The season of shadows is once again upon us! And, with it comes our annual Halloween contest. This year, we’re summoning the ghosts of the familiar – the tried-and-true horror tropes that have haunted stories for decades. But, there’s a twist: we don’t want them as they are. We want what they could become in your hands.
Maybe your Final Girl isn’t the survivor we expect. Maybe your haunted house is desperate for tenants instead of trying to chase them away. Maybe the monster under the bed isn’t there to hurt anyone… or maybe it is, but not in the way we’ve seen a thousand times before. Take these clichés below, the overdone, the eye-roll-worthy setups, and breathe terrifying new life into them.
We’re looking for stories that surprise us, that unsettle us, and make us question why we ever thought we knew how a trope was supposed to end. Dark humor, creeping dread, psychological horror, gothic chills, it’s all fair game as long as you take the ordinary and twist it into something unforgettable.
Need a refresher course on your tropes? Listed below are 15 common archetypes that are fair game for twisting. You are welcome to use a different trope of your choosing! We ask only that you list which one it is, at the start of your story submission.
Use these as inspiration—or better yet, surprise us with something we didn’t see coming!
1. The Final Girl – the lone survivor who outsmarts the killer.
2. The Haunted House – cursed walls, restless spirits, and doors that never stay shut.
3. The Creepy Doll – porcelain faces with secrets behind the glassy stare.
4. The Monster Under the Bed / In the Closet – lurking where children fear to look.
5. The Mad Scientist – brilliant minds gone too far.
6. The Cursed Object – mirrors, books, jewelry that bring doom to their owners.
7. The Vampire Next Door – charm, hunger, and immortality.
8. The Werewolf’s Curse – humanity lost under the full moon.
9. The Evil Child – innocence turned malevolent.
10. The Sinister Clown – laughter masking something far darker.
11. The Abandoned Asylum – echoing halls of madness that never left.
12. The Possession / Exorcism – a battle for the body and soul.
13. The Creepy Phone Call – “The call is coming from inside the house.”
14. The Hitchhiker – the stranger on the road who’s not what they seem.
15. The Cabin in the Woods – isolation, friends, and something waiting just outside.
Deadline: October 13, 2025
Length: No more than 2,000 words
Prizes: Grand Prize – $50 and publication in our Halloween issue. Honorable mentions will also be published in our Halloween issue.
So, dear readers, sharpen your pens, polish your prose, and send us your best. After all, the path is lit by moonlight, and the shadows are listening.
Submit here: contest@talesmoonlitpath.com
Looking for our Summerween Challenge winners: You’ll find them here!
Give us your best twisted horror trope story to be published in our Annual Halloween Issue October 2025. Please read the guidelines below. We look forward to your submissions!
Keep stories under 2,000 words and please include word count in email.
Must be themed around horror tropes. Please include which trope you are using in your submission email, before your story begins.
Submit your story to contest@talesmoonlitpath.com.
Submission must be in the body of the email, no attachments please.
Clearly label your submission “HALLOWEEN CONTEST Tropes: Last Name: Story Title”.
You are welcome to submit a story for both the challenge and regular magazine content but please, just one challenge submission.
Please, no reprints!