Best Horror Writing Prompts of 2026

Showing 60 prompts reset

This week's contest:

Win $250

No One Will Believe You

12 contest entries /

6 stories

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View contest

Closes at 23:59 - Sep 25 EST

Start your story in an empty guest room.

– 150 stories

Start your story with the arrival of a strange visitor in a small town.

– 184 stories

Set your story at a party that has gone horribly wrong.

– 193 stories

Write a story about a character who gets lost at a carnival or festival.

– 187 stories

Write a story set in a city where the power suddenly goes out, leaving everyone in darkness.

– 185 stories

Set your story in a countryside house that’s filled with shadows.

– 169 stories

End your story with a truth coming to light.

– 180 stories

Write a story that begins in the light and ends in darkness, or the other way around.

– 376 stories

Set your story in a library, after hours.

– 249 stories

Set your story in a Gothic manor house.

– 131 stories

"Come with us,” two burly men in gray suits say, grabbing you by the arm and handcuffing you. “You know what you did.” But you have no idea.

– 108 stories

You hear the crash of plates and a bloodcurdling scream coming from the kitchen.

It’s 3 am and you don’t know where your children are.

You'd always wanted to fall in with this crowd. Now that you had, you weren't sure about them anymore.

Everyday, you return to your apartment and say “Honey, I’m home. Oh wait, that’s right, I live alone.” But one day, a voice replies, “I picked some pizza.”

You work as a host at a restaurant when someone comes in and says they have a reservation. You look it up to find that the reservation was booked 40 years ago.

Late at night, at an empty 24-hour laundromat, someone reaches into a dryer to pull the last of their clothes out. Instead, something grabs their arm and pulls them in.

Best Horror Writing Prompts