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Writing Good Gore
October 27th, 2021
Webster’s defines “gore” as “a small usually triangular piece of land.” Wait, that’s not right...the definition we’re all looking for is...EIGHT definitions down?! Does anyone cool work at Webster’s? Can they hire like one cool person? We’ll just use our own definition: Gore is the gross stuff, the stabbing, the shredding, the exploding heads and pierced eyeballs, the blood and guts and then more blood that usually make for peak disgust in a horror story.
Read Column →How I Learned that Finishing the Book is its Own Accomplishment
October 25th, 2021
Original images via Ann H & Temo Berishvili It took me four years to finish a new novel-length project.
Read Column →The 10 Scariest Horror Books of 2021 — Ranked!
October 22nd, 2021
Goodbye, Mexican Gothic! Goodbye, The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires! Say hello to 2021 and our new crop of horror books, fresh off the press! As usual, horror authors didn’t disappoint this year, delivering a flood of haunted houses, creepy coincidences, brilliant re-imaginings, and lingering mysteries that will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.
Read Column →Stick the Landing: How to End a Horror Story
October 20th, 2021
Too many horror story endings unravel like a half-assed mummy, fall apart like the chunks of a chainsawed traveler who gassed up in the wrong Texas town, or confuse the hell out of everyone like a Blair Witch Project remake that’s totally unnecessary, but I guess someone felt like a drone would really bring a lot to Blair Witch lore. How can you avoid the most common slip-ups? What do readers hate? How can you stick the landing in your horror story?
Read Column →5 Nonfiction Books to Get Spooky with This Fall
October 19th, 2021
If there’s anything I like more than disappearing into a good horror novel, it’s diving into the history of things that go bump in the night. And sure, I’ve always been a bit of a sucker for research and history, but when that first chill of autumn air hits my face, I suddenly feel reinvigorated to learn about all things witchy, occult, and monstrous.
Read Column →The Three Seasons of Stephen King
October 18th, 2021
In 2014 I decided to reread all of Stephen King’s books in the order they were published. Richard Chizmar of Cemetery Dance had started the Stephen King Revisited project that November, and invited others to join in. Grady Hendrix did something similar with his Great Stephen King Reread over at Tor.com.
Read Column →Storyville: How to Write a Massive, Multi-Pronged Hook
October 14th, 2021
If you think the only hook to your story or novel is the first line, then boy do I have some news for you. In order to engage the reader you need to hook them not just once, but as many times as you can, so there is no way they can escape. How do you do that? It starts with the title, and then expands to the first line, the first paragraph, the first page, the first scene, and the first chapter (if writing a novel). Let’s get into this, so we can figure out how best to hook YOUR readers, no matter what genre or style you might have.
Read Column →Red Flag Books
October 13th, 2021
A few weeks ago I saw someone on Twitter refer to Fight Club as a “red flag” movie. You can see the tweet in question here.
Read Column →How Pitch Wars Showed Me Where I Need to Grow - As A Person
October 12th, 2021
This was supposed to be a positive article, an uplifting look at the benefits of Pitch Wars outside of just getting selected. I was going to talk about how the deadline of the submission period forced me to put my head down and work, and crank out a book when I might have otherwise dilly-dallied endlessly. I wanted to shine a light on the community-building aspects of Pitch Wars, which are honestly great.
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