Posts Tagged ‘authors’

What Exactly is Weird Fiction?

Posted: June 4, 2023 in Reflections, Writing
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I’ve heard certain stories and writers described as weird fiction and weird fiction writers. I’ve also heard of New Weird, which refers to writers whose work is representative of a new wave of weird fiction. And I can think of examples of fiction that is described as “weird fiction.” Yet, I still find myself wondering from time to time, “How do you define weird fiction?”

Most people I’ve talked to–and I’ve talked to many–say “I know it when I see it” when it comes to weird fiction.* However, being a non-human entity and having a very loose definition of “normal” in a world that seems to defy anyone’s definition of normal, that still isn’t enough for me. And I know HP Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos is considered weird fiction, but is that because it involves tentacled monsters?

As usually happens when these sort of questions bug me to no end, I do research. And after talking to a lot of people, reading some articles, and watching a few YouTube videos on the subject, I think I’ve finally come to some conclusions.

For one thing, “weird fiction” isn’t a specific genre like literary, romance, sci-fi or horror fiction. Rather, it’s a designation given to stories and writers who take traditional concepts within their genre and then find some way to turn them on their head and make them weird. Lovecraft and his friends’ fiction was called “weird horror” because it featured ancient cosmic beings with lots of tentacles instead of ghosts, werewolves and vampires. And today, you can call Junji Ito “new weird” because his work features women with their tongues being replaced by snails and their heads becoming the shells, or towns cursed by the concept of a spiral.

And this can apply to all sorts of other genres and kinds of stories. Magical realism, cryptozoological erotica, bizarro fiction, they can all be considered weird. And you can add weird to any sort of story. For example, perhaps you can write a romance story where the couple is actually a single person and their reflection. Or weird Western, where cowboys ride into a wilderness resembling that melting clock painting by Salvador Dali.

And now that I think about it, my own novel Rose could be considered weird fiction. I mean, I usually categorize it as “fantasy horror” or “paranormal fiction,” but it’s about a young woman turned into a plant/human hybrid (and that’s just the start of her problems). If that’s not weird, then I’m a sea lion (and I’m not).

Apparently, Rose could be considered “weird fiction.” I never realized.

So, how does one write weird fiction? Well, I don’t think anyone sets out to write exclusively weird stories. I think they’re just trying to create something original and that leads to going down a weird route. That being said, if you want to write something weird, here are a few things you can try to make it weird:

  • Disrupt the real. Weird fiction comes from being weird, so it helps if your story breaks either the characters’ or the readers’ sense of reality. In terms of the latter, you could modify the world in some way so that something weird by our standards is considered normal in the world of the story. One example I can think of is a story I once read where imaginary friends were real entities and an accepted part of the human life cycle, similar to losing your baby teeth or going through puberty.
    In terms of the former, write the story in a way where you and the characters share a similar reality, but then that definition of real goes out the window in a big way. Think Alice falling down the rabbit hole into Wonderland, or perhaps Little Red Riding Hood’s trip to her grandmother’s house becomes Lovecraftian and surreal.
  • Tentacles and cosmic elements. It’s a little stereotypical, but as I said, much of what made Lovecraft’s stories weird were the tentacles and the other elements that became the foundation of cosmic horror. So, if it works, why not use it?
  • Ask “what if I added this?” Plenty of times, we writers create our own stories by encountering another story and thinking of what we would add if we were the ones writing it. Just do the same thing, but think in terms of strange things you can add. And not just to other stories, but to just daily situations. What if you added surrealism to a religious matchmaking search, or if there was some visible way to instantly identify someone as having committed a crime? Thinking along those lines could allow you to write a weird fiction story.
  • Defy genre. While genres are categories we created, they do play a big role in writing and publishing. If you can write a story that doesn’t fit any particular genre but has elements of several, especially fantasy, sci-fi, and horror, it could be considered weird. There’s a bit more to it, but that can be a clear indicator of weird fiction.

Other than that, the only thing I can recommend is read plenty of weird stories and practice writing them. And while writing weird fiction isn’t exactly necessary for any writer, it can be a lot of fun and lead to some memorable stories. Hell, it may help you write more mainstream fiction. So, why not? Go ahead and get weird with it!

What tips do you have for writing weird fiction? Do you have any favorite stories that are considered weird?

*Fun fact: that phrase was coined by US Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart in 1964 in his opinion on the case Jacobellis v. Ohio regarding a definition for obscenity, specifically hard-core pornography. The more you know.

Thanks for reading, everyone. It was a long article, but I wanted to get it out before I tried to intentionally write a weird fiction story (usually it happens by accident). I hope you enjoyed a post without a mention of Hannah (which, now that I think about it, has a weird story or two as well).

Anyway, I’ll be back soon enough. There’s some exciting stuff happening this week, after all. So, until next time, my Followers of Fear, good night and pleasant nightmares!

Taking Brand Names out of My Stories

Posted: May 25, 2023 in Reflections, Writing
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So, one thing that really surprised me about the editing process for Hannah was that I had to get rid of brand names from the stories. YouTube became WeTube, and Kroger and Meijer became Lundgren’s, etc.

But those weren’t the only things I had to take out. Ohio State University, which was featured in What Errour Awoke and which was mentioned in Hannah, has been renamed Aurelian University. And Disneyland is now Mueller Land. Yeah, Disneyland was in a story at one point, but now it’s Mueller Land. And I was really surprised I had to change those both.

As my publisher explained, we have to be careful, because if we use a real brand and the company that owns the brand thinks the depiction is negative, they can sue both me and the publisher. Which makes sense. I mean, Apple doesn’t allow its products to be used by bad guys in movies and TV shows. If you see someone in a movie using a generic android phone, chances are they’re bad guys. And in the TV show Chuck, the name of the store where the main character works is a Best Buy parody called Buy More. And given that the store is regularly depicted as being staffed by lazy, incompetent, and oftentimes creepy employees, or is the sight of shootouts and spy shenanigans, it makes sense that the creators would change the name.

Also explains why Subway, which was a sponsor for the show in later seasons, was only ever eaten by the good guys. As far as I can remember, I never once saw a bad guy in that show going for Subway.

Still, that show also depicted Stanford University as a major recruiting center for CIA operatives, and during the first season, the main character has negative feelings towards the school due to his being framed for cheating and getting kicked out while there. Did Stanford not care? And if it didn’t, would Ohio State really care that some characters in my collection were students there?

On the bright side, I was able to keep Slender Man in Queen Alice. Even though he’s a copyrighted character (I know, most people think he’s public domain as well), I was able to keep him as mentioned in Queen Alice because he illustrates an ongoing phenomena regarding Internet boogeymen. And in What Errour Awoke, I was able to keep a reference to Die Hard because, as my editor put it, Nakatomi Plaza is not a copyrighted name or actual location and everyone loves a Die Hard reference (truth).

I still find myself wondering about this, though. Some authors, especially big-name authors, can put references to brands, businesses and universities, among other things, into their work and don’t think twice about changing them. Occasionally, you even see song lyrics from famous songs! Gerald’s Game‘s antagonist draws his name from lyrics from “The Joker” by the Steve Miller Band, and My Best Friend’s Exorcism had lyrics to many popular songs from the 1980s, albeit sung with the wrong lyrics because that’s what the characters liked to do. Not sure if that counts as parody or fair use, but it doesn’t change the fact that We Got the Beat by the Go-Gos was used as an exorcism chant later in the book.

And how does Law & Order: SVU get away with using TikTok and TikTok stars in one episode? Yeah, season 23, episode 5. Even if the app isn’t portrayed as having any bearing on the bad guys in that episode, I can’t imagine TikTok was happy to have its name used in the show like that.

I guess what I’m saying is, there’s a lot to using real brands in fictional contexts that I don’t get. It’s incredibly nuanced, and you can’t get away with using a real brand by using it in a positive light and then pointing to the copyright text at the beginning of the book stating that all characters, settings, and whatever are fictional or used fictionally. In which case, more often than not, it might be better to just turn a popular brand or institution into a fictional version with a name that may or may not reference the real thing. YouTube becomes WeTube, Disneyland becomes Mueller Land, Ohio State University becomes Aurelian University, and…well, you get the idea.

Do you have any insight on this, my Followers of Fear? Please sound off in the comments below.

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. Just a reminder, though: this Saturday I’ll be at the Canal Town Book Festival in Dover, Ohio, selling books. If any of you are in the area, please stop by and visit. Also keep an eye out for some exciting news on the horizon regarding Hannah and Other Stories. Trust me, you won’t want to miss it.

Until next time, good night and pleasant nightmares!

“Hannah and Other Stories:” The Third Draft is Finished

Posted: May 20, 2023 in Progress Report, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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So, these past few weeks, I’ve been editing the hell out of the stories in my upcoming collection, Hannah and Other Stories. This collection contains stories featuring ghosts, budding collections, and even carnivorous horses, and it looks like we’ll be releasing it some time this fall.

And as of early this morning, I’ve finished editing the third draft of the manuscript.

I’m not going to lie, this has been the most exhausting editing process I’ve ever gone through. Way more than Rose ever was (and I had to rewrite two-thirds of that novel at one point). Some of the stories, such as What Errour Awoke and Fuseli’s Horses, required extensive editing and rewrites. Autopsy Kid, which at this time is the last story in the collection, had a ton of content cut from the story and a lot of changes made so that it could stay part of the collection. As a result, I actually missed the deadline to get this story turned in!

Yeah, I’m not happy about that. It was due on Friday night at 11:59 PM, but even though I adjusted my schedule to maximize editing time despite being at ParaPsyCon, I still couldn’t finish it by then. I actually had to grab some shut-eye, then wake up at 5:30 in the morning and finish the edits!

Still, I’m not happy that I was late. Yeah, there were factors that contributed to the lateness, such as having a day job and needing to sleep. But it was still a failure on my part, if a minor one. I’m glad I wasn’t like one of those writers in the movies and books, who are one to six months past deadline. Or that one writer whose next book is…nine years overdue?! Good Lord, we are never going to get that series finished, are we?

Anyway, now that the third draft and all the major edits and rewrites are done, all that’s left is for the fourth draft. This draft will mainly be editing the stories to be grammatically correct. Any new content will likely just to make an unwieldy sentence read better, or to flesh out something that’s more telling than showing. And after that, provided there’s nothing more to do, we can move forward with getting this book released in the fall.

I’ve actually already done three stories in the fourth draft, and it only took me an hour to get through them, rather than the hours or days for each story in the third draft. Hopefully the next four stories go the same way.

That being said, right now, I’m exhausted. Work has been crazy, so balancing work and the writer life, as well as my personal life and getting sleep, has been insane. And I didn’t get enough last sleep last night. So, although I want to party with wine, cake, and some horror movies or anime, I’m just going to get into bed. Tomorrow, on the way back from ParaPsyCon, I’ll try to pick up some of the good stuff and have a good time when I get home.

Anyway, that’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’m hoping to be blogging a bit more now that the third draft is done. Until then, good night and pleasant nightmares. I know I plan to have a few.

Updates on What I’m Doing

Posted: May 3, 2023 in Living and Life, Progress Report
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Life is crazy, there’s a lot going on, so here’s some quick updates on what’s going on in my life and writing career.

Hannah and Other Stories

So, the next draft has already begun on Hannah. Currently, my editor is sending it to me story by story every couple of days, with “Hannah” itself arriving yesterday. (And yes, differentiating the two in email conversations with my editor was a hoot). I actually got the story done in one evening and sent it back, with the biggest change to the story just being that I changed some names of brands and public institutions. For example, YouTube became WeTube, Ohio State University became Aurelian University, and Disneyland in Anaheim because Mueller Land in San Dimas. Fun fact, took me about half an hour to rename Disneyland, but given that they’re a brand I don’t want to owe money to for using in a story, it was a half hour well spent.

I should receive the next story, “Queen Alice,” in a few days at most. When I get it, I’ll get it edited as quickly as possible and get it back to the publisher. With any luck, we’ll be done with this draft by the end of the month.

They Sleep Within the Rock and other projects

I finally got around to doing a third draft of this novella last week. With my beta reader’s help, I’ve been able to improve the story immensely, and have edited about seventy percent of the story. Unfortunately, while working on it, I realized the last thirty percent doesn’t have the oomph this story needs to be great. I mean, it’s a story about giving neo-Nazis some epic karma! You would think the story would have an ending on par with the explosiveness of Die Hard or the finale of The Little Mermaid (say what you will about that movie, but that finale is nothing to sneeze at).

So after a lot of messaging back and forth with my beta reader, I think I came up with a new ending that might be closer to my vision. I’ll be working on it in-between stories of Hannah, so it may take time, but I’ll get it done and back to the beta reader before too long.

After that, I would like to edit “The Underground Kings” and “It Changes You: A Backrooms Story,” as I’ve received some great feedback on how to improve those stories and I want to see what I can do with them. With any luck, they may even find homes!

And as for new stuff…well, I would like to get back to my mummy novel Crawler. And I do have some short stories, novelettes and novellas I might want to work on later this year. But really, nothing definite at this point. Just a ton of editing.

Horror Writers Association news

You may not be aware of this, but I’ve been the Chairperson for the Ohio chapter of the Horror Writers Association, HWA Ohio, since around its inception. I didn’t volunteer for the role or anything in the beginning, I just kept reserving meeting rooms for our meetings, and as we got more organized, I just kind of became the chair.

This year, the HWA implemented a system to elect chairs every two years organization wide. And I can officially say that I’ve been elected to serve the role two more years. I’m looking forward to serving as the Chairperson again, and to growing both the chapter and its members. If anything exciting pops up in that regard, I will let you know.

Anything else?

As you know, this Saturday I will be selling books and doing Tarot readings at the Hidden Marietta Paranormal Expo in Marietta, Ohio. It’ll be at the Washington County Fairgrounds from 10 AM – 4 PM. If you’re in the area this Saturday, please stop by, because it’s going to be a ton of fun.

I’m also going to be doing a flashlight tour and a ghost hunt at the local Anchorage Mansion this weekend with a friend, so hopefully we come across some spooky stuff. If we do, and I can, I’ll record it so you can see it!

And I finished Every Woman Knows This by Laurel Hightower, and thought it was a strong collection of scary short stories. 4 out of 5, won’t disappoint readers who give it a read.

Other than that, there’s nothing I can talk about. At least nothing that’s relevant to this blog right now or that I can talk about without getting into trouble. So, I’ll take this moment to bid you all a good night. Until next time, my Followers of Fear, pleasant nightmares!

So Much Still to Learn

Posted: April 25, 2023 in Reflections, Writing
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As I mentioned in a previous post, BSC Publishing Group’s editors and I had several Zoom and email discussions regarding the content in my upcoming collection, Hannah and Other Stories. During the discussion, I realized a lot of things about my stories and my writing in general that needed improvement. And this led to some discussions with one of the editors about my writing, writing horror in general, and what directions I could go with my writing.

I won’t go into details, because some of it is for stories that you have yet to read, and I really want things to be a surprise. But the biggest conclusion I came to was that there’s still so much I need to learn as a horror writer.

I mean, I kind of already knew that, but I think part of me thought I’d become some sort of authority on horror writing, and the content meeting, as well as all the discussions that followed, really made me see the light. All of a sudden, I’m understanding why some of my stories haven’t been accepted, what fatal flaws I’ve allowed to slip into my storytelling, and what needs to be fixed so I can write not just effective horror stories, but publishable horror stories.

Honestly, it’s been rough to realize how much I still have to learn and how many ways I’ve actually been sabotaging my own stories. It’s been enough to make me doubt my own abilities as a writer…for a second. Then I remembered this is why we have editors and beta readers and why authors are their own worst judges and how we also need this feedback so we can grow and become better writers. If we never learn from others or discount what our editors and beta readers say, we end up writing really bad stories that never get published.

So, this whole experience, while slightly disheartening, has been a good eye-opener for me. Hopefully I can learn from this past week and write some stories that magazines and publishers will want to release and readers will want to read. I’m already thinking of ways to improve the stories I still need to edit, including “They Sleep Within the Rock” and “It Changes You,” and stories I might want to tackle next. I’ve also thought of ways to change Toyland and Crawler, and, of course, I’ve had plenty of thoughts of how to improve the stories in Hannah. With any luck, I can put these thoughts into practice and edit these stories so that they’re worthy of the promise at the top of this blog and on my business cards: “Scared yet? My job here is done.”

I look forward to updating you all on my progress.

One last thing, my Followers of Fear: I know I got into all the events I’ll be attending yesterday (you can see that post here), but I got confirmation on one more today, so I’ll add it to the end of this post. So this summer, I’ll be a guest at Gem City Comic Con on July 22nd and 23rd, 2023 in Dayton, Ohio! I’m really looking forward to this convention, so if you can stop by, please do so. I don’t know if they’ll let me do Tarot readings yet, but I’ll be happy to sign your book.

Until next time, good night and pleasant nightmares!

Events in 2023

Posted: April 24, 2023 in Living and Life, Writing
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Well, it’s been a while since I’ve done of these posts. But guess what? We’re coming up on a lot of events, so I’m doing a big post to update you on the various events I’ll be attending as an author and/or vendor. And if you’re lucky, I might not need to do reminders at the bottom of posts right before said events.

And let me tell you, this summer is going to be jampacked with events! First, I’ll be attending the Hidden Marietta Paranormal Expo on May 6th, 2023 in Marietta, Ohio! I had such a great time the last time I was there, so I’m so excited to be back. This time, it’s been moved to the Washington County Fairgrounds, as the convention is too big for the Lafayette Hotel. The convention is from 10 AM – 4 PM and you can find out more on their website.

Then, on May 20th and 21st, I’ll be at ParaPsyCon at the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio! Followers of Fear, you know I love the Ohio State Reformatory and you know I love ParaPsyCon, so I’m excited to come back again, meet readers and do Tarot readings. Saturday will be from 10 AM – 5 PM, and Sunday will be from 11 AM – 5 PM. You can find out more on their website.

One weekend later, on May 27th, I’ll be at the Canal Town Book Festival in Dover, Ohio! This is apparently the Tuscarawas Valley’s biggest book festival, and is held in concert with the Canal Dover Festival. It’ll be from 10 AM – 3 PM and you can visit the other festival while you’re there. For more info, you can check out their website.

Then after that, assuming I haven’t sold out of books, I’ll be attending the Hamilton Ohio Pride Fest with HWA Ohio on June 3rd, 2023 in Cincinnati, OH! A friend in HWA Ohio reserved a booth for us, so I’m looking forward to coming down and supporting both the genre of horror as well as my LGBTQIA+ community (I’m bisexual, if you weren’t aware, as well as aromantic). You can find out more on–you guessed it!–their website.

And then a couple of weeks after that, I’m very excited to be joining so many members of the Horror Writers Association at StokerCon 2023 in Pittsburgh, PA! As you know, this will be on June 15th-18th, and this will be my first ever StokerCon! I’m so excited. Of the people who will be there, many I’ve only interacted with online or through Zoom, so I’m looking forward to meeting people, learning from my fellow horror fans and creators, and just have a good time. And while I won’t be selling books, I’ll be taking lots of photos and maybe even some video! And if you want to learn more, check out the website.

And if you won’t believe it, I’ll have another event in July! This time, I’ll be at the Columbus Book Festival on July 15th-16th, 2023 at the Columbus Metropolitan Library’s Main Branch in downtown Columbus, Ohio! This is part of the library’s 150th anniversary celebration, and will hopefully be the first of many such festivals. I’ll be there with HWA Ohio, so hopefully we meet horror fans from all over Ohio looking to connect with their state’s local talent. You can find out more at their website.

Yeah, lot of events going on. And if I’m lucky, I’ll be attending a few more. I’m in the process of applying for some, am waiting to hear back from some others, and waiting for some others to open up for applications. But no matter what event I go to, I look forward to meeting new readers, connecting them with books, reading their Tarot (when the venue allows me), and just having a blast.

And if you’re in the area for any of these events, please feel free to stop by. I would love to see you, take a photo and maybe sign a book for you. And if you can’t, you can support me instead by still reading my books. Just head to my Books page to see if anything reaches out to you.

Anyway, that’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I hope I get to see some of you. Until next time, good night and pleasant nightmares!

The Balancing Act Between the Author and the Publisher

Posted: April 21, 2023 in Reflections, Writing
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In Tarot, the Two of Cups represents reconciliation and balance in a relationship. It’s a card I thought often of during these past few days while figuring things out with BSC.

The relationship between an author and a publisher is a collaboration. The author creates a work, and the publisher helps them get the work cleaned up enough to be published. Together, they release the book into the world and put in the work to make sure the book gets to as many readers as possible. That’s all known.

But, as I said above, the relationship between the author and their publisher is also a relationship. And a relationship is often about give and take, compromise, and balance.

I was reminded of this fact recently during a two-hour Zoom meeting with my editor at BSC Publishing Group. BSC, as you probably know by now, is releasing my new collection, Hannah and Other Stories, later this year. Part of the reason why I wanted to release this collection with a publisher is that I knew these stories would need help reaching their full potential, so I wanted a publisher with experience that could help me reach that potential. Plus, the people working for BSC know the industry well and are enthusiastic about helping their authors reach as wide an audience as possible.

This particular meeting was a content meeting. Simply put, we were looking over the individual stories and seeing what in the story’s content could be fixed in the next draft. This way, we could continue to improve the stories by identifying any story issues and maybe cutting out anything that would be too controversial or souldn’t help the stories. And my editor had plenty of suggestions for the stories, some of which I’d already hit upon. Most I didn’t have an issue with. They either made sense from the get-go or they made sense after a bit of explaining.

A few things that came up, I was glad to receive. I mean, if you haven’t already noticed, I’m a white male. And, try as I do, I don’t always see things from outside that perspective. It’s good that my editor and others at BSC are women and can see outside that perspective. They pointed out more than a few things I didn’t realize might come off as problematic. And now that I know, I can change and learn from these examples so (hopefully) I don’t make that mistake in the future.

Other suggestions, however…I had more than a bit of hesitation.

Look, I’m normally an amenable guy. I like getting along with people and I’m usually good with going along with someone else’s suggestion if it’s not a big deal. But without getting into details (spoilers, you know), some of the suggestions my editors made just didn’t sit right with me. And I pushed back, which resulted in a lot of emailing back and forth.

And that’s something you have to keep in mind when you work with publishers. While they do want to help you get your book out there and even further your career, they do have their own ideas, goals and needs. And sometimes, all that with conflict with your vision in some way or another. That’s not a bad thing, it’s just the way things are. And ultimately, the best you can hope for is either coming to an understanding, or a compromise.

Otherwise, the relationship between author and publisher could dissolve and the book go unpublished, or the relationship between author and publisher is extremely unbalanced and the two parties, as well as the resulting book, suffers.

Ultimately, BSC and I were able to talk it out, come to a few agreements, and reach a compromise. And now we have a direction for the next draft of this book. Soon, I’ll get the notes on the second draft from them, and we’ll go from there. What happens next…well, we’ll see. At the very least, we’re still able to get along and still committed to getting this book out. And that’s what’s important.

Review: “Gothic” by Philip Fracassi

Posted: April 18, 2023 in Novel, Review, Scary Stuff
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I’ve been hearing about Philip Fracassi here and there for a little while now and was curious to try one of his stories. One or two of his books have even made it onto my TBR list. This one became available to me on Audible, so I snapped it up. And today, while cooking dinner, I finished the audio version of Gothic. Obviously, I have to share my thoughts.

Gothic follows Tyson Parks, a middle-aged horror author who was a big seller in the 90s but hasn’t turned out a hit since and needs one to stay afloat. It doesn’t help that he pitched one book to a publisher and turned in something entirely different to his agent. However, when his wife gets him a new writing desk for his birthday, one with a black stone top and lots of terrifying designs in the wood, he finds himself inspired to write something dark and violent. However, this inspiration, and the source of it, turns him dark and violent as well. And that’s because the desk isn’t just a desk. It’s something old and evil. And it has a terrible purpose in mind for Tyson.

I liked Fracassi’s writing style. He goes into the trials and troubles of a writer, especially one with bills, with both realism and a strong sense of humor. Not to mention, the story itself is dark and intriguing, moving along at a steady clip as you watch Tyson’s descent and how those he loves are pulled along for the ride. Honestly, there were some parts that made me cringe when I read them, they were just so brutal.

And the source of the horror, the writing desk, is a pretty cool concept. Yeah, at first glance it sounds like Christine gone silly, but the damn thing’s scary in more than just looks. Especially as it begins to exert a stronger and stronger influence on Tyson. And in the last fifth or so, elements of In the Mouth of Madness are incorporated, which I enjoyed.

That being said, I was disappointed by the ending. I thought it felt rushed, like Fracassi was trying to meet the same deadline as his character, and he just slapped on an ending that wouldn’t require another ten to twenty thousand words. Part of me wonders if the intention is to give this story a sequel where some of the plot threads are wrapped up and the desk’s influence can be further explored, but I don’t know if that was the intention.

On a scale of 1 to 5, I’m giving Gothic by Philip Fracassi an even 4. With plenty of pain and horror, it’s an entertaining read and worth taking a look at.

Just don’t read it near any antique desks. And if you do, make sure you have the desk’s history and you’re sure it’s not dangerous before you do.

How Do They Get Their Short Stories So Short?

Posted: April 7, 2023 in Reflections, short story, Writing
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So, I’m reading Every Woman Knows This: A Horror Collection by Laurel Hightower, a collection of horror short stories I won in a Twitter giveaway. Not very fast, because I get through print books so much more slowly these days than I used to, but I’m making my way through it. And I am in awe that some of these short stories appear to be shorter than five thousand words. Hell, some of the earlier stories in the collection appear less than four thousand.

And I’m sitting there, reading the stories, and I’m like, “How does she do that and make them still so damn good?”

I actually posted that question on my personal Facebook and my Twitter feed. Laurel responded to the Facebook post (we’re friends there), thanking me for posting about the book and being glad that I’m enjoying it. Did not share her secrets with me, though.

I wish she had, because I would love to be able to write stories that short and still be effective. After all, I grew up on Harry Potter and the Bartimaeus Trilogy, followed by books like Interview with the Vampire and IT. The shortest of those books is seventy-seven thousand words. By the time I started regularly reading and writing short stories, my brain was already primed for sprawling plots with deep twists, multiple layers of themes and secrets, and complex character relationships that are explored through multiple pages, chapters and books.

Taking all that out and trying to tell an entire story in less than seventy-five hundred words (what the Horror Writer Association says is the maximum word count for a short story) was a huge switch for me. And honestly, I’ve had varying success. Occasionally, I manage to get a story less than seventy-five hundred words, and sometimes those stories get published, but more often short for me is a novelette between 7,500 and 17,500 words. Not as long as a novel, not by far, but allows me more room to work with those plot elements I like.

Still, I do try to come up with and write those shorter stories, what Stephen King calls “a quick kiss in the dark from a stranger.”* Yeah, it’s difficult to do, but most publications are looking for stories of that range, and I want to get my work into them. And, I like the challenge. It’s another hill for me to climb on my journey as an author. And, occasionally, something I write in this vein is really good.

That being said, if it looks like a short story is destined to be a novelette, or even a novella or novel, I will let it be the length it’s going to be. No sense trying to maim a good story so it can fit somewhere, right?

But I still try. And I’ve gleaned some things in my attempts, like instead of big plots or huge happenings, you focus on small instances or events that may happen to one or two people. Rather than the big moments, like the destruction of It in the sewers of Derry or the fallout of four writers visiting a haunted house on Kansas during Halloween for a publicity stunt (Kill Creek by Scott Thomas, if you don’t know), I should focus on maybe a ghost at the Ohio State Reformatory trying to get information on what happened after he died, or a young man dealing with something evil that’s appeared intermittently in his life. Those might manage to become the kisses given in the dark by a stranger.

Actually, one of those was a kiss in the dark, and some of you may remember it. It’s “Is Anyone There,” which was published last year in That Which Cannot Be Undone, and got mentioned in several reviews as a highlight of the anthology. So maybe I might be closer to my goals than I think.

Just don’t kiss me in the dark. I’m more likely to punch you for that than enjoy it or put it into a story.

What are your tips for writing short stories, Followers of Fear? Do you struggle with keeping them under 7,000 or 5,000 words? Let’s discuss.

Also, be sure to check out Every Woman Knows This by Laurel Hightower. So far, it’s a great collection, and I hope I’ve learned some things by the time I’m done.

*Which, by the way, is a weird idea, isn’t it? You walk down an alley or into a room and it’s really dark and suddenly someone plants one on your mouth before disappearing? Actually, the scenario with the room is the plot of an Anton Chekhov short story, and the character who gets the kiss does have an impression left on him. So, I guess it’s a good metaphor.

Review: “How to Sell a Haunted House” by Grady Hendrix

Posted: March 27, 2023 in Novel, Review, Scary Stuff
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Two posts in one day. My Followers of Fear, you either did something very good in your past life or very bad. Either way, I finished Grady Hendrix’s latest novel on audio book today, so I’m going to review it here.

How to Sell a Haunted House follows Louise Joyner, a mother of a five-year-old who has a complicated relationship with her family. When her parents die unexpectedly, she flies from San Francisco to Charleston to take care of their estate and put them to rest. However, things are complicated by her younger brother Mark, whose lifestyle and choices puts him in conflict with Louise from day one. As the two argue like children and try to get the estate settled, they soon find that something malevolent is alive within their childhood home. And unless they get their shit together, it may claim not just the both of them, but Louise’s little girl.

The amazing thing about Grady Hendrix is that he can take a concept that sounds ridiculous on paper and write a whole novel out of it that’s both darkly comic and quite terrifying. From an IKEA knockoff built on the grounds of a former prison, to a teenage girl becoming possessed in 1980s-saturated Charleston, he just makes it work. And it’s no different here. Honestly, I found myself laughing quite a bit listening to Mark and Louise act like me and my sisters at our worst times ten. And as you get further in and see just how dysfunctional this family is, you find yourself glad you’re not part of the same family.*

And when you figure out who/what is going to be the main antagonist of the story, you find yourself laughing…only to see how terrifying said antagonist is. And as you see episodes from Louise and Mark’s childhoods and adulthoods that formed them as people, you see elements as these moments come back to literally haunt them in their parents’ homes. It’s freaky, and there were actually times I found myself wincing or shuddering as I listened to these moments.

And underneath all the darkness and comedy, you get some great themes about the effects of generational trauma on family and family dynamics, about learning to deal with death (and explain it to children), and what family actually is. It’s heavy stuff.

I do have some problems with the book, however. I did see a certain twist regarding the antagonist very early on, and I’m sure I’m not the only one. I also thought the resolution of the climax could have been a bit darker and might have ended too sweetly. And I would have liked to see Mark and Louise explore and resolve their issues a bit more. I feel like during the last third of the book, a lot of stuff was skipped over so the novel could reach its end.

But all in all, How to Sell a Haunted House is another awesome release from Grady Hendrix, whom I’m sure will only continue to grow in stature as a storyteller. On a scale of 1 to 5, I award his latest outing a 4.2 out of 5. It’s funny, creepy, and an all-around thrilling story. Grab a copy, settle down, and get ready to either feel grateful for your own family or feel like you’re reading about your relatives (it’s either one or the other, for better or for worse).

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. Until next time (which will be sometime before the week is done), good night and pleasant nightmares.

*I actually texted my own sisters to let them know how much I loved them and was glad we got along despite our childhood rivalries and disagreements. They were touched, as well as concerned about me because I was sending that text. Anyway, that’s how I reacted to this family’s malfunction.

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