This was at the launch party on the snack table.
Hell's Hundred Launch Party
I had the pleasure of attending Soho Press’s launch party for their new horror imprint: Hell’s Hundred. My novel Our Winter Monster will be their fourth title, arriving January ’25.
Here’s me with E.K. Sathue (author of youthjuice) and Corinne Leigh Clark (author of The Butcher’s Daughter, spring 2025).
Demon Novel Update
I finished “plotting” the second act of my demon novel-in-progress.
My note doc for the first two acts, which I’ve described in an earlier post as not so much notes as an inelegant but extremely detailed first draft, now runs 60K words. I have three more acts to tell myself before I, you know, write the thing.
Before I continue, I’m taking a week or two for reading and general life improvement. I’ll read some Carl Jung and an oral history of David Bowie. I need to watch a couple of cannibal shows (for research purposes only, unless they’re really compelling). And I’m reenforcing some habits like meditation, lower screen time, lean eating, etc.
Book Deal: Our Winter Monster
Here’s the book deal announcement for my new horror novel, coming in early 2025 from Hell’s Hundred (part of Soho Press).
Hell's Hundred!
I’m thrilled to be part of Hell's Hundred, a new horror fiction imprint from the venerable Manhattan-based publisher Soho Press!
My novel OUR WINTER MONSTER will be their first 2025 release.
Read their super-entertaining announcement at Publishers Weekly.
And here’s their luscious, blood-red catalog of upcoming titles.
Snow Monster Copyedits
Today I finished reviewing the copyedits for my forthcoming snow-monster novel. That was my last chance to monkey with it, so aside from the proofreading round to catch minor snafus, the book is now in the loving care of my publisher.
The book deal hasn’t yet been formally announced, but it will be soon… and that will be preceded by exciting news for horror-fiction fans.
Things are afoot. Or aclaw. More when I’m allowed to share…
My Plots Are Skeletons with Guts
My in-progress demon novel is over 100,000 words and I haven’t officially written a single, actual page of fiction.
Which makes my document either a comically extensive plot summary, or the messiest first draft imaginable. Either way, when I finish working on the plot, it’ll be almost as long as the book it ultimately becomes.
My plots aren’t “the general bones the story.” They’re a complete skeleton with living organs and muscles. Constantly moving. Such a mess.
When I work like this, I essentially tell myself the story to figure it out. In broad stroke and minute detail. With bird’s eye view and magnifying glass. I get to know the characters intimately. I retell myself the story over and over. I ask myself questions (and answer them) in type, as if I’m addressing a highly interested and finicky listener. I delete stuff, add stuff, move stuff, change stuff.
The only thing I don’t do in this phase is obsess over the actual wording. And since I’m not getting hung up on the right simile or adjective—or falling in love with a crafted page—I’m free to let the whole thing crazily emerge.
A lot of writers understandably fear that overplotting will make their fiction stilted, forced, unnatural.
My weird way of plotting does the opposite for me. I write the whole thing as a bonkers plot-draft combo that feels, day to day, wildly organic. I can be playful. I can be reckless. Anything goes, at any time. And when it’s time to truly write the thing, I’ll know exactly what story I’m trying to tell. The guts. The blood. The bones and all.
A Questionable Pause
I took December off from writing my demon novel because:
I had eye surgery (my lacrimal glands had lapsed forward and needed to be sutured back into place)
I finished edits on my snow-monster novel and felt I’d earned a holiday
I’m recharging with books, music, and movies before I deep-dive back into that demon novel in January
But are these entirely justifiable reasons, I ask myself in mid-December. And where, pray tell, does one place a question mark in the previous sentence?