Poetry Challenge #111-One Dark and Stormy . . . Yikes!
Back in my sleep-over camp-out nights, with the campfire crackling and tossing spooky shadows, the wind howling and tree branches scraping on the tent, we used to make scary spookier still with a game called
Yikes!
Things that go bump in the night. . . Scary, right?
Scary how a simple bump sound—in the right setting at the right time—sends tingles, quivers, hair-raising heebie-jeebies shivers chasing up our spines.
Oooooohhhhh CREAK
SCRATCH EEK
EEK YOWL
HOWL
Mwahaha
SCREECH SCRITCH
WHAT’S THAT NOISE . . .
Thump THWACK
thwaaaaaaaaaa
It is said that everyone fears the same thing—the Unknown. Thus, the secret to writing scary is not what you write—but what you leave out.
“Readers will imagine the rest, filling in the gaps with whatever scares them most,” noted Nocturium in a post**.
Which takes me right back to those spine-tingling sounds. Let’s give it a Gooo—GH!
Poetry Challenge #111
One Dark and Storm . . . YIKES!
Write a scary poem.
Now, make it even scarier still by replacing specifics with sounds words.
Set the timer for 7 minutes.
Don’t think about it too much;
See if you can scare yourself silly!
**For more spooky stuff here’s a great post: How to Write a Scary Story on the Nocturim
*Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge a terrifying number of days ago. We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. If you join us in the 7-Minute Poetry Challenge let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole poem in the comments.