The Book That Makes Things Real
After inheriting a strange old book from a relative, a college student realizes that every time they read a passage aloud, bizarre occurrences manifest in real life. These events grow increasingly horrifying, hinting that the book might be a gateway to summoning something ancient and evil. As the stakes rise, they must decide whether to continue exploring its powers or find a way to stop what they've unwittingly unleashed.
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.
- Make the hero's worst fear about themselves come true, not just the monster.
- Use a single repeated sound as the warning sign.
- Start somewhere safe and ordinary, like a kitchen or a school run.
Writing horror books
Something is wrong here, and it's getting closer.
Horror is defined by the feeling it creates: dread, then fear, then the urge to keep reading anyway. The threat might be a ghost, a creature or the person in the next room. Underneath, the best horror is about something real: grief, guilt, the things we can't control.
What readers expect
- Dread that builds
- A threat that can't be reasoned with
- Characters out of their depth
- An ending that doesn't let you off easy
A tip before you start
What you don't show is scarier than what you do. Let the reader's imagination fill in the dark.
More Horror prompts
- The Hospital’s Last RoomsAn urban explorer decides to infiltrate an abandoned psychiatric hospital rumored to be haunted. Inside, they find unsettling sculptures made from…
- The Room of ClocksA character wakes up in a room lined with clocks, all ticking out of sync. Each clock shows a different time, and with each full hour, a deeply…
- The Hospital’s Hidden WingCraft a story centered on an old, dilapidated hospital scheduled for demolition. A group of urban explorers goes in for one final look and stumbles…
- The Uncharted Space StationCreate a horror story set on a space station where the crew members begin to disappear one by one. The remaining crew discovers that the station is…
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