Horror writing
Bully by A J Kirby
Horror writer Andy Kirby offers an analysis of the horror fiction market, with an insight into the appeal of the genre and where to send your creepiest novels and short stories.
My name is Andy Kirby and I am a horror writer. And I suppose you could say that I have a habit: I’ve written around ten published horror short stories and my novel, Bully, has just been published by Wild Wolf Publishing. There, I’ve said it. I’ve come out and admitted my embarrassing secret it to everyone. I’ve stood in front of you all and shown you that skeleton in my closet and I’ve left it up to you to judge me.
Only, I’m not embarrassed to be a horror writer - stop that sneering at the back there, Miss Literary Fiction - in fact I couldn’t be prouder. Good horror fiction is as good as any other writing; in fact, good horror writing transcends the constraints of genre. When it is good it is very, very good; it can entertain, send shivers down the spine, it can act as a psychological punch-bag, it can make you laugh and make you cry. It can be something devastatingly original, stunningly beautiful, and true.
But of course, when horror writing is bad, it is very, very bad. It is horrid. So bad, in fact, that I have to start articles with this one as some sort of exercise in self-justification. We’ve all read badly written set-piece driven pieces in which wooden characters lurch from one disaster to the next with no development at all. We’ve all read the stereotypes; the sexy vampire, the blood-thirsty zombies, the throat-ripping werewolves. We might have even stumbled across terrible fan-fiction stories in which we end up rooting for the bad guy just so we don’t have to suffer any more of what can only loosely be described as the story.
So let me draw a line under all of that. Do not tar the rest of us with the same brush. Bad writing can be seen in any literary field, not just horror. We all have skeletons in our closet. Yes, even you, Miss Literary Fiction. Even you, Mr. Poet.
Horror: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Of course, horror scares a lot of people. And I don’t mean the actual writing here, I mean the genre itself. You see, the horror genre has come back from the dead so many times that it has almost become like one of its own tired clichés. It gets written off and written off so many times but keeps jumping right on out of the grave, ready to bite you in the butt. There are lots of reasons for this, but perhaps the most important one is the fact that horror is absolutely brilliant at reinventing itself.
Think about it: even in the last ten to fifteen years we’ve seen huge changes. In film, we’ve seen old school horror replaced by postmodern, tap-a-knowing-finger-on-the-end-of-the-nose horror (such as the Scream movies), which was then replaced by honest-to-goodness splatterpunk (think Hostel and Saw). We saw riveting psychological horror, in films such as The Others, and we saw zombie slapstick in Shaun of the Dead.
In fiction, perhaps the most talked-about book of the past six to twelve months has been the zombie-Jane Austen mash-up Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, in which Lord Darcy and co. meet some bone-crunching flesh-eaters with hilarious consequences. Horror at its best is hard to pin down. It is highly inventive, stereotype-defying and ground-breaking.
Perhaps the reason why horror is so hard to pin down is because ‘horror’ actually covers a huge range of different forms and styles of telling the story. Which is actually very freeing for the writer. Readers of horror go into it aware that conventions are there to be played with, and that the unexpected is to be expected. At its best horror writing, and horror writers appeal to our innermost desires and fears. Always have done, always will.
The problem is: some people are always willing to look down their noses at what is popular. And make no bones about it (see what I did there?) horror is certainly popular at the moment Horror titles are sweeping through the best-seller lists once more as evidenced with the phenomenal commercial success of the Twilight series (although I won’t comment on whether I’m a fan perhaps watching the South Park episode ‘The Ungroundable’ will give you an idea about how I feel about it).
Other stock horror characters such as zombies and werewolves have undergone their own renaissances recently too. Horror films and computer games are all the rage. We are witnessing a bonafide horror renaissance.
Horror Renaissance
This renaissance may be due to a number of circumstances. Firstly, the internet has given everyone easy access to good horror writing at the click of a button. Horror fans and writers have always been good at getting in on a good thing early, and so there’s a plethora of excellent horror e-zines, journals and discussion groups out there.
Secondly, the timing might just be right. Let me speak plainly here; the world’s a mess. We have global pandemics, the economy is gradually disappearing up its own arsehole, we got war. Oh we got war and famine all over the place. The four horsemen are riding hard now and people are frightened again. Horror has its place, and right about now, it seems to be governing just about everything. (And conversely, good horror writing is a great way of escaping the terrifying reality. Getting lost in a good horror book can take your mind off things.)
So why wouldn’t you want to indulge your dark side and read or write horror fiction? Certainly, I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone. But if you have an over-active imagination; if you look over at the shadows on the dark side of the street and see terrifying monsters; if you have something original to say, then horror might just be the genre for you. But remember; let your characters drive the story as much as your plot does (remember what I said about bad horror writing - we’ve got just about enough of that already, thank you very much.)
Where to send your work…
There are plenty of avenues for your horror writing. A cursory search of the internet will provide you with blood-slavering hoards of them. So take care to read the titles before you submit anything (not that I want to teach you to suck eggs here: I wouldn’t want to teach anyone to suck eggs. That would be true horror.) Look out for quality titles. See who they’ve published before. Would your work be a good fit? Do they pay or not? (But bear in mind that this is not the be-all and end-all; often having your work published by a widely-read title will help you attain a loyal following which is worth its weight in gold.)
For short stories, the US publications Necrotic Tissue, Champagne Shivers and Graveside Tales are open to unagented submissions (although check their website to see whether there is any particular theme they are looking for.) In the UK, Black Static magazine has built up a great reputation, as has the Nemonymous series, edited by Des Lewis. Wild Wolf Publishing are an excellent UK publisher of book-length works, and definitely have my seal of approval as they have just published my supernatural tale of revenge from beyond the grave, Bully, which is available to buy online now.
Perhaps the best helping-hand I could give you would be to sign up to Ralan and Duotrope. Both give up to date listings of open markets, dead markets, calls for submissions, new anthologies, who’ll pay and what they’ll pay, and even expected response times.
In summary…
The horror world really is your oyster. And what must always be considered is that writing horror is great fun. I’ve had short stories published in many of the places I’ve listed above, and all have treated my work with the respect that it deserves. Reader comments have been in the majority positive, but there have also been helpful criticisms along the way, too.
And remember genre doesn’t have to pigeon-hole you. If anyone asks, tell them this little snippet of wisdom. Three films/stories which are in most people’s ‘Top Ten of All Time’ lists are Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile and Stand By Me. What do they all have in common? They were penned by the horror genius that is Stephen King. (And all aspiring writers should get a hold of King’s On Writing, which is just about the best guide to learning ‘the craft’ that you could get your blood-spattered paws on.)
So come along and join us. We don’t bite…
