The other day, my mother I were swapping stories about our most dread childhood "monsters." Of course we look back on them now and laugh, but at the time these fears were very real terrors for both of us!

As we talked, we challenged each other to write a short story about our childhood terrors. A "ghost story" if you will, which we will then post on Halloween.

And I thought . . . hey! Why not open this up to all of you too?

So I am inviting you to take part in this story challenge:


  It's very simple . . . you write a short story (less than 2000 words--flash fiction would also work really well here!) about your most dreadful childhood fear. The fear needs to be real, but make certain the story itself is fictional--we're looking for stories, not memoirs! And the big goal of this challenge: End on the punch line. End on the moment of highest terror. No resolution! Mummy and I have already written ours which we'll be sharing, and Rohan decided to write one as well.  And it's awesome! I'll be sharing it on Halloween along with mine. It's called What If It Comes Back? and it gave me goosebumps. If you decide to participate, simply publish your story on your blog on Halloween, then email me ([email protected]) the link. I will compile all the links to all the participating stories so that everyone can easily go around and read everyone else's. It's just a for fun exercise. But I have to say, I really enjoyed writing mine, and Rohan had a blast dusting off his creative writing skills to participate as well. So what do you think? Do you have a childhood chill that might turn into a fun, spooky story?