The writing prompt about a haunted library I tried last month felt way too predictable

I used to love those spooky setting prompts like the one in a 1908 library in Boston, but now I think they lean too hard on cliches like creaky floors and flickering lights. After grade 8, I switched to writing prompts set in real places I know, like the laundromat downtown on 3rd Street, because they feel more honest somehow. Maybe it's just me, but does anyone else get bored with prompts that rely on the same old haunted tropes?

3 comments

3 Comments

oscar_ellis1mo ago

What worked for me was straight up banning certain words from my drafts. No creaking, no flickering, no dusty air. Made me actually think of fresh creepiness instead of copying the same stuff.

kai_butler831mo ago

Man, that’s genius lol. A buddy of mine tried something similar after he kept writing about wind chimes in every creepy scene. He cut out half his usual words and ended up with this story about a mirror that just showed you a second behind, it was way more unsettling. @oscar_ellis, you might like his angle on that.

paul25125d ago

Yeah but I gotta say banning words just feels like putting a bandaid on it. I mean who cares if a floor creaks in a spooky story, it's a floor, they creak. Seems like you're overthinking a writing prompt. I get being bored with the same old stuff but swapping out "creaking" for "moaning" or whatever doesn't change the fact you're still writing about a haunted place. Honestly just write what comes to mind and move on, it's not like a publisher's grading your prompt.