The Medium at the Old Mansion
A renowned psychic medium retires to a sleepy countryside, hoping to escape the voices that have haunted her career. But instead of peace, she finds herself drawn into a 100-year-old mystery involving the old mansion she now calls home and its spectral inhabitants who insist she helps them find closure.
Suggested length: A short story: 1,500 to 5,000 words, or flash fiction under 1,000
Start the clock
Pick a sprint, press start and keep going until it stops. Momentum beats polish on a first draft.
Make it yours
Three ways to take this prompt somewhere nobody else will.
- End a scene on a phone call, a knock or a name.
- Let the reader know something the hero doesn't.
- Cut every scene the moment the tension drops.
Writing thriller books
Something terrible is coming. Can they stop it in time?
Where a mystery looks back at a crime, a thriller looks forward at a threat. The reader often knows more than the hero, and the tension comes from watching danger close in. Short chapters, high stakes and a ticking clock are the tools of the trade.
What readers expect
- A clear, escalating threat
- A hero under pressure
- Twists and reversals
- Pace: little time to breathe
A tip before you start
Put a clock on it. A deadline the reader can count down turns every scene into a race.
More Paranormal Thriller prompts
- The Paranormal DebunkerDescribe the unsettling journey of a journalist who specializes in debunking paranormal occurrences as they come face-to-face with incontrovertible…
- The Shadow Around HerAfter surviving a near-fatal accident, a man develops the ability to see "shadows" around people, which he soon learns signify imminent death. When he…
- Murders Under the CurseImagine a scenario where a detective with a rational mind confronts a string of murders that seem to be linked to an ancient curse. Every step closer…
- The Skeptic at Blackwood CastleA renowned skeptic of the supernatural, famous for debunking alleged hauntings, receives a mysterious invitation to spend a weekend in a castle…
Fifteen minutes in? Keep going.
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