Welcome back to SCARY OUT THERE, the Horror Writers Association’s new blog on scary fiction for teens.

My guest this week is Rick Yancey, an author who writes powerful novels across genre and age lines. He’s the author of several adult novels and the memoir, CONFESSIONS OF A TAX COLLECTOR. His first young-adult novel, THE EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURES OF ALFRED KROPP, was a finalist for the Carnegie Medal. In 2010, his novel, THE MONSTRUMOLOGIST, received a Michael L. Printz Honor, and the sequel, THE CURSE OF THE WENDIGO, was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. His latest series, THE 5^TH WAVE, will launch this spring.

JONATHAN MABERRY: Let’s talk fear. What’s the most frightened you’ve ever been?

RICK YANCEY: The most frightened I have ever felt – ever – is when, as an older teen, the idea that life is capricious and the world may not be – in fact, all evidence pointed to the fact that it wasn’t – ruled by a benign and generous intelligence.

JONATHAN MABERRY: What brought you to that point?

RICK YANCEY: I’m not sure when this happened, but it may have been around the time I read THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE.

JONATHAN MABERRY: Why? What did that book do to you?

RICK YANCEY: It was a feeling of hopeless dread, the existential terror of a universe that is neither kind nor malignant, but indifferent.

JONATHAN MABERRY: This was when you were a teen?

RICK YANCEY: Yes, and this shook my worldview to the core. By that age, I’d come to terms with the inevitability of death – intellectually at least – but I hadn’t considered the possibility that my death might be utterly meaningless.

JONATHAN MABERRY: What does that mean to you?

RICK YANCEY: There is the childlike fear of the unknown – and then there is the more mature fear of the unknowable.

JONATHAN MABERRY: Beyond entertainment, what value is there in horror fiction?

RICK YANCEY: Scary stories are popular because they’re a safe way (physically, at least) to confront our deepest fears. I have an unprovable theory that the very first stories were horror stories, told as a way to impose structure on an environment in which we were not the top of the food chain.

JONATHAN MABERRY: Has horror been a part of your reading life?

RICK YANCEY: I haven’t read much horror since I was a teen. I’m very impressionable; horror sticks with me and disrupts my sleep.

JONATHAN MABERRY: And you write it.

RICK YANCEY: When I wrote THE MONSTRUMOLOGIST I didn’t consider it horror – I thought of it as an adventure/thriller, but I never worry too much about classifications and genre (maybe to the detriment of my career).

JONATHAN MABERRY: How do you define ‘horror fiction’?

RICK YANCEY: Oh, the same way most people do, I suppose. Death or some facet thereof confronted.

JONATHAN MABERRY: In what ways does adult horror differ from teen fiction?

RICK YANCEY: Adult horror has more explicit sex and language, superficially. I’m probably the wrong person to ask.

JONATHAN MABERRY: Why so?

RICK YANCEY: Lots of readers have commented that my monstrumologist books are not teen-friendly, based on the sophistication of language and the graphic descriptions of death and the attending mayhem. I think the bigger issue is one of experience. Horror can also described as fiction of loss – the ultimate loss being life itself. You could argue that adults have experienced loss, failure, betrayal, malaise…all the shit that life can ladle out and to a more profound degree, and so-called “adult horror” spends more time addressing this, while “teen horror” dwells on the more primordial stuff – like being eaten alive.

JONATHAN MABERRY: Where’d the Monstrumologist idea come from?

RICK YANCEY: The Monstrumologist series evolved as I wrote it. My original concept was to write a Jaws-like story set in the 19th century, told epistolarily through the journals of an old man. I loved stories from that era, loved the style, loved that time when “there were still dark places in the world and men who dared to delve into them.” The story of the monster-hunter and his apprentice grew in directions unforeseen, putting out roots and branching into places I hadn’t anticipated. This, by the way, is one of the great joys of writing, when your characters take your original idea and do something totally unexpected and wonderful with it. Midway through THE CURSE OF THE WENDIGO, the second book, I realized I was writing a love story disguised as a horror story. I remember writing in large letters at the top of the manuscript: LOVE IS THE MONSTER.

By the third book, THE ISLE OF BLOOD, I knew I had something special on my hands. This wasn’t just about hunting monsters or a unique relationship between a driven man and his impressionable apprentice – I had come close to the heart of all fear and horror – or at least felt I had; readers can judge for themselves.

JONATHAN MABERRY: Nice.  So…what’s next on the slab?

RICK YANCEY: The fourth and last book in the series, THE FINAL DESCENT, will be published this fall. It’s gonna be tough to say goodbye to these characters.

JONATHAN MABERRY: I hear you. Just went through that myself with a quadrology.  Okay, let’s wrap it with a key question. If you had to recommend just three YA horror novels –past or present—which books make your must-read list?

RICK YANCEY: Oh boy, that’s always a hard question. Poe blew me away as a kid. I like Daniel Kraus’s stuff. Early Stephen King is great for older teens.

JONATHAN MABERRY: Thanks, Rick. Great stuff.

Find Rick online at www.rickyancey.com or follow him on Facebook (facebook.com/authorrickyancey) and Twitter (@RickYancey).

NEXT TIME: Tune in next week when I sit down to talk with Tonya Hurley, New York Times and international bestselling author of young adult series GHOSTGIRL and THE BLESSED. Until then, don’t let the bedbugs bite!

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Jonathan Maberry is a NY Times bestselling author, multiple Bram Stoker Award winner, and freelancer for Marvel Comics. His novels include EXTINCTION MACHINE, FIRE & ASH, PATIENT ZERO and many others. His award-winning teen novel, ROT & RUIN, is now in development for film. He is the editor of V-WARS, an award-winning vampire anthology. Since 1978 he’s sold more than 1200 magazine feature articles, 3000 columns, plays, greeting cards, song lyrics, and poetry. He is the founder of the Writers Coffeehouse, and co-founder of The Liars Club. Jonathan lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania with his wife, Sara Jo. www.jonathanmaberry.com

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.

—

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.

2011 Bram Stoker Nominee

J. G. Faherty

Author bio:
A lifelong resident of New York’s highly haunted Hudson Valley region, JG Faherty grew up amid Revolutionary War graveyards, haunted roads, and woods filled with ghostly apparitions. His varied professional career includes working as a resume writer, laboratory manager, accident scene photographer, zoo keeper, scientist, and salesman. He began writing fiction in 2001, and his short stories, poetry, and articles- have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies.

Book Synopsis:
By all accounts, 16-year-old Maya Blair is a typical teen-age high school student. She hangs out with her best friend Lucy, has a turbulent relationship with her ex-boyfriend Stuart, and works at her family’s diner – the main restaurant on the island of Coronado Bay.

But Maya has an extraordinary secret – she can see, hear, and talk to ghosts. And when spirits are near her they revert back to solid form. She is what her deceased grandmother Elsa calls a Seer.

For years, Elsa was the only ghost Maya knew. But that changes when the century-old wreckage of the Black Lady, a ship that capsized in Coronado Bay’s waters, is raised from the ocean floor and placed on display in the local museum. During a school tour of the Black Lady exhibit, Maya meets Blake Hennessy, a young, fair-skinned boy to whom she is instantly attracted. Shortly thereafter, a sensual, gothic young man named Gavin Hamlin crosses her path, and she is equally smitten. Her feelings bloom before she realizes they are both ghosts – Blake, the kind- hearted spirit who cares for Maya’s well being, and Gavin, the dark wizard who thirsts to finish the evil task he longed to complete 100 years before.

To accomplish his nefarious plan, Gavin has to be human again. And for that, he needs the blood of a virgin witch. In his mind, Maya is the perfect candidate. Now it’s up to Maya, Lucy, and Blake to save Coronado Bay and the world from destruction. But time is running out, people are dying, and Gavin’s powers are growing.

Things were so much simpler when all she had to worry about was a date for the dance.

Ghosts of Coronado Bay, A Maya Blair Mystery, was published by Amazon Digital Services

Buy Ghosts of Coronado Bay on Amazon

For more information, please visit:
www.jgfaherty.com

Or contact J. G. Faherty at:
jg@jgfaherty.com

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.

–

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.