you see the same stranger watching you. The stranger can’t be recorded, and nobody believes you when you tell them. One night, thinking yourself delirious, you invite him in.
Told from the POV of the youngest sibling of an ancient coven of vampires, Clara and her family are ‘monsters’ living their lives in fear of a powerful new hunter who has trapped them in a small town and is threatening to pick them off one by one.

Witchcraft Horror Prompts

Down on her luck librarian Eliza idolises famous American movie star Marsha Green. When she comes across an ancient tome under some rotten floorboards and begins to meddle with unknown forces, she sets events in motion which alter Marsha’s life forever.
You win the lottery. But every time you spend some of the money, no matter what you use it for, bad things happen. You go back to where you found the lucky ticket, pinned to a tree, and it’s now covered in unfamiliar symbols.
A revolutionary new computer game downloads itself onto the laptops of a group of 11-year-olds. After playing all night, they return to school to find their in-game actions inflicted on their classmates. Suspecting their strict teacher to be behind it, the kids must figure out how to undo her spell and reverse the damage they have done.
You’re an overbearing mother who wishes she could give her daughter the perfect life. You do more harm than good with your cosmetic spells and emotional enchantments, nearly destroying the life of your sixteen year old, who eventually exacts her revenge in equal measure.
Working late one night, an exec finds himself unable to leave his bewitched office chair as a scorned investor instructs him to perform humiliating acts in front of his webcam as penance.

Zombie Horror Prompts

A teenage girl goes to an illicit gathering in the woods one night and meets a boy. Their encounter ends badly. She wakes up to find teeth and nail marks, and realises she is a little less alive than she was the day before.
You dreamt of the zombie pandemic as a child. You dedicated your life to preparing an antidote, waiting for the outbreak so you could develop a cure. You are shunned from the scientific community for your ‘fringe beliefs’. At the first signs of sickness in your loved ones, you kidnap them and take them to an underground research facility where you push yourself to your limits and make dire choices in anticipation of saving the human race.
Years after her best friend is murdered, detective Alana’s latest case leads her to a mansion overrun by a horde of zombies led by a hauntingly familiar face.
You’ve never questioned your landlord’s odd behaviour, desperate as you were for cheap rent. But when the fuse blows and no one is around to fix it, you uncover a nasty truth in the basement’s freezer. It’s overflowing with brains!
You’re a doctor volunteering in the latest wave of deadly outbreaks across Europe. When you’re morally unable to kill patient zero in the early stages of a new unknown strain, you must live with unleashing the zombie virus across the world’s population.

50 Places To Find Inspiration For Your Horror Story

The setting of a horror story is everything – but not all scary novels have to take place in a scary place (in fact, sometimes the most mundane of places can be given a horrifying twist by adding a bit of the unknown). When looking for inspiration, it really helps to physically go to a place, or research old relics, to help kick-start your imagination. Take a look at our 50 places that may inspire your next creepy tale. In fact, see if you can think of a horror book or movie set in some of these places (we certainly can!).

An empty school
A graveyard
Look at old paintings
Go through old photo albums
An empty house
The basement
A toy store after closing time
Visit an old library
An old lady’s house that hasn’t changed in decades
A scrapyard
The dessert
The ocean (the deeper, the scarier)
A secluded island
The forrest on a misty day
A snowy tundra
A corn field
A shopping mall
An abandoned…well…anything
A locked room
A log cabin
A swelteringly hot day
Suburbia…but different
A run-down urban street
A room full of puppets
Backstage of the theatre
Empty corridors leading nowhere
A rubbish dump
An empty road in the rain
The top of a mountain
Ancient ruins
The inside of a church
A fairground after closing hours
Beneath the streets of a big city
A metro station/the tube
The kitchens of a hotel or restaurant
An old stone quarry
Overgrown railway line

50 Horror Story Characters To Inspire you

Sometimes, the most simplest of storylines with the most mundane of setting, can be utterly horrifying of you add one very complicated character. Of course you can use monsters and fantastical characters you have created, but often the best effect is mixing an everyday character with a setting where they belong; for instance a clown hiding inside a car at an empty scrapyard, or a little old lady, bony and bent double, in the middle of the jungle. And remember – these characters can be the good gifs, the bad guys, or maybe a mix of both!

Little old lady
Troubled teenager
A person with no eyes
Police officer
Woman with dramatically applied make-up
Sex worker or pimp
Someone with blades for fingers
Baby in a crib
Toddler that doesn’t speak
Girl in bedclothes with hair that covers her face
A character that belongs in another time
Animal that can talk
Person with wings for arms
A very normal looking mother. A bit too normal.
Someone who is meant to be dead
A goody-two-shoes child
Airline pilot
Captain of a ship
Firefighter
Scientist (everyone loves a mad scientist)
A single dad
A mother with more kids than she can handle
Sewage worker
Builder working on an new house
Archeologist
Security guard
Traffic warden/meter maid
Someone with wheels for feet
Prison warden
Door to door salesperson
Shy secretary
Nun or priest

Writing Horror Doesn’t Have To Be Hard

We hope our list of writing prompts for horror , along with settings and characters, has sparked your imagination! If not, here’s how to take our horror ideas to the next level:

Found a horror story prompt you like but unsure of where to take it next? Let’s take #8 from the top list, for example, and add a few interesting characters from our list and choose a setting or two. Then start to build an information bank on your protagonist from there. At this point focus on the character , not the plot – because often one thing can lead to another. The Prompt: You’re a troubled teen who terrifies your family when you wake up floating two metres above your bed. You just moved into an old house in a quiet, creepy suburban street. An exorcist tells your family he has cured you, but the demon doesn’t actually leave your body, and learns to come out only when you are alone.

You’re still a teenager, living at home. Your name is Jackson, but you go by Jax. You’re a second generation immigrant and you speak Greek at home with your family. Your father named you after his favourite American baseball player. You have dark hair, dark eyes, and when you would steal your grandmother’s baklavas off the kitchen counter she would say she could see the devil in your face. You spend the weekends riding the coastal roads on motorbikes with your friends, doing your best to stay out the way of your spoiled little sister and your overworked father. You’re closest to your YaYa but too afraid to tell her where you spend most of your time. Moving house unsettled you and took away everything you ever loved.

Or, why not map out a rough plot first? The inciting incident for this prompt could be: You’ve snuck back into your room after a long night out with your friends. You left the window open. Four hours after you collapsed onto your bed in your clothes, you wake with a start to find yourself hovering inexplicably in the air. Your body is locked into position. You spend a panicked hour trying to wriggle free of its grip, but you can feel another presence inside your own body, forcing you down. You’re going to be late for your new school, your sister is turning the doorknob and your father is yelling for you. Your feet frame the pure terror in the three faces at the door as your eyes strain to see them. Your grandmother recovers the quickest, stuffing her komboskini into your frozen fist and running out of the room to phone her priest. Whether you start your horror story with just a vibe, a small seed of an idea, a great setting, character , or a full plot – it doesn’t matter. A great story can start anywhere, you just have to make sure that (like any scary monster) you keep feeding it and watch it grow bigger and more horrifying every day!

About the author

Thea is part of the Writer Support T eam here at Jericho Writers. She has a degree in German and English Literature from The University of Edinburgh and enjoys spending time with her dogs and working on her first novel in her spare time.

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Horror Writing 101: Crafting Scary Stories 🖊️🎃

Table of Contents

One on one book coaching with Richard Lowe

Horror writing , a genre that delves into the darkest corners of the human psyche, has captivated readers and writers alike for centuries. From Gothic tales of the supernatural to modern psychological thrillers, horror writing spans a vast array of themes and styles, each more bone-chilling than the last. This genre’s ability to evoke fear, suspense, and a sense of the unknown is what makes it so uniquely compelling. Aspiring writers drawn to this genre must not only understand how to terrify and unsettle their readers, but also how to craft stories that linger in the mind long after the last page is turned.

The allure of horror writing lies in its power to tap into our deepest fears and anxieties. It’s a genre that goes beyond mere entertainment; it forces us to confront the darker aspects of life and the human condition. Whether it’s through ghostly apparitions, monstrous creatures, or the horrors of the human mind, horror writing serves as a mirror to our collective nightmares, offering a safe space to explore and understand them. For writers, this means venturing into uncharted territories of creativity and imagination, pushing the boundaries of what is possible in storytelling.

However, effective horror writing requires more than just the ability to scare. It demands a careful balance of mood, atmosphere, character development, and pacing. The best horror stories are those that build tension slowly, drawing readers into their eerie worlds gradually, then gripping them with a sense of dread that is both exhilarating and terrifying. Crafting such narratives is a skill that can be honed and refined, making horror writing an exciting challenge for writers who dare to explore it.

In this exploration of horror writing, we will delve into various techniques and elements that make a horror story truly frightening. From developing chilling settings to creating haunting characters, the journey into horror writing is as much about understanding human emotions as it is about evoking them. Whether you’re a seasoned horror writer or just starting, this guide aims to provide valuable insights into mastering this spine-tingling genre.

The Foundations of Horror Writing

In the realm of horror writing , the foundations of a compelling story are rooted in its ability to evoke fear and suspense, creating an immersive experience that lingers with the reader. Central to this genre are key elements like a well-constructed plot, intriguing characters, and an atmosphere dripping with tension. Horror stories often revolve around universal fears – the dark, the unknown, death, and isolation – exploiting these primal fears to create a sense of dread and foreboding. The effectiveness of horror writing lies in the writer’s ability to tap into these deep-seated anxieties, crafting narratives that not only scare but also resonate on a psychological level.

A crucial aspect of horror writing is the setting, which plays a significant role in establishing the mood. Whether it’s a haunted house, a desolate forest, or an ordinary setting turned sinister, the location sets the stage for the story’s horror elements. A well-depicted setting can become a character in itself, contributing significantly to the story’s terror. It’s this environment that first immerses the reader, enveloping them in a world where the normal rules don’t apply, and anything is possible – usually, the worst imaginable scenarios.

The narrative voice in horror writing also has a profound impact on how the story is received. A first-person narrative can offer an intimate sense of terror, as readers experience the protagonist’s fear firsthand. Alternatively, a third-person viewpoint can provide a broader perspective, often adding to the chilling nature of the story. This choice in narrative voice can drastically change the way readers experience fear and suspense, and it’s a tool that horror writers use skillfully to manipulate readers’ emotions.

The pacing of the story is critical in horror writing. It often involves a slow build-up, where tension simmers and grows before leading to moments of intense fear or shock. Mastering the art of pacing is what keeps readers on the edge of their seats, eager and apprehensive about what lurks on the next page. The best horror stories are those that balance the anticipation of terror with moments of reprieve, keeping the reader hooked and invested in the unfolding horror.

Building Suspense and Tension

Creating a sense of suspense and tension is the lifeblood of horror writing. This genre is about making the reader feel a constant sense of impending doom, even when they can’t pinpoint the source. One effective technique is the use of foreshadowing, which involves dropping subtle hints about what might come. This keeps readers guessing and heightens their sense of alertness. It’s the anticipation of horror, as much as the horror itself, that makes a story gripping.

Manipulating the reader’s expectations is another method to build suspense. Horror writers are adept at leading readers down a certain path, only to surprise them with an unexpected twist. This unpredictability is what keeps the genre exciting. When readers can’t guess what’s coming next, their engagement levels increase, and so does their investment in the story.

The use of sensory details is also crucial in building suspense. Describing not just what is seen, but also what is heard, smelled, or felt, can create a multi-sensory experience that heightens the sense of fear. It’s about painting a picture so vivid that readers can’t help but immerse themselves in the world you’ve created. The creak of a floorboard, the chill of a breeze, the faint smell of something rotten – these details can build an atmosphere thick with tension.

Character reactions play an equally important role in building tension. Readers often experience fear through the characters in the story. How characters respond to the terror they face can either amplify or diminish the suspense. Characters who react believably to the horror elements help to ground the story in reality, making the fear more tangible and relatable to the reader.

The Psychology of Fear

At its core, horror writing is deeply rooted in psychology. Understanding what scares people and why is crucial for crafting a terrifying story. Different people have different fears, but there are universal fears, such as the fear of death, the unknown, or loss of control, that resonate with a broad audience. Tapping into these fears involves a deep understanding of human psychology and the common anxieties that haunt us all.

Exploring the psychology of your characters can also add depth to the horror. Characters with complex psychological backgrounds offer a richer, more immersive experience. Their fears, traumas, and reactions can make the horror more relatable and, therefore, more terrifying. When readers can see a part of themselves in the characters, the fear becomes more personal, and the impact of the story is significantly magnified.

Moreover, the psychological impact of horror on readers should not be underestimated. A good horror story can leave a lasting impression, playing on the reader’s mind long after it’s finished. This lingering effect is often what separates a good horror story from a great one. It’s the ability of the story to tap into the subconscious, to evoke a primal response, that makes horror writing so powerful and enduring.

Crafting Memorable Horror Characters

In horror writing, characters are not just vehicles for the plot; they are essential to the story’s impact. The protagonist in a horror story often represents ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances. Their relatability is what draws readers into the story. Seeing a regular person navigate the terrors of a horror story can be both terrifying and compelling. It’s through these characters that readers experience the fear and suspense of the narrative.

Antagonists or monsters in horror need to be more than just scary. They should have depth and, in some cases, a backstory that explains their nature. Whether it’s a supernatural entity or a human antagonist, understanding their motivation adds a layer of complexity to the horror. This makes the antagonist more than just a source of fear; it turns them into a character with motives and purposes, which can be even more frightening.

Supporting characters also play a significant role. They can add to the protagonist’s isolation or be a source of relief in the story. How these characters interact with the main character and the horror element can significantly affect the story’s tension and pacing. They provide contrast and relief, and their interactions with the protagonist can add layers to the narrative.

Horror Writing and Ghostwriting

Ghostwriting in the horror genre presents unique challenges and opportunities. As a ghostwriter, capturing the author’s voice and vision for a horror story requires a deep understanding of the genre and the ability to adapt one’s writing style. Ghostwriting in horror involves getting into the mind of the author, understanding their interpretation of fear, and translating that into a compelling narrative.

Ghostwriters often have to work with detailed outlines or concepts provided by the author. This requires a balance between adhering to the author’s vision and injecting their own creativity into the story. It’s a collaborative process where the ghostwriter must find a harmony between their own style and that of the original author.

The collaboration process in ghostwriting horror can also be a learning experience. Ghostwriters often gain new perspectives and techniques, enhancing their skills in horror writing. They learn to be versatile and adaptable, skills that are invaluable in the writing world. Moreover, ghostwriting can provide an opportunity to explore different sub-genres of horror, broadening the ghostwriter’s range and expertise.

The Role of Setting in Horror

The setting in a horror story is often as important as the characters and the plot. It sets the tone and atmosphere of the story, influencing how the horror unfolds. Whether it’s a claustrophobic space or an expansive, eerie landscape, the setting can significantly amplify the story’s fear factor. The right setting can make the difference between a horror story that’s mildly unsettling and one that’s deeply terrifying.

Historical settings can add a layer of authenticity to horror stories. They can also allow writers to explore horrors rooted in historical events or folklore, adding depth and richness to the narrative. Historical settings provide a backdrop that can heighten the horror, making it feel more real and immediate.

Modern settings, on the other hand, can make horror more relatable to contemporary readers. They can explore the fears and anxieties of modern life, from technological horrors to urban legends. Modern settings allow writers to tap into current societal fears, making the horror more relevant and impactful.

Horror Writing in Different Mediums

Horror writing is not limited to novels and short stories. It spans various mediums, each offering a unique way to tell a horror story. Movies, television shows, podcasts, and even video games have become popular mediums for horror storytelling. Each medium brings its own set of tools and techniques for creating fear and suspense.

Adapting horror stories for different mediums requires an understanding of the strengths and limitations of each. For instance, visual mediums like film can rely on visual scares, while written stories often build horror through the imagination. Understanding these differences is key to effectively translating a horror story from one medium to another.

The interactive nature of video games offers a new dimension to horror writing. It immerses players directly in the horror experience, making it a unique and powerful medium for the genre. In video games, the horror is not just observed; it’s experienced firsthand, which can make it even more terrifying.

Conclusion: Mastering the Art of Horror Writing

Mastering horror writing is about understanding the nuances of fear and suspense. It’s about creating stories that scare and engage readers on a deeper level. Whether you are a seasoned horror writer or just starting, the journey into horror writing is thrilling and rewarding. Effective horror writing involves balancing atmosphere, character development, and pacing. It requires a deep understanding of what scares people and why. By honing these skills, writers can create horror stories that are not just frightening but also memorable and impactful. In conclusion, horror writing is a diverse and dynamic genre, offering endless opportunities for creativity and expression. For those who dare to explore its depths, it can be a profoundly rewarding creative endeavor.

Takeaway Horror writing is an art that requires a keen understanding of fear, suspense, and the human psyche. From building tension to creating memorable characters and settings, mastering this genre involves delving deep into what terrifies us. Aspiring horror writers can enhance their craft by embracing these techniques, exploring different mediums, and continually pushing the boundaries of their storytelling abilities. Whether through ghostwriting or crafting your own tales, the world of horror writing offers a thrilling and rewarding creative journey.

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6 thoughts on “ Horror Writing 101: Crafting Scary Stories 🖊️🎃 ”

This is good to know. I am not really a fan of horror so, I have no idea what’s going on when the author writes one. Thank you for giving me a fresh perspective on this. Made me appreciate their work more.

You are not kidding about the lasting impression. My BFF from middle school (still my BFF today) had her dad put on a horror movie for their family when I was there for a sleepover. Lights out and everything to make it scarier. I’d never seen a horror movie. It was my first and my last and I still remember the name of that daggone show and I’m a grandma now.

This was such a fantastic breakdown of the genre. I have never been able to write horror stories, although I love reading them. I was never able to figure out how to build the tension that I love so much in this genre.

Ooohhhh….this is good tips to carry with me, when I do ever write about horror. I will need a bit of practice with the setting and introducing it to my readers.

The horror genre is one of my favorites to delve into. I don’t write but reading this article gives me a greater appreciation for those that do.

After reading this article, I’m seriously considering trying my hand at horror writing for a change of pace in my content creation journey.

Scary Story Ideas — 18 Prompts For Horror & Thriller Writers

H ere there be dragons, boogeymen, and blood-sucking vampires! Scary stories have frightened and allured audiences for thousands of years. So, whether you’re looking to establish a new form of horror, or riff on an existing genre trope, you’ve come to the right place, because we’re going to break down scary story ideas. Dim the candlelight, turn up the theremin, and sit back as we delve deep into horror writing prompts!

Scary Story Prompts for Writers

Scary story ideas & horror writing prompts.

It can be challenging to respond to writing prompts when they’re proposed without follow-up questions. So, we’re going to attempt to rectify that by giving you some scary story ideas with follow-up questions.

*Note on scary story ideas and writing prompts: all of the prompts outlined here were created by me! However, they’re almost all surely inspired by existing material, whether recognized consciously or unconsciously. In accordance with that point, I’m going to attach “suggested accompanying viewing” to each prompt for further inspiration!

1) A young man finds himself unable to break out of a recurring lucid dream.

Ideas for Horror Stories Spellbound Still from Spellbound

Ideas for Horror Stories • Still from ‘Spellbound’

Who is the young man?
What is the recurring lucid dream?
Why is he unable to break out of it?

SCARY STORY IDEAS

Suggested viewing.

Inception
Donnie Darko

2) An island community is besieged by a rapidly-mutating virus.

Horror Story Ideas The Beach Still from The Beach

Horror Story Ideas • Still from ‘The Beach’

Where is the island?
What is the virus?
How did the virus originate?

HORROR WRITING PROMPTS

3) a woman sells control of her father’s estate to a peculiar… bloodthirsty… count from transylvania..

Scary Story Ideas Drakula Still from Bram Stokers Dracula

Scary Story Ideas • Still from ‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula’

Who is the woman?
Who is the count?
Why is she selling her father’s estate?

Writing Prompts Horror

Bram Stoker’s Dracula
The Cherry Orchard (Play)

4) A group of hitchhikers enter a seemingly empty home to wait out a torrential storm.

Horror Story Ideas The Twilight Zone Still from The Twilight Zone

Horror Story Ideas • Still from ‘The Twilight Zone’

Who are the hitchhikers?
Why does the house seem empty?
Where is the antagonist?
“The Howling Man” from The Twilight Zone
The Cabin in the Woods

5) An asteroid hits a space station orbiting the outer-ring of a lunar outpost. Oxygen supply is cut by 80%, meaning the crew has to kill four members, or else they’ll all die before an emergency shuttle arrives.

Horror Story Prompts Sunshine Still from Sunshine

Horror Story Prompts • Still from ‘Sunshine’

Who’s on the space station?
Why aren’t there any emergency shuttles on the station?

SCARY STORY PROMPTS

6) a veteran cop suspects his daughter is dating a serial killer..

Scary Story Ideas Taken Still from Taken

Scary Story Ideas • Still from ‘Taken’

Who is the cop?
Who is the daughter?
Who is the suspected serial killer?
How did the cop learn about his suspicious nature?

HORROR STORIES IDEAS

The French Connection

7) A small-town legend says that a monster lurks under the lake. Sounds crazy, but why have so many people gone missing?

Horror Story Ideas The Wailing Still from The Wailing

Horror Story Ideas • Still from ‘The Wailing’

What is the monster?
Why have people gone missing?
How did this legend spread?
The Wailing

8) A man finds a slumped-over investigator with puncture-wounds in his neck. His final word, “devil.”

Scary Writing Ideas Angel Heart Still from Angel Heart

Scary Writing Ideas • Still from ‘Angel Heart’

Who is the man?
Who is the investigator?
What does “devil” imply?
Interview With the Vampire
Angel Heart

9) A group of college girls stargazing at the Grand Canyon find themselves stalked by a shadowy figure.

Horror Story Prompts It Follows Still from It Follows

Horror Story Prompts • Still from ‘It Follows’

Who are the college girls?
Why are they at the grand canyon?
Who, or what, is the shadowy figure?
Spring Breakers

10) A woman is kidnapped in broad daylight, only to re-awaken in a human zoo.

Scary Story Ideas The Truman Show Still from The Truman Show

Scary Story Ideas • Still from ‘The Truman Show’

Where is the woman kidnapped? And where is she brought?
Who is responsible?
Why is there a human zoo?
"Black Museum” episode from Black Mirror
The Truman Show

11) A cursed man must find love by year’s end or else his entire family will be killed.

Horror Story Ideas Beauty and the Beast Still from Beauty and the Beast

Horror Story Ideas • Still from ‘Beauty and the Beast’

How was he cursed?
How do we know his family will be killed?
Why do we want him to succeed?

HALLOWEEN STORY IDEAS

Beauty and the Beast
“The Chaser” episode of The Twilight Zone

12) A woman goes back to a man’s apartment after a date… but discovers what appear to be mementos – hair-pins, engraved jewelry, watches, etc. – in the bathroom drawer. When she decides to leave, the man blocks the doorway.

Scary Writing Ideas Burning Still from Burning

Scary Writing Ideas • Still from ‘Burning’

How does the woman discover the mementos?
Who is the woman? And who is the man?

13) A group of strangers find themselves locked in a classroom – and instructed that whoever scores the highest on the test will be allowed to leave. The rest will be killed.

Scary Story Ideas • Still from ‘Exam’

How did the strangers find themselves locked in a classroom?
Who is “the instructor?”
Why are they being forced to engage in a sadistic game?

14) A teenage-outcast finds solace in a Dungeons & Dragons club, but slowly starts to suspect that their teacher, the club’s organizer, is an actual demon.

Scary Story Ideas Stranger Things Still from Stranger Things

Scary Story Ideas • Still from ‘Stranger Things’

Who is the teenage-outcast?
Who is the teacher?
Why does the teenage-outcast suspect the teacher is a demon?

HORROR STORY IDEAS

Stranger Things
Dazed and Confused

15) A young vampire on a tiny island must drink blood to survive. But people are running out. And ships stopped coming.

Horror Story Ideas • Still from ‘Vampyr’

Who is the young vampire?
Why are they on a tiny island?
Why did the ships stop coming?
Shutter Island
Vampyr (game)

16) A traveler runs out of gas on the outskirts of a mountain-town. In the distance, he sees a hooded-figure, with a fleshy-sinewed face.

Scary Story Ideas Insomnia Still from Insomnia

Scary Story Ideas • Still from ‘Insomnia’

Where was the traveler going?
Why did he allow his car to run out of gas?
Who, or what, is the hooded-figure?
"The Hitch-Hiker” from The Twilight Zone
Deliverance

17) An expeditionary voyage is thrown into chaos when a dead body is discovered in the captain’s chambers.

Horror Story Prompts Clue Still from Clue

Horror Story Prompts • Still from ‘Clue’

Who’s body is discovered?
Where is the expedition going?
Why was it discovered in the captain’s chambers?
Return of the Obra Dinn (game)

18) A nuclear holocaust forces people to move underground. Things are safe for a while, but eventually, the monsters make their way down.

Scary Story Ideas • Still from ‘Metro 2033’

Who detonated the nuke?
Why was the nuke detonated?
What are the monsters?
How did they get underground?
Metro 2033 (novel/game)

How to Write Horror

We touched on some strategies for writing scary story ideas here – but the focus was mostly on the ideation stage. Want to learn more about the process of writing scary stories? Check out our next article on “horror writing” where we break down examples from Stephen King, Edgar Wright, and more. By the end, you’ll know not only how to start a scary story, but how to see it through to the end!

Up Next: Horror Writing Tips for Fiction →

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159+ Horror Story Prompts – Unleash Your Scary Stories

By: Author Paul Jenkins

Posted on Published: September 5, 2022 - Last updated: January 2, 2024

Categories Writing , Inspiration , Storytelling

Are you a horror enthusiast with a passion for writing? Well, you’ve come to the right place! In this article, we’ve put together 159 spine-chilling horror story prompts to help unleash your creativity and keep your readers on edge. Whether you’re a novice or a seasoned writer, our carefully curated prompts, sorted by genre, will turn your creative gears.

Dive into these prompts and start crafting your terrifying tale today! With our help, you’ll be able to engage and thrill your audience through captivating narratives and haunting horror elements.

Key Takeaways

Discover 159 creative writing prompts to inspire gripping horror stories
Experience prompts tailored for different sub-genres within the horror realm
Unleash your creativity and captivate readers with spine-chilling tales

25 General Horror Writing Prompts

Here are 25 intriguing horror writing prompts to spark your imagination:

Haunted Places

Your family moves into a new home, only to find out it’s haunted by the ghost of a previous occupant.
A group of teenagers dares each other to stay overnight in a haunted house.
Inheriting your deceased grandmother’s house, you find a haunted music box.
Your group of friends discovers their beach hotel is haunted during their vacation.
Settling into your new home, your family realizes they’re not alone.

Mysterious Encounters

You and your friends go camping in the woods, but a mysterious killer begins stalking you.
Alone at home, you hear strange noises coming from within the house.
While driving home from work, your car breaks down late at night in a dark, isolated area.
On Halloween night, a creepy child dressed in a clown outfit shows up at the door of your babysitting gig.
Investigating odd noises in your attic, you make a horrifying discovery.

Supernatural Experiences

You and your friends decide to play with an Ouija board, accidentally summoning a demonic presence.
Strange occurrences begin happening when you discover that your children have been playing with a voodoo doll.
Living alone, an elderly woman notices objects in her house mysteriously moving independently.
Following a car accident, you start having nightmares of your death.
You stumble upon disturbing rituals at an abandoned temple on a Mexican vacation.

Unsettling Situations

Waking up in a hospital, you have no memory of how you got there or what happened to you.
You find out that your identical twin sister has been locked away in an asylum and decide to switch places with her.
As layoffs loom at work, your colleagues start dying in mysterious accidents.
Trying on clothes in a dressing room, you realize you’re not the only one present.
Your regular poker game is disrupted when you realize one of your friends has been replaced by an impostor.

Survival and Escape

After being stranded on an island, your group of survivors becomes the prey of cannibals.
Returning from war, you discover sinister counterparts have taken the place of your family members.
Driven by financial desperation, you agree to participate in a dangerous medical experiment.
Performing maintenance on an old elevator, you find yourself trapped overnight with terrifying company.
You start receiving terrifying phone calls and strange gifts at your doorstep.

25 Horror Screenplay Ideas

Let these ideas spark your creativity as you dive into the eerie world of horror writing:

Curses and Transformations

Imagine a small town where a mysterious curse transforms townsfolk into animals under the cover of darkness.
Picture an evil witch transforming people into frogs, forcing them to race against time to break the spell.

Ghosts and Spirits

Picture a woman tormented by the spirit of her deceased sister, who relentlessly attempts to end her life.
Think of a family moving into their dream home only to discover it’s inhabited by vengeful ghosts.
Visualize a woman pursued by her abusive ex-lover returned from the afterlife.
Consider friends visiting a haunted house, unaware of the frightening spirits awaiting them inside.
A family moves into a new house, only to find they’re being watched by an unseen presence.

Demonic and Otherworldly Entities

Envision a group of friends camping in the woods, stalked and hunted by ravenous werewolves.
Contemplate a young girl possessed by a malevolent demon, striking terror and death in her community.
Ponder a man who gradually realizes his wife has been replaced by an extraterrestrial being.
Envision a mother’s fight to protect her children from a nightmarish creature hiding in their closet.
In the midst of an eclipse, vampires emerge to feast upon unsuspecting humans.
A detective uncovers a shocking truth: werewolves have committed a string of grisly murders.

Apocalyptic and Unnatural Threats

Zombies and the undead.

Imagine a zombie invasion during a couple’s Caribbean getaway.
A twisted scientist creates a serum that turns its victims into undead zombies and unleashes it on the world.
On Halloween night, the dead rise as zombies to roam the Earth.

Paranormal and Psychic Phenomena

A woman is tormented by sinister, phantom-like children.
People fall victim to demonic possession through everyday technology.
A man, subjected to cruel experiments, channels newfound psychic powers to exact revenge.

Terrifying Encounters and Survival

Haunting encounters.

Teenagers partying in a deserted warehouse get trapped, facing dire consequences.
Kids at summer camp discover the staff members are aliens with a sinister plan.
As teens roam through an abandoned asylum, they begin to vanish one by one.

Cultural and Exotic Horrors

An American family vacationing in Japan unwittingly stumbles upon paranormal Yakuza activity.

Wilderness and Isolation

While hiking in the mountains, a group of friends must find their way back before darkness falls.
A brave sibling must protect their younger sister during a home invasion.

Let these ideas guide you in crafting your own terrifying tales. Enjoy the spine-chilling writing process!

37 Science Fiction Horror Prompts

Immerse yourself in these spine-chilling science fiction horror scenarios:

Space Horrors

Envision a space expedition going horribly wrong when the crew realizes they’re not alone on their ship.
Consider a woman astronaut haunted by a ghost from her past that she thought she left behind.
Visualize a cursed alien object causing gruesome deaths to whoever touches it.
Picture people trapped in a deadly maze on a faraway exoplanet created by a lunatic.
Contemplate astronauts on a deep space mission finding a hidden creature aboard their ship.
Envision a woman waking from cryogenic sleep to find she’s the last person on earth.
Reflect on a woman realizing her perfect life is an illusion created by an AI brain implant.
Contemplate a family vacation in space ruined by an alien creature stalking them.
Envision a woman with someone else’s still-beating heart inside her chest after surgery.

Time and Dimensional Anomalies

Imagine friends using a time machine and ending up in a parallel universe where menacing creatures are hunting them.
Think about a girl with psychic abilities accidentally opening a portal, unleashing terror upon her town.
Imagine friends uncovering an evil alien entity behind strange disappearances near their hometown.
Think about scientists accidentally opening a door to another dimension while working on a top-secret project.
Imagine a man stuck in a deadly time loop, living the same day over and over.
Ponder women drawn to an alien after a strange invasion, but is it just a physical attraction or something more sinister?

Alien Invasions and Encounters

Ponder an alien invasion taking over a small town, leaving a group of teens to save the day.
Reflect on a virus turning humans into zombies, with survivors fighting for their lives in a world of ruin.
Ponder a student’s terrifying hallucinations of an alien invasion caused by mysterious pills.
Consider mysterious disappearances in a town, with aliens as a possible culprit.
Picture an alien invasion forcing humanity underground, and someone venturing back to the surface only to find something far more horrifying.
Envision a distant future where humanity is at war with an advanced alien species, changing the course of human evolution .
Imagine a silent spacecraft appearing over a city, its intent unknown, sparking fear and fascination worldwide.

Futuristic Dystopias

Think about a mad scientist experimenting on people to create the perfect human.
Visualize an eclipse leaving everyone blind, except for one person.
Picture a future with a hive mind connecting everyone, and a woman hearing voices that aren’t her own.
Ponder a dark secret hidden by corporations ruling a world without democracy.
Consider an environmental disaster forcing humanity to live in a dome city ruled by a tyrannical government.
Visualize a world with cloning, and a woman realizing her identity isn’t what she thought.
Reflect on a small town terrorized by a killer who’s not quite human.
Contemplate scientists resurrecting extinct animals, only to create something far more dangerous instead.
Reflect on a man who suspects he may have started a zombie outbreak after a suspicious virus appears.

Psychological and Supernatural Terrors

Envision a boy discovering a mysterious door in the forest that takes him to an unwelcoming world.
Contemplate a girl who starts seeing unseen creatures after making a wish on a shooting star.
Consider a world controlled by AI, where a man starts to question his own memories.
Visualize a woman haunted by nightmares that turn out to be real, discovering she’s not the only one suffering from them.
Imagine a woman exploring lucid dreaming, later realizing she’s not the only one inside her mind.
Think about friends playing an augmented reality game with deadly stakes against a mysterious opponent.

27 Halloween Night Horror Prompts

As you delve into the world of horror writing, set the stage by using these chilling Halloween night prompts to unleash your creativity. Remember, on Halloween, the barrier between worlds becomes thin, so embrace the eerie occurrences that lurk in the shadows.

Haunted and Cursed Locations

Picture yourself and your friends gathered around a bonfire, sharing ghost stories. As one tells a tale about a cursed house nearby, you suddenly realize you’re standing in front of that very house.
A dare leads a group of teenagers to spend Halloween night in a haunted graveyard, only to discover they are not the only ones there.
Exploring an abandoned mental asylum with friends on Halloween, you hear strange noises coming from a cell.
After moving into a new home, paranormal happenings plague your family’s first Halloween.
An unexplainable force draws you to an abandoned house on Halloween night.
Curious teens follow your town’s haunted history, only to realize they are being watched by an evil presence.

Terrifying Encounters

A quiet Halloween night spent home alone becomes terrifying when you hear someone break in. As you hide under the bed, the intruder is already in the room with you.
Walking home from work, you notice a man following you. Your pace quickens, but so does his – and he’s always right behind you.
Trick-or-treating with friends, you encounter a seemingly abandoned house with its lights on and voices inside.
Playing basketball alone on Halloween, a mysterious clown approaches you on the street.
A chilling phone call from an unknown number threatens you on Halloween night.
Taking an alley shortcut, you notice something odd in a dumpster.
Babysitting on Halloween, unexplainable events occur while you’re alone with the children.
As you trick-or-treat, a masked man follows your every step.
Lying in bed, the slow approach of footsteps up the stairs on Halloween night fills you with dread.
A power outage causes uneasy knocking on apartment doors during Halloween night.

Supernatural and Mysterious Events

Driving home from a Halloween party, your family hits a deer on the road – except it’s more than just an ordinary deer.
Babysitting on Halloween night, the power goes out and you hear strange noises coming from upstairs.
Cleaning up after a party, you discover a hidden door in your basement that leads into darkness.
A remote cabin trip with friends for Halloween quickly becomes a nightmare with no connection to the outside world.
Discovering an old box in the attic, the contents send shivers down your spine.
Finding an ancient book on Halloween, a young boy unknowingly releases malevolent forces.
Desiring adventure, a group of teens leaves a Halloween party to stumble upon a forbidden place.
On Halloween, a haunting text message arrives from an unknown sender during a midnight horror movie.
First Halloween in a new home, you begin to realize your family isn’t alone.
As you set up for a Halloween party, lurking shadows indicate you are being watched by something malevolent.

These prompts will help you explore the spine-chilling world of horror stories, invoking spine-chilling fright and fueling your writing on Halloween night.

18 Haunted House Horror Prompts

Imagine your protagonist moving into a new home, only to find that their sanctuary is disrupted by paranormal forces. These 18 haunted house horror prompts will craft a chilling tale to keep your readers on edge.

Ghostly Encounters

Unwelcome Occupant : You and your family move into a new home, only to realize it’s haunted by a former resident.
Spiteful Spirit : A haunted fixer-upper reveals the vengeful ghost of a former owner.
Malicious Phantom : Your family moves in, only to find a malevolent spirit already residing in the house.
Ghostly Messenger : A tormented girl receives cryptic messages from a ghost.
Terrifying Twins : Expecting twins, you worry that one is possessed by a demon.
Mother’s Nightmare : Strange scratches on your daughter’s body make you think she’s possessed by a demonic entity.
Haunted Marriage : Your relationship is tested when your new home turns out to be haunted.
Ghostly Visions : After moving into a new home, you suddenly gain the ability to see spirits.
Unexpected Roommate : Moving into your first house together, you and your partner quickly realize something unseen shares the living space.

Demonic and Supernatural Threats

Nightmare Hauntings : A mysterious figure tormenting your dreams puts your family in danger.
Demonic Husband : Strange symbols in your home make you suspect demonic possession of your spouse.
Portal to Darkness : Your new home connects to a demonic realm through a mysterious entrance.
Dark Communication : Your son starts speaking in tongues and behaving strangely, making you think he’s talking to demons.

Mysteries and Dark Secrets

Deadly Dare : Friends stay overnight in a haunted house for a dare, only to discover the danger is real.
Dark Secret : Unbeknownst to them, your family moves into a house with a history of brutal murders by the owner’s son.
Mirror Menace : Suspicion of your husband’s infidelity grows as you notice another woman’s reflection in the mirrors.
Eerie Sounds : Unusual noises emanate from your home’s attic.
Hidden Horrors : You find remnants of a gruesome past concealed in your new home’s walls.

These prompts will help you explore the haunted house setting through various eerie scenarios, involving ghosts, demons, and chilling discoveries—all in a friendly, second-person point of view. Dive into your story, harness the fear, and captivate your audience with these spine-tingling ideas.

17 Paranormal Activity Horror Prompts

Haunting and possessions.

Consider a woman haunted by a ghost that desperately needs to communicate something important.
Think about a woman discovering her son is possessed by an evil demon.
A family moves into a new house already inhabited by ghosts seeking company.
Your mother becomes possessed by an evil spirit, endangering everyone in her life.
An exorcism goes haywire, unleashing a horde of demons into the world.
A family is visited by the ghost of their young child, who tragically passed away.

Dark Forces and Evil Entities

A woman discovers her supernatural abilities and uses them to stop a force of darkness from enveloping the world.
An evil witch curses a village, turning all its inhabitants into various animals overnight.
Two young girls learn they possess witchcraft powers and must stand against a wicked sorcerer.
Unfriendly angels begin to descend from heaven with ominous intentions.
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse ride into your town, bringing death, destruction, and chaos.

Mysterious and Deadly Threats

Imagine you and your friends go camping and find yourselves hunted by a mysterious and possibly non-human creature.
A group of friends is stalked by a killer who knows their darkest secrets and deepest fears.
A psychic girl foresees her own death but is powerless to stop it, adding to her fear.
People begin to inexplicably and spontaneously combust around you, with no discernible cause.
A rampant wave of demonic possessions starts affecting your community, turning loved ones against each other.

Unexplained and Terrifying Events

A family vacationing in a secluded cabin starts to encounter unexplainable events.

10 Plot Twists for Horror Stories

Ready to take your horror stories to the next level? Here are 10 plot twists that can add a frightfully unexpected twist to your sinister tales.

Unending nightmare : Your protagonist wakes up and realizes they’re caught in a never-ending bad dream.
Hidden family secrets : Your protagonist’s nemesis turns out to be their long-lost twin sibling.
Extraterrestrial encounters : The menacing creature is actually an alien from another world.
Ghosts with a purpose : The spirits haunting your protagonist are time-travelers from the future , trying to avert a catastrophe.
Reincarnated nemesis : Your protagonist discovers they are the reincarnation of the villain they despise.
Psychic revelations : Your protagonist realizes they have psychic powers and have been experiencing visions of future atrocities.
Supernatural portal : The seemingly ordinary small town setting is actually a gateway to the underworld.
Demonic doll : The murderer is an evil doll that springs to life under the cover of darkness.
Purgatory prisoner : Your protagonist has been dead all along and is trapped in purgatory.
Reader revelation : In the end, the reader realizes they are the true culprit in the story.

Sprinkle these plot twists into your horror writings to frighten your readers, weaving magic and torture into your stories for unforgettable moments of terror.

The Structure of a Great Horror Story

The attention-grabber.

A compelling horror story begins with an element that captivates the reader’s interest. This initial intrigue should evoke fear without giving away too many details. Your goal is to entice the reader to continue.

The Tension Builder

Having captured the reader’s interest, building suspense through eerie descriptions and tension-filled narratives is essential. Keep details vague to maintain an air of mystery , allowing the reader’s imagination to run wild.

The Chilling Moment

At some point, you ought to deliver an unforgettable scare. This is when your tension-building pays off. The chilling moment should be surprising yet consistent with the story’s context. An out-of-context scare might feel contrived and undermine its impact.

The Unraveling

Finally, it’s time to bring the story towards its conclusion. Provide some clarity while leaving a hint of ambiguity. This keeps the reader on edge even after they’ve finished reading.

Keep these guidelines in mind, and you’ll be well-equipped to craft an enthralling horror story. Focus on maintaining mystery, building suspense, and striking at the perfect moment. Happy writing!

The Potential Weakness of a Horror Story

As a writer, you want your horror story to be frightening enough to captivate your readers and not so horrifying that it repels them. To find the ideal balance, it’s crucial to know who your audience is and what scares them.

Remember, there’s no one-size-fits-all formula when it comes to fear. Different people are frightened by different things. Horror elements such as blood and gore aren’t always the most effective; sometimes, stories that tap into our deepest fears are more terrifying. For instance, a story about a mother losing her child in a store could evoke more dread than one involving a murderous monster.

One major challenge of crafting a compelling horror story is avoiding predictability. To keep your readers engaged, consider subverting their expectations and taking your story in surprising directions. This approach not only keeps them guessing but also maintains suspense throughout.

In the world of horror, striking a balance between being too scary and not scary enough is critical. By understanding your audience and exploring their fears, you can tailor your story accordingly. Ensuring unpredictability and capitalizing on deeply-rooted fears can significantly help elevate your story. Following these guidelines, you’ll be on the right track to create a chilling horror tale that leaves your audience suitably spooked.

What Are Common Horror Writing Themes

The world beyond our understanding.

A classic horror theme involves supernatural elements. This could mean ghosts, vampires, witches, zombies, or other beings that evoke fear. Incorporating the supernatural into your story can create spine-chilling moments for your readers to enjoy.

Menace Behind The Mask

Serial killers attract attention in horror stories as well. These characters often suffer from mental illness, making them unpredictable and frightening. By targeting specific victims, these killers bring a sense of personal dread for readers. Consider having a serial killer as your story’s main antagonist if you want to delve into gruesome aspects of human nature.

Alone in The Dark

Isolation is a powerful theme in horror, as it allows fear to fester and grow. When characters find themselves cut off from society, voluntary or not, situations can spiral out of control quickly. To increase tension in your story, have your characters confront their nightmares in isolation.

The End of The World

Apocalyptic scenarios are yet another classic horror staple. These can involve a zombie outbreak, an environmental catastrophe, or any other event that brings society to its knees. If your goal is to craft a harrowing story, consider setting it during or after a cataclysmic event.

Terror in Our Flesh

Body horror focuses on grotesque mutations, excessive gore, and horrifying physical changes. Although graphic in nature, body horror can also incorporate scares and suspense. For a blood-curdling tale, experiment with body horror elements.

Incorporating aspects such as population growth, psychological horror, and terrifying clowns can add an extra layer to these themes. Remember, whether you choose one of these themes or create something entirely original, the most crucial aspect is writing a story that piques your interest while keeping a friendly tone and maintaining a second-person point of view.

What Makes a Character Terrifying

Understanding their desires.

Firstly, it’s important to determine what your character wants. Their goals should be sinister and harmful to others. Whether it’s a simple desire to inflict pain or a complex plan to conquer the world, ensure that their intentions send shivers down your readers’ spines.

The Extent of Their Actions

Next, consider the lengths your character is willing to go to achieve their goals. Are they prepared to kill, torture, or maim? The more gruesome and ruthless their methods, the more terrified your readers will become. Looking at classic horror villains like Freddy Krueger or Michael Myers, you can see that their lack of mercy in inflicting pain on others is what makes them so scary.

Victims : The types of victims your character targets can also add to their degree of terror. For example, do they prey on innocent people or focus on those with specific traits?
Best friend : If your character has a best friend or close ally, explore how their relationship influences their actions and motivations. Consider how this bond can add depth or twists to the story and enhance the frightening aspects of your character.

Uncovering Their Motivations

After identifying your character’s sinister objectives and the extreme methods they’re willing to employ, seek to understand the reasons behind their desires. Was their drive initiated by a past tragedy or the concealment of a dark secret? By comprehending their motives, you can create a truly believable and terrifying character.

In conclusion, a well-rounded and multi-dimensional character with malevolent motives can truly strike fear into the hearts of readers. Utilize these suggestions to craft a spine-chilling horror story, making sure to let your creativity and imagination run free.

Fate and Coincidence in Horror Story Writing

In your journey as a horror writer, you might realize that blending fate and coincidence plays a crucial role in making your stories spine-chilling. When characters face continuous misfortune, readers can’t help but feel a sense of dread. So, how can you make the coincidences in your story plausible and avoid making them seem forced? Here are a few tips to help you seamlessly integrate fate and coincidence into your tale.

Firstly, remember that not all coincidences need an explanation. Sometimes, leaving them unexplained is better. A neatly knit story where everything is explicitly connected can feel contrived and unbelievable. Embracing mystery can add suspense to your spine-tingling narrative.

However, avoid certain coincidences altogether to maintain reader engagement. For instance, if two unrelated characters coincidentally meet on the street or a character discovers vital information purely by chance instead of through their efforts, it may seem unconvincing or like cheating.

To ensure that every event has a purpose and avoid contrived coincidences, ask yourself why a specific incident is happening and how it will impact the characters and plot. If you can’t find a satisfactory answer, consider reevaluating that scene.

By heeding these tips, you can make coincidences believable and enhance suspense instead of diminishing it. Strive to maintain an air of mystery while ensuring that each event serves its purpose. With a little effort, you can craft spine-tingling horror stories that will leave your readers captivated and wanting more.

Entangled love in horror

In the realm of horror films, the inclusion of love as a central theme can create a compelling contrast that heightens the emotional stakes of a story.

This juxtaposition of love in a horror story often deepens the reader’s connection to the main characters and makes their journey through fear and horror even more poignant.

Whether it’s a psychological thriller in which the protagonist must save a loved one from strange and evil forces or a supernatural horror in which love is the only solace in a world of darkness, the element of love adds a unique dimension to scary story ideas.

Love can be the driving force that pushes characters to face their deepest fears, resulting in an unforgettable and impactful horror story.

When horror writers weave these threads together, they create not just good horror stories but narratives that resonate on a deeply human level, combining the thrill of fear with the warmth of love.

Choose a Catchy Title

If you’ve gathered a wealth of story ideas and are ready to bring your spooky tale to life, the next crucial step is finding the perfect title to capture the essence of your story.

We invite you to explore our specially crafted guide at Brilliantio’s Horror Story Titles , where you’ll discover 34 unique ideas on how to name your horror story effectively.

This resource is designed to help you brainstorm and select a title that not only intrigues your readers but also gives a glimpse of the chilling adventure they’re about to embark upon.

A compelling title can make all the difference in drawing readers into the world you’ve created, so be sure to take advantage of this valuable tool in your storytelling journey.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can i start writing a frightening tale.

Choose a setting: a haunted house, a creepy forest, or an old mansion.
Develop your main character(s): give them a strong backstory, fears, and strengths.
Identify the source of horror: a ghost, a monster, or a mysterious villain.
Create tension and suspense: use descriptive language to keep readers on edge.

What elements create an excellent creepy romance?

Dark and alluring atmosphere: gothic, mysterious, and eerie.
Forbidden love: star-crossed lovers or love triangles.
A menacing or supernatural element: a vampire, ghost, or werewolf.
High emotional stakes: danger, betrayal, lost love.

Are there short horror movie ideas suitable for students?

A cursed object: an old book, a painting, or a music box.
A hidden secret: a forbidden room or an undiscovered basement.
A group of friends’ ghost hunting expedition turns dire.
Attending a party unaware of the host’s sinister intentions.

How should I approach writing a 500-word scary story?

Focus on one main event, setting, or character.
Utilize a simple and compelling plot.
Use concise descriptions to create an eerie atmosphere.
Leave readers wanting more with a twist ending.

What intriguing concepts can I use for body horror?

Transformation: becoming a monster or a grotesque creature.
Disfigurement: a character waking up with altered physical features.
Parasitic takeover: the protagonist’s body gradually taken over.
Cloning or doppelgangers: exploring dark counterparts.

How can I make my chilling tale stand out?

Subvert clichés : twist typical horror tropes to surprise readers.
Focus on psychological terror : dive deeper into characters’ minds.
Blend genres : combine horror with mystery, romance, or sci-fi.
Incorporate folklore or legends : introduce lesser-known myths or legends.

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Blog • Perfecting your Craft

Last updated on Jun 20, 2022

How to Write a Horror Story: 7 Tips for Writing Horror

About the author.

Reedsy's editorial team is a diverse group of industry experts devoted to helping authors write and publish beautiful books.

About Savannah Cordova

Savannah is a senior editor with Reedsy and a published writer whose work has appeared on Slate, Kirkus, and BookTrib. Her short fiction has appeared in the Owl Canyon Press anthology, "No Bars and a Dead Battery".

In our era of highly commercialized crime and thriller novels, it may seem like zeitgeist-defining horror books are a thing of the past. Indeed, Stephen King was once the perennial bestselling author in the world, and children in the 90s devoured Goosebumps books like The Blob devoured, well, everything.

But let’s not forget there’s a huge base of horror fans today, desperate for their next fix . So if you’re hoping to become the next Crown Prince of Dread, your dream can still come true! Here are seven steps to writing truly chilling horror:

1. Start with a fear factor

2. pick a horror story subgenre, 3. let readers experience the stakes, 4. create suspense through point of view, 5. consider plot twists to surprise your audience, 6. put your characters in compelling danger, 7. use your imagination.

The most important part of any horror story is naturally going to be its fear factor . People don’t read horror for easy entertainment; they read it to be titillated and terrorized. That said, here are a few elements you can use to seriously scare the pants off your reader.

Instinctive fears

Fears that have some sort of logical or biological foundation are often the most potent in horror. Darkness, heights, snakes, and spiders — all these are extremely common phobias rooted in instinct. As a result, they tend to be very effective at frightening readers.

This is especially true when terror befalls innocent characters apropos of nothing: a killer traps them in their house for no apparent reason, or they’re suddenly mugged by a stranger with a revolver. As horror writer Karen Woodward says, “The beating undead heart of horror is the knowledge that bad things happen to good people.”

Monsters and supernatural entities

These stretch beyond the realm of logic and into the realm of the “uncanny,” as Freud called it. We all know that vampires , werewolves, and ghosts aren’t real, but that doesn’t mean they can’t shake us to our core. In fact, it’s the very uncertainty they arouse that makes them so sinister: what if monsters are really out there, we’ve just never seen them? This fear is one of the most prevalent in horror, but if you decide to write in this vein, your story has to be pretty convincing.

Societal tensions

Another great means of scaring people is to tap into societal tensions and concerns — a tactic especially prevalent in horror movies. Just in recent memory, Get Out tackles the idea of underlying racism in modern America, The Babadook examines mental health, and It Follows is about the stigma of casual sex. However, societal tensions can also easily be embodied in the pages of a horror story, as in Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery .

The right atmosphere for your story depends on what kind of horror you want to write. To use cinematic examples again, are you going for more Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Silence of the Lambs? The tone and atmosphere of your story will hang upon its subgenre.

Thriller-horror employs psychological fear, often occurring near the beginning of horror stories before very much has happened
Gross-out horror involves vivid descriptions of spurting blood, hacked-up flesh, and gouged-out organs in order to shock the reader; think gore movies of the 70s
Classic horror harks back to the Gothic (or Southern Gothic) genre , with spooky settings and bone-chilling characters like those of Dracula and Frankenstein
Terror provokes a feeling of all-pervasive dread, which can either serve as the climax of your story or be sustained throughout

It’s also possible to combine subgenres, especially as your story progress. You might begin with a sense of thrilling psychological horror , then move into gothic undertones, which culminates in utter terror.

But no matter what type of horror you’re working with, it should be deeply potent for your reader — and yourself! “If you manage to creep yourself out with your own writing, it's usually a pretty good sign that you're onto something,” editor Harrison Demchick says.

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In order for readers to truly thrill at your horror story, you need to make them aware of the stakes. Clearly establish the main problem or motivation for your character(s) , and what they have to lose if they don’t figure it out. These stakes and motivations might involve:

Survival. The most basic objective of characters in any horror story is to survive. However, there are nuances that accompany that goal. Perhaps their objective isn't just to stay alive, but to defeat their murderous nemesis while doing it — whether that’s another person, an evil spirit, or even themselves, if it’s a Jekyll and Hyde-type scenario.

Protecting loved ones. The more people the protagonist has to keep safe, the higher the stakes. Many horrific tales peak with a threat of death not to the main character, but to one or several of their loved ones (as in Phantom of the Opera or Red Dragon ).

Cracking unsolved mysteries. Because some horror stories aren’t about escaping peril in the present, but rather about uncovering the terrors of the past. This especially true in subgenres like cosmic horror , which have to do with the great mysteries of the universe, often involving ancient history.

Again, as with atmosphere, you can always merge different kinds of stakes. For instance, you might have a character trying to solve some mysterious murders that happened years ago, only to find out that they’re the next target!

The main thing to remember when it comes to horror — especially horror stories — is that straightforward stakes tend to have the greatest impact. Says author Chuck Wendig, of his perfect recipe for horror: “Plain stakes, stabbed hard through the breastbone.”

Bonus tip! Need help conjuring stakes and suspense? Try reading some masterfully crafted true crime — which can be even scarier than bone fide horror, since it actually happened.

Your reader should feel a kinship with your main character, such that when the stakes are high, they feel their own heart start to beat faster. This can be achieved through either first person or third person limited point of view. (When writing horror, you’ll want to avoid third person omniscient, which can distance your reader and lessen their investment in the story.)

We'll get into only the major POV's to consider in this post, but if you want a full point of view masterclass, check out our free course below.

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Understanding Point of View

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First person POV

Speaking of beating hearts, for a great example of first person narration in horror, look no further than The Tell-Tale Heart . Many of Poe’s stories involve deranged first-person narrators ( The Black Cat , The Cask of Amontillado ) but none are more notorious than this one, in which the main character is driven to murder his elderly housemate. Notice Poe’s chilling use of first person POV from the very first lines of the story:

It’s true! Yes, I have been ill, very ill. But why do you say that I have lost control of my mind, why do you say that I am mad? Can you not see that I have full control of my mind? Indeed, the illness only made my mind, my feelings, my senses stronger… I could hear sounds I had never heard before. I heard sounds from heaven; and I heard sounds from hell!

First person POV is excellent for hooking your reader at the beginning, and keeping them in suspense throughout your story. However, it might be too intense for longer, more intricate pieces, and may be difficult to execute if you’re trying to conceal something from your readers.

It’s also worth thinking about the implications of first person, past tense POV in a horror story — it suggests they’ve lived to tell the tale, which might ruin your dramatic ending. Therefore if you do decide to use first person narration, you should probably keep it in present tense.

Third person POV

If you find yourself struggling to make first person POV work, consider a third person limited perspective instead. This kind of narration is often used in longer-form horror, popularized by the likes of Stephen King and Dean Koontz . Look how it’s used here in King’s 1974 novel Carrie , in the description of its eponymous character:

Carrie stood among [the other girls] stolidly, a frog among swans. She was a chunky girl with pimples on her neck and back and buttocks, her wet hair completely without color… She looked the part of the sacrificial goat, the constant butt, believer in left-handed monkey wrenches, perpetual foul-up, and she was.

This narration paints an intimate picture of the character, while still allowing the freedom for commentary in a way that first person narration doesn’t as much. Third person limited narration also works well for building to a certain atmosphere, rather than jumping right into it, as Poe’s narrator does — which is part of why third person is better for lengthier pieces. (See more of King's masterful use of POV to wrack up tension in our Guide to King! )

Unreliable narrators

Alternately, if you’re committed to having a first person narrator but you don’t want to reveal everything to your readers, an unreliable narrator could be your perfect solution ! Many mystery and thriller novels employ unreliable narration in order to work up to a big twist without giving away too much. So whether or not you’ll want an unreliable narrator probably depends on how you end your story: straight down the line or with a twist.

Plot twists are exciting, memorable, and help bring previous uncertainty into focus, releasing tension by revealing the truth. However, they’re also notoriously difficult to come up with , and extremely tricky to pull off — you have to carefully hint at a twist, while making sure it’s not too predictable or clichéd.

So: to twist or not to twist? That is the question.

Big plot twists in horror writing tend to follow the beaten path: the victim turns out to be the killer, the person who we thought was dead isn’t really, or — worst of all — it was all in their head the whole time! But keep in mind that small, subtle plot twists can be just as (if not more) effective.

Take William Faulkner’s short story A Rose for Emily . After Emily dies, the villagers discover the corpse of a long-vanished traveler in one of her spare beds — along with a strand of silver hair. While the discovery of the body might be gruesome, it’s the presence of Emily’s hair (suggesting she enjoyed cuddling with a cadaver) that really haunts you.

Not to twist

The ending of your story doesn't have to come out of left field to shock and horrify readers. The classic horror approach leaves the reader in suspense as to precisely what will happen, then concludes with a violent showdown (think slasher films).

In this approach, while the showdown itself might not be a surprise, the scenes leading up to it build tension and anticipation for the climax. That way, when the big moment does arrive, it still packs a dramatic punch.

“A horror novel, like any story, is about a character or characters trying to achieve a goal based upon their individual wants and needs,” says Demchick. “If you let concept overwhelm character, you'll lose much of what makes horror as engaging as it can be.”

To scare your characters, you need to have a solid understanding of their psyche. Filling out a character profile template is a great start to fleshing out believable characters, so give ours a try.

FREE RESOURCE

Reedsy’s Character Profile Template

A story is only as strong as its characters. Fill this out to develop yours.

As you write, you need to stay conscious of basic storytelling techniques and not get carried away with the drama of horror. It might help, before you begin, to answer these questions about your characters and plot:

What fear or struggle must your protagonist overcome?
What decision do they make to put them in this situation?
How will they defeat or escape their adversary, if at all?
What are the ultimate consequences of their actions?

This will help you create a basic outline for your horror story , which you can embellish to create atmosphere and suspense. In plot-driven genre stories, a thorough outline and emotionally resonant elements are vital for keeping your reader invested.

A great horror story balances drama with realism and suspense with relief, even with the occasional stroke of humor. Gillian Flynn is the master of this technique — as seen in this excerpt from her horror story The Grownup , wherein the narrator is scheming how to capitalize on her “spiritual cleansing” services:

I could go into business for myself, and when people asked me, “What do you do?” I’d say, I’m an entrepreneur in that haughty way entrepreneurs had. Maybe Susan and I would become friends. Maybe she’d invite me to a book club. I’d sit by a fire and nibble on Brie and say, I’m a small business owner, an entrepreneur, if you will.

In order to stand out from the crowd, you need to think about overused trends in horror and make sure your story’s not “been there, done that.” For instance, the “vampire romance” plot is a dead horse with no one left to beat it after all the Twilight, Vampire Diaries, and True Blood hype.

However, that doesn’t mean you can’t use certain elements of popular trends in your writing. You just have to put a spin on it and make it your own!

For example, zombie horror was already a well-worn genre when Seth Grahame-Smith’s Pride and Prejudice and Zombies came out in 2009. But by setting it in the regency era and featuring Jane Austen’s well-loved characters, he created a brilliant original work and carved out a brand new audience for zombie fiction. You can also pay homage to well-known horror tropes, like the Duffer brothers of Stranger Things did for Stephen King and Steven Spielberg — and which savvy audiences are sure to appreciate.

It certainly feels sometimes like all the good horror stories have already been written, making your own ideas seem trite. But don’t forget that new horror comes out all the time, and it only takes one great idea to be a hit! So try not to stress out about it, and remember: just by having read through this guide, you’re already that much closer to becoming a literary graveyard smash .

11 responses

Sawan says:

04/11/2018 – 19:34

Thank you so much for writing this article. I am currently writing a short horror story. Sometimes when I write a horror scene, I get really terrified, but after some days it all feels shitty.

↪️ dilinger john replied:

08/05/2019 – 12:28

it happens with everyone don't stress over it and pass your work to someone who will review it. you are a writer and can not be a critic at the same time.

↪️ Shane C replied:

28/09/2019 – 21:15

Sawan -- been writing for 22 years... NEVER judge your own work. You write it -- finish it off -- then have some friends that enjoy horror and reading read your work and give you honest critique. Record their critique or take accurate notes. Repeat this with several friends (but only those you can trust not to try to steal your work, Creative Commons and/or Registered Mail can be your best friend BEFORE this stage). Pick the best one you like, that makes the most sense -- but if several people say "blah blah blah should have happened," or a really close variation throughout reader opinions... Go with it! I know most people hate that, feels like butchering your art (I know I hate it), but use it anyway. It'll likely be more widely received... Just a few pointers.

Annabelle says:

21/05/2019 – 01:51

This is awesome I love this! I’m writing my own horror novel too.🙂

↪️ Andrew replied:

31/10/2019 – 20:23

what is it?

NAVEEN says:

29/07/2019 – 15:22

i am at the age of sixteen and i decided to write a horror story. thanks a lot!!

Bobette Bryan says:

27/08/2019 – 19:09

Ghosts are real. I've seen many in my lifetime and have had some very terrifying experiences with some.

↪️ smr replied:

03/01/2020 – 13:25

what the hell ??

↪️ John Brown replied:

16/01/2020 – 02:28

Me too! And I think it actually helps with writing horror stories, because you have more experience than most.

John Brown says:

16/01/2020 – 02:27

I’m 14 and I love writing horror novels, but I usually freak my self out too much to keep writing... 😕

Comments are currently closed.

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Create Terrifying Titles: Free Horror Book Title Generator

Book Title Generator

This Horror Book Title Generator & Guide Covers

Evoke emotion

Embrace ambiguity

Edit out the fluff

Match the tone of the book

Play into symbolism

Examples of famous and iconic horror book titles

“Dracula” by Bram Stoker

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“Bird Box” by Josh Malerman

“The Silence of the Lambs” by Thomas Harris

“World War Z” by Max Brooks

A step-by-step how-to: using the horror book title generator

Step 1: Mosey on over to the horror title generator

Step 2: Insert information

Step 3: Click generate

Step 4: Shuffle and edit

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250 Horror Writing Prompts (Scary Good Ideas)

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