31 Days of Spoooktacular: The Learning Curve (Part 2)

A few months ago I talked about reading older horror authors in order to see what had come before and learning from it. Just reading modern work is like reading the stuff that came before, but diluted, with six degrees of separation. You'll see a little bit of Matheson and Lovecraft in a Stephen King … Continue reading 31 Days of Spoooktacular: The Learning Curve (Part 2) →

Learning the History

If there's one thing that I'm particularly weak on, it's my horror history. I don't read a lot of horror to start and I read even less of the older examples of the genre. Sure, I'll pick up some pulps or read more Lovecraft than can fill the forgotten tomb city of R'lyeh, but for … Continue reading Learning the History →

Paring It Down

For most people, editing is about excising. You trim out all of those unnecessary words and details and phrases and commas. You said too much. You described too much. You gave him too much to say. Stephen King even comes up with a basic formula for editing your story that goes as follows: First Draft … Continue reading Paring It Down →

Book Review: Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King

I've had a long history with Stephen King's books. When I was twelve, I read my first King book (It, I chose it because it had a monster hand coming out of a sewer grate) and I wasn't able to finish it for six months because it scared the shit out of me. I've read … Continue reading Book Review: Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King →

A Rough Beast Slouches Toward October to Be Born

As Halloween draws ever closer, it becomes clearer to the people closest to me that I'm going completely and utterly insane. I'll spend hours watching the Friday the 13th movies over and over again. I'll leap from unlikely places and frighten old ladies. I'll cover myself in red corn syrup and run through the streets … Continue reading A Rough Beast Slouches Toward October to Be Born →

Anticipation

There's something you should know about me: I am straight up crazy. Now I can already hear you saying, "But Dylan, we already knew that. Why are you making a special mention of it today?" Well I'll tell you Hypothetical Reader. It's getting pretty close to that time. And you know what time of year … Continue reading Anticipation →