Horror fiction | Mandy Eve-Barnett's Blog for Readers & Writers

Creative Edge Author Interview – Shannon Felton

October 20, 2022
mandyevebarnett

What drew you to horror and paranormal themes in your stories?

The main reason is that horror is so fun to write! Remember telling ghost stories at slumber parties to spook your friends, until you’re all squealing with fear and laughter and don’t want to go to the bathroom alone? It’s an adventure! Horror gets the adrenaline pumping and the nerves tingling, and I love trying to craft a story that does that for others.

Secondly, I’m a catastrophic thinker. Probably because I’m a mom, but we can’t go anywhere without me thinking, “Okay, what’s the worst thing that could happen here? How could we all die?” I’ve tried to write other genres but that type of thinking turns a sweet romantic scene into an axe-murderer horror.

Thirdly, I find that Horror provides us with the ability to explore and process real-life trauma whether in a monster-as-metaphor sense or just through actual real-life scenarios. I think that’s the beauty of the genre for me.

2. Are there elements you feel are required in this genre?

Anticipation. Survival. Mystery.

No matter what the threat is—supernatural, alien, slasher—the reader needs to feel a sense of anticipation. Suspense needs to build scene after scene.

There also needs to be real stakes. People could die, vanish into the void, etc. Horror isn’t scary if nothing bad actually happens to people.

We also fear what we don’t know, so there needs to be a sense of mystery about the threat and the events taking place. That’s actually one of the hardest parts of reading or writing horror. In the ending, when the monster becomes known, it can feel like a bit of a letdown. Once we know what we face, it’s not quite as scary. Michael wears a mask for a reason.

3. Where do you find your ideas?

I spent my teen years in a small town that, like most small towns, was full of urban legends and ghosts. Probably because there wasn’t much to do there but go out into the boonies and scare ourselves. A lot of my writing is based on those stories and experiences, just in a very exaggerated way.

I’m also a total fraidy-cat. Driving down the road at night, I can get freaked out by something on the side of the road only for it be an electrical box. Moments like that will wind up in a story, though it won’t be an electrical box in the end!

4. Why is Halloween so special to you?

My daughter and I were talking about this just the other day and she said it’s her favorite holiday because you never outgrow the magic of Halloween. Which is very true! We all outgrow Santa, Easter is a drag after a few years, but no matter what age you are, spooks and haunts and killers can still scare you. And there’s just something in the air at fall! A spooky, creepy feeling in the change of weather and the crackling of leaves and the days getting shorter. The world feels different, like anything could happen. It’s a good time to light some candles, watch a scary movie, and cuddle up at home.

5. Can you tell us a little about The Prisoner of Stewartville – its inception and creation.

My mom started a job in HR for the Federal prisons here in Arizona when I was twelve. Soon after, we attended a Company Day picnic at the actual prison, and I’ll never forget how weird it was to be barbecuing hot dogs and playing tag while prisoners walked along the perimeter of the fence twenty yards away. Little pitchers also have big ears and over time I picked up on bits and pieces of work conversations that were horrifying. Later we moved to a much smaller town where prison did feel like a larger part of our everyday life and when I visited there again a few years ago, I just knew I had to write about it. Of course, the actual town was nowhere near as bad as Stewartville, but that’s the fun of horror!

6. Where is your special writing space?

I write on my phone, so anywhere and everywhere. On the couch while we watch TV, in bed, out on the patio, while I’m waiting in the school pick up line. In the middle of cooking, if a great idea for a scene comes to me.

7. Which authors have influenced you the most?

Oh wow, so many. The other day my husband and I actually stumbled on the movie Communion with Christopher Walken and almost simultaneously we both freaked out, like, “Omigod! I remember reading that book as a kid! It was terrifying!” And then we had a long conversation about the books we had to hide when we went to bed like Amityville Horror, It.

Having read all my life, the list went back a long way. I mean, my writing is still influenced by the Sweet Valley Twins Halloween specials I read as a kid. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, R.L Stine’s Fear Street. Stephen King. One of my absolute favorite literary ghost stories is Toni Morrison’s Beloved and I do hope my stories have some of that literary element to where reality can feel just as impactful as the supernatural.

That’s the great thing about good horror, though. It all influences you.

8. Are you working on a new project? Can you reveal anything about it?

I’m currently working on a companion novel to Prisoners of Stewartville. I can reveal that the POV is that of a minor character in the last book, and that we’ll see what happened to a fan favorite whose fate wasn’t shown at the end of the original.

9. Do you prefer to write a stand-a-lone novel or a series? Why?

I realized recently that I like to tell stories that happen within the Stewartville universe. Devil’s Dip, a short story of mine that appeared in Midnight in the Graveyard anthology, was about a character who had grown up in Stewartville, though the story itself didn’t take place there.

10. How can readers find you?

I’m not as good about social media as I should be, but I do post occasionally on Twitter at @ShannonNova3 !

Bio:

Shannon Felton lives in Buckeye, Arizona with her husband, their four children, and three dogs. The Prisoners of Stewartville is her debut novella. Follow her on Twitter @ShannonNova3

P.S. You can find Shannon’s stories in several anthologies as well.

Author Interview – Susie Moloney

June 18, 2019
mandyevebarnett

AuthorInterview

susie with dog london.jpeg

What inspired your latest novel?

I haven’t written a novel in quite some time, but I’ll tell you about my favourite novel, The Dwelling. It was my third book, and was published around 2006 by Simon & Schuster in the US, and by Random House Canada here in Canada. It was also published in the UK and Germany. It’s a classic haunted house novel, and I actually wrote it just after moving into my own little house, the first house I owned all on my own. The process of house hunting got me to thinking about all the lives that pass through a single house, and how pieces of those lives are likely left behind. I was also going through a divorce at the time, and the whole thing was very challenging–haunting, you could say. These things combined and before I knew it, I was telling the story of a house through the eyes of four very different people.

dwelling

How did you come up with the title?

I didn’t! You know, I have never titled a book. Someone always changes my title at the level above me, ha ha. The Dwelling, for instance, was called The Dwellan by me. Dwellen is an old English word that means “to refuse to leave,” which I thought was appropriate. Simon & Schuster felt that it would be too oblique for readers and so altered it to be called The Dwelling. I was sad about that title change … “dwellan” seemed so appropriate.

Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?

We’re all haunted by something.

How much of the book is realistic?

All the human emotion in the book is real. The whole thing is real, if you believe in ghosts!

Are your characters based on someone you know, or events in your own life?

That’s a mix. I think the writer always leaves something of themselves on the page at the end of the day, and certainly the middle story about the Mother and Son has shades of my own struggles during my divorce. The character of Ritchie is a writer. The Realtor, Glenn Darnley has just been widowed–she “lost” her husband–and certainly a divorce leaves you grieving. The character of the wife, Becca, in the first story is a very ambitious woman trying to be successful in a man’s world, and her troubled husband Dan is an artist. All of these people have shades of me in their characterizations. However, all of those characters are their own people, too, made up out of all the people I have ever interacted with, throughout my whole life.

Where can readers find you on social media and do you have a blog?

I’m fairly active on social media! I’m Susie Moloney on Facebook, @Susiemoloney on Twitter, and @susie.moloney on Instagram … please friend, follow, and like!

Do you have plans or ideas for your next book? Is it a sequel or a stand alone?

All my books have been “one-offs” as they say. As far as a new book goes … never say never. I have moved almost entirely on to film and television these days, however. In fact my very first full-length feature has recently been shot, Bright Hill Road. You can look for that sometime in the next year or so, and of course if you do follow me on social media, I give shamelessly regularly updates!

Of the characters you have created or envisioned, which is your favorite & why?

I’ve always had–and always will have–a special place in my heart for Glenn Darnley, the widow realtor in that novel, The Dwelling. She was born at a time when there was a deep sadness in me, and she took that on like a champ. Writing her story helped me to get passed that sadness. Go, Glenn!

Do you favor one type of genre or do you dabble in more than one?

I’m a horror writer through and through! Although I do occasionally write straight short fiction, and for many years I wrote a humour column. I also write funny essays. A laugh and a shriek are not far apart!

dry

Do you plan your stories, or are you a seat of the pants style writer?

I’m a planner. But I do allow a story to take me somewhere else if it seems like it needs to. I’m flexible, but I always know the ending of my story.

What is your best marketing tip?

Stay in touch with people! Social media is great for that.

Do you find social media a great tool or a hindrance?

It’s a great tool. You can reach so many people! But it’s a lot of work to build a platform, and if you’re going to use social media as a promotional tool, you have to do that work, whether you want to or not!

OPTIONAL QUESTIONS

What do you enjoy most about writing?

There is something absolutely magical about being able to absorb yourself entirely in the life of another human being–real or made up. To design their world, their thoughts, their relationships, is total trip! You’re literally making up a life and making it true! The idea that a well-told story can absorb someone else is a gift, too, this realization that someone who isn’t me can pick up my story or book and devote hours of their time to reading it because they are absorbed is probably the greatest honour I’ve ever had.

Bio:

Susie Moloney is the author of Bastion Falls, A Dry Spell, The Dwelling, The Thirteen, and Things Withered, stories, a collection of short fiction. Published all over the world, in multiple languages, she continues to write, although these days, she writes horror film and television. Watch for the upcoming Bright Hill Road!

Genres of Literature – Horror

February 12, 2018
mandyevebarnett

horror-genre

Horror is a genre of fiction, of which, the defining trait is to provoke a response; either emotional, psychological or physical, within readers that causes them to react with fear, dread, disgust, or is frightfully shocking, terrifying, or revolting and even startles it’s readers with the text.

Horror: Ancient Greece and Rome

This genre has ancient origins with roots in folklore and religious traditions, which focused on death, the afterlife, evil, the demonic and also a ‘thing’ embodied in the person. This manifested as stories of witchcraft, vampires, werewolves, and ghosts.

Horror: Medieval Era

Much of horror fiction derived itself from the cruelest faces in world history, particularly those who lived in the fifteenth-century. “Dracula” can be traced to the Prince of Wallachia Vlad III, whose alleged war crimes were published in German pamphlets in the late Fifteenth Century and resulted in stories of horrifying detail.

Gothic horror: 18th century

Slowly the horror genre became traditional Gothic literature. 18th century Gothic horror drew on sources of seminal and controversial elements of the supernatural instead of pure realism.

Horror: 19th century

After the Gothic tradition blossomed the genre became the horror literature we now know in the 19th century. Influential works and characters still continue to resonate, such as Brother’s Grimm and Hansel & Gretel (1812) and of course Frankenstein (1818) and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. (1820)

Horror:20th century

Cheap periodicals became prolific at the turn of the century, leading to a boom in horror writing. Horror writers of the time included H.P. Lovecraft pioneering cosmic horror and M.R. James redefining the ghost story. Also the serial murderer became a recurring theme.

Contemporary horror fiction

As most of you know Stephen King is my hero and it is the best-known contemporary horror writer. His stories have delighted and frightened many of us for decades, from Carrie to Sleeping Beauties and all those tales in-between.

I have to admit as a prolific reader of Mr. King, I am wary of ever writing a horror story because I don’t think I can measure up to his expertise.

Do you write horror? What theme do you favor?

What horror writers/books have you read and ‘enjoyed’?

A Cool Modus Operandi…

August 26, 2013
mandyevebarnett

Modus Operandi – definition: a plan, or mode of operating or working.

Today’s interview is rather special as it is a joint interview with William L. Bozarth and Laura D. Jame, who worked together on a children’s story book – a perfect modus operandi..!

W = William L. Bozarth
L = Laura D. James

a) What do you enjoy most about writing?

L: I enjoy losing myself in writing and the “high” that it gives me. It’s amazing for me when I work on something and pretty much submerge myself in it then come back out later to the world around me feeling like I’ve been somewhere else.

W. Things that previously existed only in my imagination come to life. These squirrels have been living in my head for the better part of the last two years, so it’s nice to see them scurrying through these pages.

b) What age did you start writing stories/poems?

L. 5 years old, pretty much as soon as I learned how to read.

W. I started writing poetry for girlfriends when I was 11 or 12, but didn’t really take writing seriously until I was a junior in High School, so perhaps 16 or 17 years old. That’s when I started my first band, and I was the vocalist/lyricist. ‘Spooky Skwerl Stories’ is my second or third attempt at writing an actual story that isn’t in verse or screenplay form.

c) Has your genre changed or stayed the same?

L. I played around with fantasy/sci-fi when I was very young and have tried suspense/crime and literary (or just non-genre… mainstream?) here and there but I’ve always been enamored with the horror genre. The squirrel books were pretty much Will’s idea and I think this will be a lot of fun though I’m sure I have a lot to learn about writing spooky things for children.

W. I’ve always been a horror guy, so everything I’ve done could be categorized from personal horror to fictional horror.

d) What genre are you currently reading?

L. I haven’t been able to concentrate long enough to finish reading a book in a long time, I guess from being so obsessed with working on my own novel, and it bothers me since reading was always how I would relax. It’s pretty much always horror, though. I’ve got a few novels and anthologies that I pick up when I try to make myself read.

W. I wish I could say that I’m reading something, but I’m not.

e) Do you read for pleasure or research or both?

L. Mainly pleasure, sometimes research

W. I don’t read much, really. I used to read a lot when I was in elementary school, but the fun was kinda sucked out of it when they forced us to read gigantic novels in middle school. A twelve-year-older shouldn’t read ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’. It takes a bit for me to actually sit down and read something nowadays. The last book I read was Neil Gaiman’s ‘The Ocean at the End of the Lane’, and the ending disappointed me. Before that, it was Stephen King’s ‘Under the Dome’… and the ending disappointed me. Why take a month or more to read a large book, learn about all of these characters, cry for the loss of the characters, then have it all be explained by *spoiler removed* forces. So, I guess my answer is “research”. Since I don’t really get any pleasure out of it.

f) Who is your best supporter/mentor/encourager?

L. My father: he’s encouraged my love of reading and writing since I was very young. He paid a lot of money for me to go to a college in another state to major in creative writing. That didn’t really work out but he’s never made me feel guilty about it and he’s believed in my ability/potential as a writer even when I haven’t. He never demanded I try to do something practical or get “a real job” and has always been 100% supportive of me writing because it’s what makes me happy. Will is a close second because he’s the brains behind all the adventures, endeavors and chaos we’ve been through. He’s got a plan for pretty much everything and more dedication and energy than I could sum up on my own. I also have to mention Julie Castillo, a writing instructor whose class I took a year ago and will be taking again at the community college in my town. She was the only writing teacher I’ve ever had who was totally supportive of what students wanted to write instead of what they “should” write (aka literary stuff) and she was just so wonderful and dedicated to everyone’s individual works. I kept up with her through e-mail after class and she helped me with a lot of questions and gave me lots of advice.

W. My parents have always been very supportive. I’ve never had any instances of Laura being unsupportive, thankfully.

g) Of the characters you have created or envisioned, which is your favorite & why?

L. Probably a girl named Brigid who was a supporting character in the novel I just finished. She’s a timid young aspiring writer who goes through some crazy stuff with her friends. She’s a main character in the follow-up novel I’m planning and things just get crazier and scarier.

W. The combination of the squirrels in ‘Spooky Skwerl Stories’ since they’re characterizations of some of my personality traits.

h) Where is your favorite writing space?

L. My room, listening to some goth/doom metal

W. On a bus or train with my headphones on.

i) Do you plan your stories, or are you a seat of the pants writer?

L. I usually planned my short stories. When one of the stories turned into a novel I planned that thing out but it wound up going in a completely different direction and I’m glad. I’m planning other novels I want to write but they’re probably going to deviate from the plan, too, and it should be fun.

W. I have a beginning, middle, and end planned. It’s the getting from A to B to C that isn’t planned.

j) What inspires your ideas/stories?

L. Anything, really: anecdotes, places, snippets of things I hear on TV. Sometimes I’ll read/hear random details in stories that aren’t supposed to mean much of anything and they’ll just blossom into back-stories and plots in my mind.

W. Random thoughts.

k) Do you belong to a writing group? If so which one?

L. I’m on a message board called Absolute Write (http://absolutewrite.com/ ) where I’ve gotten lots of good advice.

W. Facebook groups “Horror Writers” and “Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators”.

l) Do you have a book published? If so, what is it called & where can readers purchase it?

L. Not traditionally published yet but I’ll have to keep you posted. I’m waiting to hear back from the publisher I submitted my novel to and if they don’t take it I’ve got a few others I’m interested in. If I don’t get published, we will go the same route as ‘Spooky Skwerl Stories’.

W. Both of my books are available on Amazon. Just search for “William L. Bozarth”, and they’ll pop up.

m) If you could meet one favorite author, who would it be and why?

L. I would say Richard Matheson but he is no longer with us, so I’ll go with Peter Straub because I don’t think any other author has mystified, enthralled and terrified me quite like he has with the way he writes.

W. I’ve already met them, so I’m ahead of the game. :). Stephen King, R.L. Stine, and Lois Lowry.

n) Where can readers find you and your blog?

L. I don’t have a blog but you can find me through the Spooky Skwerl Stories facebook

W. http://www.facebook.com/SpookySkwerlStories for all updates.

o) Do you have plans or ideas for your next book?

L. I’ve got one or two novels planned as a follow-up for the one I think I might be planning an unrelated haunted house novel. Will and I have more ideas for Spooky Skwerl Stories than we know what to do with but we’ll figure something out.

W. Many many many

Author Interview – Yasir Hayat…

March 10, 2013
mandyevebarnett

Today’s word is Loath – definition: unwilling to do something : reluctant. As you will soon realize Yasir is loathed to be restricted to one genre.

Of the characters you have created or envisioned, which is your favorite & why?

Gregorian the demon & Fagnor the banshee, side characters have an air of mystery about them. These two aid the protagonist, kind of, in his quest for revenge. Their qualities are as random as their presence, having wild-cards in a tale gives a story the kick others don’t have.

Do you favor one type of genre or do you dabble in more than one?

Do I ever? I am definitely a dabbler, I have an imagination threshold when it comes to genres. I’m not a horror aficionado like Stephen King, I find that my words become somewhat stagnated. I have been warned by an author friend of mine that writing in multiple genres is dangerous. It may be my naivety or ignorance but I fail to see his logic. So to keep things refreshing for the reader I have already started dabbling, but I’m not going to tell you much more. Always leave them wanting more…

What do you enjoy most about writing?

How anomalous occurrences become the crux of the story, I fall into the category of writers that say the story writes itself. The side lines, the back stories and the random excursions are what give stories that texture readers crave. My own mind keeps me guessing so as I’m typing I am discovering. As the story unravels and characters reveal themselves I find myself immersed in the lunacy of creation.

Have you got a favorite place to write?

I wish I did, it’s a family home so we all share one computer. If I had the money I’d buy a nice house that has a nice study, a quiet room that has all the hallmarks of a writers retreat. I would surround myself, in this room, with vestiges of inspiration and creativity. One day my friends, one day…

Do you plan your stories, or are you a seat of the pants style writer?

A bit of both, I found planning gives the story structure and the “seat of the pants” strategy gives it flavor. Inspiration normally comes at night so I am always arms length from pen & paper. I write the idea down in my despicable handwriting and then when I get a moment I add it to the manuscript. I’m still growing as a writer but I am finding a rhythm to writing.

What inspires your stories?

Oh! Everything and anything. Films, books, music, theatre, dancing, a bird on a perch having a very large poop (apologies, I don’t mean to offend) it’s totally random. I could listen to a poem on the radio and it moves me to tears. Then again I could see a toddler hand a flower to his parent and I can feel every much joy as the parent. Inspiration by its very nature is from spirit so I suppose it’s in the spirit of the moment.

What are you currently reading?

OK, don’t hate me for saying this because I have been criticized in the past for saying what I’m about to say. I don’t like reading fiction, even though that’s pretty much what I write. I don’t mind poetry, I can read poetry but even short stories bore me. Now I know in some regions of the literary world I have just committed blasphemy. If I were to read anything then I only read self-development books. Currently I am not reading anything but I do want to get my hands on some NLP and mind programming books.

Do you have any odd habits or childhood stories?

I do have some odd habits, but I don’t care to mention them. Childhood stories, if I told you it would sound quite generic. I got in trouble at schools, teachers annoyed me and I them, over the years I matured and discovered that life can be an adventure and I have the best family and friends in the world. See, generic.

Do you have any pets?

I have one zebra-finch, a miniature pooping machine (same apology as before)

Do you belong to a writing group? If so which one?

I belong to New Writers UK, it’s a writing group that is run by authors for authors. It’s for writers in general but predominantly to help new writers, such as myself, to find their feet. They have exclusive events and resources that I am privy to being a member.

What age did you start writing stories/poems?

I started writing poetry at age 8

I started writing short stories at age 16

I tried writing a stage play at age 24

I am still dabbling in all of the above at age 25

Do you have a book published? If so what is it called & where can readers purchase it?

I do, it’s called Memoirs of the Damned and it is a horror story it can be found here:-

Company website – http://www.troubador.co.uk/book_info.asp?bookid=1922

Amazon UK – http://www.amazon.co.uk/Memoirs-Damned-Yasir-Hayat/dp/1780883412/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1355480178&sr=1-1

Amazon US – http://www.amazon.com/Memoirs-Damned-Yasir-Hayat/dp/1780883412/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1358508371&sr=8-2

If you could meet one favorite author who would it be and why?

Maybe Dale Carnegie for his wisdom but I’m not too fussed with him. More than Mr. Carnegie I would like to meet Edgar Allen Poe to see if he was as crazy as everyone says. Also I would like to hear him read “The Raven”, James Earl Jones and Christopher Walken both have hypnotic voices but I believe that the true insanity of that poem should be experienced 1^st hand from the horse’s mouth, so to speak. Don’t worry I don’t have a morbid fascination with Poe, unlike the creator of The Following with Kevin Bacon – urgh –

If you could live anywhere in the world – where would it be?

Japan. I would like to live in a dojo in the country side. I would wear a kimono all day, be protected by a legion of Samurai in the morning and a squadron of Ninjas at night. A man can dream…

What’s your favorite movie of all time?

I have phases, what my favorite movie is at the moment might not be the case in a few months time. It’s a tie with Payback, Get Shorty and The Usual Suspects at the moment.

Where can readers find you and your blog?

Please find me here – http://www.newwritersuk.co.uk/yasirhayat.html

Or if you wish to connect

LinkedIn : uk.linkedin.com/pub/yasir-hayat/50/5b8/4a7

Twitter : https://twitter.com/darkbiggie

Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/darkbiggie

Do you have plans or ideas for your next book?

I do but I can’t give too much away, lets just say it’s a romance with a twist, nothing paranormal. I also have designs of prospective sci-fi endeavors, but enough of that for now.

Who is your best supporter/mentor/encourager?

If you get a copy of my book and you turn to the dedication page then you will see, exactly, all those people who I consider invaluable in my efforts as a writer.