Category: On Writing

Women in Horror

Women in Horror month is February.

But women continue to write horror, contribute to the genre and struggle to be read all year long. When topics of diversity in table of contents come up, I am always surprised at how few women writers are mentioned, and even fewer are published.

I asked on Facebook for some names of speculative fiction writers, and then went looking on my own. At first this was to expand my own ‘to-read’ lists, and editorial rolodex. But then I asked myself, why was I keeping it to myself? I went and found websites (or tried to, best I could) for each of the names I found, and made a list.

I cannot stress how easy it was to find 400 names. You could fill TOC after TOC with the talent listed below and never once sacrifice anything to do it.

Is this list done? No, not at all. I’m not even done with the writers in my own Facebook friends list. This is a drop in the bucket of women writers.

But MOST importantly: I am just some guy with a website. Inclusion or Exclusion from this list is irrelevant to the legitimacy of any one as writer. This list is here to help spread the word about women horror writers of all types, not as something ‘official’.

I will endeavor to update it, however. I have two more sources to look through already, which will add quite a few names.

Still, know someone who needs to be on this list (maybe even yourself)? Drop a note here or on Twitter, and let me know, and I’ll add them on. Same if I have you on this list, but got the web address wrong.

Women in Horror month is February, but the time to read women horror and speculative writers is all year. And the time to see them as anything less than a full contributing part of the genre has long passed.

So take a look, click a link, go, read a book and see what you are missing. I know I will be.

Women Horror / Speculative Fiction Writers

 

Writers I could not find websites for:

  • Amanda Nethers
  • Anna Haney
  • Erin Coughlin
  • Evangeline Frost
  • K. T. Jane
  • Kimberly Yernia
  • Leigh Rhyne
  • Meg Moore
  • Megan Rhode
  • Sarah Reed
  • Violet Addison
  • Karin Tauscher Fuller
  • Jessie Grayson
  • Nora Younger Azzi
  • Ellen Bolt
  • Sara J. Larson
  • Ann Stapleton
  • Catherine Bader
  • Allison Sutherland
  • Michelle Witte
  • Brie Bahmer

 

You Need a Web Page

Writers, I cannot stress this enough. You need to have an easily found presence on the web. This is NOT a Facebook profile or an Amazon author page. While both of those things are also useful, they do not fulfill the role a webpage does.

but I am just starting out, and don’t have anything to post…

First off, this isn’t a ‘You need a blog!’ post. Blogging is its own thing, and has perks and negatives. This is a ‘You need a web page’ post.

You need a web page.

First, and foremost, I would highly suggest anyone who is writing (or hell, just about anyone) to buy their name URL (like jacobhaddon.com, for example). Even if you don’t use it, this is your name, and it is important.

But even if you don’t want to self host, there are options out there. I would suggested WordPress.com as the best one. WordPress is easy to use, easy to add pages and notes and links, and makes a nice looking site, even if you never use it as a blog. Also, if you do move to your own server, it is very easy to get your data from there to your new site.

They offer a mobile app for updates on the go, and with themes and plugins it is very easy to customize.

Try to pick a name that is professional looking, I recommend your name, jacobhaddon.wordpress.com, but if that is taken, then try something close.

Now, what do you put on it?

At a minimum, you post this:

  • Your Name
  • Your Bio
  • A way to contact you (see note below)
  • Links to your Twitter / Facebook Page / Instagram / etc
  • Links to books for sale you are in / wrote

Once you start getting more things, then make pages for your bio, books, contact, reviews, etc.

This business card like set up means it needs to be updated very rarely, for those who don’t want something else to maintain, but still allows for it to fulfill an important function for you.

Note: do NOT use your regular email as your contact email on a public website. Make an email specifically for this, either under your host (so contact@jacobhaddon.com, for example), or using a free email service, such as Gmail or Yahoo or Outlook, such as ContactJacobHaddon@ (whichever).com

Why? This email will get spammed. Lots. This email will also be available to anyone. By making this email not your normal one you now have the freedom to ditch it when needed. So contact@jacobhaddon.com becomes a spambots favorite friend? I delete it and start up comments@, or findme@ something like that.

What do you not put on it?

  • Ads.
  • Any video or music that autoplays
  • Links to things unrelated to writing

You are looking for something that when an editor is looking into you, they see a professional presentation. This is your calling card.

you . online

Your online presence is now up, and under your control. It is a place for readers, editors, and fellow writers to find you.

Set up a Goodreads profile? Link it here. Amazon author page? Link. Get interviewed on another site? Add that link. Book reviewed? You got it. Make this the place people come to find out you.

Looking Back, Looking Forward

Lately I have been using composition notebooks as my primary notebook. This was more a fallout from an after school sale than any other factor, buying a stack for the year at 50¢ a piece.

An investment well worth the cost.

These notebooks, for those who haven’t used one in a while, are stitched in the center, and folded. And here, on this center spread, I’ve formed a new habit.

When I get to these pages, I use both sides and write a journal that is themed ‘Looking Back, Looking Forward’. I write about my goals, how they are doing, how they are progressing, things like page counts and monthly challenges.

I write about the stories and poems themselves, which are working, which are falling behind. Which ones I should be focusing on, and which need to rest a while?

Then I look forward. Do I want to keep all the goals? Should I try something new, or return to something old? Which things are going to be my focus, and which things will wait?

I fill both pages of the spread with this self-reflection, taking just a few moments of time. But important moments.

The good thing about this reflection is that it comes not at a calendar moment, like the new year, or my birthday, but at an unplanned one, just when the center of the book is reached.

I reached the center of my notebook last night, a center that took longer than expected to reach. Still, a moment of reflection found that the time had been well spent, spread over several notebooks now, instead of one.

Realigned, reflected, ready to write.