Monday Horror Prompts

[MacAllister]

I'll post a Monday prompt every week--ya'll can join in as you like. :) If interest dwindles, I'll stop. If you have a good prompt idea, PM me and share it.

The idea is to get us all WRITING--any form or word count is okay. If you want feedback, post it in the SYW Horror Sub-Forum (http://absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=70), and post a link here in the Horror Forum. :) We can discuss the stories, and do market research together.

Happy Writing!



Today's Prompt:
There's something very...odd...happening in the electrical wiring in this house.

[Fractured_Chaos]

*hmmmmmm*


I think I might work on this over the weekend. I've got an idea.

[MacAllister]

Afraid of your own shadow...

[Fractured_Chaos]

Afraid of your own shadow...

:scared:

You've been peeking in my windows!

[Birol]

Afraid of your own shadow...

Of course I'm afraid of my own shadow. It's out to get me. Why else would it follow me everywhere?

[BlueTexas]

I wrote to the prompt today. Weirdness! I ended up with an old man who's turning so gray you could lose him in a snowbank and a wife who's wiring her hearing aid up to the wall socket to stay young.

Your prompt twisted my brain!! I have no idea where any of that came from--not a clue!

[MacAllister]

Cool, Blue! That's how it's supposed to work <g>

[jdkiggins]

What can I say, I've been a slacker. :(

I'm hoping to have both Monday prompts posted in SYW by Friday. Geesh. Family visiting without notice is such a hemorrhoid!

[jdkiggins]

Afraid of your own shadow...

Heck yes, I am. It's bigger than I am.

[BlueTexas]

Am I lost? Where did the electricity in the walls prompt go??

[jdkiggins]

I don't know, it was here a minute ago. Oh, it's still here, post #1.

[BlueTexas]

I don't know, it was here a minute ago.

Whew! I was afraid I was going down my own path of mental instability--that would have been one hell of an hallucination!

[jdkiggins]

Hey Blue, don't worry. I think it takes a little mental instability to write horror, doesn't it? Well, if not, then we all have the same problem. :)

[jdkiggins]

Obviously when I said I'd "try" to have both prompts written and posted by Friday, I was thinking I was out of Idol. But I'm still going to try to get them written and posted. Try is the key word here. :)

[MacAllister]

Heh--I don't feel so bad about forgetting to post one THIS Monday, then! :) I still have to write 'em both, too.

[Spookster]

I've gotten as far as saving the prompts on Word. I still haven't read the book of the month yet either. And, to boot, I've got a surprise party to plan, family visiting, school starting in a few weeks, and a house that seems to spew junk from every crevas (which needs to be spotless by next weekend for the party). You know, one day I plan on catching up with my life.

[jdkiggins]

Oh good, Mac. I was afraid life might catch up to me and I'd still be far behind myself. I did start reading The Bell Jar. And I do have a few sentences written on the first prompt. :) Oh goodness, I'm so far behind this week.

[jdkiggins]

One prompt down and posted in SYW. Though I'm not sure it qualifies as a horror. :) Might make you feel a little prickly.

One more prompt story to finish.

[MacAllister]

Aghh! :Smack: I'm not quite in a routine with this, yet. <g> So here is this week's prompt, late Tuesday night, rather than Monday:


It started out looking a little like a rash. I didn't get alarmed until...

[jdkiggins]

Oooh. A good one! I might have time to get in on this one. :)

[MacAllister]

Heh--I gotta say, I'm a little boggled at myself, Joanne. :) I have NO idea where this stuff comes from. Last night I was sitting in front of the computer, saying to myself, "Awwwww crap...prompt, prompt...uhhhh...the mortar came ALIVE...no, that's lame...uh...prompt, prompt..." And it just sort of popped into my head.

It's been an interesting learning experience, just coming up with prompts--as soon as I finish the farkin' bathroom tile, maybe I can write some of the STORIES, too!

Heh.

[Anatole Ghio]

Hey Mac --

Just wanted to let you know I've written to the first propmt and will also write to the second one.

The material from the first was good, but will take too much rewriting for me to be able to finish, given my current writing schedule.

Thanks for providing the prompts.

[jdkiggins]

prompt, prompt..." And it just sort of popped into my head.



Mac, I love the way your head pops. :roll: I'm writing my story now. I love this one. :D

[jdkiggins]

I loved this prompt! Problem is--I have 1100 words of crap written following your excellent first sentence. :( I'm going to try to work on it more before you post the next one. I hope to post something in SYW by the middle of the week.

Again, I don't think my writing for this prompt turned out being horror category. I think my mind has been jarred by other things. :)

[MacAllister]

Oh heck, Joanne--If a prompt gets us writing, it's done its job. :) Who cares if it's horror or humor! I'm glad you're having fun with it.

[jdkiggins]

Oh heck, Joanne--If a prompt gets us writing, it's done its job. :) Who cares if it's horror or humor! I'm glad you're having fun with it.

LOL, Mac. True! This might explain why my mom has been giving me strange looks all week when I leave little notes all around her house. :D

[MacAllister]

Hmm--I seem to have missed Monday, again.

But better late than never!

New prompt (thanks, Barb!):

Generations of my family are buried in the family plot in Stonechurch Cemetery, a little ways outside of Hattiesburg, MS. I grew up (somewhere else), but recently returned to Mississippi for (whatever reason) and drove out to the old cemetery. Walking around the family plot, idly doing the math in my head, I realized something odd: all the adults buried in the family plot were exactly thirty-six years old when they died. All of them.

[jdkiggins]

OMG, I love this one! It sounds a bit like a book I began years ago and never finished. Hmmm. Good grief, I've been digging out so many old unfinished manuscripts lately. That's a good thing though. :D

Now since it was posted on Wednesday, does this one count for Monday May 9 and May 16? LOL

[MacAllister]

new prompt:

There have been those odd lights in the sky to the south, for the last three nights--and I think I know what they mean...

[BlueTexas]

Ooh...good one! I got 200 words down with this one right away...hopefully it'll finish out and I'll put it in SYW. Is Joanne the only one who's done that so far?

[MacAllister]

Joanne IS the only one who has done that, BlueTX--but Spooky and I are hot on her heels...<g>

[MacAllister]

And it's bright and early Monday morning...at least on the east coast.

Today's prompt:

she could feel it moving inside her, starting to consume her from within...

[MacAllister]

Today's prompt:

There was something in his eyes that I'd never seen there, before.

[jdkiggins]

Mac,

You're on the ball! Now I have four prompts to catch up on after I finish typing the "rash" prompt story.

I'll catch up. I think. :D

[MacAllister]

Happy Monday!

Todays prompt:

The first time he suggested poison, I thought he was joking. Then, the more I thought about it...

[jdkiggins]

Dang, Mac, I'm never going to catch up. LOL

And I'm sure you'll have another one up tomorrow. :ROFL:

[BlueTexas]

And it's bright and early Monday morning...at least on the east coast.

Today's prompt:

she could feel it moving inside her, starting to consume her from within...

Just so you know your prompts aren't floundering, I've begun a story about a teenage religious zealot with this one.

[MacAllister]

Heh--glad to hear I haven't lost ya'll. :D

I thought I'd take this week off, in honor of my family being in from out of town--it dramatically cuts into my internet time. Pesky house guests wanna be fed and visited with, and all. :)

[VOTE_BOT]

.

[jdkiggins]

Have fun with the family, Mac.

I have some serious cathing up to do anyway. :D

[MacAllister]

Happy Monday!

Today's prompt:
It looked like a perfectly ordinary tree. Two or three weeks after moving into the house with the tree, though, the family began to suspect...

[Fractured_Chaos]

Oh, Man!!!!! :ROFL:

There was this small town I lived in once, that had this one family...I think at least 3 generations lived in the same little house, with no AC (In Kansas). The grandparents would always sleep outside in the summer. They even moved their bed out into the back yard. They had no fence, either, and lived on a corner lot.

Well, on the side of the yard (the side where both streets intersected), there was this old, dead tree, and on the corner was a streetlamp. Well, that old tree had been pruned, so to speak. And at night, the shadow cast from the street lamp onto that tree cast a shadow over the house that looked like a giant hand reaching for it!

It was so creepy!

Weird thing? Right after that tree was finally cut down (It stayed like that for about 10 years...I'm amazed it never actually fell), the grandparents stopped sleeping outside during the summer.

[jdkiggins]

drgnlvr,

Cute story! Now add the prompt to it and make it even creepier. :D
I'd love to see what you could do with this old weird tree reaching out for the grandparents.

[MacAllister]

Today's Monday story prompt:

The morning of his 467th birthday, he stood and looked out his window over the crowd gathered outside the Vatican, waiting for the festivities to begin...

[jdkiggins]

Yet another prompt. I'm seriously slacking here! Really, really slacking.