That writing prompt about a cursed VHS tape really got me thinking

I tried a prompt last week where you find a tape in an abandoned video store and it shows things from your own future. The first draft was just spooky stuff but then I flipped it so the tape shows happy moments that never happen. For the second version I set it in a specific Blockbuster in Denver in 2003 and added a date stamp on the screen. The whole thing got way more personal and less generic. Has anyone else taken a horror prompt and turned it into something bittersweet instead?

2 comments

2 Comments

nelson.nancy1mo ago

Right, that's exactly what I did with one about a house that eats people. I made it so the house actually preserves memories of the people it takes, creating these weirdly beautiful ghost rooms full of their happiest moments. It ended up being less about the horror of being consumed and more about how we try to hold onto the people we lose, even in messed up ways.

the_piper1mo agoTop Commenter

Messed around with that same idea and my draft ended up being way too sad, @nelson.nancy, like a therapy session I didn't sign up for.