Horror writing prompts

Are you looking for inspiration for your next horror story? These horror writing prompts are guaranteed to get your heart racing and your imagination brewing up a storm.

As a genre, horror can encompass so much: fantastical elements, scientific monstrosities, psychological thrills, monstrous humans, and more. Ghosts, vampires, serial killers, stalkers, and all kinds of villains lurk in the shadows.

Whether you’re looking for horror story writing prompts or scary writing prompts to challenge your friends with, you’ll find 22 horror prompts and some horrific character ideas below.

Any acknowledgement or credit for using any of my writing prompts is always appreciated, whether it’s linking to my website from yours or a social media shoutout.

Horror writing prompts for your stories

You can take just one prompt or combine any of the following for one story! Every prompt is entirely up to your interpretation.

You’ll find prompts for characters, words, settings, tropes, plotlines, and something sensory below.

Characters: A lonely monster. An undertaker. A sentient shadow.

Words: Shatter. Murderous. Embers. Scorpion. Rusted. Fog.

Settings: Abandoned shopping centre. Murder scene. Countryside.

Tropes: Doppelgänger. Reformed Criminal. Supernatural Repellent.

Plotlines:

• A family is wiped out by an unknown force over the course of a month.
• Imprisonment suits them just fine. Nobody else can get hurt this way.
• The only way to survive is through the use of mirrors.
• Something is hunting the animals here and leaving entrails around.
• Count to five. Then run.
• It hides not under the bed but in the bathtub.

Sensory: Cracking.

Horror character ideas

Check out these horror character ideas to use for your protagonists or antagonists.

• A protagonist who is insistent on splitting up, because they’re the antagonist’s target.
• An eloquent antagonist who uses their words to confuse their prey.
• Two antagonists plotting the downfall of their former friend.
• An antagonist with an obsession for teeth decorates their weapon of choice.
• A protagonist who has never asked for help before is forced to do so.
• Whatever this antagonist is, they’ve managed to discern their target’s exact fears.