My stay at a lakeside cabin left me with a ghost story idea. Any prompts to build on it?

I spent last month at a small cabin near Lake Superior. The fog would roll in every morning, and the old pier creaked with the waves. One night, I heard footsteps on the dock when no one was there. It got me thinking about a story where the lake itself has a memory. I want to write about a person who finds hints of past visitors in the mist. But I'm not sure how to start or what problems to add. Has anyone used a similar setting for horror or mystery? I'd love some prompts to kick my writing into gear.

2 comments

2 Comments

laurat263h ago

That fog and the creaking pier are perfect mood setters. What worked for me was having my character find a single, very old item washed up on that dock, like a rusted key. The problem became figuring out what it opened, and each wrong guess made the footsteps at night come closer up the shore.

terryw833h ago

Man, I always figured you needed big scary monsters right away. But that "wrong guess makes it come closer" thing... yeah I'm stealing that for my next draft.