The Lighthouse's Lost Ship
A small coastal town is famous for its lighthouse, which has prevented countless shipwrecks over the years. However, as the 100th anniversary of the lighthouse approaches, residents begin to report strange occurrences — unexplained lights, ghostly ship horns, and visions of a ship crashing against the rocks. A newcomer with a keen interest in maritime history decides to investigate these phenomena, uncovering a ghastly secret the town has kept hidden beneath the waves.
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 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…
- The Town Behind Locked DoorsWrite a story about a small town where every full moon, the residents lock themselves inside. An outsider, stranded and unaware, experiences the…
- The Book of MadnessIn an ancient library, a librarian discovers a forbidden book that is said to be written in the language of madness. Curiosity leads them to read it…
- The Talisman That SpeaksDescribe the chilling occurrences when an amateur archaeologist unearths an ancient talisman that whispers secrets about the past, and summoning…
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