Tag: frightening story

Startling Sounds

On By Terry ConnellyIn prompt, Uncategorized, Writing promptLeave a comment

            Picture yourself sitting before the television, engrossed in your favorite show. A loud boom shakes your house, rattling the windows and causing your heart to seem to skip a beat. You consider investigating, but when no sirens sound, no knock comes to your door, you shrug it off.

            Now imagine that the sound, that boom, caused things to fall off shelves, your floor to rock and roll, and sets off car alarms up and down your street. What do you do now?

            Your task is to write a story in which a sound or sounds plays a major role. First identify the source of the sound, then the effects of the cause dependent upon how close your protagonist it to the source.

            Take into consideration the reactions of your character. Some people startle easily and once shaken, take a long time to recover. Others are curious, might investigate, then do some online research to see if any reports have come in. Still others will do nothing, not wanting to get involved.

            Choose a reaction that will interest readers the most. Tension is critical, so include dialogue as a mode to illustrate what and why your character acts.

            Have fun with this one.

Being Stalked

On By Terry ConnellyIn prompt, Uncategorized, Writing promptLeave a comment

There are some situations that give us chills. Being stalked is one of them.

Imagine watching a movie in which the protagonist has a questionable person following him. The stalker jumps in and out of shadows, leaves clues and seems to be everywhere at once.

The protagonist is so terrified that he cannot function normally. The police are trying to help, but they cannot be everywhere at all times.

So far nothing untoward has happened, but the threat that something awful could occur occupies your character’s mind. It’s a dangerous situation, one that inhabits the mind and constricts behavior.

Your task is to write a story in which your character is being stalked. Begin small. It might be that the stalked looks familiar, or has a voice that reminds your character of someone he knows. It might seem accidental that the stalker keeps popping up, but when the quantity of appearances increases, then it gets just plain spooky.

Description will be important as you set the scene. In fact, each time that your character changes setting, new descriptions will be important. Dialogue will pop up when your character tries to tell someone what’s happening. Will the someone believe or not? Will the someone take action or not?

Have fun with this one.