The Importance Of The First Line

By Joel McKay

“Jack Torrance thought: Officious little prick.”  (King, The Shining, 3).

That’s the first line in, arguably, Stephen King’s most well-known scare fest, 1977’s The Shining.

Terrifying? Not at all.

Engaging? You bet your ass it is, and, more than that, it immediately reveals Jack’s deep-seeded self-confidence issues that manifest as rage, which underpins the entire novel.

So far as first lines go, it’s a stand-out. Let’s review a few more:

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5 Things This Podcast Host Needs Horror Authors to Know

By: Ashe Woodward

If you’re a horror author, you’re likely more comfortable scribing alone in the silence of the blackened night. So it may seem like a direct gash in the face when it seems like everyone is telling you to “put yourself out there,” in the light of day, on a podcast, with an extroverted host spewing questions at you. 

I get it. I’m an author too.

But I’m also a podcaster, and you should know that being a guest on a respected podcast can do a lot for you. Not only is it great for exposure and book sales but it’s a way to build a sustaining brand around you and your future work. 

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How fantasy built the foundation for my horror stories

I’m frequently asked how it is that I became interested in horror as a creator.

It’s one of those questions that I tend to immediately internalize as if it’s coming from a place of judgment (in fairness, more than once it has).

But it’s an honest question also, and the answer is rather mundane, but I think it is useful for us as creators.

Here’s the big (read: boring) reveal: I come to horror by way of fantasy. If anything, fantasy is homebase for me and horror came a bit later.

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Read what you love, not what you think you should love

By Joel McKay

Read what you like, write what you like, not what you think you should like.

Sounds simple but it’s hard to do in practice. Let me unpack this a bit.

One of the more annoying habits of social groups—particularly in the arts, but I’ve witnessed it just the same in sports and athletics—is the impression a newbie is left with by some that they need to have a certain amount of knowledge or experiences to gain entry to the crowd.

I’ve seen this pop up in literary circles, sometimes horror, whereas readers or new writers are led to believe by some that they’re not “legit” or don’t have anything meaningful to “contribute” unless they’ve consumed certain texts, typically it’s obscure stuff but also classics such as Mary Shelley, Shirley Jackson, H.P. Lovecraft or Henry James.

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When I was a kid, I visited my local comic shop where I first laid eyes on the Aurora model kits for Godzilla and King Kong. These kits were bright and colorful and really captured my eyes. However, on a small allowance of $5 in 1990, these were not something I could afford, so I begrudgingly stuck to my monthly issues of Amazing Spider-Man and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Years later, when I was attending my first convention, I saw more and more of these model kits based on the likes of Dracula, the Frankenstein Monster, The Wolf Man and other various Universal monsters. I came to learn they all bore the artwork of James Bama, a man I would eventually learn more and more about. It turned out, I had seen his art at various points while growing up – from the Man of Bronze, Doc Savage to his depictions of Native Americans and Cowboys and other styles of western art. 

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Tips for Terror: Find the Beauty in the Horrific

Author Joel McKay borrows wise words from horror writers to illustrate how exposition and lyric bring another dimension to horror

“Describe horrific things beautifully,” author Hailey Piper told our local Horror Writer’s Association chapter several months ago.

The words lodged in my head like a mantra and have since been tattooed to a pink sticky pasted to my monitor for daily reference.

Piper was one of three guests on a panel discussion about all things horror fiction (joined by Eric LaRocca and Gwendolyn Kiste) when she uttered those words. 

They were pronounced as a passing thought but immediately became something that resonated deeply with me as a writer.

Describe horrific things beautifully.

That sums it up, doesn’t it?

(Thanks Hailey, Eric, and Gwendolyn – P.S. you’re all awesome. For all you readers out there, get their stuff. Same goes if you’re a writer).

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Hidden Horrors

by: J.M. Shaw

It is what you cannot see that is most terrifying. Even as adults, many of us are afraid of the dark, though few will admit to such a childish fear. We use nightlights, open our curtains, or crack the door to let the hall light chase away the shadows. While we claim this is to prevent trips and falls in the middle of the night, a deeper dive into such ritual behaviors would reveal that we are afraid of being vulnerable. We know there are no dangers shrouded in the darkness or hiding in the ill-defined corners, but our mind convinces us that there is, and who are we to argue with ourselves. We believe our own lies because it is better to be cautious then dismissive of something nefarious that might exist.

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Is co-authoring the ‘write’ thing for you?

Not only would I like to make this piece an example of what co-authoring a book can be like but also take the opportunity to convey how it made me feel about the process. Most of the time we authors are solitary creatures, but sometimes the urge to collaborate with like-minded folk can truly be the gift we didn’t know we needed. But sure, I get it, it’s not for everyone. It can be hard to align yourself with a certain level of detachment when it comes to crafting your story and developing its characters. The need to be fully in control all the way down the line is a powerful thing. But the truth of it is there’s actually a lot of power in letting that go, and trusting your writing partner to bring aspects of character and story to the table, the like of which you maybe didn’t even consider when you embarked upon the project.

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