I started 2020 focused on writing growth, but I struggled to put my dread and horror into words. I'm sharing five things that made my writing, and my writing life, grow.
Category
Writing
1 I love me some witches, and naturally they came up over the holiday break when I made a Christmas gift list for the witch in your life or when I talked about my failures of 2019. At a book conference in 2018, I received an ARC of it. The cover's deep blue with iridescent writing, the magical description—I was bewitched from the beginning. I was over the moon excited and I devoured it fast. It was my favorite book of 2018. It's still one of my favorites. Which is why I'm reading it again. Have you heard of it? The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw A New York T[...]
The Davis Girl (TDG): Everyone, I am overjoyed to welcome illustrator and author Eric Orchard. Hello, and good day sir. Eric Orchard (EO): Good morning! TDG: Yes. Good morning. Are you ready for this, Eric Orchard? EO: Yep! TDG: First, who is the awesome cat in your profile picture? It has a pipe and there's a moon and it's awesome. EO: Ohhhh! That’s a bat often mistaken for a cat! It’s Inky from Maddy Kettle. In the book he’s a bat who guides Maddy through the ancient bat kingdom under the Arizona desert to the Thimble Witch’s house on a Mesa[...]
First Impressions I have always judged books by their covers so it was no surprise to me that Stephanie Perkins's There's Someone Inside Your House was an instant YES. There's a lot I love about this cover, but my hearteyes were first sewn to three things: That hint-of-late-eighties neon pink projection lettering. How some of the words are broken across the stairs and railing (why do those creeps in the movies always go upstairs when they're alone? Constant disappointment. My fellow screenwriters could know better. You don't go upstairs. You wait for the[...]
I spent the past weekend at Borderlands Press Writers Boot Camp. My cohort of writer grunts faced brutally honest horror and science fiction writers and an editor, and they pushed us to self-edit and craft our best stories. Writers (especially speculative fiction writers) who want to take their craft to the next level will be transformed by Borderlands Press Writers Boot Camp. It took two years for me to believe my writing was ready after JG Faherty recommended it to me. Application to Borderlands Boot Camp included a writing sample, after all. Once accepted, I[...]
I love books about writing. I could read them all day. I'm fascinated with writing practices from any perspective, but most recently I've shifted and have started to read books on the subjects by agents or editors, in addition to writers. I always take away at least one good nugget of information when I'm reading books about writing. This insight, along with the practice of writing and reading the genre you want to write, is a great way to learn more about writing, publishing, and how to make your books better. What am I reading? Last week I started The Mars[...]
That weird little plant you scraped up from the gutter. That pulsating mountain off the coast of Japan. That collection of body parts you procured for your experiments. Can you feel the unearthly forces about to burst forth and release the monster that could conquer the world? On New Year's Day 2018, I posted New Year, New You, a story about becoming what you truly want to be. Behind the story were horror writing goals I set for myself. I wrote more. I submitted more stories for publication and contests. I applied to writing events. It was scary and hard wo[...]
Ah, writing. The act itself can be one wrought with fear and suspense. As much as perfection and the validation that comes with knowing it all would be comforting, no one will ever be done improving. I wouldn't have it any other way, even on the days where I'm staring at a blank cursor wondering if I even know what words are anymore. There is so much to love in that struggle. I love the challenge of pushing myself to think about story in a new way. I love staring off into space, wondering how to tell the story. I love the challenge of knowing it will never be exac[...]
Start your 2019 off by submitting something to one of the calls in our Dark Fiction calendar! Are you an author working on a terrifying tome? Are you looking for somewhere to send your skin-crawlingly-frightening fiction? Check out our new Dark Calls for Submission Calendar! We have started compiling the coolest dark fiction markets this side of the casket and you can find them in our Writer Resources section. I don’t know about you guys but I always have so many stories on the go that sometimes, it’s hard to not only keep track of deadlines but to find m[...]
I've written about music a few times here on the blog, and as I've said before, the only thing I love more than horror is music. I try to bring those two loves together as much as I can, which is why many of my stories are littered with musical references. I also love to listen to music while I'm writing, preferably instrumental music. That usually means a lot of video game and horror movie scores. But there are some bands and artists that make for perfect writing music, and one of them is Dance With The Dead. THE SHAPE by DANCE WITH THE DEAD Dance With The Dead[...]