Welcome back! Today I’ve got a special treat here on my blog. I’m a mentor and instructor at Seton Hill University in their Writing Popular Fiction MFA program. Each semester, I get to work with so many incredibly talented up-and-coming authors, and it’s so inspiring to see all the amazing work they’re doing. For this Women in Horror Month, I invited ten of our current horror students to discuss their writing as well as what draws them to the genre.
So I’m thrilled to let them take it from here!
Tell us a little about yourself. What kind of horror do you write, and what projects are you currently working on?
JENNIFER VILLALOBOS: I’m a student in Seton Hill University’s Writing Popular Fiction program. I prefer my horror to be supernatural. Give me ghosts, demons, vampires, and witches, then throw in a haunted house or a cult, and I’m all in. Currently, I’m finishing the revision of my thesis, which I originally intended as a mystery, but it turned into a horror/mystery. My mentor writes cozy mysteries (sorry, Valerie). My story takes place in 1984 and the present, tracing a rock band’s unnatural rise to fame after a woman who uncovered the dark force behind their success dies under mysterious circumstances. Decades later, her niece, Claire, inherits her house and discovers the evil, a modern cult, and a lot of bodies tied to the band.
ALEX BELANGER: I write Gothic horror, cosmic/Lovecraftian horror, and weird fiction, but Gothic horror is definitely my favorite. Right now, I’m working on my first novel as part of the program while also trying to polish up some short stories, so I have something to send out to journals and magazines after graduation. I also have a few ideas for a comic which I’ve had floating around for years, and which friends keep asking about, so I’d like to do something with that too maybe. Perhaps a webcomic or graphic novel. We’ll see what happens.
JEMMA K. DRAPER: My name is Jemma K. Draper, and I write Domestic Horror. I am currently working on a project inspired by Rosemary’s Baby and a YA Horror series idea.
BETHANY NEAL: I write female-driven horror with psychological elements. I’m currently working on a modern retelling of the Bloody Mary urban legend set on a college campus. Think Promising Young Woman meets Candyman.
BUFFY NESBITT: I’m Elizabeth “Buffy” Nesbitt, I’m a neuroscientist at the University of Michigan, and I am a longtime fan of horror. While what I’ve written of it is limited–I’ve been meaning to assemble a collection of short horror stories, but I’m a little intimidated to put them out for publication–but all of my projects, from sci-fi to high fantasy, have at least some element of horror to them. I can’t imagine a world without it, and certainly not a story. Right now, my main project (my TWP) is a dark fantasy about a demon-slayer possessed by another person, werewolf-style.
GRACE MCKAY: My name is Grace McKay and I am currently in my final semester of Seton Hill University’s MFA in Writing Popular Fiction. My interests lie in horror that centers queer themes or discussions of autonomy. My thesis project is a horror novel that follows a genderqueer teenager juggling a gender identity crisis and demonic possession. However, I am also interested in other areas of speculative fiction and would like to write fantasy or science fiction in the future.
A.N. MILLER: I enjoy a wide variety of subgenres of horror, with my favorites being super-natural and psychological horror. I think one of the unique perks of horror is its ability to turn a mirror on societal issues, so using the monster as a metaphor to examine something more closely is one of the reasons horror is my favorite genre to write. I particularly enjoy using first-person and unreliable narrators in general to further unsettle the reader and add an element of disquiet to the story beyond the plot itself. Currently, I’m wrapping up a science fiction-horror novel about an alien wreaking havoc on a small town in upstate New York and the repercussions for the town decades later. I’m also toying with an idea about doppelgangers in rural Maryland; I definitely seem to fear small towns more than anything!
ZOE FALK: Hello, my lovelies! My name is Zoe Falk, and I am a dark fantasy writer. I specialize in
surrealism, liminal spaces, and dissecting humanity’s moral compass. My interests involve
painting, video games, and Ballet. I am currently working on my debut novel, Habitable Zone,
and am in the midst of having a short story, Millie, read on Maxwell Vagus’s podcast, The Atomic
Voodoo Lounge.
KARI J. WOLFE: I am a horror author transplanted from Appalachia to the Front Range of the Colorado Rockies almost 20 years ago. After proving to myself I could do the “hard stuff” with a degree in physics and mathematics, I’m now doing what I always wanted to do when I grew up.
I am fascinated with weird horror and stories that stick with you because they grab a part of you that you may or may not have known about and don’t let go. A bit of Appalachian folk horror sprinkled in there every now and then for good measure, a bit of spice.
My current novel (my WPF thesis novel) deals with themes of systemic decay, moral fracture, and more subtle horror. Grief from loss, grief from denied expectations, and dealing with public exposure of private matters.
My brain is always working on something — I have a critique group of friends who get together once or twice a month. I have another 4-month workshop where I have a monthly submission. I’m also part of Larks & Katydids with the Horror Writers Association, a group within HWA’s Mental Health Initiative reaching out to our members for a monthly social chat.
TERI HAWK: I struggle sometimes to put my writing into a single genre because I’m influenced by so many things. In a bookstore, my work would mostly be shelved under fantasy, and I lean toward grimdark. My current project is a novel about life after trauma that opens with a heavy gothic horror influence and then turns into a monster/body horror, but in a fantasy setting. Someone once told me that authors revisit one tale repeatedly through varied expressions, and my narratives consistently involve forging a fulfilling existence within a world that presents constant opposition. I think that’s why I’m naturally drawn to horror—it’s the perfect genre to explore the hard parts of being human while highlighting the most beautiful parts.
VICTORIA HUGHES: My name is Victoria Hughes. I live in Salt Lake City, Utah. I am currently a student at Seton Hill University’s Writing Popular Fiction MFA program. In addition to writing, I enjoy taxidermy, collecting weird things, and playing the piano. I usually write psychological horror and “crime” horror, but I often write dark fantasy and erotic horror, as well. Also, I occasionally experiment with horror set in historical and especially post-apocalyptic settings. I am currently working on my MFA thesis novel, and I am also starting to work on two other ideas that I feel are potentially suitable for novel-length projects.
What brought you to the horror genre? How long have you been a fan, and what are some of your favorite horror books and films?
JENNIFER VILLALOBOS: I entered my MFA program as a mystery writer, but I soon realized horror is my true love. I think I just wanted to challenge myself by writing a mystery. I was lucky to have a mom who would never deny me a book. Once I got past the usual chapter books that were “age appropriate” (Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys), I stole her books. She had a library of Agatha Christie, Norah Lofts, and Mary Stewart. I read The Little Wax Doll by Norah Lofts and discovered witchcraft! From there, I bought mass-market paperbacks (RIP) at garage sales. I still have my copies of The Shining and The Exorcist. I was definitely not old enough to read The Exorcist, but I did. I was terrified, and I was hooked. As far as favorites go, I’m old school. I love The Exorcist, Rosemary’s Baby, and The Haunting of Hill House, the books and the original films. I also have a soft spot for Stephen King’s IT (despite some glaring issues) because I read it while visiting my grandmother in a very small town in Iowa, and I had a very hard time walking past the storm drains. Still. Do.
BETHANY NEAL: My love for horror began when I accidentally watched a VHS of Poltergeist when I was six years old. There was a little girl on the cover, so I figured it was a kids’ movie. Ever since, my love for horror can be summed up in a Wes Craven quote: “Horror films don’t create fear. They release it. I like to address the fears of my culture. I believe it’s good to face the enemy, for the enemy is fear.”
As a woman, there’s a lot for me to fear in society. Horror offers me a release and shows it’s possible to stand up to that fear and fight back.
JEMMA K. DRAPER: I came into the genre gradually. I was a fan of Tim Burton animated movies and then of Edgar Allen Poe. My favorite horror book was Hyde by Daniel Levine which is a re-telling of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
BUFFY NESBITT: My introduction to horror came from my dad, who used to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer with me when I was but a kindergartener. He kept me from getting too scared by reminding me that all the scary demon guys were just wearing makeup–I was afraid of wearing any for years, until I learned that my mom (who is certainly not a monster) wears mascara! But I didn’t get really into the genre until I was in high school and dealing with a severe anxiety disorder. I was constantly afraid and having self-destructive panic attacks on the regular. Around that time, I first read the work of H.P. Lovecraft, and was immediately interested in a new game that was largely based on his work, Frictional Games’ Amnesia: The Dark Descent. It was so beautifully written, so deep and clever, and wildly frightening! And amazingly, my anxiety always felt better after playing it–weird, considering how stressful it was to get through any level!
But I found that horror was a great outlet for my anxiety. When I read, played, and watched horror media, I was the one in control of my fear, choosing to feel this way and choosing when to stop it, and experiencing amazing stories with a world of depth and meaning that I’d never known before. I’ve been hooked ever since. I especially enjoy metaphorical horror, especially psychologically challenging themes. Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House is not just my favorite horror novel, it’s one of my favorite books of all time, as is Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves. I’m a big fan of classic short-form horror, especially sci-fi horror–Harlan Ellison’s I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, Ray Bradbury’s There Will Come Soft Rains, Joyce Carol Oates Where are You Going, Where Have You Been–perhaps I’m just a fan of long titles. I’m a diehard fan of horror games, too! Silent Hill 2 (the others, too, but 2 in particular!), SOMA, Homebody,
ALEX BELANGER: As someone raised under the strict watch of Christianity, I struggled a lot with self-image as a teenager. I think that’s why I came to sympathize with many monsters in horror and the Gothic heroes & antiheroes who often existed in some sort of opposition to the cultural establishment—or as misunderstood outsiders. I also saw myself in the female characters who were, in these stories, often forced to confront patriarchal systems of oppression for survival. Basically, horror offered an escape to interesting places where the dangers were, at the very least, more exciting than in my own life.
Discovering Anne Rice’s The Vampire Lestat and Poe’s “The Tell Tale Heart” in middle school really got me into reading and inspired me to want to write too. Among my other favorite works of literature are Dracula, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Rebecca, The Woman in Black, and The Ballad of Black Tom. Some of my favorite horror movies are Evil Dead II, Event Horizon, The Ring, The Wolfman (2010), Sweeney Todd, Dracula Untold, Pan’s Labyrinth, and The Devil’s Backbone.
GRACE MCKAY: I started reading and writing horror very recently, but I have watched horror movies since I was a young teenager. The first horror movie I ever watched was Paranormal Activity (2007). A friend showed it to me during my freshman year of high school. I remember loving the rush I felt when Katie got dragged out of the bed. Years later, I began writing horror because I wanted to challenge myself. Most of my experience prior to my thesis project was in fantasy. Horror has won me over.
Some of my favorite books include My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix and Where He Can’t Find You by Darcy Coates. A few of my favorite horror films include The Fear Street Trilogy (2021), The Menu (2022), Paranormal Activity (2007), and The Substance (2024).
A.N. MILLER: I’ve loved folk tales and myths and legends and grew up reading and hearing them, and my love of ghost stories and creepy tales grew out of that naturally. I loved Goosebumps and Mary Downing Hahn’s ghost stories as a young reader and my tastes evolved from there—I guess you could say I’ve always been a horror fan. Some of my favorite horror novels include Beloved, Negative Space, the Area X novels, The Cipher, Our Share of Night, The Red Tree, the works of Flannery O’Conner, and anything by Shirley Jackson, particularly We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Some of my favorite horror films are The Black Coat’s Daughter, Hereditary, The Vvitch, The Wind, Alien, and The Silence of the Lambs.
ZOE FALK: I have always been fascinated with the horror and fantasy genres. Growing up in a Catholic family in Texas, I was introduced to the supernatural and spiritualism at an early age. Everything had a purpose, and nothing was coincidental. This propelled my curiosity, thus fueling my writing style. My favorite horror novels and films are Sleepy Hollow, The Birds, and Lapvona. I also have a deep love of analog horror, such as The Blair Witch Project.
KARI J. WOLFE: Growing up, I was always drawn to mysteries. Encyclopedia Brown was my jam. Nancy Drew (the classic version). Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators. At some point, I stumbled across Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Gold Bug.” The Newberry Award winners. And, around 12 years old, I found Pet Sematary by Stephen King. I was sold.
I grew up wanting to watch all the slasher movies. Friday the 13th which was more gore. And Nightmare on Elm Street which was just a dark comedy in the later movies. In the 90s, when Freddy vs Jason was released, I rooted for them both 🙂
A few favorites include:
Last Days by Brian Evenson is an extremely strong contender for my favorite horror novel.
I love The Southern Reach Series by Jeff VanderMeer. And I love that he continues to write more books.
The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward
IT by Stephen King is by far my favorite of his novels. The runner-up? 11/22/63.
More than novels, though, I keep coming back to short stories such as “Father, Son, and Holy Rabbit” by Stephen Graham Jones. Authors like Laird Barron, Brian Evenson, Richard Thomas as well as Kelly Link, Shirley Jackson, Joyce Carol Oates, and Flannery O’Connor. I always pick up The Best Horror of the Year by Ellen Datlow when it’s been released.
TERI HAWK: I came to horror somewhat late in my reading practice. For a long time, I thought horror was simply supernatural or hack-and-slash stories. However, when I read “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman for an undergraduate American literature class, my perspective shifted. I realized that horror was nuanced and varied. Horror possesses the power to reveal harsh realities, offering solace and comprehension for those who have endured terrible events. I began taking classes that looked at various parts of the genre, such as the uncanny and symbolism in horror. That’s where I fell in love with Shirley Jackson’s work, especially We Have Always Lived in the Castle. I often look to her work for inspiration or just for pure enjoyment. I also love the television show Severance, which is a notable example of uncanny horror.
VICTORIA HUGHES: I suppose it was my early fascinations with death, bugs, and criminal behavior that brought me to horror. I started reading Goosebumps and stuff like that when I was quite young, and from there I quickly escalated into watching any horror film I could find. It was a bit later when I got more into horror fiction. I’ve been a horror fan for most of my life, since I was about seven years old or so. Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates is definitely one of my favorite horror novels, as are Exquisite Corpse by William J. Martin and Full Brutal by Kristopher Triana. Additionally, Dracula by Bram Stoker and Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu remain beloved novels. In terms of films, I really loved watching May (2002), Excision (2012), and Nosferatu: Phantom Der Nacht (1979). I also loved the Saw series, and The Golden Glove (2019).
That’s it for part one of our roundtable! Join us later this week as I talk with these up-and-coming horror authors about their favorite resilient female characters in horror!
Happy reading!