I love unreliable narrators, but figuring out how to present them can be really tricky. How do I know if I’ve crossed the line into mustache-twiddling?
Author Archives: erikagrandstaff
Three Pieces of Writing Advice I’m Taking into the New Year
As an unpublished writer and chronic anxiety-haver, I don’t really feel qualified to give writing advice to others. However, I do feel qualified to take advice from people who know more than me and pass it on to others in a fun game of writing telephone.
Allie Brosh: Life is *Gestures Wildly*
I read Solutions and Other Problems in one sitting, and I’d like to talk about the way Allie Brosh does endings.
Nine NaNoWriMo Pep Talks for Your Brand of Writing Despair
When you’re writing productively, you’re letting your imagination run wild. But when you have writer’s block, you can only imagine all the ways in which you are Worse Than Literally Everyone Else.
How It’s Going
Practice makes perfect, and I’ve practiced being a perfectionist for about twenty years.
Three Twists on Gothic Horror
While I was info-gathering for this post, every article I read mentioned that the genre’s seminal work was the 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole. Consider my inclusion of this fact evidence that I’ve done my due diligence with research.
Emily Carroll: Making Space for a Story
I don’t remember exactly where I first heard about author and illustrator Emily Carroll. I know that it must have been an online article, a review for her horror comic anthology Through the Woods. But like I said, I don’t remember the review at all. I just remember the artwork.
How to Terrify in Two Sentences
My mom told me my first two-sentence horror story while we were driving through a sunny strip mall parking lot (I know, the perfect environment for horror). “This one always made me feel terrible,” she said.