Prompt: Spine Tingling Suspense

[Prof. Sky Alton]

This month in Book Club, we're focusing on all things that go bump in the fictional night. A key part to writing a scary story is the suspense: the breathless feeling of knowing that something’s about to happen but not knowing quite when or what. There are lots of ways of developing this but one of the most interesting is fear of the unknown.

For this prompt, we’re asking you to write a scary, creepy or exciting story (of 200 words or more) where your protagonist thinks there’s something wrong but doesn’t know what. They might have heard a funny noise outside or be convinced there’s a monster under the bed: it’s up to you. The aim is just to build that anticipation that something might be about to happen. Remember to be absolutely sure you keep it suitable for all ages. Like Harry Potter, it should be scary but not too scary!

You’ll earn 20 beans for completing this prompt as well as it counting towards the chance to snag our shiny Quill and Ink award.

There is no deadline as such for these prompts but if you’d like it to count towards your chance of earning the award for a specific year, we’ll need it by the end of that school year. If you’re comfortable sharing, then post below. If not, email your story to us via hol.bookclub @ gmail.com (without the spaces). Oh and remember it’s a good idea to check through your piece carefully for spelling and grammatical errors as they make it harder for people to properly enjoy your work.