It’s Already Working!

Get some content on your website, I thought. Share a little of what you’ve been up to. Give people a reason to visit Strange Reads. Let’s make it spooky around here, get some cobwebs in the corners. All brilliant notions, but none of which will be happening…yet.

In editing an old story, written in 2016 as part of my Plague of Ladybirds short story series, I found myself falling in love with my old literary stomping ground all over again. Greysham, a fictional village in the north of England, is a bloody good place to get weird – or even better: Wyrd. After bringing the story up to 2022 standards – whatever they might be – a few casual readers reflected their enjoyment of the tale. I loved it, too.

Knowing that to publish it on the Strange Reads website would mean making it ineligible for future submissions, I went hunting for spooky story competitions. Of course, I ran into many ‘proper’ writing competitions (*confession to follow), but I’m happily surprised about the change of attitude to horror/supernatural/spooky writing. In six years, the scene has changed a lot.

With every ounce of bravery I could muster (and $US20), I submitted Norman, late of Greysham into a short story competition. Unfortunately, this means it won’t appear on this site until it’s had a dash at being a formerly published work. However, I think the story has merit and readers will enjoy it, so why not!

In conclusion, producing this website is already having an effect. To think about writing from multiple perspectives, produce content and keep to daily tasks is allowing me to think of myself as a writer.

*Yes, my prejudices are on show here. I still feel that the mainstream literary world will look down its nose at my type of fiction in preference for domestic drama stories. However, part of my goal is to raise the profile of horror fiction – with the help of a few similarly minded friends. Want to join me…