There was a request on the Arena for links to horror writing groups. I thought I’d post some here in case anyone else was in need of a tweak to get them going.

Really, just googling ‘horror group’ or ‘speculative fiction’ will give you pages and pages of good results. There are loads out there: people love writing and reading horror. ‘Speculative’ is a broad term that covers anything from thriller and horror to sci-fi, apocalyptic, futuristic, supernatural, you name it. Another even broader term I recently came across is ‘Slipstream’: for when your story’s a bit whacky but doesn’t necessarily fit into anything else – or possibly incorporating any of the above. In any case here are a few quick clicks to get you started.

Horror groups various:

http://www.critters.org/

http://www.horror.org/

http://darkwriters.ning.com/

These hold quarterly / months comps, or you can just send stuff in:

http://darktales.co.uk/

http://spinetinglers.co.uk  

(Oh yes, there are LOTS more but I don’t write all that much horror. Well, not horrible like that, anyway.)

And for ideas? Feel a bit blank? The web’s crawling with things that’ll give you some random material to work on. Some generators are better than others. I find that the ones that dictate the setting, a couple of protagonists and the theme of the conflict are the easiest to work with. It’s often a good idea to just go with the first thing that comes up, even if it’s unpromising… certainly don’t just sit there clicking endlessly on the prompts to see what comes up, because I think it short-circuits something in your brain and you end up writing nothing. (Trust me.)

Short story generators:

http://bonnieneubauer.com/storyspinner.shtml

http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/kittyscratchpost/68107

http://shortstoryideas.herb.me.uk/

http://storytoolz.com/generator/idea

http://www.feath.com/idea/idea.htm

http://library.thinkquest.org/J002344/StoryStarters.html (Not great this one, but could take a peek)

Lacking in motivation?

Pick a competition or two. Find some targets to aim at, so that you’ve automatically got a deadline and a word count. Can’t find a comp you want to enter? Here are a couple of sites which between them cover quite a lot of ground.

http://www.prizemagic.co.uk/html/writing_comps.htm

http://www.theshortstory.org.uk/prizes/index.php4

There are lots more but they’ll certainly list all the ‘usual’ ones. Prizemagic does it in date order, which is useful.

And finally…

You’ve got your target, and your wordcount, and your idea. I used to spend a long time sitting down with these and writing full-tilt from the hilt. Then I’d look up three hours later and find to my horror that I was already on word 4987 of a story that hadn’t reached its climax yet and I was aiming at a 1.5K comp.  (If it's a comp with a longer word count it's not so much of an issue, but most stop at 2K.)Trying to ‘prune’ a story to that degree just doesn’t work: you simply need a different story. So what I do these days is this:

1. For the general drift of the story, type out ideas as they come to mind. I find it’s easier on the screen as you can just chop and change very quickly, but I know many people prefer paper. Make sure that before you finish this stage you’ve got the setting, conflict, motives and twists (more or less) in mind, if not in place.
2. Now plot up in detail. Don’t ‘write’, but set the action down pretty precisely, AND ALLOCATE WORDCOUNT.

For example: protagonist wakes up in a white cell. All he remembers is shutting up his dental practice (the night before?). (50 words)

Tries to find way out, no doors. What time is it, will his [wife/assistant/pet hamster/something that defines him] be OK? (50 words)

A light from above: something opens in the ceiling and a dark, hunched shape appears, blocking out the light… etc etc (100 words)

…until you get to the end. Always a good idea to leave 20% space in your estimate in case you run over. (What a terrible storyline. Never mind, it’s just illustrative).

   3. Write. (That’s the easy bit, usually.)

   4. Allow mulching-time (1-2 days is usually enough), revise. If you're going to try for feedback, allow adequate time for that, too. 

  5. Send.

Good luck!