In the Fall, a young man’s (actually, everyone’s) fancy lightly turns to thoughts of… well… spooky stuff! Take advantage of the Halloween spirit (spirits?), channel your inner Edgar Allen Poe, stretch your creative energy in a creepy direction, and have fun crafting a scary short story or poem that sends a tingle up our spines.
Need some inspiration? Here is my annual list of Halloween-worthy writing prompts to get you going.
Happy Hallowriting!
1. Almost every family has a ghost story or unexplained event that’s made its way into the family lore. Write your family’s story.
2. “It wasn’t the jack-o-lantern that terrified me. It was the bloody butcher knife stabbed into it…”
3. “Every night for a whole week, the empty grave was silent. But on the eighth night…”
4. “I knew better than to try to scare away the raven, but I couldn’t stop myself.”
5. “Bethany had all the ingredients for her spell. All but one, that is.”
6. Your old high school is haunted. Who is haunting it, and what do they want or need to move on?
7. “How could someone I loved so much when they were alive be making my life so terrifying now?”
8. A ghost, a ghost hunter, and a Wiccan walk into a bar…
9. “When the poltergeist began breaking my grandmother’s best china, I knew I had to put my foot down.”
10. Write a story about a new ghost who doesn’t like the obituary their family published about them.
[Photo by Stephano Pollio on Unsplash]