From Young Adult Fiction Author To Horror Novelist?

My debut novel just came out last week and I’ve been walking on cloud nine because my life-long dream of becoming a published author has finally come true!  I’m also editing the second book in my YA series, The Rise & Fall of Dani Truehart,and preparing to write the last installment in December.  You would think I have enough to keep me busy, but like many writers, I’m always looking to the future.  And plotting. (cue maniacal laughter)

I have my next book idea all ready to go – a contemporary novel I’ve been working on for quite a while so I already feel comfortable with the characters and the storyline.  But something else has been tugging at my heart that both thrills and terrifies me and I wonder if I have what it takes to make a success of it.  I want to write a horror novel.

I have spent years watching scary movies and reading dark, gothic tales – relishing every terrifying, suspenseful moment.  Writing a compelling horror story – with the right combination of myth, fright, anticipation and a touch of gore seems like the ultimate writing challenge.  Stephen King, Ruth Ware, M.R. Carey, Laura Purcell are just a few of my favorite writers who make my blood run cold.  

Finding the perfect pervasively eerie tone, creating a believable malevolent force, scattering breadcrumbs skillfully enough throughout the plot so the reader doesn’t see the end coming but looking back they can see the answer was there all along if they just knew where to look…just thinking about makes me want to pick up an axe and start hacking away.

But, like any evil spirt lurking in the dark, I must be patient.  I love folklore so I know my tale will have its origins in some forgotten tradition or myth, but that’s all I know right now. I need to do my research, find the myth that I connect with, one that speaks to my own fears and let the story begin there.   

I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas.