Category

Writing Horror

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Halfway There

Hello Kittens!   Happy Halfoween! In honor of this spooky celebration, here is one of my favorite kill scenes, from one of my all-time favorite movies, Thir13en Ghosts. (It's not Halfoween if someone isn't getting bisected) While I was drumming up ideas for my blog post, I kept thinking of the fact that we're halfway to Halloween. It might just be me, but I feel like everything is "halfway" lately. My kid is always halfway clean. I'm halfway done the laundry (meaning it's sitting in the washer, slowly drying). My jobs are halfway done at work. The bottle[...]

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Real Life Horror: Publishing

Hello Kittens,   Boy, have I had a week. I'd tell you all about it, but I really don't want to turn this into a big pity party. I've done enough sulking. So instead of whining about my life, I thought we could chat about real life horror...in publishing! Now, I know that a lot of you out there are just like me; Agentless (as of a week ago #frown) and wading through the cold, dank query trenches. Querying is terrifying. Sending your words out into the world to be judged at face value is enough to give me the chills in the middle of August. But you know wh[...]

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Writing Bloody- NaNoWriMo Style

Well, another October here and gone. And now it's November. I'm not quite sure where the time went, but I'm planning Thanksgiving dinner which is incredibly important. But there's also another reason to celebrate...NaNoWriMo. BTW, I suck at NaNo. I've never won. Never finished a manuscript in a month. Have I stressed myself out during NaNo? Um, yup. BUT NOT THIS YEAR! This year WILL be different. Mostly because I have a different attitude about my writing. There will be no sucking at NaNo this year. And there are a few reasons why. 1.  Because I'm not[...]

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Writing Bloody Flash Fiction Winner

IT'S WINNER TIME! For those of you who forget the awesome prize to be won...here's a refresher... 1.  Halloween: Trick or Treat (an anthology that includes short stories written by Kathy Palm and Amy Giuffrida, edited by Jolene Haley) 2.  Harrowed by Brian LeTendre and Jolene Haley 3.  The Bleeding Heart by Amy Giuffrida 4.  Lipstick & Zombies by Faith McKay THIS IS AN AWESOME PRIZE...FOR AN AWESOME ENTRY. Thanks to all who entered, but there could only be one winner. And that winner is... THE HANGMAN- by Sergio Pereira The Hangman Five women on one s[...]

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Recipe for a Slasher–Creating the Woodsview Harvester

I was initially going to post this week about my favorite slasher Jason Voorhees, and why I love him so. But my fellow Midnighters have done such a great job writing about different slashers and why they’re so great, I decided instead to write about the Woodsview Harvester. The Harvester is the slasher that Jolene and I created for our new Woodsview Murders series as our love letter to all the slashers that have come before. I can honestly say creating a slasher was one of the items on my writing bucket list. I literally grew up in the era of slashers. Texas Ch[...]

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Lipstick & Zombies: Rockin’ the Apocalypse

It's not often that a writer can pin down the exact moment they came up with the idea for their book or series, but I can, because it was on twitter. https://twitter.com/faithmckay/status/458316923118166016 Yes, The Spice Girls were very big in the 1980s. *headdesk* https://twitter.com/faithmckay/status/458317110129598464 https://twitter.com/faithmckay/status/458317493619015681 https://twitter.com/faithmckay/status/458327130279931904 AND THERE IT IS. I was kidding when I hit tweet. But then it wheedled its way into my thoughts. What would that story look[...]

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Writing Bloody- Flash Fiction Contest!

Welcome to The Midnight Society’s #OctFearFest! All of us here at The Midnight Society LOVE the month of October. It’s when we can let our freak flags fly and invite others join us in the fun. There are soooo many things we have planned for you this month—all creepy and crawly, strange and terrifying—but we’d be nothing without horror writing. THIS is where you all come in! Last year, I hosted a horror poetry contest and one lucky winner won some signed art by the fabulous SP McConnell. This year I’ve upped the ante and will be hosting a Writing Blo[...]

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5 Dos & Don’ts of Querying Horror (+ GIVEAWAY!)

I decided to tackle a post on something I am asked about all the time. Like, really, all the time. I don't think more than a day goes by where someone isn't emailing/tweet/DMing/PMing me for querying advice. It comes with the territory of being a literary agent intern (multiple times). So I decided to do a comprehensive post on my top advice for those who are querying horror. As not only someone who writes it, but someone who interns for the Bree Ogden (horror queen), I know plenty about it. Giveaway! I'll be selecting two queries to help in the month of October[...]

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Writing Bloody

Welcome to my weekly blog post, Writing Bloody. Last week I posted three AMAZING banners made by our very own Faith, and asked you to vote on which one I should use. Well, the votes are in! The voting was extremely close, but as with everything...there is only one winner. And the winner is...   Thanks for all of you who commented and for Jolene and Faith who are the whole reason for this post. I love you gals! How about we get started talking about writing again? It's been a struggle for me to move away from my debut novel, The Bleeding Heart, and wor[...]

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Street Teams for Horror Writers + Contest Alert!

Before I dive in, this is just a reminder that TONIGHT is our our monthly book chat on Twitter at 7 PM CST, using hashtag #MidnightBooks. Tonight we’re talking Amy Guiffrida’s The Bleeding Heart! See you there! I've been thinking a lot lately about street teams. Mainly because I have a book coming out soon. I feel like in the young adult realm, street teams are super common. What is a street team? A street team in the publishing world is a group of people who "hit the streets" to promote an author or a book. They may not ACTUALLY hit the streets, but they[...]