Shaun Horton's Blog, page 2

Short Story: Identity

Just a nice little short story today, inspired by one of the classics. Enjoy. 
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Julie awoke, and the smell was the first thing she knew. Her nose was assaulted with the scent of blood and decay. Awareness of touch returned next, telling her she was bound to a chair, in a cold room.
She held her eyes shut, hoping as long as she didn’t see it, she could be convinced her other senses were lying....

Plans for 2020

A new year, and a new decade is coming up right quick, and it would be a shame if I let the momentum I've built up this year die down. For my fans though, fear not, because I have plans to continue pumping out stuff in 2020. Now, of course, as much as I wish otherwise, my writing is on the back burner to the day job and life, so I'll add the caveat that everything here is subject to change. Stuff may get pushed back by months or years, or get canceled entirely. These are the things I'm...

2019 Wrap-up

Whew. It's been a bit of a tumultuous year for my writing. A few downs, but quite a few more ups. So, let's get into the review of 2019.

After a long time coming (around a year and a half between submission and publication), my first real short story sale saw print in the voluminous book TRANSCENDENT by Transmundane Press. Now, to be sure, this wasn't a big payout, and turnout for it has been muted. But this is a good collection of short stories by a quality publisher. I am happy to report...

Due Diligence

As a writer, it's very important to pay attention to who you approach and who approaches you in your business dealings. So, while I'm going to spend a fair bit of this post complaining, I want it clear right up front that the only one to blame in this situation is myself.

When you're shopping around for a literary agent, a publisher, or a submission call, the single most important thing to do is to research a person or company before you submit. If you don't do it then, at least do it before...

Short Story: Feeding Time

Welcome back to another new short story this week. Enjoy!

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"One more week. Just one more week and this will be someone else's job."
He stood back from the edge of the water and looked out across the lake. The water lapped slowly at the earth around it, like an animal tasting a corpse before digging in. The moon hung low, but enough to be seen over the trees, casting the water in an ugly yellow light.
Alvin lifted o...

Short Story: Hit and Run

Welcome to October everybody! It's a little later in the week than I planned, but here you all go! A nice new little short story for you all to enjoy for the spooky season! The plan is a new short story every week this month, so check back for new posts all month long!

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Jordan scrubbed the corner of the bumper, dipping the brush in the bucket and splashing a fresh layer of bubbles and suds across it. He...

Shaun's "How-To-Write" Suggestions

Last week I talked about "How-To-Write" books and how many of them are fairly bunk. I thought that this week, I would go over the main points that I would discuss if I were to write a How-To book on writing. These are based on the things I've learned since I started my little writing career back in 2013 (wow that seems like forever ago now.) So read, learn, and enjoy, completely free of charge!

1. Write what you want, but make sure that it's right.


One thing you'll probably hear a lot is "Write...

How-To-Write books?

Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach. Is how the saying goes. But is it really accurate? Maybe in some cases. In writing, I don't believe it is. It seems like every self-published writer also tends to put out a book touting their success and instructing other authors how to reach that brass ring of success. Whether they're actually as successful as they claim is entirely up for debate, as just about anyone can slap a gold star on their book and there's a hundred ways of gaming the system...

Kids in Horror: Heroes

Kids pop up in Horror as victims, and as monsters, but they also can be the heroes of the story. It may seem a little far-fetched at times considering the stakes and the opponents they face, but is there anything really as cheer inducing as watching a kid or kids take down a villain that's been running around killing everyone else around them? Or maybe they don't stop the villain, maybe it's all they do to find a way to survive the horror that nobody else is escaping.


Danny Torrence from The S...

Villains don't have to be sympathetic.

Fair warning, this is going to be more of a rant than anything else, but this has been bugging me all day. Also, there may be a few spoilers for anyone who hasn't seen 101 Dalmations.

Disney is doing an "origin" story for the villain Cruella DeVil, the antagonist of the 101 Dalmations movies.

Now, why? Are they really scraping the bottom of the barrel for ideas?


Now, here's the thing for me. A lot of villains and even monsters can be sympathetic. Take the shark from JAWS. He's not swimming aroun...