The Childhood Scares Challenge!

I haven't hosted a contest for a while and so I thought Halloween was the perfect time to do so. I don't want to sit here giving you the history of the challenge but I'm quite interested to see how you interpret the prompt. Here it is:

Write a story about something that frightened you as a child.

Here are the rules:

1. Your story should be no more than 500 words

2. No more than 3 entries per person please, I know I read a lot but there's even a cap I'm willing to put on things

3. It can be entirely made up if you don't want to particularly share that with us or it still causes you hurt/harm - just have some fun with it

4. Submit your entry to the writers community and place a link to it in the comments to this post

Here are some of the details on opening, closing, prizes and winner announcements

Submissions are open from the date of publishing this article

Submissions will close on the 20th October, 2026

Winners will be announced on Halloween (31st October, 2026)

• 1st Place Prize = $5

• 2nd Place Prize = $3

• 3rd Place Prize = $2

Have a great run-up to Halloween guys and I am genuinely looking forward to reading what you have to write about. Remember, apart from the rules I've mentioned, there are no rules. The story itself can take any form/structure. It can be a diary entry or entirely dialogue. It can be written as a play or even as a series of found-footage-style letters/videos.

Just have fun x

Of course, you will find the link to the challenge in each post I post from now until the closing date to the contest.