Every writer knows that inspiration can be elusive, and sometimes writing prompts are so useful when writer’s block is upon you.
Elle Gato (@elle_em) came up with a great idea while procrastinating on Twitter one day- to ask her followers for writing prompts. Asking for just one word, Elle figured she could write a micro horror story about the word to help her ‘get in the headspace to write’.
Occasionally creepy, very often atmospheric, Elle’s micro horror stories were inspired by words such as ‘dumplings’, ‘pugs’, ‘kerfuffle’, and ‘Brexit’. That last one is a nightmare in its own right, to be perfectly frank.
Check out some of our favourites below, and then head over to Elle’s Twitter page to see more!
"Remember," grandmother says, stirring the boiling soup. "Anything worth doing is worth doing well."
— đ»Elle đ Gatođ» (@ellle_em) 5 February 2019
I hand her the salt-shaker filled with white powder that I know isn't salt.
The front door bangs open, slams shut. Grandfather's home.
"Oh good," grandmother says. "Soup's ready"
She dreams of the raw skin on her arms sloughing away, a woven heavy wreathe of pain. When she jolts awake she looks at her arms & they are the same patchwork of scars but the heat's died away. She can still hear the laughter though, the echo of that wet-awful, guttural laughter.
— đ»Elle đ Gatođ» (@ellle_em) 6 February 2019
The sea would swallow it, like the blaring carnival lights from the boardwalk, the heat smearing it all to a red & yellow & blue whorl. We hurried to the Inlet where were could watch the jagged foam-tipped teeth emerge, the white of the moon bleeding out into the black
— đ»Elle đ Gatođ» (@ellle_em) 6 February 2019
"We're playing make-up" Abby said to her mother. "Me and the pretty girls."
— đ»Elle đ Gatođ» (@ellle_em) 5 February 2019
"Which pretty girls, sweetheart?" Abby was always inventing new imaginary friends.
"The glass ones. They bring me blush and lipstick." Abby said and she grinned wide, showing off red-stained baby teeth
The little dog is awakened by a frightened human noise. Not its human though. Its human is humming, breathing heavy & eager. The dog pulls in scent through it's flat nose unbraiding blood & cooking meat & marrow. It hears its name from the kitchen & hurries, in hoping for scraps.
— đ»Elle đ Gatođ» (@ellle_em) 5 February 2019
The noise comes from the backyard & pulls me awake. I go to the window and flinch as heat lightning threads the clouds like a glowing vein. My brothers are fighting again. I see them on the back lawn in a whorl of blood & foam, lurid green reflected in their smooth carapaces.
— đ»Elle đ Gatođ» (@ellle_em) 5 February 2019
He wakes twisted in his bedsheets, hair in sweat-tangled mats, salt stinging his bleeding palms. The same whispering again, his mouth filled with fire and when he leans over to retch, he brings up only red dust, the drought-poisoning dragging eternal hoof-beats through his skull
— đ»Elle đ Gatođ» (@ellle_em) 5 February 2019
Anna sips her coffee & winces at the burn. The train shifts. rattles beneath her & then stops sudden. Her coffee spills on the man beside her.
— đ»Elle đ Gatođ» (@ellle_em) 5 February 2019
"I'm so sorry!" Anna cries
The man turns, eyes unblinking, bright red, a lipless smile curling over uneven teeth.
"Thank you," he growls
When he visited mother, my brother & I were hushed upstairs & locked in the bedroom, but we still heard the thudding heartbeat of his music. Sometimes it'd sound like screaming & sometimes like prayer. In the morning we'd find candles stubbed low on the stained tile floor.
— đ»Elle đ Gatođ» (@ellle_em) 5 February 2019
The x-ray specs Eddie ordered come in when only Father is home, staring into the still silence like he does so often. Eddie slips on the specs & nearly screams: there is father, but half his skull is blown away & a pulped kid-shaped smear lies in front of him.
— đ»Elle đ Gatođ» (@ellle_em) 5 February 2019

“New stories added daily or at our convenience.
Submit your tales â your life is bullshit too!”
Good to know we can add our own shame to the ever-growing list of tragic titles.
If you submitted a title about your life- what would yours be?

Lenstore has devised a test to measure your individual reading skills and see how long it will take you to tackle the worldâs most popular novels. Take the rest below and see how you fare!
Read More

The Hogwarts/Harry Potter fandom is one Tumblr has been obsessing over since forever and, despite the last movie being released back in 2011, they’re still going strong!
Some of the funniest observations ever made about Harry Potter and the wizarding universe can be found on the blog site, and here are our favourites…

The Royal Mint is keeping fairly tight lipped about the coin, and so we donât know yet what it will look like but we assume itâs likely to feature the monster, and possibly the mouse who bravely stands up to him.
Read More

From his Tumblr page, Ben shows us some of his best work to date- Harry Potter themed Valentine’s cards! Not all of them are PG13- be warned- and they are all slightly awkward, pun-filled, and full of magic.
If you love someone who should’ve attended Hogwarts then we have the cards for you, but be warned- there is the occasional swear word and distinct lack of romance…

The creator, Renaud Plante contacted me this week to share the video and I just had to share it with you as I think you will all love it.
In the short film, which is called Un monde Ă dĂ©couvrir (A World to Discover), a young boy goes to a library and discovers, in books and their words, a universe that will follow him until the end of his life. Iâm sure a lot of you will relate.
Enjoy!
Read More