I admit, I am not the biggest fan of horror. It seems that every person (viewer, reader, writer) has genres that they enjoy more and some that they enjoy less. For me, horror belongs to the latter category.
That doesn't mean I can't respect it, though. Both in terms of enjoying the occasional story - something that relies more on characters and their relationships rather than the horror elements (for example, I am a big fan of Mike Flanagan's work, as I wrote in this post) - and in terms of appreciating the psychological power of the genre.
And that's what I wanted to get into today. The longer autumnal days invite us to slow down, reflect on the year we've had, get more introspective, explore and potentially face our own fears.
Today's writing prompt is all about that. You can take it in the horror direction, but that is not an obligation.
Sometimes, we prefer to get really deep and dark to actually face the extremes of our feelings. Other times, comedy provides the much-needed feeling of safety for exploring our fears.
Use whatever works for you, but I do recommend you do this exercise. Our fears can be a great source of inspiration (I'm looking at you, writer who is blocked but will do anything to avoid facing their own emotions in writing!) and hopefully, today's prompts will help you use them as such.
Below, you will find a few questions that you can use to journal or brainstorm.
When you answer them, be mindful of any sparks of story inspiration - and when you notice them, follow them.
Trust your intuition.
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Prompt questions
- What is one of your biggest fears? What are you most afraid of?
- How do you see this fear? If you had to draw it or give it a shape, form, or personality, what would that be like?
- What might be a mythical or archetypal version of this?
- What would be the most extreme version of this fear?
- Who would be the worst character to have to deal with this?
- What kind of character would handle this well?
Hopefully, this has already given you some ideas.
Too often, we try to search for inspiration in some wild external events, when actually, we carry so much material within ourselves.
These prompts are just a gentle nudge to explore that.
And if you're afraid to get too personal, we had some great conversations regarding my last post (How much of YOU is in your writing) that you can find here.
If you haven't read it, check it out!
I wish you a great Halloween and a happy Samhain if you celebrate it.
Stay creative,
Katja
Thank you for being here.
If you're a writer who'd love some personalised support with your project, check out my 1:1 offerings.
If you want to dive into the craft of compelling plot twists, I invite you to check out the Plot Twist Magic workshop.
And if you'd like to join me in deep dives into various aspects of the writing craft, join me on YouTube.
See you next week!
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