100 Thriller Writing Prompts

100 Thriller Writing Prompts 

Looking for thriller writing prompts to ignite fresh suspense story ideas? This post shares 100 chilling prompts across thriller subgenres to spark your creativity.

Whether you’re an aspiring author honing your suspense-writing skills or a seasoned pro seeking fresh inspiration, prompts kickstart the thriller writing process. Use these serial killer, stalker and conspiracy ideas as launch pads. Then develop the characters, plot twists and spine-tingling tension that make great thrillers.

Discover thriller prompt concepts told from unique perspectives like unreliable narrators and journalists on a dangerous beat. Craft that next terrifying short story, edge-of-your-seat screenplay or page-turning novel.

Let prompts about unsolved mysteries, shady pasts and more ignite ideas for your next project. Combine prompts or give them a fresh spin to make them your own.

With 100 chilling thriller writing prompts to get your creative juices flowing, you’re sure to find inspiration to write your next masterpiece of suspense. Start crafting killer thriller stories today!

1. A seemingly ordinary person discovers they have a strange power that puts their life in danger.
2. A detective investigates a mysterious disappearance, only to find themselves being targeted next.
3. A woman wakes up one morning to find her husband has vanished without a trace. All his belongings are still in place.
4. An FBI agent is hot on the trail of a serial killer who leaves puzzling clues at each crime scene.
5. A man starts receiving anonymous threatening messages that appear to know his every move.
6. A journalist slowly unravels a huge political conspiracy that puts their life at risk.
7. A woman’s perfect life begins to unravel after moving into a beautiful old house with a disturbing history.
8. A deadly virus is unleashed on a small town, leading to panic and a race against time to find a cure.
9. After a near-death experience, a person gains the unsettling ability to predict when and how someone will die.
10. A group of friends goes camping in the woods and finds sinister occult symbols carved into the trees around their tent.
11. A woman stranded in a small town finds herself pursued by mysterious stalkers after witnessing a horrific crime.
12. A man gets stuck in a malfunctioning elevator with a group of total strangers, one of whom threatens to kill them all.
13. A ruthless assassin finds themself to be the target after refusing to complete their latest contract.
14. A bartender overhears an ominous conversation plotting a high-profile assassination attempt.
15. A young girl with telekinetic powers is abducted by a secret government agency intent on weaponizing her abilities.
16. A doctor is blackmailed into an organ trafficking ring after accidentally stumbling across their operation.
17. Twin siblings begin to suspect their new neighbors aren’t what they seem and hold a chilling secret.
18. A troubled detective struggles with addiction while investigating the gruesome murders of several women.
19. Home alone one night, a child is terrified by increasingly disturbing phone calls from a stranger.
20. Hikers in the wilderness find a mutilated corpse and soon realize the killer is stalking them.
21. A wealthy heiress is kidnapped and held hostage in an isolated mansion rigged with deadly traps.
22. A man wakes up in an abandoned asylum with temporary amnesia and a feeling someone is hunting him.
23. A family road trip takes a nightmarish turn when they are targeted by a vehicular stalker.
24. A young woman traveling alone on a train finds herself in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with a cunning psychopath.
25. A ruthless cartel kidnaps the young son of a district attorney threatening to expose them.
26. An impromptu storm forces a plane to crash land in remote wilderness, where the survivors are soon hunted.
27. A reclusive writer gets caught up in a real murder mystery when people start dying like in their novels.
28. Identical twin siblings swap lives in an identity theft gone wrong, with deadly consequences.
29. The lone survivor of a horrific massacre works with police to identify the killers, only to realize she may be next.
30. A zookeeper makes a grisly discovery that the animal attacks may actually be linked to a human killer at large.
31. Home video footage reveals the sinister truth behind a young child’s imaginary friend.
32. A blogger’s curiosity leads them to the darkest corners of the deep web where they witness something terrifying.
33. Hitching a ride with a friendly stranger turns into an afternoon of sheer terror.
34. A widower digs into the secrets behind his spouse’s suspicious death.
35. A new dating app user is alarmed when the app appears to know their location and private conversations.
36. A struggling actor takes a role in a mysterious play with disturbing themes that begin bleeding into his real life.
37. Unsettling threats written in blood appear on the walls of a politician’s home the night before a major election.
38. Neighbors in a sleepy suburban cul-de-sac slowly turn on each other amid growing paranoia and suspicious activity.
39. A devoted wife makes a gruesome discovery that suggests her husband’s overseas business trip wasn’t what it appeared to be.
40. The carnival coming to town carries a horrifying legend about its funhouse origins that prove to be all too real.
41. A widow and her young daughters realize there’s something more sinister lurking in their farmhouse than just rats in the walls.
42. A man gets more than he bargained for when he undergoes an experimental medical procedure promising to cure his insomnia.
43. A group’s caving expedition goes horribly awry when their path back to the surface mysteriously vanishes.
44. Homeless people around the city begin disappearing around the same time a mysterious van is spotted in the area.
45. A teen babysitter clocks suspicious activity on the baby monitor suggesting someone else is in the house.
46. A couple’s romantic camping getaway among centuries-old cliffs and caves turns into a struggle for survival.
47. A shy student is thrilled when a charming classmate takes a romantic interest in them, until sinister cracks in their story emerge.
48. A new nanny is hired by a family living in a secluded mansion but senses things are not as they seem with the children.
49. A cunning thief decides to steal from the city’s mob boss and has to keep running as the noose tightens around them.
50. A family pet begins behaving oddly, leading its owners to a chilling discovery in their backyard.
51. A psychiatrist takes on a new patient who seems to fit the profile of a notorious serial killer still at large.
52. A widower digs into the secrets behind their spouse’s suspicious death and uncovers something far more sinister.
53. Home video footage reveals disturbing occult rituals taking place in the basement across the street.
54. A big city detective is forced to return to their small hometown to investigate a friend’s mysterious disappearance.
55. A single mother finds cryptic notes left around the house that suggest someone else has been inside.
56. A teenager notices a suspicious black van always seems to be parked just down the block from their home.
57. Journalists investigating corruption begin receiving death threats and mysteriously gruesome “gifts” warning them away from the story.
58. A historical society intern tasked with archiving old documents makes a chilling discovery tucked away in the stacks.
59. A woman traveling for work realizes too late her temporary apartment hides a horrifying occupant she never sees by day.
60. While exploring the attic, a child finds a strange old camera and soon notices figures in the photos that were never there in real life.
61. A hotel guest begins to unravel an ominous puzzle left in their room which suggests they are being watched.
62. A programmer at a social media company discovers the app has the ability to brainwash users for nefarious purposes.
63. A massage therapist gets more than they bargained for with a client who has a disturbing obsession in mind.
64. Home alone, a deaf woman senses a dangerous intruder in the house who knows she can’t hear them coming.
65. A small town is baffled by a rash of seemingly random abductions with no explanation, until a sinister pattern emerges.
66. A doctor becomes alarmed when patients keep mentioning the same sinister figure visiting their rooms after hours.
67. A man moves into a building where the previous tenants all mysteriously vanished overnight a year earlier.
68. While scouting a remote hiking trail, two vloggers capture on film someone appear to be following them at a distance.
69. A rideshare driver begins to fear for their safety after a series of increasingly threatening and erratic passengers.
70. A wilderness guide leading a group through the forest can’t shake the feeling they’re being stalked by something inhuman.
71. Home renovations take a nightmarish turn when the walls start leaking blood and the voices begin.
72. A man becomes obsessed with sinister messages he discovers hidden within the pages of library books.
73. A teen girl home alone struggles to separate nightmare from reality after a dangerous stranger appears at her door.
74. A distracted Uber passenger leaves their phone in the car, which pings the driver to a remote cabin in the woods.
75. While renovating an old manor, floorboards are pulled back to reveal a human skeleton hidden below.
76. A sleep study patient becomes convinced something sinister lurks in the lab after hours while they sleep.
77. A woman notices the strangers around her repeating certain phrases, making her question her own sanity.
78. Homeless people around the city begin disappearing around the same time a mysterious van is spotted in the area.
79. While scanning old family slides a man spots an unsettling figure in the background of a childhood photo.
80. A teen’s imaginary friend from childhood mysteriously reappears years later, but only they can see it.
81. A small town is alarmed when teens keep disappearing in the abandoned woods rumored to be haunted.
82. A man becomes obsessed with subliminal messages he discovers hidden within his favorite songs.
83. While exploring an abandoned theme park the friends uncover a disturbing real story behind the mascot costumes.
84. A teenager begins finding cryptic notes and ciphers tucked away in library books mentioning them by name.
85. Home alone, a young child begins communicating with a sinister voice only they can hear.
86. A man vacationing alone can’t shake the feeling he is being subtly threatened by all the locals in town.
87. A string of unsolved murders in a small town stopped abruptly ten years ago until a new victim turns up killed in the same bizarre ritual.
88. A teen girl finds an old mobile phone buried in the woods and realizes too late the strange calls and texts on it are not a prank.
89. A journalist follows the trail of a prolific serial killer but finds the name on all the records doesn’t actually exist as an identity.
90. A contest winner spends the night alone in a notoriously haunted prison and discovers the evil within is still very much alive.
91. A conspiracy theorist witnesses something they shouldn’t and suddenly all their seemingly paranoid delusions start coming true.
92. A 911 dispatcher takes an emergency call from a frantic stranger claiming to be them from thirty years in the future.
93. A struggling musician finds a mysterious song online that begins influencing people’s thoughts and actions, with terrifying results.
94. A DNA/ancestry service reveals a woman was switched at birth, and that her biological parents were notorious serial killers.
95. Home video footage a couple discovers in their new house reveals the previous owner may have practiced sinister rituals.
96. While scanning old negatives a man finds additional photographs showing him and his family being stalked by an unidentified man.
97. A teen begins to suspect her new stepfather is not who he claims to be after finding suspicious impersonal objects hidden around the house.
98. A young girl begins communicating with her dead twin sister, making her mother wonder if she is haunted or losing her mind.
99. A new intern at a secret government research lab stumbles onto a portal to another dimension with sinister intentions.
100. An icy premonition leads a woman to suspect her husband’s strange new business partner plots to get rid of her permanently

We hope you enjoyed these writing prompts. 100 Thriller Writing Prompts can be a pretty fun list to read through. We also have many other writing prompts on our site. Let us a comment to let us know what you think of the list, or you can leave a paragraph inspired by the list. We love reading your work!