The Ancestral Library
Imagine a library that only appears to a person once in their lifetime. In this library, each book contains the untold secrets of one’s ancestors and their dealings with the supernatural. Describe someone’s night in this library and the ancestral secrets they uncover.
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.
- Choose one ordinary object and show how this world changed it.
- Start in the middle of the strangest moment, and explain nothing for a page.
- Write it as a document from the world: a letter, a field report, a warning sign.
Writing paranormal fiction
Vampires, ghosts and witches, just around the corner.
Paranormal fiction drops supernatural beings into the real, modern world. Unlike horror, the creatures aren't always the threat: they're often the heroes or the love interests. It overlaps heavily with romance and urban fantasy.
What readers expect
- Supernatural beings in our world
- A hidden society with its own rules
- Romance, danger or both
- Secrets ordinary people can't know
A tip before you start
Decide the rules early. Can your vampires cross running water? Readers will hold you to it.
More Supernatural and Paranormal prompts
- The Folklore FogDevelop a story about a mystical fog that rolls into a coastal town, bringing with it figures from folklore and legend. The townspeople must navigate…
- The Haunted LibraryImagine a library that allows you to check out haunted books—each containing a trapped spirit with a story to tell. A librarian, who has always…
- The Forest Gate of the DeadEvery century, on the night of the winter solstice, a small, forgotten gate in the heart of an ancient forest opens to a realm of the dead. You are…
- The Child Without a SpiritIn a world where people are born with an animal spirit that can manifest in the physical world, write about a character that strangely, was born…
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