Psychological Thrillers Writing Prompts

You are secretly the richest person in the world. But to avoid suspicion of having so much money, you decide to work a normal office job. One day, your boss fires you. But what he didn't realise... Was how incredibly petty you are, and the lengths you will go to get back at him.

A man draws a gun in a dark alley and asks for your wallet. You begrudgingly obey. He throws it on the ground, shoots it till it screeches, and turns to you; "you're safe now".

A billionaire hands you a unique and intricate coin. "In an hour," he says, "I will tell the world what I have given you. In a week, I will leave my inheritance to whoever returns it to me. I will not accept it before then."

You and friend agree that if one of you invents time travel, they will come back to this very moment. As you shake on it, an older and injured you shows up and shoots your friend in the head.

Time travel exists. By law, every citizen is given one day they may repeat on loop until they get it right. This morning, you found your spouse looking exhausted and crying. "I can't save you. I've tried hundreds of times."

You were blinded in an accident years ago, your family took care of you ever since. One morning you wake up and your sight has returned, you pretend to stay blind until you figure out who the people in your house are and what happened to your real family.

You are born with two names tatooed on you body somewhere, one of your soulmate and one of the people that will eventually kill you. There is no way to tell who is who.

A close friend of yours can read minds. It was their dream to work for the FBI or CIA to catch bad guys. You accompanied them to their first interview, but instead they walk straight back out. They whisper to you to walk calmly out to the car and not to say a word or make eye contact, act calm.

Your butler has served you faithfully for twenty years, working hard, offering sage advice and never complaining. One day, you see his bank balance. He's a billionaire.

It turns out the lottery is actually a trap for time travellers. After winning, you wake up in a holding area, with a government suit trying to figure out when you are from.

“Beware of an old man in a profession where men usually die young.”

You ate your last apple almost a full day ago. The second hand on the clock creeps closer and closer to the 24-hour mark. Holed up in a cabin you ready your shotgun. You can feel them out there, waiting, watching. The Doctors.

An assassin has finally retired after getting enough money to last him 50 lifetimes, but being only 30, he still enjoys the thrill. He joins the police force and is immediately recruited for his skill in all Fields. But when he is assigned to hunting down himself for his past, he must be smart

You ate your last apple almost a full day ago. The second hand on the clock creeps closer and closer to the 24-hour mark. Holed up in a cabin you ready your shotgun. You can feel them out there, waiting, watching. The Doctors.

You have been told all your life that you have a rare medical condition. It means you need regular special meals that your family has lovingly prepared. You now find out that your "condition" actually requires fresh human flesh and your family have become serial killers to keep you alive.

It is said that there are 7 people spread out in the world who look just like you. It just so happens that all 7 of you are in an elevator when one of them says ”so your probably wondering why I gather all of you here” as he presses the emergency stop button.

On your deathbed you confide to your nurse the fact that you were a serial killer who got away with your crimes. "Me too," She replies wryly.

You receive a government text warning saying “EMERGENCY - LOCK ALL DOORS AND STAY INSIDE. DO NOT PANIC”. You hear your SO at the locked front door, who’s just come back from the supermarket. They beg to be let inside but you’re unsure. Something doesn’t feel right.

After being kidnapped you wake up in a room where the only thing to keep you occupied is a computer with access to just wikipedia. After 2 years you are taken to an illegal gameshow as 1 of 10 contestants, if you are eliminated, you die.

You are on trial for attempting to assassinate the King. Unknown to anyone but you and His Majesty, you were actually trying to stop him from killing himself. When you request a trial by combat, he ceremoniously accepts. Your opponent? The King himself.

Every morning when you first look in a mirror, you see a small piece of advise for that day, such as “take the subway to work” or “don’t try the free pizza”. Today, the mirror simply says, “RUN”

You wake up from a coma. You were in a car crash caused by a drunk billionaire. In an effort to save his reputation, he hurriedly and secretly ordered the best doctors to restore your burned face using the photo on the driver's license they found in your car—a car which you've stolen.

You are an assassin. You do not use guns, knives, or poison. You are a master of the butterfly effect and chaos theory.

Discharged veteran, Kevin McAllister, returns home to handle his family's estate, mainly the decaying property in a gentrifying Chicago suburb. To the disappointment of a land developer, he won't sell. “We’ll make him sell. He’s a broken man, wounded and home alone”.

You are sentenced to a famous prison. You are not sentenced by time your stay only ends if you die or escape. There are no guards and the prison is broadcast on television. No one has ever escaped.

Ever since you and your SO started dating, you have little key phrases and questions to ask each other at random to assure yourselves that your SO hasn't been impersonated or possessed or whatever. Tonight, that check failed.

You have an ability to hear a ‘Ding’ sound to know if someone’s speaking the truth. One day, your childhood friend of 17 years says “I swear, I’ll kill you one day.” You both laugh but then you heard a ‘Ding’. Scared, you asked if it’s true. “No” they replied. Silence.

You are an immortal serial killer. You were caught and sentenced to life in prison. The prison is starting to get suspicious of why you won't age.

You are on a flight from Beijing to Seoul. Its should be a short two-hour flight, but five hours have passed and the plane has still not landed. There is nothing outside but dense cloud cover. There is no food left on the plane.The staff are confused. People are starting to panic.

You are trapped in an anti-time loop; Every time you are about to die, you wake up 24 hours later, with no recollection of how you survived. You lost a year of your life already and feel no closer to find out who wants to kill you.