42 min

2.5 Griffin Gartner: Crafting Scarier Stories A Story That Works

    • Books

Editor Griffin Gartner talks to Rebecca about a piece of micro-fiction she wrote for an NYC Midnight competition. He walks her through what's working, how to make it scarier, and how she could expand it just based on the idea itself. Griffin is a master at horror and gives tons of advice on what it means to write horror and as well as how to consistently write stories that speak to you as a writer.

Griffin helps horror writers craft scarier stories. Find out more at gartnerediting.com.

Things Griffin and I mention in the episode:

Some of these links (marked with an *) are affiliate links, which means I earn a small commission if you click on and make a purchase from them. Your price doesn't change either way.


NYC Midnight
The subcategories of horror (though there are more than a few opinions about this)
Robert McKee
6 key components of tension experiences: conflict/dissonance/instability, uncertainty, generating expectations/predictions or anticipation, emotional significance of the anticipated events (what are the stakes), lack of control, temporal aspects
The Exorcist*
The Artist’s Way*
Types of monsters: crocodile, leach, storm, stranger, germ

Editor Griffin Gartner talks to Rebecca about a piece of micro-fiction she wrote for an NYC Midnight competition. He walks her through what's working, how to make it scarier, and how she could expand it just based on the idea itself. Griffin is a master at horror and gives tons of advice on what it means to write horror and as well as how to consistently write stories that speak to you as a writer.

Griffin helps horror writers craft scarier stories. Find out more at gartnerediting.com.

Things Griffin and I mention in the episode:

Some of these links (marked with an *) are affiliate links, which means I earn a small commission if you click on and make a purchase from them. Your price doesn't change either way.


NYC Midnight
The subcategories of horror (though there are more than a few opinions about this)
Robert McKee
6 key components of tension experiences: conflict/dissonance/instability, uncertainty, generating expectations/predictions or anticipation, emotional significance of the anticipated events (what are the stakes), lack of control, temporal aspects
The Exorcist*
The Artist’s Way*
Types of monsters: crocodile, leach, storm, stranger, germ

42 min