Scott Nicholson and the Sensitive Viewer

I'm not a horror lover. Rather, I'm one of those sensitive viewers referred to on the TV disclaimer. 

And as far as horror novels--forget it. I never read a Steven King book in my life. For one thing, I have always chosen not to put those creepy, bloody images in my brain. But, I've approached the genre with snobbery as well. I am a lover of literature, don't you know, not of cheap, special-effect genre fiction. I just don't do that.

Well. I may be in the middle of a conversion. My co-chair for The Write Stuff conference, Bernadette, suggested that we invite Scott Nicholson, multi-award-winning and very popular horror writer, to present at our March event. So we did, and he said yes, and I found his hauntedcomputer.com site intriguing. (Plus, Scott is very cute in his Civil War hat paired with wire rims and wry smile). My resistance started slipping. I ordered his first novel, The Red Church.

Dang. His writing is good. The plot pulled me in, his point-of-view was well-considered, characters filled out, and setting vivid. Two months later, I continue to think about that story. And I still feel respectable, not cheap and dirty, so the snob-o-meter level went down a bit.

In the session titled Nurture Your Inner Hack: the Best Way to Get Your Story Down, Scott, this slightly eccentric horror author, will teach us exciting things. The three-hour session will include how to easily build setting and create authentic characters while driving plot, all at the same time, rather than laboring to meticulously build setting before familiarizing readers with a story’s characters. That's a seasoned writer, teaching us the craft of writing.

That three-hour intensive starts at 9 a.m. Friday, March 21, during the pre-conference part of The Write Stuff.

And the day before that, Scott presents “Re-Imagining Your Writing”:  a  class on comics, children's books and screenplays--to encourage writers to use one type of written work (say, your novel) and re-imagine it in different storytelling forms and formats; diversifying your talent and craft as well as revenue streams!

Check it out. This is just one fine feature of an impressive and affordable regional writers conference.