Weekly Posts from The Horror Tree for 11/26/21
Nov 27, 2021 3:01 am
Here's my weekly update for November 26th, 2021...
Word of the week: Hypnogogic – sleep inducing.
For our readers in the USA, I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. Here are Horror Tree, we are thankful for all of you who visit the site to read or share news and articles, and we are especially thankful for those of you who support us on Patreon. We couldn’t do all of the things we do without your kindness and generosity, so thank you!
As always, you can find me (Holley) lurking on Twitter @HLCornetto. Here are the latest articles on writing from around the web.
Sponsor:
This month we're being sponsored by Were Tales which includes some amazing authors (including some who write for and frequent Horror Tree) so you should pick up a copy today!
Horror Tree / Trembling With Fear Update (This section updated by your fearless editor and chief, Stuart C.!):
Happy Turkey Day to those who celebrate it!
So far, SendFox worked last week after potential issues. It looks like we won't be switching off from it. Who knows, if MailChimp has a Black Friday deal today it might be time to switch back! (This message was pre-recorded before Thanksgiving.)
We have had a few other issues popping up that have caused some slowdown on the site and are working with our partners on troubleshooting the issue.
With the success of drabbles in our Trembling With Fear releases, we're looking to be expanding on our ability to share drabbles. Keep your eyes peeled for a new opportunity coming soon. We'll also be looking for an editor with Wordpress experience to help out here.
Articles:
Another great set of articles from around the web! I'm a fan of the WD article under Craft myself though all of these were great!
Craft:
Literary Hub: Good Sentences Are Why We Read
Jane Friedman: Writing Compassionately about Parents
Business:
Reedsy: 15 Books on Publishing to Give You the Inside Scoop
General:
LitReactor: Revisiting a Work You’ve Already Published: Things to Keep in Mind
Free Fiction Roundup:
This week I’ve found a variety of stories to share, and I hope you all enjoy them. The first story this week is “Silverfish, Noun; Help, Verb” by Gabrielle Bleu. Perhaps I am partial to this story because, like the protagonist, I’m also a librarian in my day job. The story of the archivist versus the silverfish felt epic, and I was here for every line of this story. “Minor Arcana,” by Marissa Levien was touching and poignant. I enjoyed the voice of the POV character, and enjoyed the overall feeling this story left me with. It’s one I will think back to long after reading. “Endings” by Daniel Kuo is flash fiction at its best. It is lovely and poetic and enveloping in such a condensed space. Lastly, “Butterflies” by Bridget Haug was a lovely piece of flash about love and regret.
Now, on to the fiction:
“Silverfish, Noun; Help, Verb” by Gabrielle Bleu. Mythaxis Magazine.
“Minor Arcana” by Marissa Levien. Catapult Magazine.
“Endings” by Daniel Kuo. SmokeLong Quarterly.
“Butterflies” by Bridget Haug. Wyld Flash.
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!
- Someone to help create videos for social media (we have tools, but not time!)
- 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)
🗒️ Taking Submissions: Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson: Medical Mysteries
Deadline: February 15th, 2022 Payment: $100 and a paperback copy Theme: Collection of traditional Sherlock Holmes stories that must somehow connect to the theme of “medical mystery”.
Sherlock Holmes and Dr.
Watson: Medical Mysteries Description: A collection of traditional Sherlock Holmes stories that must somehow connect to the theme of “medical mystery”.
This could include Holmes investigating a crime committed at Bart’s hospital, having a nurse as a client, or figuring out the cause of a strange illness killing off some of London’s wealthiest citizens.
The topic is quite broad on purpose and we invite authors to be creative with their submissions....
🗒️ Taking Submissions: Toilet Zone 3: The Royal Flush
Deadline: December 31st, 2021 Payment: $5 Theme: Stories that are the perfect length for between sitting down and having a ‘royal flush’ THE TOILET ZONE: THE ROYAL FLUSH SUBMISSIONS EXTENDED TO 31 DECEMBER 2021 HellBound’s third outing to the smallest room… And no, don’t panic, we’re still not looking for lavatory-themed tales of terror – although should your short story involve the smallest room in the house, we’d be more than delighted to read it!
The theme for this anthology is short horror stories that will make an ideal sit-down read, just long enough for those extended stays at the convenience, and terrifying enough that they really are best read whilst over water….
We have based story length upon the average time spent upon the convenience (10-15 mins) and the average reading speed (200-250 words per minute), so that the stories within this exceptionally unique anthology will be the perfect ‘per visit’ length!
NOTE: we will also accept a handful of shorter stories – ‘flush fiction’ – if the fit is right!
To submit, email your polished story to: submissions@hellboundbookspublishing.com PLEASE read and adhere to our submission guidelines… * Word format saved in .
doc, or .
docx * 12 pt times new roman * Double spaced * Absolutely NO extra lines between paragraphs!
* 2.5K-4K word count (although we are incredibly flexible for awesome stories!
) * Write ‘TOILET ZONE 3’ along with your name and story title in the header of your email *The body of your submission email will be considered the cover letter.
* The submission documents are to be separated and Word (.
doc or .
docx) documents are to be attached to your submission email....
🗒️ Top 7 Tips For Writing Ghost Stories
Top 7 Tips For Writing Ghost Stories Read on for our top tips on how to write a ghost story.
Your first step should always be to define a ghost story to yourself, but you should know how to proceed afterwards.
The best ghost stories are ones that are well-planned.
Use our tips to plan yours now.
Choose Your Tone The first thing you need to do is choose your tone.
This is the same whether you are looking at essay papers for sale, or figuring out how to write fiction....
🗒️ Taking Submissions: The Grey Rooms – Season 5
Deadline: April 17th, 2022 Payment: $25 Theme: Any genre, Rated R, your story’s main character must be killed at the end of the story The Grey Rooms – Season 5 Story Submission Guidelines We are excited to bring you another season of our horror anthology series.
But we can’t do it without *you.
* Please read the following submission guidelines below, as we’ve shaken them up a great deal for this season!
Thanks for joining us in… the Grey Rooms!
Submissions Begin: October 1st, 2021 Submissions Close: April 17th, 2022: Midnight ET Content Requirements 1.) Stories must be original submissions.
To be considered for the Grey Rooms, stories may not have been published in a printed or ebook format, or produced as a podcast or radio drama narrative.
2.) Your story’s main character must be killed at the end of the story, or the narrative must heavily imply that the main character will die just after the story concludes....
🗒️ Taking Submissions: Wayward & Upward
Deadline: January 30th, 2022 Payment: Short stories: $100 CAD upon publication, Poetry: $50 CAD upon publication Theme: A multimedia project inspired by the electrosymphonic album “Wayward & Upward” by Spinoza Gambit.
Note: Look at the submission page at the very bottom to verify the song you want to tackle is still open.
A multimedia project inspired by the electrosymphonic album “Wayward & Upward” by Spinoza Gambit.
The music already exists.
Your job is to fill in the words....
Naming Characters by JP McLean.
In his famous Romeo and Juliet soliloquy, Shakespeare asked, “What’s in a Name?
” Quite a lot, as it turns out.
I don’t have children, so the only names I’ve bestowed are on my fictional characters and my dogs.
Happily, my choices have yet to be challenged (at least by the dogs).
Still, it’s important to find a good fit between the character and the name you choose.
A name invokes an image in a reader’s mind....
🗒️ Taking Submissions: Fall Into The Abyss
Deadline: December 5th, 2021 Payment: Royalties or $5, whichever is greater Theme: Weird Fiction and Cosmic Horror Note: Reprints Welcome SUBMISSION GUIDELINES We consider stories for two types of publications: Website Anthologies (approximately 20 stories per anthology) Response Time: We will try our best to respond in four to eight weeks after the submission period ends.
The first wave of rejections is usually quick (two weeks after the submission period ends) Word Count: 4,000–15,000 for website and anthologies; 500–2000 for flash fiction anthologies Submission Fee: None Rights: the copyright to the story remains yours.
All we ask for are nonexclusive rights to publish your story Payment: Website: Currently, there is no payment for website publications because the blog is not yet monetized and we are in the beta phase (which may last for eight to twelve months).
Once we get the numbers, we will come up with a model (probably token advance) that will allow us to pay our writers as well as fund the growth of TGVB (YouTube channel, audiobooks, story podcast, etc).
It is an important goal for us to reach the stage when we can pay a decent sum to our authors....
🗒️ Taking Submissions: Bleed Error #1
Deadline: March 1st, 2022 Payment: $1c per word, and $15 per poem Theme: The gamut of everything from absurdist horror to bizarre science-fiction to unsettling dark fantasy.
• What are we looking for?
We’re looking for short stories, flash fiction, and poetry that runs the gamut of everything from absurdist horror to bizarre science-fiction to unsettling dark fantasy.
We love the uncanny; what we look for is the telling drop in your stomach when you absently look up at the skies and there are far more constellations than you’d remembered, brighter and closer and in configurations you don’t quite recall.
We want stories about the bleed error of the universe printing outside the margins of reality.
We are interested in stories with LGBTQ2S+ and diverse leads, especially with narratives that are not confined to tragedy tropes.
• What do we not want?...
🗒️ Can Authors Write In Different Genres?
Diverse Disciplines: Fielding the Field by Catherine Jordan Can authors write in different genres?
As a writer, if you haven’t already tried your hand within other categories, you should—genre blending is on the rise.
The mixture of themes and elements is not new.
But as a horror writer, I’m seeing calls for horror comedies (I recently watched Netflix’s Le Manoir/The Mansion, a hysterically funny horror), historical horror (Alma Katsu’s disturbing, The Hunger, was based on the Donner Party), horror romance (Warm Bodies, a zombie romance by Isaac Marion), and horror mystery (Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects—the who-dun-it is horrific and features the most evil women on the planet).
Anne Rice, Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Joyce Carol Oates, and J.
K.
Rowling: these are horror/dark fiction authors, right?...
Enjoy,
Horror Tree
