|
Word of the week: Overmorrow – the day after tomorrow
Hello, readers! Everywhere I look Halloween decorations are staring to pop up. Folks are posting spooky content on Twitter, including lists of movies to watch and books to read in October. My TBR pile grows more in October than any other time of the year due to overwhelming number of recommendations. I love the horror community, but there is something a little extra special about it this time of year.
This week we have an article on craft from one of the editors over at Orca Literary Journal. We also have articles about writing horror, and about finding a writing coach. In our section on the business of writing, there is an article on the benefits of promotion graphics. As always, you can find me (Holley) lurking on Twitter @HLCornetto.
Horror Tree Update:
Not much new this week, Stu has been slammed with work and school! What free time he has had has gone to experimenting with website changes no one else can see quite yet.
Trembling With Fear update:
We're still open for our Halloween Edition of TWF as well and you can read the details right here. Time is running out! This will be the last call!
Bonus Contest:
Horror Author David Viergutz is celebrating Halloween early with a massive 20+ Horror Novel Giveaway, all loaded onto a Brand New Kindle!
David has purchased the best-selling books for 20+ horror authors and is giving them away in order to show his support for the horror author community and bring eyes to their work. Every contestant will also receive a complimentary copy of one of his books as well.
Help spread the word and lets kick off scare-season right, with a whole mess of books designed to keep you up at night!
https://kingsumo.com/g/z0paol/halloween-giveaway-win-a-kindle-loaded-with-20-horror-books
Articles:
Here are the latest articles on writing from around the web.
On craft:
Orca Blog: The Risks a Writer Must Take
General:
Writer’s Weekly: Oh the Horror! 7 Ways to Frighten the Pants off Your Readers!
Jane Friedman: Your Writing Matters. A Coach Can Help.
The business of writing:
diy MFA: Book Promotion Graphics
Free Fiction Roundup:
This week we have fiction from the latest issue from Kaleidotrope. I’ve become a huge fan of this magazine. “Somewhens” manages a balance between whimsical and poignant. “The Soulless,” by Emily Castles appeared in Coffin Bell Journal’s Volume 4, Issue 4, on the theme of Technophobia. This story explores parental relationships, societal expectations, and what it means to be human. George Aitch’s “Sprig,” was included in Frost Zone Zine’s autumn issue. The use of language and atmosphere in this short tale is breathtaking. I’ve rounded out this week’s stories with “Mystery of the Deep,” from Mermaids Monthly. It was my first time reading this magazine, and I thoroughly enjoyed the entire issue.
Now, on to the fiction:
“Somewhens” by Mari Ness. Kaleidotrope.
“The Soulless” by Emily Castles. Coffin Bell Journal.
“Sprig” by George Aitch. Frost Zone Zine.
“Mystery of the Deep” by Nina Kiriki Hoffman. Mermaids Monthly.
If you post any writing content during the week and think it would be a good fit for us to feature, do reach out and let us know at contact@horrortree.com
Thank you Patreons! As always, the site's lifeblood is in your hands and we truly appreciate your support.
Looking To Help Horror Tree?
Here are the main things we're looking for:
- Advertising and either Site or Contest sponsorships!
- Article writers (articles, interviews, reviews, crowdsource compilations, etc.)
- Sharing guest posts with us or reaching out for us to be a blog tour host.
- The obvious one here is also to become one of our Patreons!
If you're interested in contributing and think you have something that would help out PLEASE don't shy away from contacting us! (contact@horrortree.com)
|
|
Excerpts:
Deadline: December 15th, 2021 Payment: US 3¢/word rounded up to nearest dollar; minimum US $3, maximum $25 Theme: Light Eye to the Telescope 43, Light, will be edited by Jordan Hirsch. Light is so much more than meets the eye. It emanates from a lover’s smile as they walk into the room. It bleaches the bones of your enemies. It can be the minimal weight of a feather, its absence the heftiness of a black hole, eating matter and energy, regardless of wave or particle. It is the horror of a headlamp burning out miles underground; it is the nightmare of endless day, nary a shadow in sight. Celebrate stars, whether their ancient light has travelled from time’s beginning or your ship has taken you to the birthplace of a new light-maker. Write the promise at the end of the tunnel or a sunrise of another time. Any iteration of this theme will do: as abstract as you can get or an ode to literal photons—I want to see it all. Short, long, formal, or free: just make sure it’s speculative. Had a bulb go off? Send it my way! Submission Guidelines SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS Use the form at http://bit.ly/SFPAettt43 to submit. Please submit 1–3 poems in English (attached as .docx or .txt) and include a short bio. Translations from other languages are acceptable with the permission of the original poet (unless public domain). Inquiries only to ettt43@sfpoetry.com with “ETTT” in the subject line. Deadline: December 15. The issue will appear on January 15, 2022. Payment and rights Accepted poems will be paid for at the following rate: US 3¢/word rounded up to nearest dollar; minimum US $3, maximum $25. Payment is on publication. The Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association normally uses PayPal to pay poets, but can also send checks. Eye to the Telescope is an online publication. Therefore,...
Read on »
Read on »
Read on »
Deadline: December 9th, 2021 Payment: 5 cents a word Theme: Take any three famous people from history, toss them together, and have an adventure. Take any three famous people from history, toss them together, and have an adventure. How they got together is up to you – you could do an origin story of how they first met or you could write the story as if they had been adventuring for years. You can use a time machine or a rip in space/time or quantum magic or whatever. You could have some sort of universal translator or you can have the language barrier be part of your plotline. And these three people should be really separate if possible, from different cultures and times. That’s part of the fun… I’m now accepting story submissions for this upcoming anthology. You’ll be in great company, with New York Times Bestselling authors and multiple award-winning authors like David Gerrold, Jonathan Maberry, Peter David, Allen Steele, Lawrence Watt-Evans, Adam-Troy Castro, Jody Lynn Nye, Gail Z. Martin, Keith DeCandido, James Moore, and L. Penelope! Below are the guidelines for submission and some advice. Not following either greatly reduces your chance of acceptance. Follow the guidelines! STORY LENGTH AND PAYMENT: Try to keep your story at around 4000 words. This should be sufficient for what should most likely be a somewhat humorous tale. Take as many words as you need to make a great story, but if it is too long, it had better be so great that we can’t refuse it. We will pay 5 cents a word with a top limit of 5000 words. If you absolutely have to go over that limit, it won’t disqualify you but understand that we won’t pay extra. A good but padded story may get rejected over a concise, fast-moving one,...
Read on »
Read on »
Deadline: December 21st, 2021 Payment: 1 cent per word Theme: Adventure, detection and mystery, fantasy, horror and the supernatural, and science fiction SUBMISSION GUIDELINES JOURN-E: THE JOURNAL OF IMAGINATIVE LITERATURETM FIRST OF ALL: READ ALL OF THE GUIDELINES BELOW BEFORE SUBMITTING. COMPLY WITH ALL OF THEM WHEN SUBMITTING. ONLY PREVIOUSLY UNPUBLISHED WORK will be considered. SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS ARE ALLOWABLE, but if the work is accepted by another publication, it is expected that the author/poet/artist will immediately contact JOURN-E about the acceptance by another publishing entity. Failure to do so will result in no further acceptance of material for JOURN-E. First World Publication Rights (both online and in print) are expected. With the acknowledgement that the online version will remain available for the life of the publication in its archive of issues. Reprint/Republication rights will be re-negotiated in the event of a “Best Of” future print and/or online publication. All other rights revert to the creator of the work. WORD COUNT RANGES: We are looking for SHORT FICTION in the general range between 3000 to 7000 words, with the median of 5000. We are looking for SCHOLARLY NON-FICTION ARTICLES OF LITERARY CRITICISM relevant to the genres covered in a general range of from 2500 to 5000 words, with a median of 3750. We are looking for REVIEWS relevant to the genres covered in a range from 500 to 2000 words, with a median of 1250. We are looking for POETRY of between 3 and 210 lines (the length of a “Wreath of Sonnets”) with the preference in the case of longer poems for narrative and descriptive poetry over personal, especially introspective, lyric. NOTE: A little leeway might be granted either below or above the abovelisted parameters. ALL TEXT DOCUMENTS should be formatted in TIMES NEW ROMAN, TIMES ROMAN, COURIER, or COURIER NEW in 12 point type...
Read on »
How Do You Start a Chapter in a Horror Novel? 10 Examples Writing scary scenes is more than just picking a good horror or thriller premise. How you write your story determines how scared your readers will feel. Great horror stories rely on a mixture of proper pacing, refreshed tropes, twisty endings, and line breaks that have been placed strategically to build up the scary stuff. Whether you want to craft a small horror story or an amazing horror novel, the tips that we are going to share with you in this article will help you achieve your writing goals. Starting a chapter is one of the hardest writing tasks to work on. Keep in mind that the first draft is yours. Therefore, you should spill out everything that comes to mind. However, after revising the draft, you’ll need to cut the entire information that you’ve put in the first chapters. Don’t delete any info. Instead, save it since you might need it later. After this process, you’ll end up with opening chapters that are different from what you started with. And this should be it. Most of your original first chapters are the ones you’ll have to kill. To start the best first chapter in your horror history, you need to: 1. Use the surroundings Scary televisions show and movies tend to use jump scare to scare an audience. However, writing a scary novel requires a unique method of evoking fear. You need to set up your environment in a clear way to immerse your audience into the story fully. Describing an enclosed space as clearly as you can evoke feelings of claustrophobia. A dark quiet house can become scary when a character hears weird sounds upstairs or in another room. Being a foreigner in a new place such...
Read on »
Payment: $0.02 for every unique story view Theme: All forms of short fiction Note: This is NOT your standard submission call. IF the platform takes off and/or you have a strong following it could be a fantastic secondary source of income. Worth a look if you have reprints that have been out of circulation or a ton of stories sitting around. Simily is a new platform to self-publish short stories. We believe in the power of a good story and our goal is to help writers reach new readers, hone their craft, and get paid. The details: Our platform is new and the first authors published on the site will be paid $0.02 for every unique story view, including views from free accounts. Once we are up and running, writers will receive a portion of the subscription of paying readers (similar to Medium). Authors retain all copyright to their work and are able to remove their work from Simily.co at any time. We do not require exclusivity. You are free to publish your work wherever you see fit. By submitting to Simily.co, you acknowledge that the work is your own and you have the right to publish it. See our Terms of Service for more information. All stories must have proper English grammar. You will be notified within 2-3 weeks if your story has been selected for publishing. At Simily, our goal is to help writers reach new readers and get paid in the process. While we work to build our base of readers in these first few months, Simily will pay authors $0.02 for every unique view their stories receive per month – counting views from both paying and unpaid subscribers. This is our way of helping kickstart the money authors can make on the platform. The more...
Read on »
Deadline: December 31, 2021 Payment: 6 cents a word (USD) Theme: Stories inspired by and featuring the BABA YAGA. Note: Open to writers who identify as women Deep in the dark forest, in a cottage that moves through the forest on birds’ legs behind a fence topped with human skulls, lives the baba yaga. A guardian of the water of life, she lives with her sisters and takes to the skies in a giant mortar and pestle, creating tempests as she goes. Those who come across the baba yaga may find help, or hinderance, or horror. She is wild, she is woman, she is witch—and these are her tales. We are looking for stories inspired by and featuring the BABA YAGA. INTO THE FOREST: Tales of the Baba Yaga is a women-in-horror anthology. All writers who identify as women are welcome to submit. GUIDELINES: Payment: 6 cents a word (USD) Length: 1000 to 5000 words Submission Period: September 28, 2021 to December 31, 2021 Expected Release Date: November 2022 (traditional trade) No reprints, multiple subs or simultaneous subs Use classic Shunn formatting. Full list of invited contributors: – Gwendolyn Kiste – Stephanie M. Wytovich – Donna Lynch – R. J. Joseph – Lindy Ryan – Mercedes M. Yardley – Monique Snyman – Lisa Quigley Via: Black Spot Books.
Read on »
How Do Beginner Horror Writers Make Money? Many people write fiction because it is their passion. They find it amazing to weave a story together and create a masterpiece that has never existed before. This skill needs to be monetized, especially when you specialize in the horror genre. It takes something special to create a story that is intriguing and highly terrifying to the readers. However, making money as a horror writer often feels like an impossible goal to achieve. In reality, though, there are several ways that beginner horror writers can make the most of their skill by making money off it. You just may not have found them yet, but this article would show you a few ways. Submit your horror stories to websites Submitting your horror stories is one of the surest ways to make money as a writer. Several websites and magazines compile stories from different genres, including horror. Many of these websites pay you for your work and give you exposure, while others only provide you with exposure. You know which one you prefer. According to creative writers at essay writing service uk, below are some websites that accept submission for horror stories and pay the author. Solarcide: this website is slightly odd, but they release story collections periodically and also pay the author $50 for each story that they feature. Their submission guidelines are intentionally vague. However, they emphasize dark and weird writings. Submissions are only open periodically, so you may need to check back consistently. Unfading Daydream: this website is relatively small, but they publish stories and pay about $5 – $10 for each accepted submission. They emphasize mainly horror, supernatural, sci-fi, and fantasy. Apex Magazine: this magazine accepts stories up to 7500 words long and pays $0.06 per word. Horror...
Read on »
Deadline: November 14th, 2021 Payment: $500 and 25 contributors copies Theme: literary fiction Submission Periods: January 15th – May 31st | October 4th – November 14th What kinds of stories is One Story looking for? One Story is seeking literary fiction. Because of our format, we can only accept stories between 3,000 and 8,000 words. They can be any style and on any subject as long as they are good. We are looking for stories that leave readers feeling satisfied and are strong enough to stand alone. Does One Story pay? Yes. One Story pays $500 and 25 contributors copies for First Serial North American rights. All rights will revert to the author following publication. Does One Story accept previously published material? No. One Story is looking for previously unpublished material. However, if a story has been published in print outside of North America, it will be considered. Stories previously published online—on blogs, personal websites, online literary magazines, or forums—will not be accepted. Does One Story accept simultaneous submissions? Yes, but please withdraw your submission immediately if your submission is accepted for publication elsewhere. What file types can I submit? We accept DOC, DOCX, PDF, and RTF files. Please include the story title and all writer contact info on the first page of the submitted file. Will you send me comments on my story? No. One Story receives close to 200 submissions each week. Please understand that we do not have time to comment on individual stories. Can I change the story I submitted with an updated draft? We strongly prefer that you only send us final drafts, but if you must upload a new version, please withdraw your submission through Submittable and resubmit. Can I send a revision of a story that was previously rejected? No. Please send us new work. Revisions of previously rejected stories will not be considered and will be automatically declined. Do you consider...
Read on »
Deadline: November 1st, 2021 Payment: $0.01 per word Theme: DEVOUT: Martyrs, Cults, and Madness Last Girls Club Winter Issue Theme is DEVOUT: Martyrs, Cults, and Madness No more than two fiction or flash fiction stories per author per submission period. Fiction is limited to 2,500 words or less. Authors are paid $0.01 per word upon acceptance ($25 USD max). Flash fiction is limited to under 1,000 words. Authors are paid $0.01 per word upon acceptance ($10 USD max). No more than three poems per poet. Poems are limited to 200 words or less for each poem. Poets are paid $10 upon acceptance. I prefer to use PayPal to pay authors, but will work with authors where PayPal is not available. Nonfiction columns will must be pitched to editor in chief before submission. Email your idea to lastgirlsclub@gmail.com The Last Girls Club The Last Girls Club Magazine is a quarterly feminist horror magazine that publishes international short stories and poems from the female gaze. It is an homage to the scary comics and zines of the late 20th century. Please check on the website for the theme in detail. Submissions will be accepted from Jan 1-Feb 1, April 1-May 1, July 1-Aug 1, Oct 1-Nov 1. Final notifications will be Feb 15, May 15, Aug 15, Nov 15. No more than two fiction stories per author per submission period. Fiction is limited to 2,500 words or less. Flash fiction must be under 1,000 words, no more than two from an author. No more than three poems per poet. Poems are limited to 200 words or less for each poem. I prefer to use PayPal to pay authors, but will work with authors where PayPal is not available. Nonfiction columns will must be pitched to editor in chief before submission. Email your idea to lastgirlsclub@gmail.com Via:...
Read on »
10 Horror Stories You Can Find In the Bible The Bible is the bestselling book of all time. The scriptures in it allegedly date back to 1500 b.c., and the knowledge in them is even older. We are used to viewing the Bible as a source of moral education and ethics. But people usually omit the fact that Biblical scriptures also contain horror episodes that could make even the least unsusceptible person feel overwhelmed. No matter what you believe in, it is hard to deny that the Scriptures are a literary masterpiece. From catastrophes of planetary-scale to horrifying personal stories the narrative leaves a deep impression on any reader. And the genius Author of these stories can be a great teacher to any writer who attempts to reach his audience. So, let’s delve deeper into these terrible moments that claim to be real episodes of human history. Noah’s Flood Most of us used to see pictures of a happy old man with his family, a bunch of animals, and a hefty belly swimming on a boat. But people rarely imagine what the Great Flood could have actually been. The narrative in Genesis 6 implies that every breathing creature on Earth, barring those in the Ark, was destroyed in the extent of 40 days. The Scripture mentions people who were wedding and doing all sorts of other humane activities. And in the next moment starts a disaster that completely obliterates all their lives and hopes. The most horrifying part is that it happened not immediately. Imagine the picture of people and animals clinging to the cliffs. Carnivorous creatures forget their instincts and share the spot with herbivores. All trying to save their young in view of crumbling mountains and inevitably approaching waves of deadly water. It...
Read on »
Deadline: November 30th, 2021 Payment: $50 CAD and a contributor’s copy Theme: Pirate dogs, yes my friends, pirate dogs How do you follow up an anthology of swashbuckling cats? With pirating dogs, of course! As with the first anthology in this series I am looking for adventure-loving dogs, puns, water and fun. I’m looking for sailors, submariners, explorers, Vikings and more. Fun stories filled with excitement, drama, treasure-seeking, sword fights, discovering new worlds and dogs, dogs, dogs! All. The. Dogs. Be careful not to get too caught up in the fun and forget to include a strong plot and detailed characters for your story, though. I’m a sucker for a great setting, three-dimensional characters and high stakes, and if your story elicits real emotion from me—laughter, tears or anything in between—you will have increased your chances of acceptance significantly. We don’t deserve dogs. But we do deserve an anthology of pirating pups! Rights and compensation: $50 CAD flat fee and a paperback copy of the anthology. In exchange we are seeking first world rights in English and exclusive right to publish in print and electronic format for six months after publication date, after which publisher retains nonexclusive right to continue to publish for the life of the anthology. Open submission period: October 1, 2021 – November 30, 2021 Length: Under 7,500 words No simultaneous or multiple submissions. No reprints. Canadian spelling, please (just do your best, I won’t judge). Submit here –> https://niteblade.submittable.com/submit/204831/pirating-pups Submissions received before October 1st will not be considered. Via: Rhonda Parrish.
Read on »
Happy Preptober for those of you doing NaNoWriMo and break a…pen…in November! So, as part of your prep, get ready to scare the wits out of your readers with this month’s “writer’s inspiration” tarot card reading! Setting: King of Wands. A world in flames, torn apart by warring factions. Hate and rage fuel this martial society, and there will never be a winner, yet the fighting seems like it will continue until there is nothing left but a destroyed, blood-soaked landscape. Character: The Chariot. Ruling over this world is the penultimate Queen of War. She will not yield until her cause is won. But her real end goal is unknown to the cadre of warriors she leads into battle. She has dual roles to play in the future of the world. She sees the infinite threads of fate and the universe with her powerful eyes, and knows that this planet has been distorted by a time fault. She is both an actor and a director in the flow of space and time, and, while her warriors are united to a their cause, she is using them as a sacrifice to create the world anew–to bring it back into the harmony of the universe over which she rules. Theme/Development: Four of Cups. Although martial in character and on the battlefield, even the Queen of War has to yield to the balance and order of the universe. To ignore that is to also bring about her own demise. Which, being the immortal essence of the universe, is not really a demise, but a purgatory. And even though centuries have passed while the opposing sides continue their warfare, even she is tiring of the constant battle. The flames of hate and rage are now threatening to extend out into...
Read on »
|
|
|
|
