Voices in the Winter Wind
During a severe winter storm, a small isolated town loses power. Odd, whispering voices begin to drift with the wind, audible to everyone yet seen by none. Write about how the townfolk confront these harrowing, unseen forces amidst the storm.
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.
- Never fully show the thing. Describe what it leaves behind.
- Make the hero's worst fear about themselves come true, not just the monster.
- Use a single repeated sound as the warning sign.
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 Mansion's Locked BookWrite about a character who inherits an old mansion from an unknown distant relative. As they explore the house, they find a hidden basement with a…
- The Nightmare Beneath the TownEvery resident in a small coastal town starts having the same nightmare about an ancient, submerged city and a mysterious figure calling them to the…
- The Lighthouse's Lost ShipA small coastal town is famous for its lighthouse, which has prevented countless shipwrecks over the years. However, as the 100th anniversary of the…
- The Face in Her NightmaresA young forensic artist who helps reconstruct faces from unidentified remains starts to have nightmares about one of her creations. The more she tries…
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