Writer’s Workshop of Horror

Contributors: Michael A. Arnzen, Gary A. Braunbeck, Ramsey Campbell, Mort Castle, Timothy Deal, Gary Frank, G. Cameron Fuller, J. F. Gonzalez, Jack M. Haringa, Rick Huatala, Brian Keene, Michael Knost, Michael Laimo, Joe R. Landsdale, Deborah LeBlanc, Robert N. Lee, Jonathan Maberry, Elizabeth Massie, Thomas F. Monteleone, Lisa Morton, Scott Nicholson, Tom Piccirilli, Jason Sizemore, Lucy A. Snyder, Jeff Strand, Tim Waggoner, Brian Yount

published by Woodland Press, LLC

(2009)

ISBN-10: 0982493916

ISBN-13: 978-0982493915

First review by Garrett Cook

8.29.09

It is hard to imagine how many copies of John Gardner’s are taking flight across the room on wings of frustration. This seminal but infuriating text has been building craft and psychologically decimating writers for quite some time now. Genre fiction writers are a lucky lot, though in that their tomes of advice don’t stop at Gardner. Ray Bradbury teaches us about the soul of writing in Zen in the Art of Writing, Steven King’s fantastic On Writing helps us whip ourselves into shape alongside the folksy, erudite presence of the bard of Bangor, and the HWA’s fantastic On Writing Horror approaches the genre from all angles. All of these invaluable books on the art of the fantastic and frightening leave us wanting only one thing: more. The Writer’s Workshop of Horror offers that. But is it more of what we need?

The book begins where Julie Andrews tell us to: at the very beginning. Elizabeth Massie tells us how to catch a reader’s attention from the start. Her advice is sound and welcome and she provides some nice examples. The only thing that bothers me about Ms. Massie’s approach is that she provides examples only from her own work. This is not an indictment of her character or her obvious prowess as a teacher, but just a pet peeve of mine about writing books. At least Miss Massie’s work is good unlike the proud crayon scrawling presented as examples by the authors of texts on writing screenplays (“In Whoopass Patrol 5, I decided that Commander Paynphul would show his MOTIVATION by telling the story about how Von Sufferyng killed his wife…”) for which I have no end of disdain. I’d kind of like for her to have shown the reader how Poe, Lovecraft, Machen and Blackwood used to do it. In the next chapter Michael Laimo does the same thing so it gets a little easier to chew on. Laimo’s chapter is a little repetitive and perhaps a tad patronizing, but Laimo knows his shit and the reader is getting privileged information from a skilled source. J.F Gonzalez winds down the opening trilogy and lo and behold I feel as if I’ve actually gone through the process of plotting a piece of fiction. Good stuff. Gary Braunbeck follows with a perhaps a bit too lengthy piece about characterization and method-acting. But immediately after Braunbeck’s section, Tim Waggoner follows up with an essay on plotting horror novels that can be useful to most anyone. The momentum keeps going with Scott Nicholson on POV, Thomas Monteleone on dialogue and many other heavy hitters of horror on everything you’d want to know from them.

Getting halfway through the book you already get your money’s worth, but Mort Castle, Joe Lansdale and Jeff Strand provide skillful and immediately useful advice. But, for me the book’s standout was a substantial section by the great Ramsey Campbell. Interviews with Clive Barker, Campbell and F. Paul Wilson elevate this book from something aspiring that current horror writers might want to pick up to something they’d be a damn fool not to. Skip the Writer’s Market. Skip Gardner. Get this... perfect for writers or as a gift for the little Lovecraft in your life.

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Second review of Writers Workshop of Horror by Adam Armstrong

9.12.09

Some great writing advice from some great horror writers.

Writers Workshop of Horror goes through and breaks down each step of writing dark fiction. Beginnings, middles, ends, point of view, dialogue, settings, and themes, you name it and it’s in there. On top of the usual list of things you should do, there are a few really good pieces: adding comedy into horror fiction, making time to write, and cross reading to become a better writer.

Motivational for current writers and extremely helpful for those starting out. A few things that came up here that are important and not seen as much as they should be: Manuscript formatting is something that needs to be drilled into new writer’s heads, cross reading through other genres (especially reading all those books that are called the greats) would help get horror back on track and taken more seriously again, and making time to write is an often-heard complaint that has a simple answer.

Well worth the price for anyone who wants to write:

5 out of 5

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Third review of Writers Workshop of Horror by Scott M. Sandridge

10.13.09

Twenty-three articles and three interviews about writing horror, written by some of the best in the field, and all edited by Michael Knost—what’s not to like? Effective ways to create great beginnings, middles, and endings get covered in the first three articles. Practically everything you might need to know gets covered in one or more articles, from handling fight scenes in a horror setting to adding humor. And Brian Keene will step on your aspiring toes with his article, “Time, and How to Make it.”

Overall, it’s one of the best compilations of writing advice you can find, and not just for horror writers: 5 out of 5.