🕯️ From the desk of the Merchant of Horror and Sci-Fi at Mind on Fire Books:
Welcome back to the workshop of dread.
Today’s writing prompt comes from the first entry in our Dread Lexicon—a rhetorical device that doesn’t just twist language, it fractures it. It’s called anacoluthon, and it’s one of the most powerful tools for evoking psychological unease on the page.
🧠 What Is Anacoluthon?
Anacoluthon (pronounced AN-ə-KOL-ə-thən) is when a sentence begins one way and ends in a completely different direction—grammatically or logically. It mimics a mind unraveling, a thought interrupted, a reality slipping sideways.
In horror, this is gold. It’s the moment your narrator tries to describe what they saw in the mirror—and fails. It’s the sentence that starts with certainty and ends in madness.
🕳️ Why It Works
Dread isn’t always about what’s said. Sometimes, it’s about what breaks down in the saying. When a sentence fractures, the reader feels it. The rhythm stumbles. The logic collapses. And in that gap, the imagination rushes in to fill the void—with something worse than you could ever describe.
📖 A Master at Work
“Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, doubting—dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before!”
—Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven
Poe doesn’t just describe dread—he performs it. That em-dash? It’s a rupture. A descent. A signal that the narrator’s thoughts are spiraling into something unspeakable.
✍️ Your Prompt
Write a scene that begins with a clear, confident sentence—but then breaks. Let the sentence collapse mid-thought. Let the narrator lose control of their own language. Then, let the horror interrupt the grammar.
🎯 Try this setup:
Your character walks down a hallway they’ve walked a hundred times before. But tonight, something is different. Describe the hallway. Then let the sentence fracture—just as they realize they’re not alone.
🔥 Bonus Challenge
Use no more than 250 words. One sentence. One break. One moment of unraveling.
When you’re done, share your micro-horror with us in the comments below, or feel free to reach out to our publisher at martinez@mindonfireoboks.com to let us know you want your own feature on our site!
Until next time,
🕳️
—The Merchant of Horror and Sci-Fi, Mind on Fire Books
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