‘Where Nightmares Come From: The Art of Storytelling in the Horror Genre’ – Book Review

I have always had a desire to be a writer. Even at a young age, I was an avid reader and I wanted to be an author. One of my favorite things in elementary school was when we used to spend a month writing our own book, which would then be “published.” The excitement! The thrill! What was my hold up? What do I write about! This hangs me up to this day. I have glimmers of ideas, but how do I develop a story from these glimmers of ideas? I took a break from writing between college and working, but now the itch is back. I have ideas, but I’m not sure how to develop my ideas into actual stories. I am always open to other writer’s advice and suggestions. So I decided to read Where Nightmares Come From: The Art of Storytelling in the Horror Genre. Was this book helpful to me as a writer? Read on to find out!

Synopsis:

WHERE NIGHTMARES COME FROM—THE ART OF STORYTELLING IN THE HORROR GENRE

Book 1 in Crystal Lake Publishing’s The Dream Weaver series, Where Nightmares Come From focuses on the art of storytelling in the Horror genre, taking an idea from conception to reality—whether you prefer short stories, novels, films, or comics.

Featuring in-depth articles and interviews by Joe R. Lansdale, Clive Barker, John Connolly, Ramsey Campbell, Bev Vincent, Richard Chizmar, Stephen King, Charlaine Harris, Jonathan Maberry, Lisa Morton, Ray Garton, Elizabeth Massie, Del Howison, Amber Benson, Tom Holland, Fred Dekker, Kevin Tenney, Tim Waggoner, Michael Bailey, Mercedes Yardley, Jason V. Brock, and many more. With an introduction by William F. Nolan.

Cover design by Luke Spooner. Edited by Joe Mynhardt & Eugene Johnson.

Brought to you by Crystal Lake Publishing—Tales from the Darkest Depths

Where Nightmares Come From may be read in order, or you may skip around to articles that appeal to you. What is great is that this book does not just discuss how to write novels. It discusses various storytelling platforms like short stories, novels, screenwriting and graphic novels. No matter what genre you are interested in writing, the articles are helpful to all writers. Reading each of these, you feel like you are right there with the authors having an active conversation with them over coffee or a beer. There are so many takeaways from this book. For me, the biggest one is to actually write. Write even if you don’t have an idea fully developed yet. Finish what you write. You will never obtain the goal if you aren’t actually putting in the work of writing. No one can do that for you. While this seems like an obvious thing, I find myself not writing and waiting for ideas to be developed and then think about writing. Then, I am constantly self-editing the whole time, so I never actually finish. Edit later, write now! Which brings us to my last takeaway.

I believe that Ernest Hemingway said it best.

“The first draft of everything is shit.”

My Final Thoughts:

Should you read this book? Hell yes, you should! I don’t care what genre you write. Where Nightmares Come From an invaluable resource. This book not only gave me pointers on how to develop my ideas and actually write them, it confirmed that I am a writer. I found myself nodding and saying aloud, “Yes! This is me!” It has given me some more confidence to write. Are you ready to be a writer? Ready to develop your storytelling skills? Be sure to pick up your copy here!