If you came to this post looking for Instigation, you’ve got it. And there’s a prompt at the very end.
Today one of my favorite publishers, Raw Dog Screaming Press (the team who brought you The Gorelets Omnibus and 100 Jolts and others), announced that they are taking pre-orders for my friend Tim Waggoner‘s latest writer’s how-to guide, Writing in The Dark: The Workbook.
I want you to buy it (and when I get to teach horror writing at Seton Hill University — where, incidentally, Tim has taught beside me — you can bet I’ll be assigning this book). It’s a great set of exercises and functions so well as a companion to the original Bram Stoker Award-winning entry that started it all, Tim’s Writing in the Dark (2020):
With the release of this workbook, Writing in the Dark has not merely become a boxed set — it’s grown into something of an instructional empire, and as a horror educator myself, I endorse this series 1000%.
Empire? Yes. Not only are Waggoner’s WiTD books pillars of horror instruction, coupled with his fantastic blog series by the same name, but there’s even more coming from RDSP. For instance, there’s the Writing in the Dark virtual workshops on All Access Con, launched last year and continuing on. People who sign up for them get to learn from Tim Waggoner, catch videos of him teaching the audience or discussing horror in depth with other pros, and more.
I’m running a workshop called “Let’s Go Crazy” later this month (and I gave an exclusive short class to instigate fresh plots and story premises last year that is available there in reruns now, too). You can be a part of the Spring Edition running April 28-May 1st, 2022, if you register quick!
And then there’s Writing POETRY in the Dark , another guidebook forthcoming later this year from RDSP, rife with great content assembled by their poetry editor, Stephanie Wytovich. This one focuses in on the craft of horrifying verse, with instructional essays contributed by many familiar poets working on the dark side, like Linda D. Addison, Timons Esaias, Jeannine Hall Gailey, Donna Lynch, Alessandro Manzetti, Jessica McHugh, Cynthia Pelayo, Lucy A. Snyder, Sara Tantlinger, Bryan Thao Warra, Albert Wendland… the list is too long to continue! I contributed an essay on humorous dark poetry (called “Like Fright on Lice”) that I really can’t wait for you to read.
And knowing all these creative, energetic people, I’m confident there’s even more to come. I’ll keep you updated. In the mean time, here’s a writing prompt for you as a kind of closing Instigation :
ACTUALLY WRITE A POEM WORKING IN UTTER DARKNESS. No lights, no screens, nothing but pitch black ink around you. As you move to the second line of the poem, imagine that your hand is slowly being guided now by the darkness itself. Allow it to write your line. Your third line can be a struggle to retreive power over the pen or a giving over to the unseen force.
