Horror Delight Full Guidelines
Updated February 15, 2026
To write for Horror Delight, read at least 2 stories before leaving your request in the comments section of this post. Unsolicited submissions will result in limb removal.
Reminders:
Formatting, grammar, and style are a matter of life and death. If it looks off, sounds weird, or reads like a manuscript on its last legs, polish it until your eyes bleed before hitting submit. Poor writing is punishable by electrocution. Each miserable writer may submit up to three stories. If all three are rejected, you will be decapitated. Grow your limbs and return for blood, no hard feelings. Our collection exists to showcase only the most chilling, well-written horror. Dark humor is good, but do not be just goofy, horror is still a craft.
Rules:
We read and re-read every story before publishing. You will receive comments, claps, slaps, cuts and bruises. If an editor leaves a private note on your story, you better do not delete it. After the editor publishes your story, they will dismiss the note. If a different editor reviews the story upon resubmission, they have no idea what the original editor requested.
Please link to THIS POST at the end of your story.
No less than 2 and no more than 7 minutes in length.
NO EM DASHES ALLOWED
Get Fedor Butochnikow’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
Title and Subtitle? Yes, but NO images.
One of your tags must be Horror Delight
If you want to link to social media or your mailing list, please make sure it is small and visually pleasing. One link only. We suggest only using text such as, Follow me on Facebook (linked word), etc. Absolutely no spamming.
If you agree that a story’s power lies fully within the reader, then you can also agree that gut-wrenching gore and psychological thrill can generate visuals in the mind’s eye. Digital art is unnecessary because it robs readers of the chance to taste and smell death in their own way. Do not include visuals of any kind! This guideline is the only exception.
About the writing:
We are looking for great horror stories. Your dark craft should be stylish, introspective, and psychologically tasty. Good horror does not need to smear guts on every wall, but it must be suspenseful, gripping, and thrilling.
Move from a grounded setting into increasingly symbolic and unstable territory. Make it real, immersive, and frightening. It is a huge plus if your prose uses metaphors and carries a distinct artistic identity.
Please ensure that the narrator’s voice feels personal and confessional, and even better if it is unreliable and psychologically messed up. Let the tone oscillate between dark humor and existential dread. Do not be afraid to make fun of death. Death is funny! BUHAHAHAHAHAHA… Okay stop.
Do incorporate absurdist or dark elements, especially if the narration can shift from curiosity to paranoia to self awareness, in any compelling variation of those states. The more disturbing the better. Yes, suffocate those kittens. It feels so… good.
But ultimately, the knife is yours, dear genius. Just make sure your cuts are fully edited, meticulously revised, and polished to a professional mercenary standard. Experienced writers are most appreciated for their understanding of structure, rhythm, clarity, and thematic cohesion.
Basically, it should read with precision, depth, and artistic integrity, and never sound rushed, careless, rambling, overly plain, or superficially assembled.
Feel free to send multiple submissions in, within reason, but realize we may not be able to publish two works by you on the same day.
