Why do women write horror? That’s really too broad a question for me to answer. I’ll just try to say why I write horror. I write horror because that’s where my mind goes. I like to wonder how human beings react when they’re put under the worst kind of stress. My stories are never about the monsters or the demons or the Great Big Evil, even though they often contain monsters, demons, and Great Big Evil. My stories are always about the people, their responses, their failures, their successes.
I’ve always loved horror. I’ve loved the terror – which I could still control, at least in part, by closing the book or turning off the television, leaving the theatre, or shutting down Netflix. (Disclaimer: I never once walked out of a theatre because I was frightened. I’ve closed a book to take a break, etc., but only rarely.)
Darkness is interesting to me. Dark colours of the palette. Dark corners of the mind. We know that light cannot exist without darkness – and vice-versa. I’ll let other writers write the sunny side of the street, though. I’ll be over here playing in the shadows.
As one of my sons said once, “You don’t look like the kind of woman who walks around all the time thinking of horrible ways to kill people. But you do. You absolutely do.”
Yes. I do.
Yeah, I’m shamelessly self-promoting again. Sekhmet Press has made me their Woman in Horror for today. This link will take you to an article I wrote for them and an interview I did with them.
Sekhmet Press is a relatively new small press, but one that’s doing very well and gaining a considerable reputation for putting out a high quality product and treating their authors well.
Mary Ann Peden-Coviello, A Woman in Horror
Photo credit: Bansidhe at everystockphoto.com
Blaze McRob is celebrating Women in Horror Month – and he carries this on longer than the mere month of February as a matter of fact – and he’s chosen ME as his Woman in Horror for 21 February. I am shocked and surprised and above all honoured.
February is Women in Horror Month. You’d think celebrating women writers wouldn’t be controversial, but it is in some circles. For one thing – the thing I’m going to examine today – some folks will tell you flat-out that women can’t write horror.
What? Women can’t write horror? Who says so? A surprising number of people will tell you they don’t read horror written by women. They’ll say that women don’t write to the extremes men do. That women don’t write the graphic horror. Women are too emotional, too interested in relationships, not interested enough in gore and guts.
I’m willing to say many (not all) women write differently than most men. Different does not mean lesser. A writer writes from his or her soul or inner self or deepest, darkest, secret places. Phrase that however you wish. Who you are will affect your writing.
So does that make woman-written horror inferior to man-written horror? Not from where I stand. Horror doesn’t have to be all blood, dangling entrails, and ripped out organs. Some of the best horror is purely psychological.
To be honest, if all a book (or film for that matter) has in its bag of tricks to frighten me is popped-out eyeballs dangling onto cheekbones or gouts of spurting arterial blood, I’m not going to be scared. I’m going to be bored. Bored. Write vivid, interesting characters—someone I can root for as well as someone I can hate. Write with emotion, with depth, with intelligence. Twist my mind into a pretzel, and I’ll follow you anywhere.
Photo credit: Richard Edwards Free Pictures A-Z
I’ve never been terribly fond of talking (or writing, which amounts to the same thing, doesn’t it?) about myself. But I suppose I need to put something explanatory here.
I’m a writer. I write slightly snarky, humourous vampire stories, mostly set in the US South. I also write flat-out horror, often featuring my own version of zombies, and still often set in the US South. Then there are non-horror, non-vampire stories that come out of nowhere.
Fright Mare: Women Write Horror Edited by Billie Sue Mosiman
