Writing Horror
Learn from the experts on how to write a horror story that excites readers for decades (or centuries)! Even the scariest and most attention-grabbing horror story ideas will fall flat without a foundation of knowledge about the genre and expectations of the audience. In this collection, you'll find practical tips for writing horror stories that are plausible and cliche-free.
From crafting an edge-of-your-seat plot to creating delightfully despicable villains, this collection pulls together writing tips from best-selling authors to help you get your story idea on the shelves. With these tools, you'll be ready to research, write and publish a bloodcurdling, spine-tingling, horror story that readers are too afraid to put down.
Five Things Every Horror Author Needs to Know (Tutorial): Veteran editor and best-selling author Philip Athans provides tips, tricks, and warnings for horror authors. From how to avoid the traps of cliches like the "Needy Ghost" or the "Scooby-do Ending" to the not-so-subtle difference between horror and terror, this is the sort of stuff they don't teach you in English class: how to scare the pants off someone! ($29.99 value)
Writer's Digest Digital Archive Collection: Heroes of Horror & Suspense (Digital Archive): For nearly 100 years, Writer's Digest magazine has been the leading authority for writers of all genres and career levels. And now, we've digitized decades of issues from our prestigious archives to share with the world. In this archive collection, discover five full issues from our vault, each of which includes exclusive historic interviews and columns from Stephen King, Anne Rice, Mary Higgins Clark and more. ($19.99 value)
What is Your Genre and Why Does it Matter? (Tutorial): The word "genre" can mean a lot of things in the publishing world; a set of story tropes or archetypes, a set of reader expectations, a vital marketing tool. In this 83-minute tutorial video, Phil Athans looks at the major genres not just in terms of story content, but the commerce behind those divisions. Learn to embrace your chosen genre, and how to carefully choose a new one! ($79.99 value)
Writing Scary: How to Use Pacing, Sentence Structure, and Word Choice to Scare the Pants Off Your Readers (Tutorial): In this tutorial, the New York Times best-selling author and veteran editor Philip Athans provides you with the know-how to give everyone who enters your fictional world a satisfyingly good scare. He gets into some hands-on techniques for using wordplay to build suspense, evoke fear, and thrill your readers. ($39.99 value)
Supercharge Your Horror: How to Take Your Horror Fiction to the Next Level (OnDemand Webinar): Tim Waggoner has written over fifty novels of horror and dark fantasy, as well as seven collections of short stories. He’s a three-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award, as well as the author of the highly-acclaimed how-to-write-horror guide Writing in the Dark. In this live webinar, he’ll share with you the sinister and forbidden secrets of turning hum-drum horror into stories that will have your readers shrieking for more! ($79.99 value)
Writing Villains That Readers Love to Hate (OnDemand Webinar): In this OnDemand Virtual Conference session, Kristina Perez guides you through the process of developing your own compelling villains. She addresses the backstory, characterization, and worldview necessary to create a villain whom your reader may love even more than your hero. By the end of the webinar, participants will have an understanding of the requirements for a charismatic villain and tools to create their own. ($79.99 value)
Gateway Scares: Writing the YA Horror Novel (OnDemand Webinar): There are a lot of misconceptions about what young adult horror novels can and should achieve. In this OnDemand Virtual Conference session, Adam Cesare discusses structure, language, character, pace, craft, and how to tie all these elements together with themes and motifs that will speak to teens. ($79.99 value)
Writer's Digest September/October 2022 (Digital Edition): As the nights start to get longer, the leaves start changing colors, and Halloween decorations start making their appearance, writers start turning to the darker, more haunting themes in their work. And so does Writer’s Digest in the September/October issue, themed around Sinister Stories. It covers everything from writing evil characters to writing horror microfiction to how to avoid scams that would turn one’s publishing life into a horror story. ($7.99 value)
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