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In On Writing Horror, Second Edition, Stephen King, Joyce Carol Oates, Harlan Ellison, David Morrell, Jack Ketchum, and many others tell you everything you need to know to successfully write and publish horror novels and short stories.

Edited by the Horror Writers Association (HWA), a worldwide organization of writers and publishing professionals dedicated to promoting dark literature, On Writing Horror includes exclusive information and guidance from 58 of the biggest names in horror writing to give you the inspiration you need to start scaring and exciting readers and editors. You'll discover comprehensive instruction such as:

• The art of crafting visceral violence, from Jack Ketchum
• Why horror classics like Dracula, The Exorcist, and Hell House are as scary as ever, from Robert Weinberg
• Tips for avoiding one of the biggest death knells in horror writing--predicable clichés--from Ramsey Campbell
• How to use character and setting to stretch the limits of credibility, from Mort Castle

With On Writing Horror, you can unlock the mystery surrounding classic horror traditions, revel in the art and craft of writing horror, and find out exactly where the genre is going next. Learn from the best, and you could be the next best-selling author keeping readers up all night long.

Average Customer Rating:

I need a magnifying glass	Customer Rating:
This book is written very poorly. Editors and Publishers expect our work to be 10 or 12 font size, and double spaced. This book, I am not being sarcastic, but I can barely read the writing!!! If you like books that are written so small you can't even see the words; but this book!!! I have 20/20 vision to by the way, and it's just pitiful. Thanks for Nothing.

Killer Guide	Customer Rating:
Based on my personal overview, questions i looked to get answers for were met. Many stories shared by proffesional writers were fairly inspirational in the fact that I am currently in production of an old book idea i tossed up on the dresser for months, now attacking it with fierce determination for completion of my final chapters.

On Writing Horror	Customer Rating:
I found this book to be a good overview of the horror genre. It provides many useful tips for writing dialogue and creating believable characters. Worth reading if you are an aspiring horror writer.

Valuable and Diverse Advice

Customer Rating:

This collection of essays by a variety of authors and editors involved with the craft of writing and publishing horror fiction is a diverse and entertaining reading experience. Each essay provides a different insight and opinion to the craft, and often the writing of the text itself serves as an example for the reader of what "right" looks like. The subject is approached from every angle. The art of writing, editing, inventing new ideas, avoiding cliche, finding appropriate educational resources, action writing, using spunk and style, as well as a list of important works already produced within the genre are among some of the tools that the reader will find. The volume itself is compact and attractive, and offers far more value than its price tag hints at. A serious student of horror fiction, or even of fiction writing in general, should not be without it, and cannot help but learn from it.

Questions answered and raised

Customer Rating:

This handbook's strength is not in its discussion of technique, although this stuff is very good. The HWA's handbook really hits home with the writers that grapple the questions and challenges that are facing the horror genre at the moment and then manage to raise questions of their own that need to be addressed further. A huge depth of knowledge and a great help for writers tackling their own writing so well worth it for any horror writer, amateur and published professional.