Writers Workshop of Horrors: A Review

Hello gang, it has been awhile since I have been able to write here at the blog

Awhile back Woodland Press, LLC sent me a copy of Writers Workshop of Horror, edited by Michael Knost; to review and here now is my review.

Let me start off by say that I enjoyed Writers Workshop of Horror quite a bit. The book is a series of articles written by many notables in the field of horror fiction today; such as Joe R. Lansdale, Brian Keene,Tim Waggoner and many more. Each article tackles a different aspect of the craft of horror fiction writing. Elizabeth Massie’s article is appropriately titled Creating Effective Beginnings and is a good primer on how to begin your horror story. Michael A. Arnzen has an effective article about scene structure and how it can make or break a horror story in the piece: Scene and Structure in Horror. There is even an article about proper formatting in Jason Sizemore’s A Guide to Manuscript Formatting.

A treasure trove of insightful and interesting information on the craft of horror fiction and I highly recommend Writers Workshop of Horror by Michael Knost. The book does remind me of the book; On Writing Horror : A Handbook by The Horror Writers Association edited by Mort Castle ( who also has an article in Writers Workshop of Horror) another anthology of articles covering the craft of horror fiction by many masters of the genre; like Harlan Ellison, Jack Ketchum and David Morrell to name a few.

On Writing Horror : A Handbook by The Horror Writers Association is organized into seven different parts; each covering a different element of the craft and business of horror fiction. Part Two is An Education in Horror and consist of four articles giving an overview of horror and how it is presented in higher education. Part Seven is Genre and Subgenre and contains ten different articles discussing the horror genre and subgenres and how writers can use these to create better horror fiction. All and all a very good book on the craft of horror fiction.

Writers Workshop of Horror and On Writing Horror: A Handbook by The Horror Writers Association would be two good companion books for any writers bookshelf , especially if you enjoy writing horror fiction.