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Best Horror Writing Prompts

Join our ongoing contests and win up to $1,500. Flex those creative muscles with these writing prompts.

Showing 60 prompts reset

This week's contest:
Win $250

No One Will Believe You

32 contest entries /
14 stories

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View contest
Closes at 23:59 - Sep 25 EST

A mysterious benefactor will pay $100,000 to anyone willing to stay in a haunted house overnight.

The walls of the house are dripping with something. What is it?

Start your story with a character saying "I wouldn't go in there if I were you."

Set your story in a deep, dark wood.

The phone won't stop ringing, but it's not plugged into the wall.

Start your story with a character encountering a black cat.

– 72 stories

Write a story about a character who can’t tell what’s real and what’s not.

– 80 stories

End your story with total oblivion.

– 24 stories

Write about a character who doesn’t want to go to sleep.

– 51 stories

Start your story with someone finding an object labeled with their name.

– 35 stories

Write about a character whose intuition is always right — until one day it isn’t.

– 20 stories

Start your story with an unusual sound being heard.

– 41 stories

Write about a character who uses a night where everyone’s in costume as cover for something sinister.

– 34 stories

Start your story with the words “Everything was ready for the ritual.”

– 46 stories

Start your story with a vehicle pulling over for a hitchhiker.

– 46 stories

Write a story where a character finds out the truth about something they thought they’d known their whole life.

– 29 stories

An apparent coincidence occurs. Write a story about a character who suspects paranormal, spiritual, or criminal causes.

– 128 stories

Write about a mysterious figure in one’s neighborhood.

– 203 stories

Write a story that involves a reflection in a mirror.

– 286 stories

Start your story with a character looking out of a window in the middle of the night.

– 333 stories

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