#NGHW News Episode 139

 

Hello, Addicts!

This week was super interesting on the Next Great Horror Writer Contest. On the horrifying podcast there was a twist to what, I guess, most of us were expecting from this competition. This week’s challenge was to write a horror blog post. The non-fiction horror blogspot was judged on blog-ability, topic and writing quality. We were only given snippets of the top eight posts. But what were given makes me want to read more!

1. Horror Without Women by Naching Kassa
2. Five Filmmakers changing the Face of Horror Cinema by Quentin Norris
3. The Warrens Occult Museum – The Button Eyes of Evil by Riley J Pierce
4. The Culture of Horror and The Horror of Culture by JC Martinez
5. Horror Binge by Daphne Strasert
6. Virtual Reality is revolutionizing horror by Harry Husbands
7. The True Horror Cat Voluer
8. Horror Addiction – Is There a Cure? Feind Gottes

The winner this week will be gifted the prize of being featured on Cemetery Confessions, a horror podcast hosted by The Count, who also happens to be our guest judge for the week.

The Count commands THE BELFRY NETWORK, which is a community website, blog, app and podcast which aims to bring us goths, HorrorAddicts, and other pretty little weirdos together.

Blogging is hard. But it is one of the many necessary evils that challenge writers of today. Writers can no longer be the recluse, vampiric (and sometimes, alcoholic) hermits they used to be. With so much out there, so many quality (and not) books being released, something has to make you stand out from the crowd. And a good blog, coupled with quality fan interaction, is often the way to do just that.

Blogging is a skill that takes practice and a successful blog is a creature that must be nurtured and tamed. So, having our fearsome fourteen write a blog post is a great way of showing how well they will cope with their future career.

Emz and Heather discussed briefly the pain of having to give writers bad news and judging them. They discussed how writers are forced to disconnect from their pieces and about how writers can learn, over time, which criticisms to take on and which ones to filter out. And how sometimes, a piece of writing may have been good but may not have been suitable for the audience. “No fluffy bunny posts,” said Heather. But I don’t think this means that we cannot try to stretch the genre boundaries.

Genre is a tricky beast and our genre – horror – is sweeping and vast. It is not just about the blood. It’s not just about the scare. It’s not just about the monsters or ghosts or madness. It is about the feelings horror instills and conjures inside us. Looking for new, genre-bending, fiction, in all forms and mediums, should be our goal.

So, back on topic!

This week Daphne Strasert and Quentin Norris were our runners up and their full horror blog posts can be read here.

And, the winner for this week is Harry Husbands! His piece on Virtual Reality playing a pivotal role in the future of horror films and horror fiction was the blogspot that won the judges’ favor. But, alas, you will have to wait until the 2nd of June, 2017, to hear the whole thing. It will be read and discussed on Cemetery Confessions. Congrats #teamharry!

Harry has his own blog as do many of our other contestants.

Adelle also has her own blog and she says, “I love blogging and I have been lucky that through blogging and communicating with other bloggers that my book Wisp has been promoted and reviewed. Also, I have some amazing blogs on my reading list, from the esoteric, horror, sci-fi and self-help. Along with lots of writers who support one another. Articles have helped me enormously in my own life as well as my writing life.” You can check out her here. You can also go check out what is inside JC’s head at Slimy Yet Tasty. Naching can be found lurking at the Frighten Me! Blog. And our dear, busy, Daphne has not one but two blogspots – Write As Rain and Daphne Reads X-men.

I feel like that is enough blogging about blogging for now, so go and follow us on the social media and join in the discussions. And, as always, STAY SPOOKY!

Hugs xxx

Adelise M Cullens