Want to Write Great Horror? Be Ready to Cross the Line
For writers dipping their toes into the waters of horror fiction, finding moments that get under your reader's skin is an important skill. Without...
Joining a Cult is No Cliché
Cults are a fascinating topic in the real and fictional worlds: the Manson family, Heaven's Gate, Jonestown, The Handmaid's Tale, Under the Banner of...
Finding Originality in Horror
A few days after sharing 21 popular horror tropes, Writer's Digest shares advice from writer Richard Thomas about avoiding them. You can't win, can...
In Folk Horror, the Evil is Inside Us
In an essay for Lit Hub, Michelle Nijhuis explores folk horror. Not exactly a subgenre (yet), folk horror arises from a collection of concepts...
How Do We Write About the Monsters Inside Us?
Writers and readers both love stories about extra-fictional characters - beings that don't exist in our world. Hobbits, superheroes, sparkling vampires, talking animals, Jedi...
The Powerful Writing Lessons in Urban Legends
We've all heard the stories. The hook in the car handle. The man in the bathtub with no kidneys. Rod Stewart... never mind.
In an...
What All Writers Can Learn from Horror
There's a lot more to horror stories than horny teenagers and machetes. In a new blog post, Kristen Lamb talks about the lessons writers...
Use Cultural Taboos to Add Depth and Detail to Your Historical...
In a long article for Lit Hub, Aimee Parkison shares how researching cultural taboos, particularly customs that forbid women from participating in certain behaviors,...
5 Tips for Creating an Eerie Atmosphere
While not every reader is a horror fan, plenty love to be scared. A good fright gives us the same natural high we get...
Use Character to Get Under Your Readers’ Skins
There's a lot more to horror than simply creating a monster or scheduling a few jump scares. The greatest horror hits your audience in...
