Horror Writing Prompts

Just about any writing prompt or situation can be taken and made into a story that is peaceful, hilarious, adventurous, or truly terrifying.  It all depends on the way you look at it, and it depends on how your mind works.  Any of the suggestions below could be turned into a tale of terror and desperation.  Are you good enough to keep someone on the edge of their seat with your words?  Will people be afraid to close their eyes from fear of bad dreams?  Or will those who just don’t scare easily describe your writing as pleasantly creepy?

black and red rose tattoo, lozzrc.deviantart.com

A new tattoo is all the rage, and everyone is rushing to get it.  But this tattoo changes those who get it.

A young man finally makes it to the end of the rainbow and sets out to collect his pot of gold.  He can have it, but it comes with a price, a horrible one.

Would you be afraid to fall asleep if you never woke up in the same place?  What if each time you woke up, you were somewhere different, somewhere you didn’t know?  What if each time you woke up, there was a bloody knife in your hand?

You are in a horrible accident and fall into a coma.  Everyone says you are brain dead, that you know nothing, that you cannot see or hear anything.  But they are so very wrong.  You hear every word that is spoken, feel everything that is done to you.  Now you hear your family talking about how they are going to kill you.

haunting, pixabay

You work in a restaurant that is haunted by a friendly ghost.  But is it really friendly?  Or is it a demon with a sinister plan?

The janitor is accidentally trapped overnight in the school, and he just isn’t the same anymore.  What happened to him?  What is he now capable of?

Death is the end, or is it just the beginning?  Do our spirits live on in eternal bliss, eternal damnation, or eternal nothingness?

Wouldn’t it be awesome if time stood still for us?  Or would it?  What if time stood still for you, but everyone else’s life kept right on going?  You would be trapped.  You would never age, nothing would ever change.  How did this happen?  What would you do to escape this torment?

drowning, bekjackeric.deviantart.com

How does it feel to drown very slowly?  What would go through a person’s mind?  How would the body react?

Life is perfect, you are living your dream.  Or so you think.  Then you wake up.

Reincarnation, does it really happen?  After you die, do you really return as something or someone else?  This time when you come back, you still have your memories from your previous life, and you discover that you are now serving the one person you feared the most.

bathroom miror, flickr

As you wipe the steam off the mirror after your long, hot shower, you see something staring back at you.  As you back up, it begin to emerge from the mirror and take shape.  What is it?  And what is its intentions?

While in the shower, you hear the bathroom door open.  You think it is your husband, so you begin chatting away, but then the shower curtain is pulled open, and there you are, completely nude, facing a total stranger.  And this stranger has a knife in his hand.

Strange noises have been heard coming from the bathroom for several nights.  No one has dared to go in while the noises are being made, but curiosity is getting the best of you.  You are afraid, yes, but you are even more curious.  You sneak up to the door, open it, and then scream.  What is going on?