India M. Clamp
India M. Clamp asked Justin Tate:

On scary stories Justin, before writing do you already "play them out in your mind?" Or are they fiction based non-fiction? How do you keep the darkness away after the "book is finished?"

Justin Tate Love this question! It's hard for me to predict every twist and turn before I actually start writing, but I do tend to outline one section at a time. Outlining the entire project in advance isn't as helpful because spontaneity changes the plan constantly.

As for keeping the darkness away, most of my "horror" stories are campy and not something to take too seriously. That said, I did write one story--"Before the Clock Strikes Six"--which still haunts me. It's about spousal abuse and the pressure to make bad relationships work. I think about those characters a lot and how family/society pushes us to do all kinds of things which are terrible for our physical and mental health.

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