Author: Horror Tree

Articles / Guest Post

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Naming Characters

Naming Characters

by JP McLean.

In his famous Romeo and Juliet soliloquy, Shakespeare asked, “What’s in a Name?”

 

Quite a lot, as it turns out. I don’t have children, so the only names I’ve bestowed are on my fictional characters and my dogs. Happily, my choices have yet to be challenged (at least by the dogs).

 

Still, it’s important to find a good fit between the character and the name you choose. A name invokes an image in a reader’s mind. The way the name is spelled, how it rolls off the tongue, how it looks visually on a page—all these things add nuance to the character.

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Articles / Blog Tour

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‘Triumph’s Ashes’ Blog Tour – Thinking Outside The Box

After I finished writing The Cassidy Chronicles I thought I was finished writing about Aiyana and Kendra.

I started with their wedding, broke it up, got them married, sent them on adventures, put them in peril, and finally ended things with them on top and ready to change the world.

I was ready to start on The Next Book.

It’s not as easy as it sounds; at least, not for me.

First I had to think of a problem.

Fine. Impending famine due to a breakdown in infrastructure.

Yawn. Boring!

Impending famine due to breakdown in infrastructure because the Lunar colonies keep demanding all the rare metals needed to keep the machinery working.

Better…

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Articles

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How To Write a Horror Story in 5 Steps

How To Write a Horror Story in 5 Steps

Are you an aspiring writer aiming to achieve success in the literary world of modern times? If yes, perhaps one of the genres you want to explore is horror stories. Why? Simply because what is unnatural and shocking affects human emotions more intensely than anything else. This article will serve as a guide to writing a horror story in 5 simple steps. 

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Articles / Interviews

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Interview with award-winning horror author, Deborah Sheldon

Deborah Sheldon is an award-winning Australian author with a long list of titles to her name, including short stories, novelettes, novellas and novels. Sheldon is masterful at the art of writing horror: believable plots, convincing characters, well-defined settings, decisive pacing, and the perfect amount of mayhem, destruction and bloodletting. Her new action-horror novella, Man-Beast (Severed Press) reflects all these skills. Recently, I had the opportunity to chat with Deb about horror writing in general, and Man-Beast in particular.

 

The title character in your book is a humanoid, but not the standard version. How did you go about revamping the Bigfoot trope?
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Articles / Guest Post

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Systemic Injustice in Contemporary Horror: How It’s Used and What to Take Away As a Writer

Systemic Injustice in Contemporary Horror: How It’s Used and What to Take Away As a Writer

Since the blockbuster success of Get Out, systemic injustice has become an increasingly prevalent theme in modern horror. And while certainly present in the genre prior to this era, 2016-2017 was when race, class, mental health, and other issues of systemic oppression really rose to prominence. Since then, we’ve gotten a wealth of horror stories tackling these issues from numerous angles — with varying degrees of success.

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Articles / Guest Post

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Move over Plato: The Allegory of the Horror

Move over Plato: The Allegory of the Horror

By Rebecca Rowland

 

I see allegory in everything. Perhaps it’s a side effect after decades of teaching high school English. Perhaps it’s the curse of having chosen to pursue a graduate degree in literature after finishing college (not for any career preparation but in order to postpone joining the work force: I admit it!). Or, perhaps it’s simply a quality of being a horror writer. Though we’re often pushed to the back of the literary prestige line, authors of the scare-narrative are cultivators of a masterful magic show that both ignites readers’ imaginations and, quite often, pokes at their most tender trigger points like mad scientist filmmakers splicing subconscious images into montages.

No matter the reason, it’s a reflex I’ve developed, for better or worse, even if my analysis doesn’t always jive with the director’s. Akin to those hidden picture paintings popular in the 1990s, what is seen cannot be unseen (I’m talking to you, Ari Aster, who, much to my chagrin, insists Hereditary is a film about possession and not, in fact, a story of a genetic propensity of mental illness. He’s wrong, but that’s a guest blog for another time).

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Articles / Blog Tour

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‘It Calls from the Doors’ Blog Tour – Blockbuster Made Me Do It

Blockbuster Made Me Do It

by Paul O’Neill

 

At the bottom of our sad, gusty high street, my track-suited friends and I wasted afternoons at our local Blockbusters. Long gone now, of course, but they were all the rage back then. You could waste a lot of time in that vivid blue atmosphere. I can still taste all that plastic. Empty cassette cases (they were empty to stop us from knicking them) lined the walls from top to bottom. 

A vivid memory stands in my mind of carrying the empty cases of Poltergeist 3, Child’s Play, and Toys. Toys seems to have vanished from the world, but the terrifying jack-in-the-box on its cover still haunts me.
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Articles / Guest Post

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How Do Horror Writers Popularize Their Content

How Do Horror Writers Popularize Their Content

It’s not uncommon to have writers create stories that never leave their personal computers. Sometimes, it is because they don’t know how to promote and popularize their content, so they leave it lying on their personal space and go on to writing the next one. If you’re one of such writers in the horror niche, then this article is for you. 

 

As a person, you probably use social for a variety of things. So who says you can’t use it to promote your content as a writer. These platforms have an audience and can connect you to a group of readers waiting to consume your horror stories.

 

If you are already a self-publishing author, then you’ve probably spent tons of hours online already trying to market your work. Thankfully, there are several popular outlets that you can use to promote your horror content and get the recognition that you deserve. 

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