“You grow. You are large.

You are a 19th century poem.

All of America is inside you,

a catalogue of lives and land

and burrowing things.”

-From “Catalogue”

 Donika Kelly, Bestiary: Poems

Writing Prompt

Something is growing inside of her chest. She can feel it. It’s moving around now, poking at her heart and kicking at her ribs. She is terrified it’s going to kill her from the inside out, but the doctor’s won’t listen. They say it’s just hysteria and prescribe anti-psychotics and anxiety medicine. She doesn’t sleep any more. It’s almost time. The thing is ready to be born, to be separated from her, but nothing could have prepared her for the truth.

Writing Advice

How do you create tension in a horror/ suspense story? Here’s a few tips: make the scenario believable. How can you describe the character’s fear or situation in a way that is vivid, concrete, and relatable? The situation itself may be otherworldly, so it’s crucial that you describe it in a way the reader can understand. If there’s something growing in a character’s chest, does it feel like a heart attack? Does it make their arms go numb? Does it feel like heart burn and make them nauseous? Relate to the reader’s sense of self. Ask your self what people are afraid of, what are you afraid of? How can you toy with that fear? Next: don’t keep it tense all the time. Ease off and ease on. If nothing changes, the reader will get used to the suspense, it won’t be interesting any more. For more tips on writing tension, check out Now Novel.

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Hello my lovely little geckos! I’m three for three, back on a roll. I hope all your writing is going well. As always, feel free to share your writing with me for critique or to be featured on the website. Let me know if there’s something you want me to review, I’ll definitely check it out! Happy writing!