This week, Spooky Season is in full swing with Devil’s Night and Halloween just around the corner. So what better time to take a break from the usual and lean into the paranormal… and horror. Or spooky. Spooky that isn’t horrifying totally counts, right?
It’s the season for watching Hocus Pocus for the bajillionth time and not feeling bad about it. It’s also the season for throwing on your favorite sweater, sitting outside under the falling leaves with a hot cider or cocoa, and letting the chill inspire your writing.
🎃 A Cycle of Horror (or Just a Cycle): Halloween Writing Prompt
Halloween is nearly here, and with it comes the perfect excuse to dive into the eerie, the uncanny, and the unsettling. After watching the first installment of Fear Street and revisiting the haunting loops of Stephen King’s IT, we couldn’t help but think about stories where horror isn’t a one-time event—it’s a cycle.
“Something has returned that was never meant to.”
What returns in your story, poem, or artwork? A curse, a creature, a memory, a reckoning?
Not into horror? That’s okay. Focus instead on cycles and patterns—emotional, societal, historical, or personal. What does it mean to live in a place or a body haunted by repetition? What does it take to break a loop, or to accept it?
This prompt invites you to explore recurrence in any form. Whether you’re working on a short story, a poem, a graphic narrative, or something multimedia, this theme offers rich soil for experimentation.
💌 Want more prompts like this?
We share weekly inspiration prompts, submission opportunities, and updates for literary writers, editors, and professors in our newsletter.
👉 Subscribe here to get the next issue delivered straight to your inbox.
