Just One Thing . . .

Rough History of Horror Fiction

H.P. Lovecraft’s most famous quote about the genre is that: “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” The first horror story was probably told around a fire by a caveman.

The roots of horror lie in folklore and religion — for Europeans in the Middle Ages that covered death, the afterlife, evil (represented by witches, vampires, ghosts, and demons). Greek mythology had a bit more diversity: giants, monsters, curses, and magical creatures and objects.

The 18th century spawned Gothic Horror, which drew on the supernatural over realism–typically represented by a female menaced in a gloomy castle. This trope was so pervasive, it spawned the sub-genre of Gothic Romance.

The 19th century brought the “classic” monsters: Frankenstein, Jekyll/Hyde, Dorian Gray, Dracula, etc. It also brought us the body of work by Poe.

The 20th century added new twists: Weird Tales, madness/cruelty, cosmic horror (Cthulhu), the antequarian ghost story (discovering a book or object that triggers evil), slasher films, splatter films, Tales from the Crypt, I am Legend (apocalyptic zombie like Romero’s) , Daphne de Maurier’s “The Birds” (eco-disaster)

Contemporary horror has enlarged the genre, with new tropes and revivals of older styles. With writers such as Stephen King, Laurell K. Hamilton, Dean Koontz, contemporary horror includes were-animals, urban fantasy, erotic gothic (vampires and more), alternate history, mashups, and grindhouse revivals .

Why Write/Read Horror?

Robert McCammon, one of the founders of HWA (Horror Writers of America), said, “Horror fiction upsets apple carts, burns old buildings, and stampedes the horses; it questions and yearns for answers, and it takes nothing for granted. It’s not safe, and it probably rots your teeth, too. Horror fiction can be a guide through a nightmare world, entered freely and by the reader’s own will. And since horror can be many, many things and go in many, many directions, that guided nightmare ride can shock, educate, illuminate, threaten, shriek, and whisper before it lets the readers loose.”

Technically “horror” is revulsion AFTER an event, while terror is dread BEFORE an event — but in fiction we lump the two together. The “shark music” helped ramp up the terror level in Jaws, while the victims’ bodies create the revulsion.

People read horror for many reasons. Horror can satisfy the need for a thrill (like a roller coaster). The monster/villain/menace can be a metaphor for real life events — like Godzilla and all those giant spiders/ants from 1950s films as metaphors for nuclear war.

Examples (ones that scare ME)

• Cujo and Jaws both rely on the unexpected monster — attacks out of the blue on victims trapped in the dubious safety of a vehicle.
• The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby use old school religious evil — the devil.
• There are several varieties of group devolution: Lord of the Flies, The Lottery, Fahrenheit 451, and 1984 — where the society itself is the threat.
• Fear of the crazy person next door, or the random stranger are used in The Collector, Misery, Silence of the Lambs, and The Illustrated Man.
• “Science gone wrong” got its start with Frankenstein, but lives on in movies like Jurassic Park.
• The Haunting of Hill House (the book) explores the boundaries between supernatural and insanity.
• The Amityville Horror (the book) shares with Jaws (the book) a financial subplot — the victims can’t afford to flee the villain.

What readers want: suspense, unexpected or shocking ending, believable characters, believable setting, unrelenting pace, something left to the imagination (especially when it comes to gore) — like the way we never get a good look at the monster in the first Alien movie.

What readers DON’T want: too much detail, giving away the ending, gore for no purpose, illogical actions — like the teenager who goes down in the dark basement after they know a murderer/monster is on the loose.

This is a workshop I was invited to give to the Carroll County chapter of the Maryland Writers Association. Several of the members participated in an anthology I produced in 2012: That One Left Shoe. They are now ready to do another anthology, so I was asked to outline the steps needed. This was given in April 2014 in the Yurt at Piney Run Park. If you find it useful, donate by clicking the button.

Decisions needed

1. Type of Anthology (fiction, poetry, memoir, non-fiction, mixed)
2. Theme (word or phrase, season, location, event, profession)
3. Submission Guidelines (genre, length, format, content restrictions)
4. Division of Labor (selection, editing, formatting, marketing)

Type of Anthology
The first decision you should make is the type of anthology you want to produce. Take into account that authors write in different styles, especially important when you are dealing with an established community, like a writers group or a civic organization. You can choose to limit an anthology to one type: fiction, poetry, memoir, or non-fiction. Or you can allow authors to write in the style they are comfortable with, as long as it fits your theme. This also applies to genres like historical, horror, adventure, mystery, romance, fantasy, science fiction, etc. You may get more sales if you stick with genres closely related to your theme, but you make it easier for your authors by leaving things more open. For example, That One Left Shoe was mixed in types and genres (erotica was not accepted, because the end product needed to be family friendly).

Theme
The theme must be decided on before you issue the call for submissions. It’s common for genre anthologies to use a holiday theme (e.g. Moonlight and Mistletoe is a werewolf/Christmas anthology). Time-based themes might be seasons, holidays, anniversaries, or even a time of day. Themes can also be based around events, either historical or upcoming events. Instead of a specific event, you might choose generic events like graduation, birth, first job, loss, revenge, etc. A location can also be used as a theme. It can be a specific location, like the Eldersburg Library, the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C, or Carroll County. It can be more generic, like a gas station, a restaurant, a backyard, a lake, a school. There have been several movies made that use an object to tie together a group of stories–often it is a gun or a car. If you pick a specific object, then the description needs to be locked down up front. A profession could also be used as a theme–I’ve read several anthologies that use teachers as central characters (one is Tales Out of School).

Submission Guidelines
Once you have your type and theme set, you can finalize the submission guidelines:

• opening and closing dates, acceptance decision date, target publication date
• minimum and maximum lengths (word count for prose, line count for poetry)
• any restrictions on genre or subject matter
• file format and means of submission
• financial considerations (sale price, royalty distribution)
  It is common for many group anthologies to donate royalties to a specific cause. This reduces the paperwork required, and is especially appropriate when the primary purpose of the anthology is giving the contributors a publishing credit. Another financial consideration is allowing author purchase discounts that allow room for resale profit.

Division of Labor
Although you can have one person do it all, you could also spread the load across several team members. You do need one person to take the lead for keeping things on schedule. Decide what the acceptance criteria are to be–does every member get a piece in the anthology, or is there a gatekeeper assessing the professionalism of each submission? Other tasks that need to be done are editing (at a minimum to ensure consistent punctuation and spelling style), formatting for publication, the publishing itself, and promoting/marketing the finished work. The formatting has to wait until the editing is complete, but promotion can start earlier. Another consideration is cover design, and whether you want any interior images.

This post is an overview of an invited talk I gave to the Carroll County Chapter of the Maryland Writers Association, April 2014, in the Yurt at Piney Run Park. The invitation asked me to describe how I do what I do, with the number one question being “how do you find the time?” If you find the info useful, click the Donate button.

Making time for writing

• Always carry a notepad and pen or pencil to jot notes, send yourself email or voicemail–you never know what might trigger an idea.
• Make use of waiting time; even if not actually writing text, you can: outline plots, note story ideas, make lists of rhyming words (part of my poetry writing process is to explore rhymes for subject-related words), select character names.
• Use TV time to write or edit — often I use the TV as background noise, but if I’m doing detailed writing I turn it off.
• Make use of “second sleep” phenomena — Many people have two sleep sessions a night, with a period of wakefulness in between. Recent studies have shown that this was a common pattern before the advent of electricity (and artificial light)–it’s even referenced in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. This mid-night wakefulness can be used as writing time, free from normal household distractions.

Improving your craftsmanship

• Examine commercially published books carefully to see what is in the front matter, and how they are formatted. Look specifically at the genre you are writing to see trends in cover design, back cover blurbs, and chapter headings.
• Attend panels and workshops at writers conferences, make use of online tutorials. Specific recommendation of Allen Wold’s plotting workshop at Capclave.
• Get organized: for short fiction or poetry you really do need a spreadsheet to track submission status, for novels you need to track characters and settings, for business you need to track expenses and mileage.

Marketing your writing and yourself

• Network! Use business cards, bookmarks, speaking engagements, local groups, online groups (FaceBook, LinkedIn), conventions, blogging. Be prepared with an “elevator speech” to answer two questions, “what do you write?” and “what’s your book about?”
• Make yourself memorable at conventions: sit up front or on an aisle (where you can be seen from the podium); be prepared to ask a “smart question” (read the speaker bios, so you can reference something specific about their expertise); if you encounter speakers later, thank them for the info they shared in their panel.
• Have a “go bag” ready for events (saves time and reduces risk of forgetting something vital). I use a rolling cart with: my books, business cards, bookmarks, tablecloth, receipt book, table decoration, clear plastic bookstands, and misc. office supplies (scissors, velcro, binder clips, notepad, pens). Several members of the Carroll County group participated in a book signing event at the Mount Airy Library last December, and stood out by their attention to detail. For table decoration, Kerry Peresta had a scented candle and a laptop presentation; she used a red tablecloth to bring out the color in her book cover. Jack Downs had a small Christmas tree (seasonal), a baby buggy (featured on his book cover), and calendars of his upcoming appearances. I displayed a blue dragon statuette and used blue table draping to tie to my imprint, Blue Dragon Press. Other writers had houseplants and/or posters of their book covers. Several had signs advertising their availability for speaking engagements.