Happy Friday the 13th! ‘Tis the season for spooks, frights, haunts, and treats. ‘Tis also a particularly fun season for crafting Halloween-worthy stories, poems, or creative nonfiction. Here are 10 writing prompts to get your spine-chilling creative juices sparking (a la Dr. Frankenstein’s lightning bolts). Enjoy!
- While out walking your dog, you come across a tattered copy of your favorite novel lying in the dirt. It’s covered in blood. Write the first chapter of your next masterpiece based on how that novel ended up in your path.
- Everyone has a ghost story—something they’ve seen or experienced that’s hard to explain. What’s yours?
- Write a poem or short story based on one of your worst phobias.
- Write a humorous ghost story based on this prompt: “Everything was going fine until…”
- Research the origin story of jack-o-lanterns. Write a story where you are the first in your village to carve one—how does that work out for you?
- Write a trick-or-treat mystery. What’s the trick? What’s the treat?
- Think of an unlikely place for a haunting. Now write a ghost story set there.
- Channel your favorite cryptid (legendary or supernatural creature), and write a first-person diary entry as that creature.
- Can ghosts fall in love with each other? Write a ghostly love story.
- Not feeling the spooky? Write a poem, story, or essay about the lighter sides of Halloween.
[Photo by Marko Blažević on Unsplash]
Category: Blog