The Writing Dead: Talking Terror with TV’s Top Horror Writers

by Thomas Fahy

Conversations with the creators, executive producers, and writers of today’s top horror shows

The Writing Dead features interviews with the writers of today’s most frightening and fascinating shows. They include some of television’s biggest names—Carlton Cuse (Lost and Bates Motel), Bryan Fuller (Hannibal, Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls, Pushing Daisies), David Greenwalt (Angel and Grimm), Gale Anne Hurd (The Walking Dead, The Terminator series, Aliens, and The Abyss), Jane Espenson (Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Battlestar Galactica), Brian McGreevy (Hemlock Grove), Alexander Woo (True Blood), James Wong (The X-Files, Millennium, American Horror Story, and Final Destination), Frank Spotnitz (The X-Files and Millennium), Richard Hatem (Supernatural, The Dead Zone, and The Mothman Prophecies), Scott Buck (Dexter), Anna Fricke (Being Human), and Jim Dunn (Haven).

The Writing Dead features thought-provoking, never-before-published interviews with these top writers and gives the creators an opportunity to delve more deeply into television horror than anything found online. In addition to revealing behind-the-scene glimpses, these writers discuss favorite characters and story lines and talk about what they find most frightening. They offer insights into the writing process reflecting on the scary works that influenced their careers. And they reveal their own personal fascinations with the genre.

The thirteen interviews in The Writing Dead also mirror the changing landscape of horror on TV—from the shows produced by major networks and cable channels to shows made exclusively for online streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Studios. The Writing Dead will appeal to numerous fans of these shows, to horror fans, to aspiring writers and filmmakers, and to anyone who wants to learn more about why we like being scared.

Thomas Fahy, New York, New York, is associate professor of English and director of the American Studies Program at Long Island University, Post. He is the author of numerous books, including the young adult horror novels Sleepless and The Unspoken, and editor of The Philosophy of Horror and Alan Ball: Conversations (University Press of Mississippi).

Genres: Horror, Writing, Nonfiction

180 pages, Hardcover

First published February 23, 2015

About the author

Thomas Fahy is a nonfiction writer, novelist, and professor of literature and creative writing. His most recent book, The Life of the Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald, is being released in the fall of 2025. He has also published essays on everything from Paris Hilton and 1980s vampire films to contemporary television and theater. His works have been translated into several languages, and he has been interviewed by the Associated Press, Salon, and other publications, as well as radio hosts in the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia, Ireland, and Malaysia. He was recently featured in a documentary about Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood for Arte Television and on the BBC radio program “Literary Pursuits.”

When he is not writing, Dr. Fahy performs regularly as a classical pianist with the New York Piano Society and has appeared in recent concerts at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Merkin Concert Hall, and other venues in New York City.

Reviews

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great material, though it does leave you wanting more material.

[Alysa H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection will be of interest to serious fans of the shows that the TV writers Fahy interviewed have worked on, though some readers may be more satisfied than others. The interviews range from in-depth and insightful to shallow and ho-hum, depending largely upon each interview subject's own passion and background, and upon how much the subject provoked Fahy to divert from his repetitive question formula.

I'm not wholly convinced this collection adds anything major or fills a gap in the horror or TV studies fields, but it is nonetheless nice to see TV writers get some of their due in this format. Overall I enjoyed it, and found a few interesting patterns emerge.


I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really interesting book and a refreshing change from regular how to write books - we get some excellent insights into the lives of TV writers and great tips told in context which makes it the perfect way to learn. Full of interviews focussing on popular horror and supernatural shows, this book will appeal to any TV fan or aspiring TV writer. It doesn't feel like you are reading a how to write book, but learn how to write well you will.

[Majanka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book Review originally published here: http://www.iheartreading.net/mini-rev...

Some excellent insights into writnig horror, based on thirteen interviews from some of the best horror writers out there. Since I know most of the TV series the writers worked on, I was very intrigued to read more about their thoughts and insights. An enjoyable, engaging book that fans of those TV shows will no doubt love.