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image credit: Pixabay

How do the scary things work in your horror story?

That’s what we’re here to talk about today: how to pay attention to the mechanic in your story, how to write it so it makes sense, and how to make sure you don’t overwrite it.

What Do I Mean When I Say “Mechanic”?

A mechanic is a term borrowed from gaming that describes how something functions in a game.

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We all know that reading makes you more empathetic. And if you’re like me, you think empathy is a pretty important part of being a good person. Therefore, reading helps make you a better human being. 

So, if anyone ever questions you on all those book purchases, you can tell them that the stacks of paperbacks actually help improve who you are in life. 

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I expect many readers will undoubtedly be frustrated after finishing my debut novel, Everything the Darkness Eats. I expect many readers will feel cheated, as though they had blindly submitted to the whims of some master manipulator. Of course, I welcome these criticisms and I am delighted whenever readers react so powerfully to my work. After all, I’ve been told time and time again that the worst public reaction to any creative piece of work is indifference.

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Images via Cottonbro Studio & Pixabay

I have two writing lives: by day I’m a mild-mannered content writer. By night I hug my Master’s In Creative Writing as I weep while staring at the blurry card a literary agent gave me in 2010.