The Horror, The Horror moderated by Delilah S. Dawson (https://www.whimsydark.com/) featuring James Kennedy (https://jameskennedy.com/), Meriam Metoui (https://www.meriammetoui.com/), Richard Kadrey (https://www.richardkadrey.me/), and Trang Thanh Tran (https://trangthanhtran.com/).
What is the scariest horror movie you’ve seen?
James Kennedy: I run a project called 90-second Newberry Film Festival. One of the entrants filmed Charlotte’s Webb as a 90-second horror film in black & white. Remember, the first line of “Where’s Papa going with that Ax?” That and all the baby spiders easily can make it horror.
Richard Kadrey: The Haunting by Robert Wise.
Mriam Metoui: Hereditary, Midsommar, and Mother
Trang Tranh Tran: Talk to Me, but I love zombie movies and the best one is Train to Busan
What was your first horror book, what hooked you into horror?
Tran: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
Meriam: Clockwork by Philip Pullman
Richard: The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe then Lovecraft, even if he wasn’t a great writer
James: Something Wicked this Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
What was the story seed that lead to the your most recent book?
James: David Lynch, mall town, Midwest. Tornados are a particularly American monster, there’s no arguing with it. Someone who could wrestle a tornado appealed to him, tied with a Twin Peaks cult. Also, prairie madness.
Richard: He had a co-writer in Cassandra Khaw. Richard had the basic idea of a magical operative in NY with bad habits. A small world grew through conversations with Cassandra. It became a natural process writing with someone, you have to trust them and let go of your ego and let the book tell its story.
Meriam: started with being in an overwhelming feeling then a motel room was born
Tran: always a writer, but never thought to writer horror, but it is a great place to explore fears. She mined her own fears of coming out and visiting Vietnam. She wanted to make her own final girl, since there are no Asian Final Girls.
Setting is central, how do you make the place feel real?
Kadrey: I always feel the setting is a character, invest in the setting the seme level you invest in character.
Meriam: The motel room is an actual character, it is a sentient room and it picks up on trauma.
Tran: The setting is a real beautiful place, but has some rotten history. It is an inspired place that has needs.
James: I grew up in a small town, breaking into places. Small towns with wired cahracters always seem real.
One thing that each of the panelist’s books have in common is the characters are outsiders. Does that reflect your experience?
Meriam: Two friends on a road trip far away allows a sense of opportunity
James: We all feel like outsiders at some point, sometimes we half-experience things.
Richard: The protagonist of always on the of The Dead Take the A Train is always on the edge of greatness, always just missed it. She was in a bad relationship and that led to drugs and alcohol. She still had friends, but never an inside player.
Tran: her protagonist is seen as other, never Vietnamese enough, never fully white. Her family has many holes and her father is a refugee, which makes him an outsider.
Process of writing horror when part of the appeal/joy of horror are the surprises.
Meriam: a lot of outlining, joy of discovery is at the line level. She included her photography in the book, and wasn’t sure that would happen because of the complex production issues, but it is a major element and thankfully her editor was on board.
Tran: I’m a chaotic writer, but I always have a “final image” with some tentpole moments
James: All three of my books started as short stories, but became more after investigating the story DNA
Richard: I’m a big outliner, but you don’t ow the outline anything. There are probably 5 or 6 outlines of the same book by the time he’s done. There were multiple back-and-forths with Cassandra Khaw.
Favorite scene/the scene you couldn’t wait to write
James: Party at the tornado killer’s house. Sentences got longer, drunker, and less coherent.
Richard: Two scenes, but they are spoilers so I’ll just say Brad
Meriam: Not in the first draft, but it is weird to think about the book without it
Tran: Food is big in the book, so the refrigerator scene with the hot ghost.
