haunting writing prompts for spooky season

Don’t want to work on the manuscript? Don’t have a manuscript? Use these prompts to keep your writing skills sharp. Flesh out ideas and characters, try a new style, and just get that one idea that may never be a full manuscript down on paper.

Theme: spooky season

Character A is telling the story of how character B was murdered, and how character A solved the murder and got justice for their friend. But Character A isn’t telling the truth. Option 1: They are covering up for the murderer (Character C as it’s a justified killing). Option 2: They are the murderer and put an innocent person in jail to protect themselves.

(Write this as a diary entry or newspaper article.) (Tropes explored: the unreliable narrator.)

Character A is called to a mysterious dinner, when they arrive they see a group of their friends that they haven’t spoken to in years. A younger character B, asks them if they remember character C, who disappeared several years ago on a camping trip. Character A and their friends are all now suspects of character C’s death. Character C is their younger sibling and they want to know everything that happened on that trip.

(Write this as a dialogue and atmosphere heavy scene or short story.) (Tropes explored: closed cirlce mystery and ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’.)

Character A discovers evidence of a dark family secret, but no one in their family seems to remember or know anything about it. Character A gets more and more frustrated as they ask all their different family members, but no one will tell them anything.

(Focus on character and tension here, make it clear everyone is hiding something.) (Tropes explored: the consipracy and isolation.)

Share your responses in the comments, or keep them for yourself! Happy writing!