On writing horror
Revised edition
A Handbook by The Horror Writers Association
Edited by Mort Castle
Writers Digest Books, Cincinnati, 2007
ISBN 1-58297-420-9
ISBN 978-1-58297-420-0
If you are interested in writing horror, this 260-page book is essential. In fact there is a lot of good stuff in here for people interested in writing any type of fiction.
Writing of any type is partly an exercise in organization. You need to keep track of deadlines, research, contacts, trips, websites, characters, locations, timelines, etc. All of these activities can be well tracked on paper. But since I am a computer nerd and write directly with a word processor on my laptop, I look for computer solutions to all of these. This series of posts will explore some of the software this is available to help.
After so many years of writing and editing non-fiction, and technical non-fiction at that, why am I interested in writing fiction? I guess there are multiple answers to that question. One is that as an avid reader it is natural to consider writing some yourself. Another is that I feel I have something to say that others have not. Thirdly I feel that others have made mistakes that I want to correct. Lastly being a storyteller is, I believe, an inherent part of myself, so why not exercise it?
Writing well is a combination of art and craft. Art because it is highly creative and expressive, craft because there are underlying processes and principles that you need to work with to be effective. These are true for both fiction and non-fiction, and even the technical writing that I have spent so long doing.
You are going to spend a lot of time with your word processing program, so you better learn to love it.
The standard piece of software that people use is Microsoft Word. This is almost certainly what a publisher will use, whether book, online or magazine. If you want to get published make it easy on them. What this means is that you either need to use it or make sure that you are 100% compatible with it. There are no ifs or buts with this, you must be compatible. Yes, Word is expensive compared to the alternatives, but there is no need to use the latest version or to keep upgrading it to the latest version for general writing work. You will only use 10% of what the program is capable of, if that.
A computer is as much part of the writer’s kit today as a typewriter was for a previous generation. But what do you really need?
One of the frequent questions is Mac or PC? At one level this is a simple question to answer, at another it is not. The simple answer is that it does not matter. Both can run well and Microsoft Word is available for both.
Getting non-fiction published in magazines is not too difficult, if you approach it correctly.
Well hi there.
Welcome to A Writer’s Quest, a site dedicated to sharing what little I know about writing.