Capturing Ghosts on the Page: Writing Horror & Dark Fiction (Paperback or Softback)

"Don't write merely to shock. People are used to shock-horror. You need to get beneath the skin. Use a flensing knife and keep it sharp. It's good to shock, but only as part of the story you tell."

In this chapbook, Kaaron Warren-the Shirley Jackson Award-winning writer behind Slights, The Greif Hole, and Into Bones Like Oil-explores the craft and philosophy of trapping dark and disturbing fiction on the page.

Drawn from essays, workshops, and articles about the craft and busines of writing, Capturing Ghosts On The Page feature's Warren's tips on writing ghost stories, overcoming professional jealousy, working to an anthology brief, tapping your drams for inspiration, and more.

Whether you want an insight into the creative process that drives Warren's dark and enchanting fiction, or you are an aspiring writer seeking tips from one of the most talented authors of horror fiction writing today, this chapbook is a peek into the mindset and practice of a celebrated Australian author.

Shirley Jackson award-winner Kaaron Warren published her first short story in 1993 and has had fiction in print every year since. She was recently given the Peter McNamara Lifetime Achievement Award and was Guest of Honour at World Fantasy 2018, Stokercon 2019 and Geysercon 2019. She has published five multi-award winning novels (Slights, Walking the Tree, Mistification, The Grief Hole and Tide of Stone) and seven short story collections, including the multi-award winning Through Splintered Walls. Her most recent short story collection is A Primer to Kaaron Warren from Dark Moon Books. Tide of Stone, her novel from Omnium Gatherum, won the Aurealis Award and the Australian Shadows Award, and was shortlisted for the Locus Award and the Ditmar Award. She has won the ACT Writers and Publishers Award four times and twice been awarded the Canberra Critics Circle Award for Fiction. Her most recent novella, Into Bones Like Oil (Meerkat Press), was shortlisted for a Shirley Jackson Award and the Bram Stoker Award, winning the Aurealis Award. Kaaron was a Fellow at the Museum for Australian Democracy, where she researched prime ministers, artists and serial killers. In 2018 she was Established Artist in Residence at Katharine Susannah Prichard House in Western Australia. She's taught workshops in haunted asylums, old morgues and second hand clothing shops and she's mentored several writers through a number of programs. Her most recent books are the re-release of her acclaimed novel, Slights, and Tool Tales, a chapbook in collaboration with Ellen Datlow. Both are from IFWG Australia.