Today on the second installment of my Spine Chillin' interviews, it is my pleasure to introduce you to Gordon Clemmons, editor of the new dark speculative ezine, Shadeworks. Clemmons talks about what makes a great horror story and shares with us the most common mistakes he often encounters in submissions. He accepts only the highest quality stories and hopes to turn Shadeworks into a full print publication in the near future.
Thanks for this interview, Gordon. Tell us a bit about Shadeworks. When and how did it get started?
ShadeWorks actually started in late August of last year (2007), but some hosting problems delayed the launch for several months. We published our first issue in May of 2008.
I've been a fan of horror fiction for as long as I can remember. I think I weirded out my classmates when it came time for creative writing - mine were the only stories involving zombies and mass murderers. I own a company focused on the online world of the publishing industry, so it wasn't too big a step to start an online magazine for horror writers. It combined two of my passions, and I hope it helps emerging horror writers to showcase their work.
What type of horror fiction do you consider?
We're open to any sort of dark speculative fiction — good writing wins over sub-genre preference — but the goal is to grow into the traditional-supernatural niche. There are some great horror zines out there now like The Harrow, Chiaroscuro (ChiZine), etc. I hope ShadeWorks can be of the same calibre but specifically for the traditional-supernatural scene.
Authors can read about the submission guidelines on our submissions page.
If you could narrow down to three the elements that make a great horror story, what would those be?
Identifiable characters, pace, and trust in the reader's imagination.
If characters are caricatures, there's no sense of distress. I don't worry when cartoon characters are flattened with a big mallet, and I find no horror in cardboard characters no matter how bad their situations. Something I find myself regularly advising writers to remember is: there are certainly selfish, murderous, and vain people in the world, but they very rarely see themselves that way. More personalized, identifiable characters, and fewer cliché archetypes, please.
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