INSTIGATION
Twisted PromptsFor Sicko Writers (2001-2010)
I usually include three or four of these “prompts” in each issue of TheGoreletter,and I love to report when readers publish something inspired by them. I started doing this because I used to run a column in
Hellnotes
newsletter—which many writers of the genre were subscribed to, and I alwayshad fun coming up with ways in the classroom for my students to write horror stories, too. So here are most of them. While I originally had in mind that
writers might use these for ction writing or journaling, don’t let that stop you
from using them to brainstorm for some dark poetry, if that’s your bag.There are a LOT of prompts here. I recommend you just close your eyes
and randomly drop your nger on the page. Or photocopy these pages, cut
out the prompts in strips of paper, and grab one randomly from a hat. Or ask a friend to randomly recite one to you as a challenge.And, as with all such things, be as creative as you wanna be. Use the prompt in an altogether different context altogether. Go ahead and do theexact opposite of what these ask you to. Or take them literally, to the extreme
and absurd. Or ddle with the language until it is entirely something new.
230Gorelets Omnibus
like?) Start writing and see where it takes you.Write from the point of view of re as it burns a building down. Give it a motive.You are a new doctor at a bizarre institution. You’ve been assigned to work “The Ward of Failed Suicides.” Describe your rst day.Write a necrophiliac’s love song. Narrate a gory feasting from the point of view of a ock of vultures (e.g., “We peck...”). Be sure to appeal to all ve senses.A serial killer has been removing the tongues of his victims. What does he do
with them? Be clever, but allow the writing process to generate a motive.
Torture a popular cartoon character or personae from children’s television.
Describe a seven course meal that gets increasingly disgusting with eachnew entree.
Begin a new piece by describing the decor of a monstrosity’s “love pad.”
What if—via genetic mutation—an organic “optical illusion” was created?
Describe an original one. Make it do something nasty to someone else.
Have fun with carpentry accidents.Script a conversation with your own evil twin.
Your character is trapped in an amusement park ride that won’t stop. In fact, the me
-chanics seem to be speeding up! Describe the escape attempt. (Alternatively, write
this from the viewpoint of a parent whose child is trapped in such a situation).Write about a magic mirror of some kind, set in a banal location (like a road
-
side rest stop or the lobby of a fast food restaurant).Describe the bottom of the sea—the very bottom—that murky place where
no human has ever been.
Work creatively with a guillotine.
Reveal an offbeat request during the reading of a will.
While checking her breast for lumps, a woman discovers something far
worse. What?Have a modern day character stumble upon a strange secret passageway in andistinctly modern space.
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Instigation: "Twisted" Writing Prompts - An excerpt from The Gorelets Omnibus
A sampler of "dark" creative writing prompts, excerpted from Michael Arnzen's latest horror collection, THE GORELETS OMNIBUS (Raw Dog Screaming Press, 2012). Part of a "Horror Poetry Writing Workshop" available ONLY in the hardcover edition of the book, available on amazon.com or directly from the publisher at http://www.rawdogscreaming.com/gorelets.html
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