I love reading horror fiction.
I love the feeling of something lurking in the darkness and knowing it is going to creep out at any moment.
I love the chill as my fears are fulfilled and I even love that a good horror story will have me leaving the light on when I go to bed!

But reading a horror story, frightening as it can be, is nothing compared to actually writing it!

At the moment, I have a plot for a horror story in my head. It is sitting there niggling away at my sense of calm. I know it would creep anyone out who reads it.

But when I sit down at my keyboard, the fear takes over.

The horror creeping up the stairs is a little too close for comfort when you are describing it in your head. And when you feel the intense need to keep turning behind you, it certainly does slow your productivity!

I wonder how established horror writers cope?

I remember reading (I think it was) Stephen King, saying that letting all those dark thoughts come out onto paper is good. But I find that the process of doing this is like opening up a live, slimy, wriggling can of worms and spilling them onto your keyboard!

And, unlike the horror novel you can read and then discard (preferably in a dark place if it frightens you that much), the horror novel you are writing is there, in your head. After all, you have created it.

Perhaps some others who try to write horror fiction give up at this point. Perhaps I also will do this eventually.

But at the moment I’ll just keep glancing behind me as I clatter away at the keyboard. And hope that the thing creeping up the stairs will disappear once I finish this chapter!