a creative writing about a nightmare

How to Write Nightmare Scenes (21 Tips + Examples)

Nightmare scenes are haunting journeys into a character’s subconscious that can add layers of depth to your narrative and evoke intense reactions from readers.

Here is how to write nightmare scenes:

Write nightmare scenes by understanding your character’s deepest fears, using vivid descriptions, ensuring emotional depth, and creating disorienting transitions. Avoid clichés and ensure that the nightmare resonates with the story’s overarching themes.

In this guide, you’ll learn everything you need to know about how to write nightmare scenes.

What Are Nightmare Scenes?

Blog post image of a cartoon ghost - How to Write Nightmare Scenes

Table of Contents

A nightmare scene is a narrative tool used by writers to delve into the subconscious mind of a character.

It often reveals their fears, insecurities, traumas, and sometimes even their desires.

The scene is typically a dream sequence but is marked by its unsettling, eerie, or even horrifying content.

Nightmare scenes give readers an intimate glimpse into the character’s mind, allowing readers to empathize more deeply with their struggles.

Anna’s eyes snapped shut, and she found herself in the middle of a dense forest. Trees with twisted branches loomed over her, casting long, sinister shadows. A chilling wind whispered her name, and as she turned around, she saw figures of her past, accusingly pointing at her, their eyes hollow and voices dripping with blame.

Types of Nightmare Scenes

Nightmare scenes can be diverse and serve different purposes in the narrative.

Here are ten distinct types you might consider:

Flashback Nightmares – Revisiting traumatic past events.
Symbolic Nightmares – Using symbols to represent fears or anxieties.
Chase Nightmares – The character is chased by an unknown entity or fear.
Loss Nightmares – Dreaming of losing someone or something dear.
Monstrous Nightmares – Encountering monsters, either real or metaphorical.
Apocalyptic Nightmares – Envisioning the end of the world or society.
Trapped Nightmares – Being trapped or confined without escape.
Falling Nightmares – The sensation of endlessly falling or failing.
Failure Nightmares – Dreaming of failing at something critical.
Mystery Nightmares – Ambiguous scenes that are unsettling but not clear in meaning.

For instance, if you want to hint at a character’s fear of abandonment, opt for a Loss Nightmare.

The vivid depiction of the character being left behind by their loved ones can have a profound emotional impact.

Mark stood at the train station, his family waving goodbye from the departing train. He ran alongside, shouting their names, but they couldn’t hear him. As the train faded into the distance, Mark was left alone, an overwhelming sense of desolation engulfing him.

21 Best Tips for Writing Nightmare Scenes

Here are 21 tips for how to write nightmare scenes in your story.

Tip #1: Dive Deep into the Character’s Psyche

When crafting a nightmare, it’s crucial to understand the character deeply.

What are their fears, traumas, desires, and past experiences?

Drawing from these will make the nightmare more personal and impactful.

For instance, if I know my protagonist has a fear of being alone, their nightmare might focus on isolation or abandonment. Such a scene would resonate deeply, as it touches on their core fear.

Sarah wandered the empty city streets, calling out for anyone. Every corner she turned, every building she entered, was eerily empty. The deafening silence weighed on her, a reminder of her greatest fear.

Tip #2: Use Vivid and Descriptive Language

Nightmares are visceral and intense.

To capture this, employ vivid descriptions that appeal to the senses. The aim is to make readers feel the character’s fear and dread.

In my writing, I often paint a vivid picture using rich details to immerse readers fully.

The more real the nightmare feels, the more unsettling it becomes.

The air was thick with the stench of rotting flesh. Every step James took was met with the squelch of decay beneath his feet. The moans of unseen creatures echoed around him, sending chills down his spine.

Tip #3: Manipulate Time and Space

In dreams, and especially nightmares, the constraints of reality can be bent.

Time can flow backward, speed up, or stand still.

Locations can morph and change in the blink of an eye. Leveraging these distortions can make the nightmare feel more dreamlike and surreal.

Personally, I’ve always found manipulating time to be especially disorienting in a narrative.

It leaves readers and characters feeling out of control, enhancing the overall unease.

Rebecca found herself standing at her childhood home one moment, and in the next, she was abruptly thrust into her school classroom from ten years ago. Clocks spun wildly, and days turned to night in seconds, creating a dizzying, disorienting effect.

Tip #4: Introduce Familiar Yet Distorted Elements

Twist the familiar to make it strange and unsettling.

This could be a beloved family member with a sinister grin, a childhood toy that comes to life, or a well-known place that’s eerily abandoned.

I’ve often introduced these distorted elements to give an uncanny feel.

The familiarity breeds comfort, but the distortion immediately shatters that, leaving the reader feeling uneasy.

As Lucy walked into her childhood bedroom, she saw her old teddy bear sitting on the bed. But its eyes were large, black voids, and its stitched smile had turned into a menacing snarl.

Tip #5: Play with Emotions and Sensations

A nightmare isn’t just visual.

It’s deeply emotional. Amplify feelings of fear, dread, panic, sadness, or guilt.

Think about physical sensations too – the cold grip of dread, the heat of panic, or the suffocating weight of despair.

In one of my stories, rather than detailing the nightmare’s visuals, I focused entirely on the protagonist’s rising panic and despair, making it palpably distressing for readers.

Every breath felt like a struggle, as if a heavy weight pressed on Alex’s chest. The air grew colder, his heart raced, and a sense of impending doom consumed him, even though there was no discernible threat in sight.

Tip #6: Use Repetition for Emphasis

Repetition can be a powerful tool in emphasizing certain elements or themes in the nightmare.

This can be a repeated phrase, scenario, or even a specific haunting image.

I’ve used repetition to represent inescapable fears or to emphasize a character’s obsession with a particular trauma or regret.

Everywhere Ellen turned, the same scene played out. Her brother, reaching out for help, and her unable to reach him in time. Over and over, the scene replayed, each time amplifying her sense of guilt.

Tip #7: Make It Personal

The most haunting nightmares are those that touch on personal traumas, regrets, or fears.

They should feel tailored to the character, reflecting their experiences, personality, and emotional state.

I once wrote a scene where a character constantly relived the moment she lied to a loved one, emphasizing her deep-rooted guilt.

The room was filled with mirrors. In each reflection, Clara saw herself, the lie spilling from her lips, the hurt in her friend’s eyes. No matter where she looked, the painful scene was inescapable.

Tip #8: Leave Some Elements Ambiguous

Sometimes, what’s left unsaid or unseen is more terrifying than a detailed description.

Leaving certain elements ambiguous can let the reader’s imagination fill in the gaps, often with something more terrifying than you could describe.

Ambiguity can be an ally.

It creates an unsettling atmosphere and allows each reader to imagine their version of horror.

David heard a whisper behind him, too faint to discern the words. He felt an icy presence, but when he turned around, there was nothing—just the echoing remnants of that chilling whisper.

Tip #9: Incorporate Real-Life Fears

Drawing from real-world fears can make the nightmare more relatable and terrifying for the reader.

Whether it’s the fear of loss, failure, isolation, or even societal issues, grounding the nightmare in reality can enhance its impact.

In my works, I’ve occasionally tapped into universal fears, making the narrative resonate with a broader audience.

Amidst a bustling crowd, Marie stood alone. Everyone around her wore masks, their eyes emotionless, voices silent. She screamed, but no sound came out. The fear of being isolated in a connected world became suffocating.

Tip #10: End with a Lasting Impact

The ending of the nightmare should leave a lasting impact, either on the character or the reader.

It could be a shocking revelation, a twist, or an emotional climax.

This ensures the scene remains memorable long after it’s over.

I’ve always believed that the ending of a nightmare should echo throughout the story, influencing the character’s actions or decisions.

As the shadows closed in on Jacob, a figure emerged—his younger self. The younger Jacob whispered, “It’s all your fault,” before the entire scene plunged into darkness, leaving Jacob waking up in a cold sweat.

Tip #11: Use Symbolism to Convey Deeper Meanings

Symbols can represent abstract fears, desires, or themes.

A crumbling house might symbolize deteriorating mental health, or a sinking ship might represent feelings of hopelessness.

From my personal experiences, readers often enjoy piecing together the meaning behind symbols, making the story more engaging and thought-provoking.

Lisa found herself in a vast orchard, but all the trees were barren. Each fruit she picked up turned to ash in her hands, symbolizing her deep-seated fears of infertility and loss.

Tip #12: Create Disorienting Transitions

Switch between scenes or settings abruptly to evoke a sense of disorientation.

In dreams, it’s common to jump from one place or time to another without a logical transition.

In my writing, these jarring shifts often mirror the character’s fragmented state of mind, emphasizing their emotional turmoil.

Henry was laughing with his family at a picnic when suddenly, the scene shifted. He was now standing on a cliff’s edge, the sea raging below, the laughter replaced with the howl of the wind.

Tip #13: Amplify the Unsettling with Sound

The soundscape of a nightmare can be as critical as the visuals.

The distant echo of a child’s laughter, the relentless ticking of a clock, or the muffled cries from an unknown source can elevate the scene’s eeriness.

I’ve found that a well-described auditory experience can deeply immerse the reader into the character’s nightmare.

Clara walked through the abandoned carnival, the only sound being the creaking of old rides and the haunting tune of a broken carousel, playing in a loop.

Tip #14: Utilize Unpredictability

The unpredictable nature of dreams can be a writer’s boon.

Characters can face sudden betrayals, unexpected dangers, or bizarre twists.

The lack of predictability keeps the reader on edge, unsure of what’s coming next.

I’ve often used unpredictability to mirror a character’s feeling of losing control in their life.

Jack was about to embrace his long-lost friend when the friend’s face morphed into that of Jack’s greatest enemy, sneering with malevolence.

Tip #15: Emphasize the Surreal

Enhance the dreamlike quality of the scene by incorporating surreal elements.

Floating islands, talking animals, or inanimate objects coming to life can make the nightmare feel otherworldly.

Incorporating surrealism has always expanded the complexity of my nightmare scenes, making them more memorable.

Maria stood in a field where the flowers had eyes, and the sky was a swirling mix of vibrant, unnatural colors. Birds with two heads flew overhead, singing in distorted melodies.

Tip #16: Allow for Emotional Resonance

The emotions experienced in the nightmare shouldn’t just vanish upon waking.

They should resonate, affecting the character’s mood, decisions, or relationships. This bridges the gap between the dream and reality, emphasizing the nightmare’s significance.

In my stories, the aftermath of a nightmare often provides a rich avenue for character development.

After witnessing his own death in the nightmare, Thomas became more cautious, his once fearless demeanor replaced with hesitation and introspection.

Tip #17: Keep the Stakes High

Even though it’s a dream, the stakes should feel real and high.

The character’s dread, the looming danger, or the potential loss should be palpable to maintain tension throughout the scene.

When I want to emphasize a character’s vulnerability, I ensure that the nightmare puts them in high-stake scenarios.

Emily found herself balancing on a thin plank above a vast chasm. With every step, the plank wobbled, and the abyss below beckoned with an eerie allure.

Tip #18: Play with Perception

Distorted perceptions can make the nightmare feel more disconcerting.

Giant objects, elongated corridors, or warped faces can create an environment of unease.

I’ve utilized distorted perceptions to represent a character’s feelings of being overwhelmed or disoriented in their waking life.

Walking through the town, Oliver noticed the buildings towering over him, reaching impossible heights. The people around seemed like giants, looking down at him with pitiful gazes.

Tip #19: Incorporate Real Memories with a Twist

Blend genuine memories with fictional elements.

This not only blurs the line between reality and fantasy but also makes the nightmare deeply personal for the character.

For instance, take a cherished memory and introduce a sinister twist, emphasizing the character’s guilt over past actions.

Sophie remembered the day at the beach with her sister. But in the nightmare, as they built sandcastles, dark waves approached, and her sister’s laughter turned to screams. Sophie couldn’t save her, no matter how hard she tried.

Tip #20: Use Opposites for Shock Value

Introduce elements that are the opposite of what one would expect.

A safe place becoming dangerous or a loved one turning hostile can be deeply unsettling.

I’ve played with opposites to catch the reader off guard, delivering unexpected shocks.

In the middle of the joyous wedding celebration, the music shifted to a mournful dirge. Guests, once smiling, now wept blood. The beautiful setting turned dark, foreboding, and hostile.

Tip #21: Convey a Sense of Inevitability

Sometimes, the terror in nightmares comes from the sense of inevitability.

No matter what the character does, they can’t change the outcome, creating a feeling of helplessness.

Drawing from my own fears, I’ve written scenes where the character feels trapped in a loop of dread, unable to alter their fate.

Jane kept running, but the monster behind her was always just a step away. No matter how fast or where she ran, it was always there, its breath on her neck, the sense of impending doom never fading.

How to Format a Nightmare Scene in a Novel

Nightmare scenes, while pivotal to a story, should also be distinguishable from the regular flow of the narrative.

This distinction not only signals to readers that they’re about to enter a different realm but also aids in immersion.

1. Use Italics or Different Font Styles

A common technique is to italicize the entire nightmare scene.

This visually separates the scene from the rest of the narrative. Some authors opt for a different font style or even a slight change in font size to denote the dreamlike quality.

2. Provide a Clear Entry and Exit

Always have a clear transition into and out of the nightmare.

This could be the character falling asleep, a sudden feeling of dizziness, or even an abstract transition like the world fading away.

Similarly, exiting the dream could be signaled by the character jolting awake, or the scene slowly fading out.

3. Consider Chapter Breaks or Segments

If the nightmare is significant and detailed, it might warrant its own chapter or segment.

Beginning a new chapter with the nightmare can give it the emphasis it deserves, and ending the chapter with the character waking up can provide a neat closure.

Biggest Mistakes When Writing a Nightmare Scene

Nightmare scenes, while captivating, can easily go awry if not executed correctly.

Here are some pitfalls to avoid:

Being too vague
Relying too much on cliches
Disconnection
Ignoring emotional depth
Making the scene too long

1. Being Too Vague or Abstract

While ambiguity can be a tool, overdoing it can leave readers confused.

If the nightmare’s events or symbols are too abstract without clear relevance to the character or plot, it might come off as filler content.

2. Over-relying on Clichés

Haunted houses, shadowy figures, or monstrous creatures are commonplace in nightmares.

While they can be effective, relying solely on these clichés can render the scene predictable and dull.

3. Disconnecting from the Main Narrative

The nightmare should serve a purpose in the broader story.

Whether it’s character development, foreshadowing, or providing backstory, it should tie back to the main narrative.

A random nightmare with no relevance can disrupt the story’s flow.

4. Ignoring Emotional Depth

Nightmares aren’t just about scary or unsettling imagery.

They’re deeply emotional experiences.

Failing to convey the emotional and psychological impact of the nightmare on the character makes the scene feel shallow.

A well-written nightmare should resonate with the character’s deepest fears, regrets, or desires, leaving a lasting emotional impact.

5. Prolonging the Scene Unnecessarily

While it’s tempting to dive deep into the intricacies of a nightmare, dragging it out can lead to reader disengagement.

A concise, impactful scene is often more effective than an extended, meandering one.

Remember, the essence of a nightmare is its intensity, not necessarily its duration.

Over-extending the scene can dilute its potency and make it tedious for the reader.

3 Full Examples of Writing a Nightmare Scene

Let’s look at three full examples of how to write nightmare scenes in different genres.

As Clara walked down the aisle, the congregation’s excited murmurs turned to mocking whispers. The man at the altar wasn’t her beloved but a faceless entity. Her wedding dress became tattered and stained. The beautiful roses in her hand wilted, their petals falling one by one. As she reached out to the faceless groom, he vanished, leaving her alone amidst the jeering crowd.

Commander Ray floated in the vast emptiness of space, his spaceship a mere speck in the distance. His oxygen was depleting, each breath more laborious than the last. As he reached out for the tether to pull himself back, it snapped. Alien constellations watched impassively as the void consumed him, the cold, infinite darkness pressing in from all sides.

3. Historical Fiction

Amidst the bustling streets of Victorian London, Eleanor walked, but something was amiss. The cobblestone streets turned to quicksand, slowing her down. Horse-drawn carriages raced past, their drivers faceless, their horses skeletal. The once-familiar buildings loomed, their shadows twisted and menacing. The people she knew turned their backs, fading into the mist, leaving Eleanor isolated in a distorted version of her world.

Here is a good video about how to write a dream sequence (including nightmares) in your story:

Final Thoughts: How to Write Nightmare Scenes

Crafting a haunting nightmare scene can deeply enrich your narrative, unveiling layers of a character’s psyche in an evocative manner.

Before you go, check out a few of our other blog posts on writing scenes.

Tim Kane Books

Strange is the new normal, how to write creepy scenes to make your readers squirm.

Most writers who delve into horror hit the prose with a bag of clichés and heavy handed stage props—swirling fog, glowing eyes, wicked laughs. Don’t get me wrong, camp can be great (if it’s intentional). However, a more subtle approach can work wonders.

Add Details One by One

Use disturbing details or reversals when describing your scenes. Each one, taken by itself, does little, but in combination, they imbue the reader with unease. Consider Cold Skin by Albert Sánchez Piñol. Here an unnamed narrator just inhabited a weather station on a deserted island.

Just then, I heard a pleasing sound far off. It was more or less like a heard of goats trotting in the distance. At first, I confused it with the pattering of rain; the sound of heavy and distinct drops. I got up and looked out of the closest window. It wasn’t raining. The full moon stained the ocean’s surface in a violet hue. The light bathed the driftwood lying on the beach. It was easy to imagine them as body parts, dismembered and immobile. The whole thing brought to mind a petrified forest. But it wasn’t raining.

Reversal : The narrator thinks it’s raining, but then there’s no rain. We wonder what’s creating that pattering sound, and the not knowing makes us uneasy.

Disturbing details : The water is stained violet, a bloodlike color. This idea is cemented in the reader’s skull with the driftwood, described as dismembered limbs.

Let the Character Freak Out

Nothing creeps out a reader faster than letting the protagonist freak out. Ever wonder why there are so many screams in horror movies? It’s the same thing. As an author, you must find the written equivalent to the scream.

In Bag of Bones by Stephen King, the protagonist, Mike Noonan, begins to believe that his house is haunted. He’s in the basement and hears the sound of someone striking the insulation, but no one else is home.

…every gut and muscle of my body seemed to come unwound. My hair stood up. My eyesockets seemed to be expanding and my eyeballs contracting, as if my head were trying to turn into a skull. Every inch of my skin broke out in gooseflesh. Something was in here with me. Very likely something dead.

King lays it on thick here. Instead of one physical reaction, he dumps the whole bucket on us. He doesn’t dazzle us with a etherial decaying corpse. We won’t even see the ghost till the final chapters. No. He tells us how Noonan feels just in the presence of the thing and that’s what creeps us out.

Another example of the character freaking out can be seen in Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House .

Now we are going to have a new noise, Eleanor thought, listening to the inside of her head; it is changing. The pounding had stopped, as though it had proved ineffectual, and there was now a swift movement up and down the hall, as of an animal pacing back and forth with unbelievable impatience, watching first one door and then another, alert for a movement inside, and there was again the little babbling murmur which Eleanor remembered; Am I doing it? she wondered quickly, is that me? And heard the tiny laughter beyond the door, mocking her.

Here the character doubts herself and what she sees. This is essential to any horror story. When weird things happen, the character mysteries react accordingly. The stranger the situation, the stronger the reaction. And most of us would doubt our sanity in creepy situations.

Let The Reader Do the Imagining

Why should you, the author, do all the heavy lifting. Your reader’s imagination will often fill in the blanks for you. Take this example from Stephen King’s The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon .

As she reached the driver’s door of the cab, which hung open with vines twisting in and out of its socket of a window, lightning flashed again, painting the whole world purple. In its glare Trisha saw something with slumped shoulders standing on the far side of the road, something with black eyes and great cocked ears like horns. Perhaps they were horns. It wasn’t human; nor did she think it was animal. It was a god. It was her god, the wasp-god, standing there in the rain.

Notice that the monster is only vaguely described. It’s called “something” twice. This lets the reader fill in the blanks. There is enough description that we at least know it’s a big hulking creature. This is the literary equivalent of when Ridley Scott only showed glimpses of the alien in Alien .

Use Strong Verbs

Finally, strong verbs will help any writer to shine, but they can also allow one character to shine over another. Take this excerpt from William Blatty’s The Exorcist .

Regan’s eyes gleamed fiercely, unblinking, as a yellowish saliva dribbled down from a corner of her mouth to her chin, to her lips stretch taut into a feral grin of bow-mouthed mockery.

“Well, well, well,” she gloated sardonically and hairs prickled up on the back of Karras’s neck at a voice that was deep and thick with menace and power. “So, it’s you … they sent you !” she continued as if pleased. “Well, we’ve nothing to fear from you at all.”

“Yes, that’s right,” Karras answered; “I’m your friend and I’d like to help you.”

“You might loosen these straps, then,” Regan croaked. She had tugged up her wrists so that now Karras noticed they were bound with a double set of leather restraining straps.

“Are the straps uncomfortable for you?”

“Extremely. They’re a nuisance. An infernal nuisance.”

The eyes glinted slyly with secret amusement.

Karras saw the scratch marks on Regan’s face; the cuts on her lips where apparently she’d bitten them. “I’m afraid you might hurt yourself, Regan,” he told her.

“I’m not Regan,” she rumbled, still with that taut and hideous grin that Karras now guessed was her permanent expression. How incongruous the braces on her teeth looked, he thought. “Oh, I see,” he said, nodding. “Well, then, maybe we should introduce ourselves. I’m Damien Karras. Who are you?”

“I’m the devil!”

Notice the verbs that Blatty uses with Reagan — gleamed, dribbled, gloated, croaked, rumbled. In contrast, the more calm individual in the scene, Karras, responds with simple verbs like “answered” and “saw”. The contrast allows the reader to see Reagan as disturbing.

If you want to make your readers squirm, reading only in daylight hours, shy away from the obvious gore and claptrap. Rather, take the quieter road of tiny disturbing details built up over pages and chapters. Show how your character reacts to what’s happening, and the reader will feel it too.

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How to Describe a Nightmare in a Story

By Brittany Kuhn

How to describe a nightmare in a story? If this question has brought you here, we have an answer! Actually we have 10 answers , or should we say 10 words that will help you. Read on!

1. Frightening

Producing fear .

“The frightening nightmare kept him up all night.”

“The nightmare was so frightening that she was afraid of returning to it if she went back to sleep.”

How it Adds Description

Nightmares, by definition, are dreams so scary and upsetting that they cause rational or irrational fear. Describing them as frightening gets straight the point and says exactly what kind of nightmare it is: one that makes the character scared to have the same dream again.

2. Unsettling

Causing upset or disturbing feelings.
Creating a sense of discomfort or worry.

“She was highly disturbed by the unsettling nightmare; it made her anxious for reasons she couldn’t describe.”

“What an unsettling nightmare! So many thoughts and feelings with no real reason for being there…”

Nightmares aren’t just scary. Sometimes, nightmares are upsetting because they create disjointed and uncomfortable feelings or associations. Use unsettling when you want to show your characters are more concerned by the nightmare’s images than scared.

3. Distressing

Feelings of suffering or danger.
Causing worry or anxiety.
Cause change through great strain or damage.

“The distressing nightmare left her feeling anxious all day.”

“He wondered why he had had such a distressing nightmare about a tornado; was it a vision or just a nightmare?”

What makes nightmares even more concerning than the fear is the anxiety and worry left in the dreamer afterward. What if the nightmare were to become real? What if there’s a reason that they dreamt it that way? Describing the nightmare as distressing highlights all those concerns by putting the word stress front and center in connection to the nightmare.

4. Disturbing

Creating thoughts of apprehension , alarm, or unease.

“He was so upset by the disturbing nightmare that he could barely sleep the next night for fear of dreaming it again.”

“The nightmare was so disturbing that she kept seeing flashes of it in her head all the next day.

One of the worst parts of nightmares is how they can stay with the dreamer throughout the rest of the following days or weeks. Use disturbing if you want to emphasize the long-lasting effects of the nightmare and how it impacts the rest of the character’s choices and mood.

5. Terrifying

Causing extreme fright or anxiety.
Of an intimidating sort.

“With a scream caught in his throat and sweat on his brow, he bolted upright in the bed after the terrifying nightmare.”

“She stared blankly at the ceiling above her, no longer able to sleep after such a terrifying nightmare.”

Terrifying suggests something that is so scary it cannot be conquered, like inner demons or worst fears. Is the dreamer afraid of heights? Describe their nightmare as terrifying if it focuses on them having to jump from a tall building. Is there someone the dreamer is afraid of losing? Describe their nightmare as terrifying if they’re forced to choose between letting that person live or die. Use terrifying to show a deep, existential fear in the nightmare, rather than the normal jump scares.

6. Chilling

Exceedingly distressful or scary.

“The faces of the victims in her chilling nightmare followed her throughout her waking day.”

“He couldn’t understand why he had had such a chilling nightmare; what was he so afraid of to dream such horrible things?”

Describing a nightmare as chilling suggests that whatever the nightmare was about goes beyond just being scary. The fear and stress of it has seeped into the dreamer’s bones. The nightmare and its effects have become part of the dreamer to a point that they couldn’t forget it if they actively tried.

7. Petrifying

Overpoweringly scary.

“She felt paralyzed after waking from the petrifying nightmare; not a single muscle would move.”

“He awoke with a soundless scream from the petrifying nightmare.”

To petrify means to harden, as if into rock, so to be petrified means that you are so scared you cannot move. Your fight or flight response has short-circuited, and you are stuck to the spot, like a deer in headlights. It is fear multiplied by 1000. Describing a nightmare as petrifying suggests that the fear created by it is so great that the dreamer has been shocked into inaction.

8. Startling

Creating a quick moment of shock , fear, or bewilderment.

“The nightmare was so startling that he couldn’t forget it the next day.”

“She was shocked awake by the startling nightmare.”

Startling suggests that something quickly grabbed your attention, maybe through surprise. Think of ‘jump scares’ in films or TV shows; those are startling because they make the viewer almost literally jump with surprise. A startling nightmare creates anxiety more than fear through unexpected events rather than drawn out, existential ones.

9. Horrifying

To cause feelings of dread or disgust.

“He couldn’t get across the dread of the horrifying nightmare he just had; it was too painful to describe adequately.”

“What was more horrifying about the nightmare was the fact that he would probably have it again tonight, just like he had had every night this week.”

Horrifying is often used to describe something so frightening that its effects are felt long after the event has ended. Describing a nightmare as horrifying also suggests the events of the nightmare are beyond explanation because they’ve created such a sense of dread that the dreamer doesn’t want to return to it for a second.

10. Shocking

Exceptionally disturbing , tormenting, or unpleasant.

“The shocking nightmare had her up all night, contemplating its meaning and the state of her own brain in creating it.”

“He could not believe the shocking nightmare he just had; it was like nothing he’d ever experienced before.”

Like startling , a shocking nightmare is one that creates fear and anxiety through surprise; think of the effects of an electric shock. But where startling describes quick, unexpected moments of fear, shocking can be used to describe a nightmare that is more overwhelming. Use shocking if you want to emphasize that the dreamer is shaken by the contents of their nightmare and the reasons for their fear.

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Master List of Ways to Describe Fear

People have been asking me for this list for such a long time! If you write horror, suspense, mystery, or any kind of fiction with a scary scenes, you need to know how to describe fear.

This list can get you started. It’s a lot of phrases describing fear, including physical reactions, physical sensations, facial expressions, and other words you can use in your novel or in other creative writing.

I’ve included some that can work for uneasiness or anxiety, but most of these are for real terror. You can alter them to fit your sentence or your story, and they’ll likely inspire you to come up with your own descriptions.

Bookmark or pin this page for your reference—it might save you a lot of time in the future. I’ll probably add to it now and again!

Master List of Ways to Describe Fear #master lists for writers free ebook #master lists for writers free pdf #master lists for writers free kindle #describing fear in a story #description of fear #great fear #how to describe fear #words describing fear

fear paralyzed him

his terror mounted with every step

she fought a rising panic

fear tormented her

her heart was uneasy

her heart leaped into her throat

his heart hammered in his chest

his heart pounded

terror stabbed his heart

his heart jumped

her heart lurched

a fear that almost unmanned him

his body shook with fear

she trembled inside

he suppressed a shiver

panic surged through him

her fear spiked

he was in a complete state of panic

she could feel nothing but blind terror

his legs were wobbly with fear

she sweated with fear

his hands were cold and clammy

she was weighed down by dread

dread twisted in her gut

his stomach clenched

fear fluttered in her stomach

her belly cramped

he felt like he might throw up

she was sick with fear

she was frightened down to the soles of her shoes

he was icy with panic

her body went cold with dread

raw panic was in her voice

her voice was thick with fear

his voice was edged with fear

terror thundered down on him

fear caught her in its jaws

fear clawed up her throat

terror sealed her throat

fear gripped her throat

his throat tightened

then she knew real terror was

he was frantic with fear

she was half mad with terror

the color drained from her face

his face was ashen

she blanched

dread gnawed at his insides

dread had been growing in him all day

fresh terror reared up within her

fear choked him

terror stole her words

he was mute with horror

her voice was numb with shock

his voice was shrill with terror

her defiant words masked her fear

her body felt numb

his blood froze in his veins

terror coursed through her veins

fear throbbed inside her

his panic fueled him

adrenaline pumped through his body

adrenaline crashed through her

fear pulsed through him

her scalp prickled

the hairs on the back of her neck stood up

his mouth went dry

his bones turned to jelly

her bones turned to water

she froze with horror

he didn’t dare to move

terror struck her

he was too frightened to lift her head

she was too frightened to scream

his mouth was open in a silent scream

he cringed with fear

she cowered

he shrank back in fear

she flinched

a bolt of panic hit her

terror streaked through him

her terror swelled

his panic increased

anxiety eclipsed his thoughts

panic flared in her eyes

his eyes were wild with terror

her eyes darted from left to right

she feared to close her eyes

he lay awake in a haze of fear

she walked on in a fog of fear

his eyes widened with alarm

she tried to hide her fear

he struggled to conceal his shock

fear crept up her spine

fear trickled down her spine

panic seized his brain

she felt a flash of terror

fear took hold of him

fear flooded through her being

she ordered a drink to drown the panic

he arranged and re-arranged the items on his desk

a nameless dread engulfed him

Master List of Ways to Describe Fear #describing fear in a story #description of fear #great fear #how to describe fear #words describing fear

I bet you came up with other ideas as you were reading!

For more writing lists, check out my book Master Lists for Writers , if you don’t have it yet! A lot of writers use it to make writing go faster, especially when it comes to descriptions.

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50 Spooky Writing Prompts and Horror Story Ideas #horror writing ideas #horror writing prompts #scary story prompts #Halloween writing prompts #dark fantasy story ideas #suspense story plots

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When and How to Write a Character Waking Up

Writing about a character waking up can be a challenge, especially since waking up is something we do in a semiconscious state. It can be tough to pinpoint exactly how it feels, and that makes it difficult to write convincingly. In addition to that, writers seem split on when to start a scene with a character waking up, and whether you should do it at all.

Is It Bad To Start a Scene with a Character Waking Up?

If you’ve ever been in a creative writing or fiction class, then you’ve definitely been told that it is a bad idea to start a story or scene with your main character waking up. Most experienced writers and instructors strongly advise against it. But why? Is it always a bad idea?

And really, the answer is no; you can pull off a good waking up scene that draws readers into the story. By writing a character waking up in a specific way, you can set the tone for the rest of the scene and offer a unique glimpse into the character’s personality.

However, people tend to discourage starting a scene like this, not because it is inherently bad, but because it is a tactic often used lazily. Many beginner writers rely on this technique as an easy way to transition between scenes. If the transition is abrupt, glossed over, or otherwise disregarded by the writer, then it definitely won’t be taken seriously by the reader.

If you’re considering starting a scene, or your entire story, with your main character waking up, take a moment to consider why you want to write it like that. Do you have a good reason to? Is there another way you could start it? If you don’t have a good reason for writing it like that, you probably shouldn’t do it.

When to Write a Character Waking Up

If you’re going to show a character waking up, make sure there’s a good reason for it. If you just don’t know how else to start a story, and you have your character wake up and start making coffee, chances are your readers are going to get bored.

If you want to keep your readers interested, focus on the implications of waking up. If your character is awake, then they have to do something. What is it they have to do? Are they looking forward to it, or dreading it? Do they struggle to get up, because they are injured, hungover, or groggy? Give the readers something to think about. Instead of just telling them the character is waking up, let them wonder why the character reacts a certain way when they do get up.

The act of waking up is not inherently interesting, so it is your job to present it in an interesting way. Use it as a way of emphasizing something, like your character’s memories, fears, habits, and plans. Make waking up a point to focus on, instead of just a lazy transition. And, however tempting it may be, do not overuse this technique. If every scene starts with the character waking up, it’s going to feel mundane.

If your character suffers from insomnia, then you may find yourself writing many scenes with them waking up, often still tired. If you want some guidance for writing about that specifically, I have another article that could help you out: Losing Sleep Over How to Write a Character with Insomnia?

How to Describe Waking Up

Waking up is a fundamental part of being human; we all do it. The next time you wake up in the morning or from a nap, try to focus on how it feels. Don’t reach for your phone or the lights, and instead think about what it feels like to come back to reality. Were you dreaming? Did you wake up slowly or abruptly? Did you set an alarm? How soon after waking up did you get out of bed? If you focus on how it really feels to do something in your life, you’ll be able to write about it more convincingly.

With that said, obviously not everyone wakes up the same way. And of course, waking up in the middle of the night with a hangover is going to feel different from sleeping in late on a weekend. Writing about different situations is going to require different strategies.

(As a side note, if you want to write about drunk or hungover characters, I recommend taking a peek at my other article: How to Write a Drunk Character. )

How to Describe Someone Waking Up in the Morning

Waking up in the morning is generally pretty mundane, but there are ways to make it interesting.

If the character wakes up naturally, then try to draw the scene out so it progresses in a slow and sleepy manner. Introduce details one at a time and try to show the process of things coming into focus. In general, try to avoid actually writing the phrase “things came into focus,” since you can show your readers how that feels instead of telling them that it’s happening.

Overload the scene with descriptive language and details. Bring the scene to life as much as possible, and really set the stage for the rest of the story. Describe what the character hears when they wake up, to clue the readers in to where the character lives. Do they hear birds or busy city streets? Do they hear nothing at all? What about how they feel? Is it cold? Bright?

Don’t just let readers know that the character is awake, let them experience what the character feels as they are waking up. In addition to the physical details, include little hints about the character’s personality based on how they feel about waking up. Instead of just mentioning the sounds of the city, you could describe it with negative language, to suggest that the character hates living in the city. Or, focus on the serene calmness of the sounds of nature and the coziness of the bed, to create a comfortable feeling right off the bat.

Alternatively, if the character wakes up to an alarm, they are probably going to wake up abruptly, and with less time to absorb their surroundings. Alarm clocks represent structure and routine, and your readers will immediately associate the character with being more systematic and less carefree. You should still set the scene with some descriptions to orient your audience, but in general, you should strive to cut back on the flowery language. The character needed to wake up to do something, so they can’t waste time listening to birds.

How to Describe Someone Waking Up from a Nightmare

Like with an alarm clock, a person waking up from a nightmare is going to wake up rather suddenly. They probably won’t be paying attention to the details of the room, and instead, are going to be disoriented and frantic. A nightmare triggers the body’s fight-or-flight reflex, so the character’s heart will be beating fast, and they will be alert and ready to act to defend themself from whatever they were dreaming about.

After waking up, the character will need to calm down before they can get on with the story. This is a great opportunity to explore the impact of the nightmare and the sentiment of the character. Are bad dreams commonplace, or is the character unused to waking up like this? Is the nightmare an echo of a bad memory, or the result of some supernatural influence?

Have the character think about the details of the dream after the fact, but do not explain the entire dream for the readers. Give little hints about what it could mean to give readers something to think about. If the dream is foreshadowing a future event or an ongoing struggle, don’t give everything away right from the beginning!

Your character may have a difficult time coming back to reality after a nightmare. When this happens, they could experience sleep paralysis upon waking up. This is when a person is unable to speak or move for several minutes after waking up, and may hallucinate seeing or feeling an evil presence like a demon, a figure from their past, or something they fear. You could use this as a tactic to extend the nightmare into the character’s waking life, to emphasize the impact the nightmares have on them.

If you want to read more about how to incorporate dreams and nightmares into your story, check out my article: Writing About Dreams and Nightmares .

How to Describe Someone Waking Up from Being Unconscious

If your character “fell asleep” as a result of getting knocked on the head then they aren’t going to wake up the same way as they would any other time. The first thing they’re going to notice as they wake up is how bad their head hurts. A person has to be hit really hard to lose consciousness, so your character is in for a pretty bad headache when they come to, and they’re going to notice the pain before they can register any other sensation. Make sure that is the first thing you mention unless the character is woken up forcefully by another character, a loud sound, or something else.

Once the character has had time to overcome the pain, they’re probably going to be pretty disoriented. Show the character trying to work through exactly what happened before they fell unconscious, and have them try to sort through what they know and don’t know. Was it a bad fall? A fight? How much do they even remember? Help the readers along by having the character search for context, like what time it is, where they are, and how they managed to get hurt.

Keep in mind that a character who is struck in the head hard enough to knock them out will endure a concussion. The article How to Write About Brain Damage (Accurately!) can walk you through the specifics of including that detail in your story.

How to Describe Someone Waking Up in an Unfamiliar Place

The perfect time to execute a scene that begins with the character waking up is with a kidnapping. Your character will be just as confused as the readers, and you can use that as your hook to keep readers engaged.

If your character wakes up in an unfamiliar place, chances are, the first thing they’re going to do is start to panic. They may start to wake up groggily, but as soon as they realize they may be in danger, adrenaline is going to kick in and they’ll be fully awake in less than a second.

They’re going to look around at everything to try to figure out where they are, so make sure you describe the scene in as much detail as possible. However, avoid the flowery language. If your character is terrified, they’re going to look at things and not really think about them much, so describe things quickly and visually—and move on.

In this case, waking up isn’t the focus. Have the character realize the situation quickly, so they can progress the story. If they can’t move because they’re tied up, then they might start trying to think of how they got there, and who could be behind it. But in general, the character isn’t going to waste a whole lot of time before they start trying to do something to get out of the situation.

Some Parting Thoughts

No one should be able to tell you what you definitively should or should not write. There isn’t a wrong way to tell a story. If you think starting a scene with a character waking up is the best way to do that, then don’t let anyone stop you. It’s your story after all, and if you write it with care and passion, it’s going to be interesting.

If someone tells you not to write something, don’t take that advice at face value. Try to think about why they’re giving you that advice, and why they think it would help you. It’s not that starting a scene with a character waking up is bad, it’s just that most people don’t do it well. When people tell you not to do it, they’re actually telling you not to use cheap tricks to avoid writing difficult transitions. If you know how to handle a character waking up, then there’s no reason to shy away from putting it in your story.

Writing a Chilling Nightmare Scene: A StepbyStep Guide

Personal Development

Introduction to Nightmare Scenes:

Nightmare scenes are an integral part of horror fiction as they have the power to evoke fear and send shivers down the readers’ spines. Creating a chilling nightmare scene requires careful consideration of various elements such as setting, psychological impact, descriptions, dialogue, symbolism, character development, pacing, sensory engagement, and the climactic ending. In this step-by-step guide, we will explore each of these aspects in detail to help you master the art of writing a nightmare scene that will leave your readers terrified.

The Importance of Setting in Creating a Chilling Atmosphere:

The setting plays a crucial role in establishing the atmosphere of the nightmare scene. It helps create a sense of unease and adds to the overall feeling of dread. When designing the setting for your nightmare scene, focus on elements that contribute to the horror, such as dim lighting, eerie sounds, confined spaces, or abandoned locations. By utilizing descriptive language, paint a vivid picture of the surroundings to transport your readers into a world filled with terror.

Understanding the Psychological Impact of Nightmares:

Nightmares tap into our deepest fears and anxieties, making them extremely powerful storytelling tools. Understanding the psychological impact of nightmares allows you to delve into the subconscious mind of both your characters and readers. By exploring common fears such as losing loved ones, being pursued by an unknown force, or experiencing intense pain, you can create a connection with your audience and make the nightmare scene more relatable. This psychological aspect adds depth and authenticity to your writing.

Step 1: Establishing an Eerie Mood with Vivid Descriptions:

Effective nightmare scenes rely on vivid descriptions to create a strong sense of atmosphere. Use evocative language to paint a picture of the horrifying elements within the scene. Describe the bone-chilling cold, the nauseating stench, or the grotesque appearance of the creatures involved. Engage all the senses of the reader to make them feel as if they are truly experiencing the nightmare firsthand.

Using Foreshadowing to Heighten Tension in Nightmare Scenes:

Foreshadowing is a powerful technique to build anticipation and suspense in your nightmare scene. By dropping subtle hints or clues throughout the narrative, you can create a sense of impending doom. Foreshadowing can be achieved through mysterious symbols, recurring imagery, or prophetic dreams experienced by the characters. It will keep your readers on edge, waiting for the dreadful events to unfold.

Step 2: Building Suspense with Well-Crafted Dialogue:

Well-crafted dialogue is essential for bringing your nightmare scene to life. Use dialogue to reveal the characters’ fears, doubts, and the terrifying events they are experiencing. Ensure that the dialogue is concise, realistic, and loaded with tension. Through the characters’ conversations, you can create a sense of urgency and amplify the feeling of danger lurking within the scene.

The Role of Symbolism in Conveying a Sense of Dread:

Symbolism plays a vital role in conveying a sense of dread in your nightmare scene. By utilizing objects or events with symbolic significance, you can add layers of meaning and enhance the overall impact of the horror. Incorporate symbols that resonate with fear and darkness, such as blood, mirrors, or broken glass, to intensify the sense of foreboding within the scene.

Developing Complex Characters for Nightmare Scenes:

Your nightmare scene will only be as terrifying as your characters allow it to be. Develop complex characters with relatable fears and vulnerabilities to create a deeper emotional connection with your readers. By understanding your characters’ motivations and flaws, you can ensure their reactions to the horrors they face are authentic and gripping. Make your characters believable and multidimensional, amplifying the fear they experience.

Step 3: Incorporating Elements of Surprise and Twists:

Surprise and twists are crucial in nightmare scenes as they catch the readers off guard and increase the intensity of fear. Introduce unexpected events, revelations, or sudden changes in the environment to keep your readers guessing. By subverting their expectations, you can create a sense of unease and make your nightmare scene more unpredictable and horrifying.

How to Effectively Use Pacing to Build Fear in Nightmare Scenes:

Pacing is a key factor in building fear and maintaining suspense throughout your nightmare scene. Vary your pacing to keep the readers engaged and on edge. Utilize shorter, snappier sentences and paragraphs during moments of intense horror to create a sense of urgency. Conversely, slow down the pace during quieter moments to build anticipation. By manipulating the rhythm of your writing, you can effectively control the readers’ emotions and immerse them in a genuinely terrifying experience.

Step 4: Engaging the Senses to Amplify the Horror:

To amplify the horror in your nightmare scene, engaging the senses is vital. Describe the putrid smell, the chilling touch, the echoing sounds, or the nauseating taste to make the readers feel fully present in the terrifying scenario. Transporting them to the nightmare world through sensory details allows for a more immersive and spine-chilling experience.

The Power of Nightmares: Exploring the Subconscious Mind:

Nightmares have remarkable power as they tap into our subconscious mind. They reveal our darkest fears and explore the uncharted territories of the human psyche. Explore the themes of vulnerability, guilt, or repressed desires within your nightmare scene to unlock the true potential of horror. By exploring the depths of the subconscious, you can create unsettling and thought-provoking nightmares that linger in the readers’ minds long after they’ve finished reading.

Creating Haunting Visual Imagery in Nightmare Scenes:

Visual imagery is a crucial aspect of nightmare scenes. Paint unsettling and horrifying images in the minds of your readers using vivid and disturbing descriptions. Invoke colors, shapes, and textures that are inherently frightening. Utilize dark, shadowy landscapes or grotesque, otherworldly creatures to create captivating and haunting visual imagery that will stay with your readers long after they’ve closed the book.

Step 5: Crafting a Climactic Ending to Leave Readers Terrified:

The ending of your nightmare scene must leave your readers horrified and haunted. Build towards a climactic moment where all the tension and dread culminate. Avoid providing easy resolutions or a neat conclusion. Instead, leave room for lingering fear and unanswered questions. By leaving your readers in a state of emotional turmoil, you ensure that your nightmare scene will be unforgettable.

The Use of Dreams vs. Nightmares in Writing Horror Fiction:

Apart from nightmares, dreams can also be utilized in horror fiction. Dreams can serve as a contrasting element, offering moments of temporary relief or respite from the horrors experienced in the nightmare scenes. By juxtaposing dreams and nightmares, you can enhance the impact of the horrifying moments and create a deeper sense of dread.

Writing a chilling nightmare scene requires careful attention to detail and a deep understanding of the psychological intricacies that evoke fear. By following this step-by-step guide, you can create nightmare scenes that grip your readers’ imaginations and keep them awake long into the night. Remember, the true power of a nightmare lies in its ability to tap into the subconscious and unearth the darkest corners of the human psyche.

1. The Impact of Sound in Creating a Chilling Nightmare Scene

When it comes to effectively immersing readers in a chilling nightmare scene, the impact of sound cannot be underestimated. Sound can add an extra layer of terror, heighten suspense, and create a truly frightening atmosphere. In this article, we will explore the various ways in which sound can be utilized to create a haunting and memorable nightmare scene.

1.1 The Role of Silence

One of the most powerful techniques in creating a chilling nightmare scene is the strategic use of silence. By withholding sound, the writer can build tension and create a sense of unease. The silence becomes eerie, leaving the readers on edge, anticipating something dreadful to occur. We will delve into the different ways silence can be employed to amplify fear.

1.2 Harnessing Ambient Sounds

Ambient sounds play a crucial role in establishing the setting and atmosphere of a nightmare scene. They can transport readers to the world of the story and evoke an emotional response. We will explore how carefully selecting and describing ambient sounds can help create a haunting and immersive experience for readers.

1.3 The Impact of Characterized Sounds

Characterized sounds refer to sounds specifically associated with certain characters or entities within the nightmare scene. They can be used to create a sense of foreboding or to enhance the trepidation that readers feel. We will discuss different ways in which characterized sounds can be utilized to terrify and unsettle readers.

1.4 The Use of Jarring and Distorted Sounds

Jarring and distorted sounds have the ability to disorient readers and create a sense of chaos and fear. They can be used to intensify the horror and make the nightmare scene truly unnerving. We will explore various techniques to incorporate jarring and distorted sounds in nightmare scenes for maximum impact.

1.5 Music and Sound Effects

Music and sound effects can be powerful tools in creating a chilling nightmare scene. They can heighten tension, evoke emotions, and elicit physiological responses from readers. We will discuss how to select and incorporate appropriate music and sound effects to enhance the overall terror of the nightmare scene.

2. Exploring the Role of Nightmarish Imagery in Writing Horror Fiction

Nightmarish imagery is a key element in constructing a truly terrifying and chilling horror scene. By painting vivid and disturbing pictures in the reader’s mind, writers can evoke fear and unease on a deep level. In this article, we will delve into the importance of nightmarish imagery and discuss different techniques to create unsettling and haunting visuals in nightmare scenes.

2.1 Creating Surreal and Distorted Imagery

Surreal and distorted imagery can transport readers into the realm of nightmares, where reality is twisted and warped. By describing scenes that defy logic and challenge the readers’ perception of what is possible, writers can create an atmosphere of profound discomfort. We will explore various methods to craft surreal and distorted imagery in nightmare scenes.

2.2 Exploring Nightmarish Symbols and Metaphors

Symbols and metaphors can add depth and layers of meaning to nightmare scenes. By incorporating nightmarish symbols and metaphors, writers can create a sense of dread and tap into the readers’ subconscious fears. We will discuss different ways to use symbols and metaphors to enhance the nightmarish quality of horror fiction.

2.3 Describing Gruesome and Macabre Scenes

The description of gruesome and macabre scenes is an effective way to evoke visceral reactions and instill fear in readers. By carefully crafting detailed and graphic descriptions, writers can make readers feel as if they are witnessing the horror firsthand. We will explore techniques to vividly describe gruesome and macabre scenes without crossing the line into gratuitous violence.

2.4 The Manipulation of Perception and Reality

In nightmare scenes, the manipulation of perception and reality can foster a sense of confusion and disorientation. By blurring the line between the real and the imagined, writers can amplify the psychological impact of the horror. We will discuss different ways to manipulate perception and reality to create a nightmarish atmosphere.

2.5 The Power of Vivid Descriptions and Sensory Details

Vivid descriptions and sensory details are essential in conveying nightmarish imagery. By appealing to the reader’s senses and painting vivid pictures with words, writers can create an immersive and terrifying experience. We will explore the importance of sensory details in nightmare scenes and provide tips on how to effectively incorporate them into horror fiction writing.

FAQS – Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What are the essential elements needed to create a chilling nightmare scene? A: The essential elements for a chilling nightmare scene include vivid imagery, intense emotions, a sense of dread and unpredictability, as well as exploring the protagonist’s deepest fears.

Q: How important is setting in creating a chilling nightmare scene? A: Setting plays a crucial role in creating a chilling nightmare scene as it helps establish the atmosphere, sets the tone, and enhances the overall sense of unease. It is important to choose a setting that complements the desired mood and helps emphasize the darkness of the scene.

Q: How can I effectively convey fear and anxiety in a nightmare scene? A: To effectively convey fear and anxiety in a nightmare scene, utilize descriptive language to depict the physical and emotional sensations experienced by the protagonist. Use heightened senses, frantic thoughts, and visceral reactions to make the reader feel the character’s terror.

Q: Should I focus more on the psychological or physical horror elements in a nightmare scene? A: The balance between psychological and physical horror elements depends on the tone and desired impact of your scene. However, a combination of both can be highly effective in creating a chilling nightmare scene. By tapping into the character’s deep-rooted fears while incorporating physical frights, you can evoke a sense of terror that lingers with the reader.

Q: How can I maintain the suspense and intensity throughout a nightmare scene? A: To maintain suspense and intensity in a nightmare scene, pacing is crucial. Utilize short, snappy sentences and paragraphs to quicken the rhythm and keep the reader engaged. Maintain a sense of uncertainty and escalate the danger gradually to sustain the tension.

How to Write Characters With Trauma: Nightmares, Flashbacks, and Triggers

By Lindsay Fortin

CW: Fire

Trauma is one of those things that appears often in stories. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book where a character doesn’t experience trauma, and it’s usually part of a character’s arc. You have to be mean to your characters in order for them to grow. It wouldn’t be much of a story if everything was happy and rose-tinted all the time. But writing a character with trauma is difficult. Especially if you’ve never experienced PTSD yourself. And as someone who’s experienced PTSD, I’ve noticed some depictions of trauma responses that stand out as stereotypical and inaccurate.

And just to clarify, this is partly based on my research of PTSD, as well as my own experience with it. There may be common features in everyone who suffers with PTSD, but not everyone will present in the same way or experience the same symptoms. It can present differently in different people, and this is only one limited perspective. My own experience isn’t gospel, and there are so many different ways that PTSD can impact people. If you or someone you know has experienced PTSD in a different way than I have, that is completely valid and okay!

PTSD is complicated, and not like what we see in movies. Flashbacks, nightmares, and triggers tend to be different than the way they’re usually depicted. I’ll illustrate using my own experience with PTSD. In the spring of 2014 I had a house fire. I was 15 at the time, and unfortunately I was the one cooking when it started. Luckily no one was hurt and we didn’t lose our whole house, even though what wasn’t fire damaged still needed to be stripped and rebuilt. Nearly everything we owned was smoke and heat damaged, but ultimately we were very lucky.

I can’t touch on all the different aspects of PTSD, but I’ll hit three major points that usually appear in books and other media; nightmares, flashbacks, and triggers.

To keep in mind when writing your characters:

Not everyone will have the same reaction to trauma. Some will bounce back much more quickly than others, and look back on it as an unpleasant event that they went through. For others it will be deeply traumatic. Therefore not everyone will develop PTSD.
Even more than that, people won’t always develop the same symptoms. Mine manifested a lot in guilt, shame, and anxiety, but for others it might manifest as irritation, emotional outbursts, questioning their beliefs and everything they know, etc…
Think about your character and how the trauma might impact them. Do they care a lot about others? Are they naturally impulsive? Are they good at hiding their feelings? How does this traumatic event shake their world up?

Nightmares:

The way I thought nightmares with PTSD worked was that they were a vivid replay of the traumatic thing that happened. That’s not exactly how it is. It’s more about the feelings and the general themes of the event, and while it incorporates a lot of those same tangible elements, it sometimes plays them in a different way.

For example, if my traumatic event goes:

I’m cooking.
An oil fire starts.
I freeze, not knowing what to do. I can’t move.
My mom tells me to call 911 and get the dogs. I can barely hear her yell over the roar of the flames.
I get the dogs and we get outside.
We sit across the street waiting for the firetrucks to arrive.

You might think that my PTSD nightmare might be a repeat of this, and go:

I freeze, not knowing what to do. I can’t move.
We sit across the street waiting for the firetrucks to arrive.

But it’s much more complex than that. The way I felt in those moments show up way more often in my dreams than some of the physical elements of the trauma. Sometimes I wake up feeling the way I did during the fire. Unsafe, homesick, guilty, panicked, and fearful for my mom and my dogs’ welfare. Sometimes I’ll only remember confusing flashes of images from the dream. Other times I will have dreams that incorporate the tangible aspects of my trauma, but it won’t always be in the exact order or place it happened. I’ve even had perfectly normal dreams in completely different settings turn into a PTSD dream unexpectedly. So rather than a direct replay of the traumatic event, I might get something more like:

I smell smoke. I’m huddled in a corner, frozen. I’m in my bedroom in my new apartment, where I moved a couple of years after the fire. It’s dark. It’s nighttime instead of daytime, completely midnight black except for the bright glowing light flickering outside my door. I know my dogs are close to the fire but I can’t get to them. I struggle against my own body, but I might as well be a statue. I can’t hear myself think over how loud the flames are. Guilt and panic threaten to eat me alive as I feel the flames get closer to my dogs and I can’t do anything. The smoke gets stronger, and I can feel the heat of the fire fill up the room.

I come across nightmare scenes in books that are a direct replay of the traumatic event, and don’t focus enough on the feelings that the character felt in that moment. If we’ve seen the character experience the traumatic event in the book already, you don’t need to repeat it. Instead, dive deeper into how their body feels, what their thought process is like, and how they interact with the world around them in that moment. It’s a great opportunity to show the character’s deepest fears, their regrets, and the inner workings of their psyche. Rather than replaying the trauma exactly as it happened, take advantage of the character building opportunity! Anything can happen in a dream. Be creative with the images, but keep the themes and emotions consistent. Explore those themes and let it actually say something about the character. Your reader will appreciate it.

Flashbacks:

This is another aspect of trauma that a lot of media gets wrong. There’s this stereotypical image of someone having a flashback that can’t distinguish between their memory and reality, and they really think they’re reliving their trauma all over again. While I’m sure that many people might experience their flashbacks like this, I’ve personally found it can be much more subtle. The one part that they get sort of right is that it does feel like you’re reliving your trauma all over again. But I’ve always been aware that I’m not physically standing in front of the fire anymore. What happens is, in my opinion, much worse. My body feels like it’s trapped in front of the fire, that I’m trapped inside of that moment. I’m aware that it’s not currently happening and that I’m physically safe, but I can’t escape it, no matter where I go. My mind will replay certain aspects of the fire and induce that bodily response, and there’s nothing that can stop it. I’m not just brought back to that moment — it lives inside of me and all around me no matter where I go. It’s like being haunted by a very, very determined ghost. Like stepping between two realities. You’re aware that in this moment you are technically safe, but you can’t convince your body and mind of that fact regardless of how hard you may try.

Flashbacks for me can even come in the form of smells. The smoke from the fire had a very distinct smell to it, and for years every time I would get stressed, or come across a trigger, or simply be sitting on the couch watching Netflix, the smell of the smoke would fill my nose and it would be difficult to get it out. I can’t smell anything else in that state. Because I can smell the smoke, it tricks my body into thinking I’m in danger again. These flashbacks can happen anywhere, and even though they’re the ones I can most easily hide from people, they’re not any less distressing. For others with PTSD I imagine that they have similar experiences with taste, touch, and hearing things from their traumatic event.

Triggers:

Triggers can be anything. It might be someone making a casual comment to you about your trauma that puts you into a downward spiral, a commercial on TV, a sight or smell, a texture, an unexpected sound, a place, a person, or even feeling the way you did during the traumatic event. A trigger can bring on a flashback, or even a panic attack.

While some of my triggers are what you’d expect: fire, fire alarms, sirens, smoke

They’re also things you might not expect: seeing more than one fire truck, candles, turning on the stove, cutting onions (which is what I was doing prior to the fire starting), heat from cooking, standing on pavement with bare feet, and even the word “fire.”

Writing a character who has been put through a traumatic event and shows the effects of that trauma can be difficult, but it can also be a really good exercise in getting inside of your character’s head. If you plan to have them experience nightmares, flashbacks, and triggers, take advantage of that opportunity to really dive deep into what drives them and how they see the world. It will help bring your character to life!

Nightmare - quotes and descriptions to inspire creative writing

gateway to hell
Ghost behaviour
Ghost look and feel
Ghost sounds
halloween horror night
Masking fear
monster attack
Monster Look and Feel
Nightmare Before Christmas
reality breaking
Your worst nightmare

If you love me, let me keep my nightmares to myself, ever on silent-mode... for to speak of such things give a substance to the fog that is more than this heart can take. For some nightmares are not the stuff of fiction nor open for interpretation, yet a reality that must be lived.

When you hear what the nightmare is saying and either make the necessary changes or soothe the inner child-self, it will be as sunlit rain and vanish into the air.

The nightmare comes in visual puns and communicating in metaphor as the creative dreaming brain does, offering suggestions and seeking answers in return. For what is the nightmare but a form of internal communication?

The nightmare, as the demons of dreams, comes to educate you if you are brave enough to look into these dark recesses of the brain.

The nightmare is a horse that will carry you home after you have explored the dark.

I'm your knight. Protective chivalry is my thing. If anyone messes with you I promise I'll be their nightmare. I'll ride them until they drop. Trust me, I'm real good at it.

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Do Nightmares Make Writers More Creative?

When i was a kid, i used to wake up, terrified, on the floor in my room..

After I realized where I was, I would experience a flood of relief, followed by an intense fear of going back to sleep.

I could remember my nightmares vividly, vicious, violent experiences where I was chased by strange people and threatened with knives and machetes and trapped and unable to move while someone raised an ax above my head.

I knew from experience that if I went back to sleep too soon, without shaking my brain out of its negative funk, I’d go right back into the scene I had left where I feared the ax (or whatever) would actually separate me from my head or my leg or some other crucial body part.

I’d get up and go into my mother’s room. Of course, she’d be asleep. I wouldn’t want to wake her, but I would be too scared to go back to bed, so I’d stand there by the foot of her bed, stuck in indecision.

Mom always did me a great favor by waking up. Somehow, she felt my presence. (She later told me that my nighttime visits would startle her awake—sorry, Mom!) A short talk with her would help me feel better, and I’d eventually go back to bed.

My nightmares became less frequent as I grew older, but I continued to have them now and then, and they were just as terrifying as they’d always been. Sometimes I consoled myself with the thought that at least they contained imaginative ideas I could potentially use in my writing one day. (Hey, it worked for Edgar Allen Poe.)

But after one particularly bad one from which I woke up with my heart slamming in my chest, I wondered:

Are nightmares a good or bad thing for writers?

Famous Books Inspired by Nightmares

Frankenstein was said to have come from one of young Mary Shelley’s nightmare after a night spent with Lord Byron reading ghost stories.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson’s graphic nightmares. Many of Edgar Allen Poe’s works are believed to have stemmed from his troubled nightmares, as were those of H. P. Lovecraft.

Misery came from a nightmare Stephen King had while on a flight to London. Others include H. G. Wells’ 12 Stories and a Dream , especially the last story, A Dream of Armageddon , and Julia Slavin’s Carnivore Diet .

I’m sure there are many more. So we have good evidence that sometimes, our nightmares can be put to good use. We also have really good evidence that nightmares are linked to creativity.

Link Between Frequent Nightmares and Creativity

If you’ve been plagued by nightmares for much of your life, here’s the good news:

It may mean that you’re naturally creative.

A number of studies have linked the two. Back in the 1980s, The New York Times reported on research that indicated nightmare sufferers may have a natural tendency to gravitate toward the arts, and that there appeared to be a link between nightmares and creative vision.

Dr. Ernest Hartmann, a sleep researcher and professor of psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine, and Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk, a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School, researched 50 individuals in the 1980s who reported having at least one nightmare per week in childhood.

These nightmares were similar to mine, and involved being chased, threatened, or hurt by an attacker. They were almost always in color, and included “other especially vivid sensations including pain, which is rarely experienced in ordinary dreams,” the Times reported.

Most of the participants also described themselves as “unusually sensitive since childhood: easily hurt, particularly responsive to the feelings of others, unhappy as children even though there were no overt family problems.”

The researchers described them as having “thin boundaries,” a certain vulnerability that allowed them to be more affected by the world around them.

Hartman wrote:

“I am suggesting that one important aspect of what makes a person an artist is having a psychological makeup of thin boundaries, which includes the ability to experience and take in a great deal from inside and outside, to experience one’s own inner life in a very direct fashion, and (sometimes an unwanted ability) to experience the world more directly, more painfully than others.”

A later 1991 study also suggested a link between frequent nightmares and creativity, and in the Encyclopedia of Creativity by Steven R. Pritzker and Mark A. Runco, the authors note that while the link between creativity and nightmares remains uncertain, a survey of college students found that art majors reported having the most nightmares, and that students with frequent nightmares report more visual imagery upon awakening.

People Who Have Nightmares Tend to be More Creative

The studies on nightmares have continued into the 2000s, and in 2003, another reported a link between them and creativity.

Researchers looked at personality traits and dream recall, and found that people who were more likely to be imaginative and to indulge in daydreaming and fantasizing found it easier to remember their dreams—good and bad.

The researchers drew parallels between how these people experienced the world during the day and night.

“People who are prone to daydreaming and fantasy have less of a barrier between states of sleep and wakefulness and seem more easily to pass between them,” researcher David Watson, professor of psychology at the University of Iowa, said in a press release.

In 2016, researchers again reported that nightmare sufferers seemed to have a tendency to be more creative:

“NM [nightmare] sufferers may access broader than normal emotional semantic networks in the wake state, a difference that may lead to this group being perceived as more creative.”

Lead researcher Michelle Carr also noted that these people tended to think more “out of the box” on word-association tasks—and they also have more positive dreams than the normal person. She told New Scientist :

“The evidence points towards the idea that, rather than interfering with normal activity, people who are unfortunate in having a lot of nightmares also have a dreaming life that is at least as creative, positive and vivid as it can be distressing and terrifying.”

You may find some consolation in the fact that your nightmares may be related to your creativity. But there may be more good news—nightmares may actually be, in some ways, good for you.

When Nightmares Can Be Helpful to Writers

There are a number of theories about what causes nightmares. Here are just a few of the possibilities:

Past trauma
Stress in life
Medication side effects
Disruption in the nervous system
Degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s
Withdrawal from alcohol or drugs

Particularly when related to trauma, nightmares may be beneficial, according to some research, as long as they don’t continue on indefinitely.

“Nightmares are a replay of a traumatic event,” said Michael Nadorff, assistant professor of psychology and sleep behavior medicine specialist at Mississippi State University, “so it is kind of like your body’s own exposure therapy.”

He goes on to say, though, that after three months, if someone is still having nightmares about the event, they are no longer helpful.

Some psychologists believe that nightmares can be helpful warnings to us, that something in our lives needs tending to.

“Nightmares can be extremely distressing for people,” says Dr Alex Lukeman, the author of Nightmares, How to Make Sense of Your Darkest Dreams , “but they are trying to warn us that we are caught up in some internal conflict needing resolution for the sake of our well-being.”

Still others believe that nightmares help us process our emotions, particularly if we tend to repress them during the day. They are signs of emotional overload, and most psychologists believe that if they continue for more than a few weeks, it’s worth checking with a doctor or psychiatrist.

“In late September of 1974, Tabby and I spent a night at a grand old hotel in Estes Park, the Stanley. We were the only guests as it turned out; the following day they were going to close the place down for the winter. Wandering through its corridors, I thought that it seemed the perfect—maybe the archetypical—setting for a ghost story. That night I dreamed of my three-year-old son running through the corridors, looking back over his shoulder, eyes wide, screaming. He was being chased by a fire-hose. I woke up with a tremendous jerk, sweating all over, within an inch of falling out of bed. I got up, lit a cigarette, sat in the chair looking out the window at the Rockies, and by the time the cigarette was done, I had the bones of the book firmly set in my mind.”

12 Ways to Banish Your Nightmares

Hearing that nightmares can be helpful in some situations, that they may be connected to creativity, and that they can inspire our stories may help us feel a little bit better about them.

But let’s face it—even writers, who often pull story inspiration from dreams, good and bad, don’t particularly enjoy having nightmares.

If they become too frequent, they may signal something else that’s wrong. They can also cause sleeplessness, anxiety, depression, and all the other potential health problems that go with insomnia, including weight gain and brain fog.

So what can we do about them?

If you’re tired of suffering nightmares—perhaps you already have enough creative ideas to last you a lifetime—try these tips to reduce their occurrence:

Talk to a psychiatrist: These professionals can help in a number of ways. If your nightmares are attached to past traumas, they can help you process them so the nightmares will back off. They also have access to some medications that can help reduce nightmares, particularly those caused by anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Check for depression: Recent research has highlighted depression as a major risk factor for recurrent nightmares. Here again, a psychiatrist can help.
Cure your insomnia: Along with depression, insomnia can be a major factor in recurrent nightmares. Of course it makes sense—if you know Hannibal Lector is waiting for you in your dreams going to feel anxious about going to sleep. Talk to your doctor for help.
Check your medications: Talk to your doctor about any medications you’re taking. Some (including antidepressants and blood pressure meds) are known to increase risk of nightmares. Your doctor may be able to give you something similar that won’t affect your dreams.
Keep a dream diary: Every morning, immediately after you wake up, write down any memories you have of dreams, good and bad. This will help improve your recall over time. Getting the images down on paper can help rob them of their power, so they don’t seem so frightening, and can also help you determine what may be causing the disturbing dreams. Of course this practice will also give you some notes for future writing ideas if you decide to pursue them.
Write a better ending: Most of us wake up from nightmares before they feel complete. Write a positive ending to your dream in your dream diary. Imagine how everything would turn out all right. It can help reprogram your brain to diminish the nightmares.
Stop the madness: Before you go to sleep, promise yourself that you will be more in control of your dreams, and stop the ones that go bad. I found this worked for me for a time—I could actually wake myself up before anything terrible happened. Just remind yourself of your power over your own mind before you go to sleep.
Go easy on your tummy: No alcohol, caffeine, or heavy foods before bed.
Watch something fun: Try cartoons, happy movies, or fun books before bed to fill your mind with positive images.
Practice stress-relief before bed: A hot bath, some yoga or tai chi, meditation, massage—these and other activities before bed can help your mind and body calm down and relax, reducing your risk of nightmares.
Imagine yourself somewhere beautiful: Think of your favorite place, somewhere beautiful, or somewhere you’d like to be, and concentrate on that image as you go to sleep.
Exercise more: Exercise tires out your body, yet stimulates the release of “feel-good” endorphins in your mind. If you’re physically tired, you’re more likely to sleep soundly.

Have you used nightmares to inspire your writing?

Photo Credit, Robert Louis Stevenson: The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library. [Robert Louis Stevenson.] Retrieved from http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/c5831e4d-c3d2-1ecb-e040-e00a18067b87

The Stanley: Ken Lund via Foter.com / CC BY-SA

Sources Joe McGasko, “Her ‘Midnight Pillow’: Mary Shelley and the Creation of Frankenstein,” Bio , January 23, 2014, http://www.biography.com/news/mary-shelley-frankenstein-i-frankenstein-movie.

“15 Famous Books Inspired by Dreams,” BachelorsDegreeOnline , 2010, http://www.bachelorsdegreeonline.com/blog/2010/15-famous-books-inspired-by-dreams/.

Dan Goleman, “Nightmares are Linked to Creativity in New View,” New York Times , October 23, 1984, http://www.nytimes.com/1984/10/23/science/nightmares-are-linked-to-creativity-in-new-view.html.

Hartmann E, et al, “A preliminary study of the personality of the nightmare sufferer: relationship to schizophrenia and creativity?” Am J Psychiatry , June 1981; 138(6):794-7, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7246811.

Levin Ross, et al., “Nightmares, boundaries, and creativity,” Dreaming , March 1991; 1(1):63-74, http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=buy.optionToBuy&uid=1992-19859-001.

“Creative People Remember More Dreams,” WebMD , June 27, 2003, http://www.webmd.com/balance/news/20030627/creative-people-remember-more-dreams.

Michelle Carr, et al., “Nightmare sufferers show atypical emotional semantic associations and prolonged REM sleep-dependent emotional priming,” Sleep Medicine , April 2016; 20:80-87, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S138994571502064X.

Michelle Carr, “The upside of nightmares: How bad dreams are also good for you,” New Scientist , April 27, 2016, https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23030710-900-the-upside-of-nightmares-how-bad-dreams-are-also-good-for-you/.

Lily Feinn, “People Who Have Nightmares are More Creative, According to Recent Study,” Bustle, May 31, 2016, http://www.bustle.com/articles/164028-people-who-have-nightmares-are-more-creative-according-to-recent-study.

Patrick McNamara, “Frequent Nightmares,” Psychology Today , June 19, 2012, https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/dream-catcher/201206/frequent-nightmares.

Charlotte Harding, “Why nightmares can be good for your health,” Daily Mail , http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-52193/Why-nightmares-good-health.html.

Nils Sandman, et al., “Nightmares: Risk Factors Among the Finnish General Adult Population,” Sleep , 2015; 38(4):507-514, http://journalsleep.org/ViewAbstract.aspx?pid=29949.

Howe interesting! I’m one of the ‘frequent nightmares’ paople ~ from childhood to today. I hate them, but you are right: they pattern the writing, giving you the chance to feel what a character in a horrifying situation would feel, without actually BEING there. Some of the images are so startling, I’ve put them into novels. So, bad thing, good thing. Mind, I write crime, dunno how chicklit writers would incorporate them!

Ha ha. Interesting, Carol! You’re obviously a writer who uses those images in her work. And I love what you said about having the chance to really feel that horrifying situation—good point!

I have a lot of nightmares, most involving a chase where I’m the fleeing person scared out of her wits. So far, I’ve always jolted myself awake before getting caught. I do holler “help” out loud during those dreams, but my husband says the sound is more like “HUH’ and is loud enough to wake him up. It may be a sign of creativity, but it’s one I’d happily do without.

I can see why, Pat! Good luck banishing those.

This is actually something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately. I’m working on a short story where the protagonist chooses to stay in her dreams. It’s a fascinating subject for sure. Thanks for all the research, very interesting.

Oh interesting, Bonnie. I didn’t think of it in relation to characters. Story sounds interesting!

What a fabulous post, Colleen! I love that those prone to daydreaming and fantasy (that would be us, no?) have less of a barrier between sleep and wake. That just nails the art of being creative! And while I had awful nightmares as a child, and well into adulthood, thank goodness my productive dream life is much less frightening these days (and yep, lots of therapy on this end 🙂 No wonder I write Literary instead of Horror! Just love all this info!

That thinner barrier explains a lot, right? Ha ha. Yeah, I wouldn’t make it writing horror either–the nightmares would be back for sure! :O)

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Writing nightmares/dreams

How can I write a nightmare scene without making readers aware that it is indeed a nightmare and not something that is really happening to the character?

creative-writing

3 Answers 3

All you have to do is write it as though it was really happening.

However, you should be aware that many readers strongly dislike it when you fool them in this way --there has to be a strong reason for doing it, otherwise it feels like a cheap parlor trick, and can damage suspension of disbelief.

Relating Dreams and Nightmares as real life scenes in your stories are an over used trope. We can thank all those writers who came before us to stripping the trees of the low hanging fruit to tell their stories.

If the trope is important to your story, then by ensuring that your readers know its is a dream you can refute any complaints you are using an over wrote trope.

If you want you narrative to be free of distancing statements like last night I dreamt … you can have your character relate that they always dream of something specific — unicorns or candy corn or rubber washing gloves. They should react to that observation in some way that reveals plot or character. Then you can have those specific elements show up in your dream scenes and they will clue your readers in to that fact that they are in a dream or nightmare.

Weirdness factor:

I've watched and read a lot of messed up stuff. Chris isn't wrong, in that you can certainly write very realistic dreams. But is that really what you want to do? I think of The Illustrated Man , Inception , or Brazil , and the surreal qualities of the settings in these works are such that the lines between dream and reality blur. Eventually, you're not even sure if it matters.

I have a character who dreams about memories, but sometimes it's not HER memories (she has a ghost). Other times, they are dreams, but premonitions. Other times, they are symbolic and sent as messages. Unfortunately, you usually know they are SOME kind of dream, but not how 'real' they are. The character also hallucinates sometimes (and sometimes the hallucinations reveal a deeper reality, making them more real than reality), so it gets murky. But short of having reality be a slippery slope for the character, readers don't want to be tricked into thinking dreams are real. The best I can suggest is to make the character's reality messed up enough that the character isn't sure what's real.

Altered mental states (I'm leery of 'mental illness' as a tag) allow your character to inhabit a very strange reality. You can portray that reality to your reader. Sometimes, their dreams might be more real than their reality (depending on what genre you're writing in).

Virtual reality is another popular approach to this. Once in a virtual reality, you can never be 100% sure your character has left the virtual reality. There's always the nagging possibility that something (or everything) is just a construct of the virtual reality.

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T. J. Blake #Author

Short Story Nightmare

My terrifying nightmare.

This short story is based on my nightmare from years ago.

I decided to turn it into a short story because it seemed so real. It jolted me out of my sleep and even after waking up I was left reeling, believing it had happened.

Let me introduce to you, my short story nightmare . Dun, dun, duuuunnnnnn!

The nightmare

I turn into the private close and pull up in the lay-by outside my parent’s home. My tyre creates a splash on the concrete.

Switching off the engine and shuffling in my seat, I look over at my parent’s house. Oddly, the front door is open. I look down the side of the house at the wheelie bins, expecting to see Dad putting out the rubbish. He isn’t there.

I check the living room window, expecting to see a single shutter flexing, with Mum’s fingers waving to greet me. But she isn’t, the shutters are undisturbed.

Unplugging my seat belt and opening the car door, I unwillingly step out into the wet, chilly air. With the sound of my car door, I check the window again, expecting the door’s slam to prompt Mum to take a peek. She doesn’t.

Strange, says my inside voice.

Movement at the top of my periphery vision catches my attention – the upstairs window, one blind shutter out of place, forming a gap.

Oh, Mum’s upstairs.

The blinds begin to rise gradually.

Turning back to the car, I press lock on the key and await the familiar clunk of the car doors locking, before turning back for the house.

Walking to the house, I look up at the window, expecting to see Mum waving at me with a big smile on her face. There is a smile, but it’s not one I recognise. The stranger’s face sends a shiver down my spine.

I freeze. I don’t know what to do. All I feel is fear.

It’s someone wearing a mask – the moon crescent shaped grin is permanent, with a bloody redness to it. The stranger teases their arm up and slowly waves at me.

I regain control of my body and charge inside. Through the entrance hall, into the sitting room and onto the stairs. I jump over the first step and stumble on the second, falling flat onto my front. The step winds me, stopping me momentarily. Regaining my breath, I clamber up.

“Mum? Dad?” I shout upstairs.

My foot slips again, forcing me onto all fours. I look up, someone’s looming on the landing. It’s him, staring down at me, still smiling uncontrollably from the top of the stairs. I get back onto my feet and skip the final few steps.

I throw my body against him, pushing him against the wall. He doesn’t flinch, he smiles. Chuckling under his breath. I tear his mask off his face. He’s grey, lacking a healthy skin colour.

“Where are my parents?” I hear the fear in the shaky intonation of my voice.

He continues staring, holding a wide smile.

“They’re not here, anymore,” he croaks.

I push him aside and run into my parent’s bedroom. I see the bed, but I turn away just as quickly.

I can’t look again. But I have to.

I turn back to the bed, I see two mounds under the duvet. Smudges of red decorate the room, as if I was in an artist’s studio.

After that I woke up, can you blame me?

If you enjoyed this short story, then you will most definitely enjoy reading my novels, DECEPTION and my latest novel, Familiar .

Preview Familiar below

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132 Best Horror Writing Prompts and Scary Story Ideas

Generate Full-Length AI Horror Novel Instantly

Table of contents.

Horror stories send shivers down our spines. They are gruesome, shocking, and chilling. Scary stories are meant to horrify us, and there are many ways to make a powerful impact on the reader. The element of surprise is crucial to make the readers’ blood freeze.

There are different types of horror stories. They often deal with terrible murders, supernatural powers, psychopaths, frightening human psychology, and much more.

Horror Writing Prompts List

Final words, frequently asked questions.

Although many horror writing prompts and scary ideas have been written, the following 132 horror writing prompts can spark great creativity in aspiring writers of the horror genre.

A family is on a camping trip. The parents are walking with their two children, a daughter and a son. The little boy trips and falls into a dark river. His father jumps to rescue him. Somehow, the boy manages to swim to the surface. The father is nowhere to be found. When the mother gets a hold of the boy, she can’t recognize him. She tries holding him, but the moment she touches his wet body, her hands start burning.
A young girl goes missing in a nearby forest. The whole town is searching for her. Her parents find her sitting and smiling in a cave. Her eyes are completely white.
A woman starts watching a movie late at night. The movie seems all too familiar. Finally, she realizes that it is a movie about her own life and that she might be already dead.
A house finds a way to kill every visitor on its premises.
A child makes her own Halloween mask. She glues a lock of her own hair on her mask. The mask comes to life and threatens to take over the girl’s body.

While digging in her backyard, an old lady discovers an iron chest. She opens it and finds a pile of old photographs of her ancestors. All of them are missing their left eye.
A priest is trying to punish God for the death of his sister. He is getting ready to burn down the church when supernatural forces start to torture him.
Every year, a woman goes to the cemetery where her husband is buried, and when she looks at his tombstone, she notices her own name carved into it.
A woman puts a lipstick on in the bathroom when she hears a demonic voice saying to her: “Can’t you see?”
A mysterious child psychiatrist promises parents to cure their children if they give him a vile of their blood.
A group of 10 friends decide to rent an old English castle for the weekend. The ghosts are disturbed and seek their pound of flesh.
A photographer travels to an Indian reservation for his next project. He starts taking photos, but there are only shadows in the places where people should have been.

A young married couple decides to renovate an abandoned psychiatric hospital and turn it into a hotel. Everything is going well until their first guest arrives.
Three sisters are reunited for the reading of their grandmother’s will. She has left them a diamond necklace, but they have to fight psychologically and physically for it.
An old woman pretends to be lost and asks a young woman to help her get home. She offers them a cup of tea and drugs them. When the women wake up, they are chained in the basement. The old woman gives them tools and boards so that they can build their own coffin. If they refuse, she inflicts pain on them.
A mysterious stranger with a glass eye and a cane commissions a portrait. When the portrait is finished, the painter turns it into stone.
A little girl’s sister lives with a monster in the closet. She exits the closet on her sister’s birthday.
The demons under the nuclear plant get released after an explosion and start terrorizing the families of people who work at the plant.
A woman gets trapped in a parallel universe where every day, she dies horribly in different ways.
A cannibal hunts for pure children’s hearts, hoping they will bring him eternal youth.
A politician hides his weird sister in the attic. She’s had her supernatural powers after their family home burned to the ground.
A 16-year-old girl wakes up on a stone-cold table surrounded by people in black and white masks. They chant and start leaning forward. All of them carry carved knives.

A boy hears screaming from his parents’ bedroom. He jumps and hides under his bed. Suddenly, everything becomes quiet. A man wearing army boots enters his room. He drags the boy from under the bed and says: “We’ve been searching for you for 200 years.”
A husband and his wife regain consciousness only to see each other tied to chairs, facing each other. A voice on the radio tells them to kill the other. Otherwise, they would kill their children.
A mysterious altruist gives a kidney to a young man who has the potential to become a leading neuroscientist. After a year, the altruist kills the young man because he proves to be an unworthy organ recipient. The following year, the mysterious altruist is a bone marrow donor.
A group of friends play truth or dare. Suddenly, all the lights go out, and in those ten seconds of darkness, one of the group is killed.
A young man becomes obsessed with an old man living opposite his building. The young man is convinced that the old man is the embodiment of the devil and starts planning the murder.
Concerned and grieving parents bring their 8-year-old son to a psychiatrist after their daughter’s accident, believing that the boy had something to do with her death.
A woman is admitted to a hospital after a car crash. She wakes up after three months in a coma, but when she tries to speak, she can’t utter a sound. When the nurse sees that she is awake, she calls a doctor. The last thing the woman remembers is hearing the doctor say: “Today is your lucky day,” right before four men in black robes take her out.
A small-town cop becomes obsessed with a cold case from 1978. Three girls went missing after school, and nobody has seen them since. Then, one day, in 2008, three girls with the same names as those in 1978 went missing. The case is reopened.

Scary story ideas for a psychological horror

After his parents’ death, a cardiologist returns to his small town, where everyone seems to lead a perfect life. This causes a disturbance in the idyllic life of the people since none of them has a heart.
A man is kidnapped from his apartment at midnight and brought to a large private estate. He is told that he will be a human prey and that ten hunters with guns will go after him. He is given a 5-minute head start.
A strange woman in labor is admitted to the local hospital. Nobody seems to recognize her. She screams in agony. A black smoke fills in the entire hospital. After that, nobody is the same. A dark lord is born.
A young girl finds her grandmother’s gold in a chest in the attic, although she isn’t allowed to go there by herself. She touches the gold, and she starts seeing horrible visions involving her grandmother when she was younger.
An anthropologist studies rituals involving human sacrifice. She slowly begins to accept them as necessary.
A family of four moves into an old Victorian home. As they restore it, more and more people die suddenly and violently.

An old nurse has lived next door to a family that doesn’t get older. Their son has remained to be a seven-year-old boy.
A girl wakes up in her dorm and sees that everybody sleepwalks in the same direction. She acts as if she has the same condition and follows them to an underground black pool where everybody jumps.
A bride returns to the same bridge for 50 years, waiting for her husband-to-be to get out of the water.
An old woman locks girls’ personalities in a forever-growing collection of porcelain dolls. Parents of the missing girls are in agony, and they finally suspect something. When they tell the police, their claims are instantly dismissed.
A chemistry teacher disfigures teenagers who remind him of his childhood bullies. One day, he learns that the new student in his school is the son of his childhood archenemy.
A girl starts digging tiny holes in her backyard. When her mother asks her what she is doing, the girl answers: “Mr. Phantom told me to bury my dolls tonight. Tomorrow night I am going to bury our dog. And then, you, mother.”

Twin brothers were kidnapped and returned the next day. They claim that they can’t remember anything. The following night, the twin sisters disappear.
A boy has a very realistic dream about impending doom, but nobody believes him until, during a storm, all the birds fall dead on the ground.
Room 206 is believed to be haunted, so hotel guests never stay in it. One day, an old woman arrives at the hotel and asks for the key to room 206. She says that she was born there.
A genius scientist tries to extract his wife’s consciousness from her lifeless body and insert it into an imprisoned woman who looks just like his wife.
Two distinguished scientists developed a new type of virus that attacks their brains and turns them into killing machines.
A woman steps out of her house only to find four of her neighbors dead at her doorstep. Little does she know that she isn’t supposed to call the police.
A bachelor’s party ends with two dead people in the pool. Both of them are missing their eyes.
A young woman wearing a black dress is holding a knife in her hand and threatening to kill a frightened man. She is terrified because she does not want to kill anybody, but her body refuses to obey her mind.
A strange religious group starts performing a ritual on a playground. The children’s hearts stop beating.
A woman discovers that her niece has done some horrible crimes, so she decides to poison her. Both of them take the poison, but only the aunt dies.

Free Small decorative ghost in white cape hanging on tree sprig on blurred background in autumn park during holiday celebration in daylight Stock Photo

A man encounters death on his way to work. He can ask three questions before he dies. He makes a quick decision.
An older brother kills his baby sister because he wants to be an only child. When he learns that his mother is pregnant again, he decides to punish her.
A husband and his wife move to a new apartment. After a week, both of them kill themselves. They leave a note saying: “Never again.”
A man is trying to open a time portal so that he can kill his parents before he is ever conceived.
A famous conductor imprisons a pianist from the orchestra and makes him play the piano while he tortures other victims as musicians. Every time the pianist makes a mistake, the conductor cuts of a finger from his victims.
A popular French chef is invited by a mysterious Japanese sushi master for dinner. A powerful potion makes the French chef fall asleep. He wakes up horrified to learn that he is kept on a human farm, in a cage.
A nuclear blast turns animals into blood-thirsty monsters.
A mysterious bug creeps under people’s skin and turns them into the worst version of themselves.
A kidnapper makes his victims torture each other for his sheer pleasure.
Four friends are invited to spend the afternoon in an escape room. A man’s voice tells them that they have won a prize. They happily accept and enter the escape room. They soon realize that the room was designed to reflect their worst nightmares.

Two sisters have been given names from the Book of the Dead. Their fates have been sealed, so when they turn 21, dark forces are sent to bring them to the underground.
A mother-to-be starts feeling severe pain in her stomach every time she touches a Bible. Despite the fear for her own life, she starts reading the New Testament out loud.
A literature professor discovers an old manuscript in the college library. He opens it in his study, and suddenly, a black raven flies through the window.
You are the Ruler of a dystopian society. You kill every time your control is threatened.
You are an intelligent robot who shows no mercy to humanity.
You are a promising researcher who discovers that all the notorious dictators have been cloned.
A nomad meets a fakir who tells him that he will bring agony to dozens of people unless he kills himself before he transforms into a monster.
A most prominent member of a sect goes to animal shelters to find food for the dark forces.
A man hires unethical doctors to help him experience clinical death and then bring him back to life after a minute. Little does he know that one minute of death feels like an eternity full of horrors.
You travel home to visit your parents for the holidays. Everything seems normal until you realize that demons have taken over their consciousness.
A mysterious woman moves into your apartment building. One by one, all of the tenants start hallucinating that monsters are chasing them and jump to their own deaths.
Divorced parents are kidnapped together with their son. Both of the parents have been given poison, but there is only one antidote. The boy needs to decide which parent gets to be saved. He has 30 seconds to make that decision.
A patient with a multiple-personality disorder tells you that you are one of six characters.
You wake up in bed that is a bloodbath.

Free Man Wearing Black Mask And Hoodie Jacket Stock Photo

The Government abducts children with genius IQ and trains them to fight the horrors in Area 51.
A woman who has just given birth at her home is told that the baby is predestined to become the leader of the greatest demonic order in the country.
A man signs a document with his blood to relinquish his body to a sect.
A woman enters a sacred cave in India and disappears for good.
A man opens his eyes in the middle of his autopsy while the coroner is holding his heart.
You look outside the windows in your house only to see that the view has changed and there is black fog surrounding you.
The gargoyles from Notre Dame have come to life, and they start terrorizing Paris.
Somebody rings your doorbell. You open the door, and a frightened girl with bloody hands is standing at your doorstep. “You’re late,” you reprimand her.
You wake up in the middle of the night after a frightful nightmare, so you go to the kitchen to get a glass of water. You turn on the light, and a person looking like your identical twin is grinning and pointing a knife at you.
A renowned book editor receives a manuscript elegantly written by hand. The title grabs her attention, and she continues reading page after page. When she finishes, the manuscript spontaneously starts burning, and the editor is cursed forever.
The last thing you remember before losing consciousness is fighting a shady Uber driver.
You find yourself in a cage in the middle of a forest and black mythological harpies hovering above the cage.
A woman wants to quit smoking, so she visits a therapist who is supposed to help her with the use of hypnosis. She goes under, and when she wakes up, she feels like a born killer.
Five hikers get stranded during a horrible storm. One of them kills the weakest and starts burning his body.
A mother goes in to the nursery to check up on the baby and discovers that the baby is missing and, in her place, there is a baby doll.

Horror story ideas about a serial killer

A killer is willing to pay a large sum of money to the family of a volunteering victim. A cancer patient contacts the killer. The killer ends up dead.
The sacred river in a remote Asian village fills up with blood. The last time that happened, all the children in the village died.
A tall, dark, and handsome stranger invites a blind woman for a romantic date in his botanical garden. The garden is full of black roses in which women’s souls have been trapped. He tells her that she will stay forever with him in his garden.
A frightened man is trying to lead a werewolf into a trap and kill him with the last silver bullet.
An architect designs houses for the rich and famous. What he doesn’t show them is that he always leaves room for a secret passageway to their bedrooms, where they are the most vulnerable.
A man’s DNA was found on a horrible crime scene, and he has been charged with murder in the first degree. He adamantly negates any involvement in the crime that has been committed. What he doesn’t know is that he had a twin brother who died at birth.
Every passenger on the Orient Express dies in a different and equally mysterious way.
A magician needs a volunteer from the audience in order to demonstrate a trick involving sawing a person in half. A beautiful woman steps on the stage. The magician makes her fall asleep, and then he performs the trick. In the end, he disappears. People in the audience start panicking when they notice the blood dripping from the table. The magician is nowhere to be found. The woman is dead.
A mother discovers that her bright son is not human.
Specters keep terrorizing patients in a psychiatric hospital, but nobody believes them.

A man’s mind is locked into an immovable body. This person is being tortured by a psychopath who kills his family members in front of him, knowing that he is in agony and can’t do anything to save them.
A bride-to-be receives a DVD via mail from an unknown sender. She plays the video and, disgusted, watches a pagan ritual. The people are wearing masks, but she recognizes the voice of her husband-to-be.
A man turns himself to the police, although he hasn’t broken the law. He begs them to put him in prison because he had a premonition that he would become a serial killer.
Jack the Ripper is actually a woman who brutally kills prostitutes because her own mother was a prostitute.
A ticking noise wakes her up. It’s a bomb, and she has only four minutes to do something about it.
After a horrible car crash, a walking skeleton emerges from the explosion.
A world-famous violinist virtuoso uses music to summon dark forces.
A philosopher is trying to outwit Death in order to be granted immortality. He doesn’t know that Death already knows the outcome of this conversation.
A beautiful but superficial woman promises a demon to give him her virginity in exchange for immortality. Once the demon granted her wish, she refused to fulfill her end of the deal. The demon retaliated by making her immortal but not eternally youthful.
A voice starts chanting spells every time somebody wears the gold necklace from Damask.
Three teenagers beat up a homeless man. The next day all of them go missing.

Scary story ideas and horror story writing prompts

Thirteen tourists from Poland visit Trakai Island Castle in Vilnius. Their bodies are found washed up the next morning. They are wearing medieval clothes.
A group of extremists ambush the vehicle in which the head of a terrorist cell is transported and rescue him. They go after anybody who was involved in his incarceration.
A hitman is hired to kill a potential heart donor.
A man is attacked by the neighbor’s dog while trying to bury his wife alive.
A woman disappears from her home without a trace. He husband reports her missing. The police start to suspect the husband when they retrieve some deleted messages.
After moving to a new house, all the family members have the same nightmares. Slowly, they realize that they might be more than nightmares.
A psychopath is drugging his wife, pushing her to commit suicide so that he can collect the life insurance.
A woman loses her eyesight overnight. Instead, she starts having premonitions.
A vampire prefers albino children.
A man commits murders at night and relives the agony of his victims during the day.
A black horse carriage stops in front of your house. A hand wearing a black glove makes an inviting gesture. Mesmerized, you decide to enter the carriage.
Demons rejuvenate by eating kind people’s hearts.
People are horrified to find all of the graves dug out the morning after Halloween.
Men start jumping off buildings and bridges after hearing a mysterious song.
A voice in your head tells you to stop listening to the other voices. They were not real.
A severed head is hanging from a bridge with a message written in the victim’s blood.
A delusional man brings his screaming children to a chasm.
A 30-year-old woman learns that a baby with the same name as her died at the local hospital 30 years ago.
A vampire donates his blood so that a child with special brain powers can receive it.
A teenager is determined to escape his kidnapper by manipulating him into drinking poison. He doesn’t stop there.

If you want to streamline the horror novel creation process, you can also generate a custom book template with AI:

The 132 scary story ideas will help you take a deep dive into the human psyche. These horror story prompts will make you a seasoned writer and help you captivate readers. So, get ready to write a good horror story with unique writing prompts.

Let’s take a look at the following questions and answers:

What is a good way to start horror writing prompts?

To grab readers’ attention, craft the beginning of your horror story around an active scene featuring characters in the thick of an action. Introduce the central conflict and sprinkle tantalizing hints of danger or the unknown, such as clues about an accident or murder, to create an air of suspense and intrigue.

What are some good scary story ideas?

Effective horror story ideas delve into innate human fears and weaknesses. These fears can manifest as physical threats like monsters or ghosts or as psychological anxieties such as uncertainty or the unraveling of reality.

How can I start writing unique horror stories?

To craft a spine-tingling horror story, delve into the emotions that haunt your audience. Fear thrives in the unknown and the unforeseen, so weave these aspects seamlessly into your narrative. Craft a haunting atmosphere or chilling plot through vivid descriptions that linger in the reader’s mind. Gradually intensify the tension to keep them captivated and quivering on the brink of terror.

Is it easy to write on scary story prompts?

If you’re a horror enthusiast, you likely have some scary story ideas for your own screenplay. However, crafting effective horror stories isn’t straightforward. To truly scare your audience, your scary story must connect with their most primal fears.

What are cliches to avoid while writing scary story ideas?

To create effective horror stories, don’t rely solely on common tropes like haunted houses or creepy children. Instead, find unique angles or reinterpretations to keep your readers engaged in your scary story. Avoid overused scary story ideas unless you can add a novel twist. Remember that the goal of a horror story is to surprise and disturb the audience, making it crucial to avoid predictability and create an unsettling experience for your readers.

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40 Scary Writing Prompts to Give Your Readers Nightmares

There is something primal and deeply satisfying about being scared. The rush of endorphins that pumps through your body while you’re reading something terrifying (and then again later that night every time your house creaks or groans) is strangely exhilarating.

Or is that just me?

Probably not, since you’re here to check out more than thirty different writing prompts to help you write something spooky.

Not all of these prompts are just for horror stories, either. There are other genres where a dash of fear or suspense are needed. To that end, we’ll be looking at:

How to use these scary writing prompts
Scary writings prompts for horror stories
Creepy writing prompts for fantasy tales
Spooky writing prompts for sci-fi
Stressful writing prompts for real-word fiction (aka literary fiction)

So grab your favorite blanket, dim the lights, and ignore the scratching noises coming from the closet as we dive into these prompts.

How to Use These Prompts

Before we get into the (grotesque) meat of the prompts, let’s take a second to talk about how you should use them.

If you already know you want to write something scary, take any of these prompts and just run with them. Even if a dozen different authors choose the same prompt as the basis for their story, we’ll end up with a dozen unique books.

Maybe you know the general plot of your story. Use these prompts as inspiration for a particular scene or subplot. Maybe one will make you think of an entirely new way to approach a character arc or theme!

You can use these scary writing prompts for practice, too. Writing something that scares someone is totally different from any other form of writing. The pace, the tone, the level of detail you need to put into it—all of these and more must be fine-tuned for an audience that is primed to experience terror.

The first time I tried my hand at a horror novel came after years of writing dark fantasy. When I was revising what I had, I realized I wasn’t capturing the essence of a scary story. My scenes were fast-paced, like my fantasy writing. There was less build-up and tension than I needed.

So, regardless of where you are in your writing journey, grab any one of these prompts and write a short story. Hone those scary writing skills to become the best, most terrifying author you can be.

Scary Writing Prompts for Horror

The most likely place you’ll use scary writing prompts is for writing horror. The horror genre ranges from slow-burn dreads to haunted houses to splatterpunk killers, with a bunch of things in between. The goal is to make your reader feel uneasy, unsettled, or uncomfortable.

For a complete guide to writing horror, click here . It dives into a lot, but one of the best takeaways is how effective horror is when you combine two phobias that force the protagonist to choose one of them. Keep that in mind when thinking about these prompts.

A woman wakes up in the middle of a swamp, a severed arm handcuffed to her wrist.
Three teens use a ouija board and contact the spirit of a murdered witch.
A father is convinced one of his twins is possessed, but he can’t tell which one.
A cannibal that only eats other cannibals.
A single mom who looks after her child, unaware that she already died protecting that child.
An Antarctic expedition that gets stranded in a bay that shouldn’t exist.
A serial killer who murders and impersonates the new sheriff in a small town before that sheriff can meet anyone.
A house full of ghosts who are living (as best they can) a normal life when a non-dead couple moves in.
A cult leader trying to con people out of their life savings only to unleash an ancient evil.
A woman discovers a spot on her skin that slowly grows every day. As it grows, it looks like words that describe how she’s going to die.
On a road trip, a family finds an abandoned car on the side of the road. With no service, they can’t call for help so they decide to keep driving, only to have their own car break down a few miles later.
To try and help with their trauma, a grief counseling group goes on a weekend retreat. But their hosts turn out to be practitioners of some ancient religion.
Trying to save his family from losing their home , a man signs up for a gladiator-style bloodsport hosted by wealthy families.
In the wake of a global plague (too soon?) a woman wakes up from a coma and must find her children in a city filled with criminals and virus carriers.
Someone volunteers to donate a kidney to their best friend, but didn’t sign up for whatever they put in its place.

Creepy Writing Prompts for Fantasy

Like I said before, it isn’t just horror that amps up the scares. If you’re writing fantasy, horror elements might be ingrained in your story, like in the dark fantasy subgenre . Or maybe you just want to change up the pace and tone by adding some suspense.

It’s a great way to force your reader to keep turning those pages!

Fantasy can range from epic tales to urban adventures, which means there’s a lot of room to play around. So here are some prompts to get you thinking about ways to creep out your fantasy readers.

The party must dive into the pitch-black, claustrophobia-inducing hive of monsters to slay the monstrous queen.
A necromancer is kidnapping people from the nearby village, stitching their body parts together with magic to create unspeakable monstrosities.
In a clan of vampires, one human child tries to survive a family that would drain them if they discovered the truth.
Two thieves must journey through a cursed tomb to find a magic amulet.
A strange traveler wanders into a village, somehow knowing and exposing a shocking number of secrets held by the villagers.
A plague has swept through the land, turning the afflicted into zombies.
A cleric must exorcise a monarch while demons from all across the kingdom try to stop them.
Centuries ago, a country was cursed by a witch. Since then, everyone born in the country has carried a birthmark representing the curse. Our protagonist gives birth to a baby who doesn’t have the birthmark.
A good witch is pursued by witch hunters, forcing her to seek refuge with an evil coven.
A walled town has lived for decades with werewolves prowling the lands beyond their gates. But resources are running out, and the townsfolk must brave the wolflands to find a new place to settle.

Spooky Writing Prompts for Science Fiction

While sci-fi can be a great place for large-scale space operas and grand displays of technology, it also presents a massive sandbox filled with the unknown and potentially horrifying.

Us human beings love knowing stuff. So, when we’re presented with something we don’t know or can’t understand, it fills us with unease. And that’s exactly what we’re going for.

A newly discovered moon is thought to have resources a planet needs for energy production, so it sends a mining team. Unfortunately for that team, the moon is also home to a breed of feral aliens that doesn’t take too kindly to visitors.
A company developing a new A.I. has a security breach, unleashing the malicious program through the company’s campus and employees.
A spaceship breaks down near a strange star, and the radiation from that star is slowly eating away at their minds as their oxygen starts to run out.
A peaceful alien race is systematically hunted by human colonizers who want to terraform their planet.
An archaeological expedition in another solar system uncovers remnants of a society and a religion that promises immortality… at a price.
While visiting the matriarch of an alien species, a diplomat is infected by a parasite that connects them to the aliens’ hivemind.
A man addicted to augmenting his body is implanted with something infected by a computer virus that makes him see ghosts.
In the near future, violent solar storms disrupt and destroy technology, plummeting society into an age without electricity.
Scavengers find a ruined ship floating in space and decide to strip it for parts. There, they find a crew that looks exactly like themselves still in cryosleep.
In a dystopian society, burglars no longer break into your house but hack into your mind.

Scary Writing Prompts for Real World Fiction

Bringing it back to (our current) reality, sometimes the scariest things are those we face every day. These can range from stories about natural disasters to debilitating illnesses, common fears to unthinkable tragedies, and everything in between.

When adding scary elements to real-word fiction, you want to keep it realistic. Make the readers think these dreadful events could really happen tomorrow.

On vacation, a family learns a tsunami is approaching and they can’t find a flight to safety.
Friends on a backcountry hiking trip suffer an accident, stranding them days away from help.
In the middle of a bustling town fair, a child is taken.
A stay-at-home mom is delivered a letter claiming her partner has died. She can’t reach them and they never checked into their hotel.
Woken by their alarm, a family finds the front door of their house open.

What Scary Story Will You Write?

Don’t forget, these prompts can be used to inspire a new story, help you with your current story, or get you writing a short story to buff your scary writing skills, use them in whatever way works best for you.

And, if you’re looking for more inspiration, check out the Story Craft Café. It’s a community of writers who support, encourage, and motivate one another. There are writers from all genres, at every stage in their writing journey.

So head on over and say hello. Share what writing prompt spoke most to you. And, when you’re ready, post the story you wrote with one of these prompts and celebrate with your fellow authors!

Doug Landsborough can’t get enough of writing. Whether freelancing as an editor, blog writer, or ghostwriter, Doug is a big fan of the power of words. In his spare time, he writes about monsters, angels, and demons under the name D. William Landsborough. When not obsessing about sympathetic villains and wondrous magic, Doug enjoys board games, horror movies, and spending time with his wife, Sarah.

TAKE A BREAK FROM WRITING...

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Descriptive Writing: Nightmare World (Writing Process, Example Plan + Written Extract)

Below, you’ll find a Descriptive Writing Piece: Nightmare World, along with the writing process, example plan and written extract. The piece below was given to a student as a writing prompt. With direction and support during the planning phase, he produced an excellent piece of work! His piece would receive a high grade, though it isn’t perfect it is at the top level of what can be expected for a student of his age. It was not written in timed conditions, but it was written in one sitting without being redrafted. Examiner’s comments and feedback have also been provided.

Whether you’re studying descriptive writing for the first time, or more experienced with the process, reading through the process, plan and final answers of this student will help you to familiarise yourself with the concept of descriptive writing and improve your own creative writing works. Feel free to try your own ‘Nightmare World’ answer after reading through the document!

Thanks for reading! If you need help with Descriptive Writing in general, you can access our full online courses here:

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QUESTION: “My Nightmare World” – write a description of a nightmare world, as suggested by this writing prompt.

Simile
Metaphor
Visual image
Auditory image
Olfactory image
Gustatory image
Repetition
Alliteration
Onomatopoeia
Hyperbole
Personification
Assonance / consonance / sibilance
Dialogue

FIRE WORDS (Research relevant vocabulary)

Inferno
Embers
Flames
Blaze
Spurting Sputtering
Scorching
Flammable
Catastrophic
Majestic
Feeble
Fierce
Luminous
Savage
Primitive
Ruthless
Flickering
Smoulder
Raging
Hellish

Descriptive Writing Piece: Hot Air Balloon

THOUGHTS:

Think of events or experiences that cause fear
What are you personally afraid of? Explore your own fears, and write in a way that captures your own experience of something.
If you have time, research your idea more thoroughly! Read different descriptions of a similar topic, also read about your topic in more depth. In this case, the student read articles about wildfires in Australia that helped to inspire some of the imagery in his piece.
Refine your concept – choose one topic that’s precise and focussed (CHOSEN TOPIC – VILLAGE ON FIRE)
Jot down ideas and thoughts – these could be images, ideas for setting or characters, ideas for tone and mood, or other details
You may also want to develop a list of good vocabulary or techniques that will help you ambitiously push the boundaries of your writing

How to Plan a Perfect Answer in Descriptive Writing

Description of Scenery – Forest. Relaxed tone, flowing long sentences
Smell, sight (black smoke, coming out of the trees)
Fire leaps out, description of colours and effects, people run away
Description of feelings, sweating etc
Fire gets larger, more intense – inferno
Description of final scenery (all burnt)

As I looked out of my window, I saw the beautiful forest, in the afternoon sun, trees swaying in the gentle breeze, with the welcoming sounds of the forest surrounding the greenery. Birds singing, the flowing river, glistening in the sunlight and people walking around enjoying the serene day. People having picnics, people strolling around, happily.

But, suddenly, I began to smell a pungent, bitter odour, an acrid smell repeated which made me flinch as I began to cough. I looked back up and saw black, thick smoke, oozing out of the dense canopy of the trees, spreading out into the open sky. It enveloped the whole of the town, a darkening mass, which blocked out the sun. I was shocked, and confused: what was this mysterious, coal black fog, shrouding the entire town?

At once, dark orange flames sprang out of the forest, leaping from tree to tree – embers sparking out everywhere, trees collapsing, scorched and blackened from the rage of the fiery inferno….

*Please note that this is just an extract, the full piece is available on our website.

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Creative Writing

Creative writing ba .


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November 1, 2024	November 8, 2024

Application Requirements

SUNY APP and Purchase Supplemental Application , or Common App
Application fee: $50 for either application
Academic transcripts

Letter of Recommendation

Portfolio and nonrefundable $5 portfolio fee

Portfolio Requirements

Supplemental.

Complete the Purchase College Creative Writing supplemental found in your Applicant Portal.

Creative Writing Samples

Applicants should submit either fiction or poetry as follows:

Fiction: 2-3 short stories or excerpts from pieces of fiction (10-15 pages maximum, full stories preferred)

Poetry: 5-7 poems (10 pages maximum)

Creative Writing applicants are encouraged to submit one letter of recommendation from an individual who is familiar with their writing abilities (teachers, writing instructors, advisors, counselors, etc.).

This letter can be separate from the one used for your initial application. Creative Writing students may submit a total of 2 letters of recommendation to Purchase College.

For additional information about the BA Creative Writing program visit Creative Writing Program.

Students interested in submitting plays or screenplays should consider the Playwriting and Screenwriting major to better support their writing interests at the college level.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What should be included in the portfolio.

You can blend genres in your portfolio. Please provide context in your cover letter and clearly label each piece with its genre to demonstrate your intention.

We seek original work that showcases your unique skills and voice, independent of existing stories or characters from other media. Do not submit fanfiction or songwriting as examples.

You may submit several pieces or short works, such as flash fiction. It is preferred to have at least 1 long complete story or majority of a work in progress. Submissions should focus on poetry or fiction only.

How many letters of recommendation can I submit?

One letter of recommendation is required.

Letters from within your academic classes, letters from tutors, coaches, or professionals outside your high school are acceptable but letters from those who can speak to your creative writing ability are preferred. You can email recommendation letters to [email protected] .

Do I need to have taken Creative Writing courses in high school or college to be accepted?

No, prior creative writing classes during high school are not required for enrollment.

What is it like as a Creative Writing student?

Expect extensive reading and writing, requiring strong time-management skills. The workload becomes more manageable as you progress through the program. You will take courses like Editing and Production Workshop, that provide hands-on experience in editing and the publishing process, including business aspects. These courses also focus on Italics Mine , which showcases the literacy voices of Purchase College students that is published on campus every year.

You can choose either the poetry track or fiction track. Introductory courses in Poetic Techniques and Narrative Techniques help finalize your track choice, which every Creative Writing student can take. Additionally, you can pursue a dual track in both poetry and fiction.

You will complete a Senior Project, with the assistance of your program and faculty advisor. For the fiction track, the project comprises 60-80 pages, while the poetry track requires 30-50 pages. The project can be a culmination of your work over four years, focusing on a specific area or expanding on previous writings. Your senior cover essay introduces your project creatively, where you will work with your senior faculty advisor to develop ideas.

Can you double major with Creative Writing or minor in it?

Yes, you can double major, but it depends on your other major. You can work with the Creative Writing and Advising Office to determine the best fit.

Minors in art-related fields (such as music, film, theatre, or art) are recommended over double majors.

There is no minor in Creative Writing. Similar minor programs include Journalism, Communications or English and Global Literatures within the School of Humanities .

Can you be a part-time Creative Writing student or graduate in two years after transferring with an associate degree?

Transfer students with an associate degree typically require more than two years to complete the program. Students are expected to be full-time students with a minimum of 12 credits each semester. Classes are typically held during the day and are not flexible for those who wish to be part-time.

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Jennifer Lee Steps Down as Disney Animation’s Chief Creative to Make ‘Frozen’ Sequels

By Carolyn Giardina

Carolyn Giardina

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Disney Animation chief creative officer and Oscar winner Jennifer Lee is reshifting her focus back to filmmaking, stepping out of her role as the studio’s CCO to focus fully on writing and directing “ Frozen 3″ and “Frozen 4.” Jared Bush, who won an Academy Award for “Encanto” and is one of the writers and executive producers for “Moana 2,” has been named the studio’s CCO.

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“Jared Bush is an incredible filmmaker and a talented executive who’s been a prominent creative force at Disney Animation for the past decade, and I am thrilled that he’ll be taking the reins of this storied studio,” said Disney Entertainment co-chair Alan Bergman in a statement. “I also want to thank Jennifer Lee for her passionate leadership of the studio over the past several years – she’s made an indelible mark on both Disney Animation and the industry. I know she has so many more stories to tell, and there is truly no one better suited to oversee the continuation of the beloved story of Frozen.”

Lee was named CCO of the animation studio in 2018, following the departure of John Lasseter. At that time she was additionally writing and directing (with her “Frozen” helming collaborator Chris Buck) “Frozen II,” which opened in 2019 and made $1.45 billion worldwide, though it wasn’t as celebrated as the original.

Said Bush: “I am so deeply grateful to Bob Iger and Alan Bergman for their faith in me, and thankful to Jennifer for her leadership and for her generous support as she embarks on the next chapters of Frozen ,” said Bush. “I’m so excited to work with all of our filmmakers, artists, and Disney Animation team members as we shape the future of this legendary studio together.”

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Wga east announces 2024 council election results, jared bush named walt disney animation studios chief creative officer; jennifer lee returns to filmmaking with ‘frozen 3’ & ‘frozen 4’.

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Frozen 3 is dated for November 24, 2027.

Said Bush: “I am so deeply grateful to Bob Iger and Alan Bergman for their faith in me, and thankful to Jennifer for her leadership and for her generous support as she embarks on the next chapters of Frozen . Disney Animation is home to some of the greatest stories and characters of the past century, and I’m so excited to work with all of our filmmakers, artists, and Disney Animation team members as we shape the future of this legendary studio together.”

Said Lee: “I am so grateful to Bob and Alan for supporting my decision to return to filmmaking full time. Every day working with them is a master class in creativity, business, community, and integrity. I’ve always believed in Jared’s incredible talent and can’t wait to see, with his passion and dedication to animation, what he brings to the CCO role. For me, getting to collaborate with this studio of artists, animators, and storytellers is such a privilege, and I look forward to all we will create together.”

Lee is the Oscar-winning screenwriter and director behind the Frozen franchise. She joined Disney in 2011 as co-writer of the Oscar-nominated Wreck-It Ralph , was involved in story building for Zootopia and served as EP on Encanto, Wish, Raya and the Last Dragon and the upcoming Moana 2 . She also oversaw Disney Animation’s first foray into animated series, including Baymax , the first-of-its-kind series Iwájú , and Zootopia+ , for which she received an Emmy Award, and she is the Tony-nominated writer of the book for the Broadway musical Frozen.

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1962: Sylvia Plath Dies By Suicide #truecrime #nightmare
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The Ogre (Horror Short Poem)
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COMMENTS

How to Describe Waking Up From a Nightmare in a Story
Would some descriptive words help you with your writing? Check out this post on how to describe waking up from a nightmare in a story! 1. Anxious Definition. Worried and nervous. Examples "He awoke to the anxious thudding of his heart and cold sweat upon his brow." "The nightmare had left him anxious and unable to sleep. Yet, at the same ...
How to Write Nightmare Scenes (21 Tips
Tip #3: Manipulate Time and Space. In dreams, and especially nightmares, the constraints of reality can be bent. Time can flow backward, speed up, or stand still. Locations can morph and change in the blink of an eye. Leveraging these distortions can make the nightmare feel more dreamlike and surreal.
Writing About Dreams and Nightmares
Writing Advice / Plot. Shares18k. Dreams and nightmares can play a large part in people's lives, but because of their unstructured and confusing nature, it can be difficult to include them in a story. To make it even more difficult, the majority of a dream is forgotten within the first few minutes after waking up!
How to Write Creepy Scenes to Make Your Readers Squirm
Notice the verbs that Blatty uses with Reagan — gleamed, dribbled, gloated, croaked, rumbled. In contrast, the more calm individual in the scene, Karras, responds with simple verbs like "answered" and "saw". The contrast allows the reader to see Reagan as disturbing. If you want to make your readers squirm, reading only in daylight ...
How to Describe a Nightmare in a Story
Describing a nightmare as petrifying suggests that the fear created by it is so great that the dreamer has been shocked into inaction. 8. Startling Definition. Creating a quick moment of shock, fear, or bewilderment. Examples "The nightmare was so startling that he couldn't forget it the next day." "She was shocked awake by the ...
30 thoughts on " Master List of Ways to Describe Fear
For more writing lists, check out my book Master Lists for Writers, if you don't have it yet! A lot of writers use it to make writing go faster, especially when it comes to descriptions. And if you're not following the blog already, sign up below—I share lots of writing resources. Thanks so much for reading, and happy writing! Related Posts
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Thanks for contributing an answer to Writing Stack Exchange! Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research! But avoid … Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers. Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
When and How to Write a Character Waking Up
If you've ever been in a creative writing or fiction class, then you've definitely been told that it is a bad idea to start a story or scene with your main character waking up. ... A nightmare triggers the body's fight-or-flight reflex, so the character's heart will be beating fast, and they will be alert and ready to act to defend ...
Writing a Chilling Nightmare Scene: A StepbyStep Guide
1.1 The Role of Silence. One of the most powerful techniques in creating a chilling nightmare scene is the strategic use of silence. By withholding sound, the writer can build tension and create a sense of unease. The silence becomes eerie, leaving the readers on edge, anticipating something dreadful to occur.
How to Write Characters With Trauma: Nightmares, Flashbacks, and
Rather than replaying the trauma exactly as it happened, take advantage of the character building opportunity! Anything can happen in a dream. Be creative with the images, but keep the themes and emotions consistent. Explore those themes and let it actually say something about the character.
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The nightmare is a horse that will carry you home after you have explored the dark. By Angela Abraham, @daisydescriptionari, December 22, 2020. I'm your knight. Protective chivalry is my thing. If anyone messes with you I promise I'll be their nightmare. I'll ride them until they drop. Trust me, I'm real good at it.
Do Nightmares Make Writers More Creative ...
In 2016, researchers again reported that nightmare sufferers seemed to have a tendency to be more creative: "NM [nightmare] sufferers may access broader than normal emotional semantic networks in the wake state, a difference that may lead to this group being perceived as more creative.".
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Teaches the Art of the Short Story. Teaches Storytelling and Humor. Teaches Writing for Television. Teaches Screenwriting. Teaches Fiction and Storytelling. Teaches Storytelling and Writing. Teaches Creating Outside the Lines. Teaches Writing for Social Change. Teaches Fiction, Memory, and Imagination.
realism
2. Relating Dreams and Nightmares as real life scenes in your stories are an over used trope. We can thank all those writers who came before us to stripping the trees of the low hanging fruit to tell their stories. If the trope is important to your story, then by ensuring that your readers know its is a dream you can refute any complaints you ...
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These are a different sort of nightmare: use them to communicate stress or illness or indecision, the product of a split, fractured, or divided mind. Embrace that chaos in your writing. Go into detail overload. Describe things in florid or grotesque fashion, especially things that wouldn't normally be either florid or grotesque.
Short Story Nightmare
My terrifying nightmare. This short story is based on my nightmare from years ago. I decided to turn it into a short story because it seemed so real. It jolted me out of my sleep and even after waking up I was left reeling, believing it had happened. Let me introduce to you, my short story nightmare. Dun, dun, duuuunnnnnn! The nightmare
How to Give People Nightmares: 6 Tips For Writing Young Adult Horror
Even the scariest and most attention-grabbing horror story ideas will fall flat without a foundation of knowledge about the genre and expectations of the audience. In this collection, you'll find practical tips for writing horror stories that are plausible and cliché-free. Click to continue. ***** 4. Consider the unreliable narrator.
10 Steps For How to Write Horror: Conjuring Nightmares with a Pen
10. Read & Revise. This might be the most crucial tip for writing horror. Once you start writing, you must also start reading. Read your drafts, read works by notable horror authors, and constantly refine them. Remember, every great story started as a draft that was revised multiple times.
Dare to Dive into These 33 Dark Writing Prompts
Why Use Dark Writing Prompts with Budding Writers. You see, this form of writing not only stimulates a person's creative writing abilities but also stretches their cognitive faculties, enabling young minds to delve into unexplored topics and become masters of the storytelling craft. In addition, dark writing topics foster a sense of empathy ...
132 Best Horror Writing Prompts and Scary Story Ideas
Although many horror writing prompts and scary ideas have been written, the following 132 horror writing prompts can spark great creativity in aspiring writers of the horror genre. A family is on a camping trip. The parents are walking with their two children, a daughter and a son. The little boy trips and falls into a dark river.
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40 Scary Writing Prompts to Give Your Readers Nightmares. Doug Landsborough. April 20, 2023. There is something primal and deeply satisfying about being scared. The rush of endorphins that pumps through your body while you're reading something terrifying (and then again later that night every time your house creaks or groans) is strangely ...
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Whether you're studying descriptive writing for the first time, or more experienced with the process, reading through the process, plan and final answers of this student will help you to familiarise yourself with the concept of descriptive writing and improve your own creative writing works. Feel free to try your own 'Nightmare World ...
Nightmare
Nightmare - Creative Writing. The howling of the wind brought my eyes to open. Where was I? Focusing in the dark of night, confusion washed over me as I came to realize I was in the desert. Distant landscapes of dry and worn rock surrounded me, and beneath my bare feet I felt the gritty sand caught between my toes.
Creative Writing • Admissions • Purchase College
Introductory courses in Poetic Techniques and Narrative Techniques help finalize your track choice, which every Creative Writing student can take. Additionally, you can pursue a dual track in both poetry and fiction. You will complete a Senior Project, with the assistance of your program and faculty advisor. For the fiction track, the project ...
Creative Writing M.F.A. Student Awarded Prestigious Grant for Medieval
The U of A Program in Creative Writing and Translation in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences is excited to announce that Lizzie Fox, a third-year M.F.A. student in literary translation, has been named the winner of a Centennial Award from the Medieval Academy of America for her project, "The Plays of Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim: Bringing the Medieval to Arkansas."
Jennifer Lee Out at Disney Animation to Make 'Frozen' Sequels
Disney Animation chief creative officer and Oscar winner Jennifer Lee is reshifting her focus back to filmmaking, stepping out of her role as the studio's CCO to focus fully on writing and ...
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He serves as a writer and EP on the upcoming Moana 2 hitting theaters on Nov. 27, and he's directing and writing Zootopia 2 set to open on Nov. 26, 2025. Lee is the Oscar-winning screenwriter ...