Some scary movies use jump scares as a cheap trick to get a startle out of you, but if you’re writing a horror novel, you don’t get the same luxury. How do you make your writing actually scary, and why would you want to in the first place?

In this episode of Bright & Ambitious, Kailey Bright talks with horror novelist Gaeli Love Weiss (Stagnant Water) about the role scary stories have played in her life, how she’s developed terrifying monsters, and how they can be used to explore terrors scarier than fiction.

Links:

Read Stagnant Water by Gaeli Love Weiss

Check out The Un Series By Kailey Bright

Also available on Kindle Unlimited

Music by Stream Cafe

Gaeli’s horror suggestions:

(WARNING: Some of these books get real graphic!)

Sharp Objects - Gillian Flyn

The Terror - Dan Simmons

The Haunting of Hill House - Shirley Jackson

How High We Go in the Dark - Sequoia Nagamatsu

The Boatman’s Daughter - Andy Davidson

It - Stephen King

Rosemary’s Baby - Ira Levins

Maeve Fly - CJ Leede