Archive for the 'Advice to Writers' Category

There’s a sense of urgency that comes with horror. That feeling of your blood icing in your veins, sending your heart beating violently in your chest. Your breath hitches in your throat, anticipating what will happen next. You don’t know whether to turn away, or continue to witness what torturous thing the character will encounter before they’re out of reach. It’s that moment where you know it’s wrong to want to see the pain inflicted on their face, but somehow you can’t help but watch. You’ve invested so much already. There’s no going back now. You’re caught in the moment, watching, hoping, and fearing what anguish awaits. You want to know. You need to know. And when the moment comes, you can see it before they do. You want to scream. You want to tell them to turn back. But they keep running, colliding with their untimely end.

The adrenaline that accompanies this sort of setup is something we all look for. It’s the rush of it that’s intoxicating. There’s something about it that eats you up and you can’t help but let that fear mix with pleasure, because deep down we all need that excitement of the unknown. Whether you’re watching it on T.V. or flipping the pages of a book, horror gets your mind racing, and it’s the adventure of it that makes your chest ache with exhilaration and despair. People can deny it all they want, but they like being scared. And what’s better than being scared? Being the person who creates it. I find that even I get scared as I’m writing––fighting the urge to look over my shoulder, or avoiding the glare from the T.V., in fear that someone lurks behind me. That’s when I know I’m doing it right. Creating those images in someone’s head and getting the right reaction is difficult to pinpoint at times, but its the intensity, the buildup in which it’s described is what drives the fear. The excitement that comes with writing horror is what keeps me going. It took me a long time to discover that supernatural/horror was what I’m meant to write. I’ve loved it ever since I was a kid, and fear is one of those things I can’t deny. It’s such a strong emotion, and dabbling in that and getting a reaction from readers is what I live for.

So the next time you find yourself alone, give your old friend, Horror, a call.

Go on . . . try it. Don’t be scared.

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Heather Marie is a YA writer represented by Michelle Witte at Mansion Street Literary. She lives in Northern California with her husband and baby box turtle. When she’s not writing or plotting her next idea, she spends an unhealthy amount of time watching Netflix and picking apart plot holes in movies.

Here’s the thing about writing YA horror: it’s all about the set up.

Childhood nightmares creep into our teen years (and beyond) in ways we never even expect. I still get the heebie-jeebies every time I need to look under my bed to find
something. In the back of my mind, I am not quite convinced there won’t be a monster lurking in the shadows beneath my Sealy-Serta.

For some people, the idea of a giant spider crawling unhurriedly up the wall is enough to paralyze them with fear. For others, it’s the horror of being buried alive in a close, black coffin, utterly sightless in the dark. Still others fear the darkness. Or heights. Or being abandoned in the middle of nowhere.

To me, conveying fear isn’t just about describing a situation, object, or person that someone might find scary, but giving a blow-by-blow of the event and actually detailing the fear reaction in the characters.

We all know exactly what it feels like to be scared. First you have the anticipation: What’s behind that closed door? What’s making that scratching noise in the attic? What’s lurking in the deep, dark waters? It’s the tensing of muscles like you’re expecting a blow, that stretching of all your senses, trying to see/feel/hear/smell danger before it pounces on you. The higher the tension is pitched, the bigger the wallop.

Next, the reveal. The door opens to expose a dead body that spills out on top of our poor heroine the moment she turns the doorknob. The scratching noise in the attic inexplicably moves through the ceiling, down the stairs and manifests in a dark, demonic entity. The dorsal fin of a great white shark breaks the surface of the water in which you’re swimming. The terror has been revealed in one jarring, scream-inducing moment!

But that’s not scary enough, not for the expectant reader. You need the next step in the process – experiencing the fear through the eyes of the main character. We need to feel their bodies tremble as they break out into a cold sweat. We need to hear the blood- curdling scream that explodes from their mouths. We need to internalize the sick, sinking feeling in their stomachs as death closes in around them.

And lastly, the action. Our heroine’s panicked flee from the house, our hero’s desperate attempt to out maneuver a man-eating shark. Will they survive? Will they escape? Hearts pound in anticipation with every turn of the page!

Broken down, none of these steps in the process seems particularly scream-worthy, but strung together with pacing and tension? WHAM. Horror show.

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Gretchen McNeil is an opera singer, writer and clown. Her YA horror POSSESS about a teen exorcist debuted with Balzer + Bray for HarperCollins in 2011. Her follow up TEN

 – YA horror/suspense about ten teens trapped on a remote island with a serial killer – was released September 18, 2012, and her third novel 3:59 – sci fi doppelganger horror about two girls who are the same girl in parallel dimensions who decide to switch places – is scheduled for Fall 2013. Gretchen’s new YA contemporary series Don’t Get Mad (Revenge meets The Breakfast Club) about four very different girls who form a secret society where they get revenge on bullies and mean girls begins Fall 2014 with GET EVEN, followed by the sequel GET DIRTY in 2015, also with Balzer + Bray.

Gretchen is a former coloratura soprano, the voice of Mary on G4′s Code Monkeys and she sings with the LA-based circus troupe Cirque Berzerk. Gretchen blogs with The Enchanted Inkpot and is a founding member of the vlog group the YARebels where she can be seen as “Monday.” She is repped by Ginger Clark of Curtis Brown, Ltd.

You enter a tangled web of many miles traveled within your Imagination sitting in an apocalyptic timeframe, as a nation of blood thirsty Zombies desire to devour you. The adventure, mystery and horrific happenings seem to slowly play out in a realm of no return. Once bitten, twice shy, you might say! Not for the Vampire enthusiast, who loves the elegance of intrigue – this will surely grab you, plunging your very soul into a lustful heart-pounding adventure of Vampires, who seek out beautiful innocence. The desire of blood-curdling moments seize your interest, you turn page after page, faster and faster, all while being drawn into an illusion of a trance no one can resist. You turn a corner of the unknown that lurks in the dark. It sits quietly waiting, ready to envelope your very being. Paranormal happenings, which stretch the imagination far beyond a mindscape, send chills down your spine. You’re now engulfed within a nightmare, placed on the precipice of the abyss. The climatic venue keeps you glued to every word, creating so much detail within your mind, it drives you to want more, so much more.

The best part of any young adult horror/fantasy reading is that escape: the lure of desire and the yearning to know, to want, or belong in the traumatic splendor it offers. Captivating of course, the craving of words permeates your soul as your eyes peer into the pages seeking the horror it brings. Oh, you can very well see yourself in this role, as you read more into the subject matter of the horror story. It edges you on, leading you on a path to which your curiosity gets the best of you. It holds you completely hostage, while you anxiously continue to read the deepest, darkest secrets it has to offer.

Getting lost in the story is exactly where you want to be while you try to escape the clutches of evil that beckons you into its lair. The seduction becomes overwhelming as the horror that plays out only entices you. You are now part of the characters that are written within the pages. The plague of anxiety is exciting, so-much-so that you can’t put the book down. Welcome to your new found home – the horror realm.

Introductions into the forever seeking mindscape of horror can be exciting and yet a thrill ride you will love to take. As an Author, I love to establish that essential premise, where you, the reader, are not just reading a book, you’re becoming part of the story. My horror trilogy, Parasylum, carries with it a most fascinating spellbound interlude of what lies within its pages. Here is a sneak peek for you horror buffs, which will make you crave to see more:

“A team of inexperienced paranormal investigators find themselves involved in the deepest, darkest recesses of the unknown when they enter into Grandview’s Asylum. The souls of yesteryear seek revenge on whomever enter into the abyss of no return. The horrors are plenty with many twists and turns and an ending that’ll keep you shaking your head. Enter into the mindscape where a dream turns into a nightmare and the nightmare is your reality.

Enter the mindscape that transforms dreams into nightmares and nightmares into reality. The way we perceive life is only a perception with some, who share in the illusion of disillusionment. We create the path in which we walk, yet the trail upon which one steps could very well be a story that is never ending. Welcome to Parasylum, where what may seem impossible is possible and what might seem sinister is just plain evil!

Anchored in the subjective mindset, he relinquishes his will to the inevitable. Everything seems to be of a set memory, glimpses from the past, forged into the now, leaving only the permeated sense of nothingness. Hung like a ragdoll in abject misery, the echoes of many shake the very foundation upon which the hallowed grounds cry. He closes his eyes, only to recount once more, everything over, and over again. There’s no escaping this torture from within, welcome to your Nightmare!”

There you have it horror fans, a glimpse into what awaits for you. Embrace the horror genre, as its fantasy is mixed with so much intrigue, which will keep you on the edge of your seat. Till next time, when you come to visit me in the Asylum, we will be sure to keep a few shock treatments just for YOU!

Author’s Bio:

Robbie Thomas born in Ontario, Canada and has lived in Canada all his life. Along with writing books, he’s a screenwriter and producer. He’s created a new T.V. Series, which he’ll also host that’s in development with Lamport Sheppard Entertainment. Robbie has researched and worked in the Paranormal Field for many years where he’s appeared in two critically acclaimed hit paranormal movies. He’s been on television several times doing interviews and 1 hour specials, been in many magazines and newspapers worldwide. More about Robbie’s work can be found on www.robbiethomas.net

Young Adult horror is an interesting animal. It’s not paranormal romance–our monsters are monsters, not friends or objects of desire. It’s not blood spatter and lascivious gore–that’s too adult. Young adult horror is… horror that appeals to young adults!

First, it’s got to be YA. Many authors– from the acclaimed Suzanne Collins to the lowly I– have been surprised to find that their books marketed as YA, when in writing the novel they meant no such thing. If your protagonists are teens, then expect that your work will be classified as YA, regardless of your theme or intent. Any coming-of-age or high school story fits the bill, regardless if the setting is a fictional school for wizards, an alien world, or a post apocalyptic wasteland.

Beyond that, young adult novels deal with young adult issues. From identity to insecurity to bullying to unwanted responsibility to striving for a dream, there aren’t many literary conflicts that can’t be YA with the right treatment. “The Hate List” and “A Wrinkle in Time” are both YA fiction, as is “The Secret Life of Bees” (though in this beekeeping author’s opinion, the latter contained too much secret life and not enough bees.) As disparate as three books can be, they share a common bond: issues that matter to young adults’ psyches and/or their daily lives. They are YA fiction for exactly the reasons that “Imajica,” “It,” and “The Road” aren’t.

Young adult novels can appeal to adults, and the best of them will. Loss, love, family, loyalty, friendship, duty, and sacrifice are called “universal themes” for a reason. YA fiction need not be juvenile, and the best of it doesn’t talk down to its audience. Trust the average teenage reader to be much like the average adult reader– perceptive, intelligent, and not very tolerant of cheap gimmicks. Believable, empathetic characters and a great plot are just as important in YA fiction as in adult fiction.

On a side note, there’s a lot of talk in writer’s circles about word count and YA novels, but I bear it little credence. Comparing “Harry Potter” to Terry Trueman’s disturbing but excellent novel “Stuck In Neutral,” I’m comfortable with recommending “40,000 to eighty bazillion words” as the appropriate length for a YA novel. More so than in adult fiction, protagonist and theme trump word count, with good writing and good story being, of course, paramount.

Second, some things will disqualify a book as young adult. Too much gore, much of any sex (and any explicit sex at all), and antiquated sesquipedalian verbosity will rule a book out, though the last may rule it out of publication at all, so it hardly counts. “The Hate List” reflects on terrible violence, and “Twilight” is drowning in juvenile notions of what sex should be, but neither are explicit in the sense of Bret Easton Ellis’s “American Psycho” or Laurel K. Hamilton’s “Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter” novels.

Young Adult horror emphasizes suspense, dread, and hope– even if it’s false hope– in a happy ending. The monsters are real, even if they’re human, and thus the dread is real… There might be a body count, but the details of death are left to the imagination. The dread is more Alfred Hitchcock than Wes Craven, more Identity than Saw. There can be violence, and gore, and even rape or other terrible aspects of the human (and inhuman) condition, but more is left to the imagination in YA fiction. (Whether or not this is ultimately a good thing I’ll leave to the nightmares of the young and the paychecks of their psychologists.)

Third, to be YA horror, it’s got to be horror. The only category more diverse than “YA” is “books.” YA horror must upend the teenaged world, and carry it beyond the normal into the realms of the horrific.

This can be the supernatural-weird like H.P. Lovecraft and Clive Barker, or the all-too-mundane like Thomas Harris and Jeff Lindsay, but it’s got to bring that sense of dread that horror readers crave. Horror is evocative, emotional and visceral, that hungry thing in the shadows that you can’t quite see… but beyond that the definition is as broad as the genre– if it makes you sleep with the light on, it fits the bill.

So there you have it. YA horror is, as advertised, horror for young adults. It’s a flexible genre marked by subtlety, universal themes, and spine-tingling dread. So go on, curl up with a good YA horror yarn.  Just don’t forget the light.

Author Bio:

Patrick Freivald is an author, high school teacher (physics, robotics, American Sign Language), and beekeeper. He lives in Western New York with his beautiful wife, two birds, two dogs, too many cats, and several million stinging insects. A book reviewer for BuyZombie.com and a member of the HWA, he’s always had a soft spot for slavering monsters of all kinds.

His YA horror novel “Twice Shy” was published in October 2012 from JournalStone. His short fiction has appeared in Flash Fiction Online and The Uninvited Magazine. His novella, “Love Bites,” a prequel to “Twice Shy,” was e-published by Pterotype Digital Media. “Twice Shy” is his debut novel. There will be more.

(The following is a reprint of a blog post by Mike Peterson.)

Curtis touches on the current craze of horror stories for young readers.

(By the way, I love the disconnect in panels two and three between Curtis’s highly rhetorical question and Barry’s response. He wasn’t looking for an actual answer, little brother.)

I don’t know how teachers handle book report after book report based on these dystopic “Hunger Game” knock-offs and Twilightish vampire bodice-rippers. “Hunger Games” itself was quite well-written and worthwhile. “Twilight” was awful stuff.

The fact that 90 percent of it is crap isn’t a condemnation of kid lit. It’s simply Sturgeon’s Law, which was created with literature in mind but, really, applies to just about everything else, too.

As editor of a kid-oriented, kid-written publication, I am well aware that they are cranking these books out as fast as the presses can run, that the kids are snatching them up in droves, and that some of these authors have become rock stars.

Good teachers will welcome that. Not-so-good teachers won’t be able to see beyond the literary quality to the fact that kids are eager to absorb books.

The question becomes, how do you turn eager readers into good readers?

Well, you can’t inspire kids by cramming stuff down their throats, even if it’s good stuff.

I learned the hard way that teachers don’t assign a particular book to find out if you’ll hate it as much as they did: Referring to “Ethan Frome” as “maudlin Victorian melodrama” is not going to get you an “A” from a teacher who was hoping to create a classroom full of lifelong Edith Wharton fans.

But at least she missed with something good, mostly by making it a full-class assignment. It might have been great for the right individual 10th graders.

And offering choices is pointless if those choices aren’t well-considered.

I’ve seen way too many cases where teachers hand out brain-dead lists of same-old-same-old from which they require kids to choose books to report on. One school district a few years ago had a list for fourth graders that included “Gulliver’s Travels” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.”

I deal with some awfully bright kids, but I don’t know any fourth graders who could even get through, much less begin to understand, Gulliver. And the recurrent arguments over Huck Finn skirt the point that it is not a kid’s book in the first place.

As I’ve said several times before, if having a child narrator makes Huck Finn a book for kids, then “Black Beauty” must have been written for horses.

But I digress. Full rant can be found here.

Meanwhile, my sense is that teachers who actually care about this stuff are happy to have a kid turn in a report on any book longer and more complex than “Pat the Bunny.”

And, if you are hoping to elevate their taste beyond adolescent pulp fiction, there are two steps:

1. Let them learn how to be critical within their chosen genre. In my editing gig, I’ve had kids write reviews of these dubious books in which they noted that the writer seemed to lose track of the plot or that the story bogged down in the middle. The quality of the source material may be crap, but that’s perfectly valid criticism and analysis.

Teachers should be looking for that from their best students regardless of what they’re reading, though I’d be content with plot regurgitation from kids who do well to read “Twilight” all the way through rather than the first 30 pages of something from the canon. If they can follow a complex plot and understand even cardboard motivations, they may be excelling at their own level.

Don’t give up on improving their taste or their skills, but don’t obsess over how they get there.

2. Which is to say, if you want to move kids up to better literature, pay attention to them, not to the rulebook, and play to their strengths and interests.

A bright kid who enjoys the romance of “Twilight” can be transitioned to “Jane Eyre” and “Wuthering Heights.”

An enthusiastic report on “The Hunger Games” begs for an introduction to “Lord of the Flies” or “Brave New World.”

And a kid who just likes vampires and slashers should at least be introduced to Edgar Allan Poe, though he might also enjoy the irony of O. Henry, if you choose the right stories to start with.

But the real place to start is by having the kid put his nose in a book. That part is critical.

So, anyway, I don’t know where Ray Billingsley is taking this, but we shall see. I’m going to be as interested as Barry in finding out how the teacher reacts.

www.comicstripoftheday.com, he has a blog for his children’s stories at www.teachup.com Mike lives in New Hampshire with his dog Vaska.

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Mike Peterson has been a newspaper reporter and editor, as well as an author of serialized children’s literature that has appeared in newspapers throughout the United States as well as in Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Bermuda. In addition to creating educational materials, he has been a radio talk show host, magazine writer and advertising professional. In addition to his daily blog,

(This article previously appeared in the VOYA {Voice of Youth Advocates} Magazine as part of the HWA’s YA Literacy program.)

By JG Faherty

There is a revolution happening in reading.

No, I’m not talking about the e-book revolution, although it does play a part in this. The revolution I’m referring to is being led by our children, and it’s one we should all be getting behind.

For years, people – experts and laymen alike – have been bemoaning that today’s youth is reading fewer books than ever, and that the levels of literacy among our children and teens is in a dangerous decline. But over the past couple of years new studies have shown that this information is, in fact, decidedly wrong. Since 2009, young adult readership has actually been increasing in double digits every year.

And I am proud to say that horror and dark fiction have played a major role in that rise.

I am a member of the Horror Writers Association and serve as their current library liaison. One of the HWA’s goals is to promote reading in schools and libraries, and a key part of that is focusing on the YA readers. After all, the more young adults we get reading, the more adult readers we’ll have later on. And that benefits everyone.

It is no secret that young readers love horror, even if they don’t realize it. Young adult literature continues to be the fastest-growing genre, and horror/dark fiction is a key component of that. Of course, today there is a bias against cataloging books as ‘horror,’ so it ends up getting packaged within and under various sub-genres. A little detective work is all it takes, however, to find the dark lurking below the surface.

Novel Novice, a website dedicated to showcasing Young Adult literature, encouraging reading and promoting education, recently polled readers to find out their favorite genres. Here is what they came up with, in no particular order:

Apocalyptic/Post-apocalyptic. Some might call this sci-fi, but there is plenty of horror in this category. Zombies, vampires, demons, aliens – anything dealing with the apocalypse is going to have some horror element in it. A classic example is Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry, which deals with life following a zombie apocalypse.

Paranormal Romance: This is the dominant genre for today’s YA readers. Vampires, shapeshifters, ghosts, witches, and pretty much any other supernatural being you can think of fall in love, get in trouble, and have to escape danger while interacting with humankind. Although it might not seem like it when you look at the shelves or go to the movies, there is more to paranormal romance than Twilight. Nancy Holder and John Passarella are two writers who have contributed several books and series in this category.

Gothic: Ghosts, haunted houses, curses, and mysteries. Gothic horror has been around since humans sat around in caves telling stories around a fire, and it continues to be a powerful sub-genre today. Some examples include the Darkest Powers books by Kelley Armstrong or my own Ghosts of Coronado Bay. This sub-genre frequently overlaps with the previous category.

Cyberpunk: Dystopian plots that often include murder, genetically-bred monsters, and bio-warfare – how could anyone say this doesn’t have terrifying aspects? Is the Hunger Games horror or science fiction or fantasy? In truth, it’s all three.

Graphic Novels/Manga/Anime: When we were kids, we called them comic books. Today they are so much more. Whether they are written in the U.S. or come from overseas, the comic novel has evolved into one of the most popular forms of media for teens. The stories range from cute supernatural to downright terrifying horror and cover sci-fi, fantasy, traditional horror, dystopian and apocalyptic alternate realities, and pretty much anything else you can imagine. The popularity of this medium has grown so much that even best-selling writers such as Stephen King, Jonathan Maberry, and David Morrell (First Blood) have gotten into the act.

In addition to the above, Action/Adventure, Urban Fantasy, Steampunk, and Sci-Fi/Fantasy all rated very high. Although these categories are usually separate from horror, there is a lot of overlap (Harry Potter, for example) and together with horror they can all be categorized as speculative fiction.

So where does the HWA fit in to all of this? Well, of course many of today’s popular YA writers are also HWA members; however, the organization is more than just individual writers. As a group, the HWA is actively involved in promoting YA literacy by working with the American Library Association and individual libraries to encourage new activities and programs geared towards YA readers. Authors are available to visit schools and libraries and not only read from their latest works but also discuss books, literature, and language arts. Halloween is a great time for this, because schools and libraries often put on special events and writers can come in and read classic ghost stories and discuss local history as it relates to hauntings and horror.

Each year, the HWA honors books in several categories, including YA Novel and Graphic Novel, with its iconic Bram Stoker Awards®, and provides libraries with catalogs of recommended reading lists and new releases. HWA members are also regular panelists at youth-focused events such as Comic Con and the World Horror Convention.

In a 2010 survey by Scholastic, 43% of children questioned stated that the most important part of reading fiction is to open up the imagination. 62% said they read books to be “inspired by storylines and characters.” I feel safe in saying that very few things open the imagination and provide memorable storylines and characters the way horror/dark fiction can. It can transport you to new worlds, open doors to places that could only exist in the imagination, and having you falling in love or wishing you were the hero who saves the world.

In summary, the best way to get young people to read is to give them books they want to read, and speculative fiction – horror, sci-fi, fantasy – writers are doing just that.

By JG Faherty (www.jgfaherty.com)