Shaun Horton's Blog, page 15

Domestic Horrors

We can talk about zombies, sharks, aliens, and boogeymen from now until the cows come home when it comes to horror stories. There is no shortage of monsters from all walks of life that we can pull from to populate our stories and chase the heroes around.

Those aren't the only types of horror stories out there though. There are ones much more sinister and which hit much closer to home. These are the stories of other people. People living in neighborhoods and apartment buildings just like yours...

Building a Book: Post Beta Reader Revisions

(Sorry I'm late on this week's blog post. I had a whole idea half-written up then decided against it and it took me a day to do up this one. Enjoy!)

So you've sent your manuscript out to Beta Readers, waited anxiously for their replies, and were so excited to see what they thought.

The responses are Good! Everyone likes it. They care about the characters, the story makes sense and there were moments that made them jump out of their seats! Except...

The little details that need fixing, character...

Building A Book: Beta Readers

So, you've written your book, gone through several edits, and things are shaping up nicely. Or so you think. That's when the beta readers come in.




What is a beta reader for? They just read the story and tell you what you think, right? Isn't that the same as a review? 
At this stage in the game, no. What they do at this point is much more important. These readers aren't doing this to edit for you, though some may point out the more obvious errors. Beta readers are for pointing out serious m...

Size Matters

So you've got this great idea for a story and you've sat down, pulled up the word processor, and you're committed to making this the best story you can. The question is, how long should it be?

While talking about writing, it makes sense that sooner or later, we'll touch upon the subject of word counts. Currently, there are about five different categories for story lengths that I'm going to go over really quick for those of you who are unaware or need a reminder/refresher.


(An example of Word Co...

Creating a Monster: The Hungry

So, I'm lying in bed, waiting to go to sleep, when I get this idea. It's not a story idea specifically, but an idea for a monster. And as I'm lying there, it's almost like I'm just watching the pieces come together, like a puzzle, or one of those mix-and-match playset thingies. It was really fascinating watching it come together into something I could recognize as fairly original and I though I would share it with you all. It may give you some ideas of your own for monsters, demons, and/or de...

Giving Back

So, this week, when I looked at where the visitors to my blog had come from, I saw most of the usual. Facebook, Goodreads, AbsoluteWrite, Google. I also saw a new page. Those are always fun to check out. Let's see, who has linked to my blog?

Elizabeth Spann Craig. Huh. Never heard of her before, let's check it out. 

Wow, that's a lot of links. It's really an honor to be listed among them. That's not the first site that's linked back to a specific post that I've done though, and hopefully i...

Playing with Time

Before we get started today, I want to bring your attention to the bar above, just underneath the title. Home is where you are now. Biography is a little bit about me, with links to interviews and other places you can find me online.

Giveaways is one place I want to bring your attention to. I'm currently giving away 5 signed copies of my book Class 5 on Goodreads.com. I'm bringing this to your attention because time is running out and you only have until February 28th to enter. Just so you kno...

Building a Book: Second Draft

So, with my NaNoWriMo project on its fourth month, I'm finally coming to the end of the first draft. Compared to what's coming next, that was the easy part.




It's my opinion at least, that your second draft on any work is the most dangerous. Not only are you looking for things to clean up, but you're looking for things that need to be added in. Character and setting descriptions, conversations, plot details that seemed to have slipped past. If a first draft is the bare bones of a story, the sec...

Love Kills

This Friday is Valentine's Day. I hate it. Now, that may have something to do with the fact that I haven't had any reason to celebrate it since Elementary school, but that's neither here nor there. The thing is, I'm not exactly alone in my opinion of this pink holiday. The Horror genre is about as full as you can get of relationships gone wrong.


Seriously though. Relationships seem to be a major focus in horror. For instance, throughout most of the early 80's, you could tell who was going to b...

Women in Horror

Before I get into today's post, I just want to point out the clickable link above that says "Giveaways". Currently, I'm running a giveaway on Goodreads.com to get rid of five signed copies of my book Class 5. It runs all month before winners are chosen to click the link and check out the giveaway to enter. Also, feel free to check out the "Biography" link too.

February is Women in Horror month. So, if you hop around the blogosphere, you're likely to see posts about women in horror as authors,...