AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Tim Waggoner Talks Writing in the Dark

Welcome to this Track of Words Author Interview, my ongoing series of quick interviews with authors talking about their new releases. These are short and sweet interviews, with the idea being that each author will answer (more or less) the same questions – by the end of each interview I hope you will have a good idea of what the new book (or audio drama) is about, what inspired it and why you might want to read or listen to it.

This time around I spoke to veteran horror writer Tim Waggoner about his new book Writing in the Dark, a guide to writing horror stories which is packed full of advice, suggestions, exercises and inspiration from Tim’s decades of writing experience. It’s available to order now from Raw Dog Screaming Press, and if you have any interest in writing horror then this is the book for you!

 

Without further ado let’s get straight to the questions…

Track of Words: How would you describe your new book Writing in the Dark?

Tim Waggoner: It’s a how-to guide intended to help both new and veteran writers compose horror stories and novels that are original, frightening, entertaining, and well-written. It draws on my thirty years’ experience as a both a writer and teacher and covers a wide range of topics, among them why horror matters, building viable monsters, generating ideas and plotlines, how to stylize narratives in compelling ways, the physiology of fear, the art of suspense, avoiding clichés, marketing your horror writing, and much more.

Each chapter includes tips from some of the best horror professionals working today, such as Joe Hill, Ellen Datlow, Joe R. Lansdale, Maurice Broaddus, Yvette Tan, Thomas Ligotti, Jonathan Maberry, Edward Lee, and John Shirley. There are also appendices with critical reflections, pointers on the writing process, ideas for characters and story arcs, and material for further research.

ToW: What makes this a book about writing horror specifically, as opposed to a book about writing in general?

TW: Every aspect of the book is focused on writing horror. Any topic related to writing fiction – characterization, plotting, setting – is viewed through a horror lens, and the advice is geared specifically toward producing great horror fiction.

ToW: As well as a horror writer, you teach creative writing and offer a lot of writing advice on your blog. What prompted you to draw on that experience and publish a book about writing now?

TW: Over the years, I’ve written a number of articles about writing horror as well as given numerous workshops on different aspects of horror writing. I also discuss horror writing on my blog (which is also named Writing in the Dark). In the past, I’ve taught horror literature classes at my college, and I’ve worked with a number of writers through the Horror Writers Association’s mentor program. After having done all of these things for so long, I’d generated a lot of material about writing horror, and I felt that it was time to combine my love of horror and my experience writing and teaching to create a book that I hope will not only help writers but also contribute to the genre I love so much.

Tim’s latest novel from Flame Tree Publishing

ToW: This book covers a really wide range of topics – could you talk a little about what you’ve included, and how went about deciding what to talk about?

TW: A lot of writing guides deal in generalities: an effective story needs conflict, a character needs a goal, you should employ the five senses in your description . . . Rarely do they get into the nitty-gritty of exactly how to do it. So one of the things I wanted to do with Writing in the Dark was give as much practical advice on constructing and writing horror fiction as possible. Many of the horror-writing guides I’ve read have chapters written by different writers who focus on separate topics, such as conflict, characterization, etc. I like those kinds of books – and I’ve contributed to some – but they’re more like panel discussions at a conference than a fully realized course of study designed to help people improve their writing step by step.

I wanted Writing in the Dark to be the kind of book I would’ve loved to have when I was starting out, one which covered everything about writing horror. I talk about why horror is a vital form of literature, the different types of horror, the elements of effective horror fiction, avoiding clichés and developing original ideas for horror stories, how to make your horror more impactful by writing with a close point of view, different narrative structures for horror fiction, how to deal with extreme and violent content, and how to market and sell your fiction to agents, editors, and readers.

ToW: You’ve obviously drawn from all your teaching experience with the story prompts, exercises and questionnaires that you’ve included as well. What do these offer to the reader, on top of everything else?

TW: Prompts and exercises help writers put concepts into action, and they help to spark imagination. It’s often not enough to tell people how to write an effective scene or create a developed character. Sometimes they need more guidance than that, and prompts and exercises can provide that. They’re good launching points for deeper learning – plus some of them might end up becoming stories that readers can later submit for publication. What’s the point of a writing book if it doesn’t help people actually produce writing?

I included several questionnaires to give writers tools to help them when they construct their fiction. For example, one of these questionnaires helps writers explore an individual character’s psychological makeup. How would they react to threats and crises? What it would take for them to be pushed to their limit and beyond, and what acts are they capable of then? How does trauma affect them short and long term? Characters in horror stories experience mental and emotional damage as much as they do physical injury, and each individual will have their own responses. A questionnaire like this helps writers determine those aspects of a character before writing so every character in a story doesn’t act the same way when threatened or attacked.

Tim’s Warhammer Horror short story Skin Man is featured in Anathemas

ToW: I particularly like the ‘flash interviews’ that accompany each chapter – can you talk a bit about what these are, and why you’ve included them?

TW: There are as many ways to write a story as there are writers, and I wanted readers to get different perspectives on the craft of horror writing, not just mine. I considered interviewing writers about different topics, ones that would dovetail with specific chapters, but then it occurred to me that I could ask authors two questions: 1. What makes good horror/dark fantasy/suspense? 2. What’s the best advice you can give a beginning writer of horror/dark fantasy/suspense? I wanted diverse perspectives, so I asked these two questions of writers of various kinds of horror, from quiet literary works to in-your-face extreme fiction, and everything in between. I asked writers of different ages, races, sexualities, gender identities, nationalities, and philosophies as well as traditionally published, indie, and hybrid writers. I also asked editors, publishers, and agents to comment. I wanted readers to be exposed to as many different points of view about writing horror as possible, so that they have much more information to draw on when producing their own work.

ToW: You’ve included a section in which you critique one of your own stories – how did you find that experience?

TW: Weird, but a good weird! I thought it might be beneficial to readers to see a horror story dissected and discussed in terms of what did and didn’t work. I decided to use one of my stories so that I could be as harsh on the story as necessary without hurting anyone else’s feelings or inadvertently looking like a bully. Originally, I was going to use a recent story, but then it occurred to me that if I was a beginning writer reading the book, it might be useful to see a beginner’s story critiqued. So I dug up one of my oldest (unpublished) horror stories, one that I’d written around thirty-five years ago. Examining that story from my current level of experience was a fascinating learning experience for me, and I was surprised to see how much I’d already absorbed about telling an effective horror story. Don’t get me wrong – the story is in no way a good one! – but I saw more potential in it that I expected to. I’d been afraid that all I’d have to say was this sucks and that sucks, etc., but I was also able to point out areas that held promise, so it turned out to be a more balanced – and hopefully interesting – critique than I expected.

ToW: What do you hope readers will get out of this by the time they’ve finished it?

TW: I hope readers come away from the book with a new appreciation for horror and excited about the possibilities offered by the genre. I hope they feel energized and ready to get writing, and that they feel the book has given them inspiration as well as practical tools to help them create kick-ass horror fiction.

ToW: What’s next for Tim Waggoner? Do you have any other work recently published, or coming out soon?

TW: Apex Publishing has just brought out my new novella Some Kind of Monster, and my next novel from Flame Tree Press, Your Turn to Suffer, will be out in March [and is available to pre-order now]. Both are horror stories, naturally!

ToW: Finally, what’s the best way for readers to keep up with you and your work, if they want to know more?

TW: Here are all the places that readers can find me on the Internet:

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Thanks so much to Tim for taking the time to answer these questions and give us all the lowdown on Writing in the Dark! If this sounds like a book you could find useful (and if you’re interested in writing horror then I’m pretty sure it does), then click on the link below to get your order in!

Buy Writing in the Dark.

Click here if you fancy taking a look at some other Author Interviews. If you have any questions, comments or other thoughts please do let me know in the comments below, or find me on Twitter.

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