This post is less of a tips & tutorial post and more of a sharing of my specific writing process with some, what I hope will be, helpful elements contained within. While I do not consider myself to be an expert writer by any means, I still think I can help others who are aspiring to write by sharing my journey thus far. It is important to note that not all writers have the same process and I believe it is imperative that you find what works for you and build on that.
To date, I have written 21 short stories, all in the horror genre, and one essay that examines a horror movie through a specific psychological lens. Five short stories have been published and two more are to be published later this year. I am always looking for opportunities to publish the others – find the right home for them, if you will. I am currently writing one that I hope to submit to a call that closes on September 15th and there are another two that I started to write for other calls that closed before I could finish. Therefore, I currently sit at 21 completed short stories, three half or nearly completed short stories, at least two more short stories that I want to write for other calls that close later this year, an essay, and the first draft of a novel that started it all.
I’ll write a post about what inspired and motivated me to start writing another time, but for now, I will say that over twenty years ago, I sat down to start writing a novel. Between university, work, family, and life in general, it took me years to complete just the first draft. During the pandemic, I took it out to start the second draft, but as I read it over, I realized that it was simply not good enough. It needed to be better. I needed to be better.
During one of the many lockdowns in which we found ourselves in the early 2020s, I decided that I needed to practice writing. I had read books, watched online tutorials, and viewed interviews by some of the best writers alive today. But I knew I had to actually write in order to practice writing. I learned that many publishing companies will post calls for submissions online asking for writers to submit short stories for anthologies or collections. Sometimes, these calls will be for general stories in the genre, but most times, they will have specific criteria and I gravitated toward that idea.
If you have any interest in writing at all, you’ve probably already heard about the terms “Plotter” and “Pantser.” The two concepts exist on a continuum. An extreme “plotter” is someone who has every beat and moment of a story planned out before they ever start writing. They know exactly what happens and how it ends before they ever write a word. An extreme “pantser” is someone who just starts writing and puts down whatever comes to their mind as it comes. They have no idea what their story is about nor what happens.
I don’t think anyone is 100% plotter or 100% pantser, but every writer falls somewhere on that continuum. I don’t know for sure where exactly I fall, but to give you an idea of my process, I would estimate myself to be about 80% pantser and 20% plotter.
This is what I do.
I will go online and look for calls for submissions to anthologies, magazines, or collections. I use the website Horrortree most often, but I will also sometimes check out Submissions Grinder and Duotrope. I choose which call I want to write for based on how I feel about the theme. If the theme doesn’t spark any interest or ideas, I leave it. But, if a theme piques my interest, I will take the information I need. Submission calls will give you lots of information about what they are looking for, but the information that I note is: 1) The name of the publishing company, 2) The name or working title of the proposed anthology/magazine, 3) The theme, 4) The word count, 5) The closing date.
The theme is probably the most important piece of information to get from a call for submissions as it essentially defines the character of the work the publisher is trying to create. And themes can vary wildly! Examples of themes that publishers have called for in the past are body horror, technological horror, horror stories inspired by the works of Alice Cooper, horror stories about food, about furies, about crafts, about liminal space, plants, birds with teeth, fairy tales, doorways, etc. Basically, a call is only limited by the dreamer’s imagination.
Once I have settled on a theme that intrigues me, I will then visit that publishers website and read all that I can about what they are looking for, what they like, and how they want their stories submitted. Not all publishers have the same preferences and it is very important that you follow a publisher’s exact requests! I’ll write another post some day about the things publishers look for, but it’s important to know this before you start writing because a publisher could prefer something like how you space your manuscript, or how they want underlining or italicizing used.
Next, I’ll let that theme sit with me and percolate until three things emerge: 1) A protagonist, 2) An antagonist or conflict, 3) A setting. That is essentially as much plotting as I will do. After I have decided on all three, I start writing.
Having said that, I am willing to change any or all of those things as my story progresses. They are more of a starting point than a fixed template. I have written stories where I changed the antagonist while writing the final act, I changed which character is my protagonist a third of the way through, and I changed the location of my climax as I was writing it. I even wrote a couple of stories where I couldn’t decide what the ending was going to be until I was literally writing it.
I must note that, in those instances in which I have made significant changes to the story, I will go back and rewrite anything that conflicts with continuity because of those changes. My first draft is written on a vibe. My second draft is written with structure and intention.
From there, I send my story to whomever of my wonderful beta readers are available to review it. I will take their feedback and apply it as I see fit. I always try to get the story written with enough time for my beta readers to review it without being rushed and send me their feedback in time for me to make revisions before the submission deadline.
When I feel like the story is as good as it can be, I read over the specific submission guidelines, make sure everything is as the publisher wants it, and submit it!
Et Voila! There you have it! If I get any feedback from the publisher or an editor about my story, I will give it serious consideration and make the changes accordingly. If my story has been rejected once or twice, I may go back and tweak some things, but generally, once I am satisfied with a story, I’ll leave it alone. It is easy for writers to get caught up on endless tweaks and never feel the story is finished. I try not to do that. I believe there is only so much I can do with a story to make it as good as it can be. If it’s not great, it’s not the story’s fault; it’s mine. So, I learn for the next one instead of sticking to one story and trying to make it better than it can be.
Thanks for reading,
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