The Start

Photo by David Marcu on Unsplash

I figure it’ll be a long and challenging road to become a horror novelist. But like the Chinese philosopher said, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.


Here are my beginning steps:

  1. Set up a writing blog. (Check, duh.)
  2. Figure out a working title for my upcoming NaNoWriMo book. If you don’t know what NaNoWriMo is, look it up because it’s great fun and involves a huge writing community. (Check! Hag’s Hollow.)
  3. Read three books for research to learn about wilderness survival, animals in the wild, and witchcraft mythology. (In progress.)
  4. Watch five horror movies to analyze tropes, plot points, and pacing. (In progress. I watched The Ritual last night. Scary.)
  6. Write a brief synopsis of Hag’s Hollow.
  7. Develop a detailed outline during “Preptober,” the NaNoWriMo’s preparation month.
  8. Write the first draft of Hag’s Hollow in the month of November for NaNoWriMo.
  10. Weeks one and two of December: Work on editing the first novel I wrote this year, a practice novel called The Witch of the Manor House. It’s horrible. Is it salvageable?
  11. The rest of December: Take a break from writing and editing, and read three literary horror novels. I think they’re called “upmarket genre” nowadays.

26 thoughts on “The Start

  1. May I add one more?

    I’m going to assume you said yes. 🙂

    Read one of your favorite fiction novels. It has the be a favorite that your have always been drawn to. Like a favorite song it pulls you in.

    I write comedy/romance but the novel I study is Stephen King’s IT. Crazy, I know. That novel is the best character driven novel I have ever read. By the time I finished I felt as though I knew those people. They were old friends.

    The first time I read IT I asked myself – How did he do that?


    1. Thanks. A year and a half later I now have a completed novel (that needs ANOTHER editing pass), and some short stories out in slush piles, and I’m working on the first draft of another novel. It’s not rapid progress, but it’s progress.:-)


      1. That is way cool. I am at very humble stages and trying to write 500 words a day. As I have a very full time job and a family, it is a fight every day! I have to count the words in my comments to get there sometimes! Today was 719 I believe. I am quite excited for you.

        Liked by 1 person

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