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Gillian Church

Horror Author

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gilliwrites

gilliwrites
๐™ธ ๐šŒ๐šŠ๐š—๐š—๐š˜๐š ๐š๐š’๐š—๐š ๐šŠ๐š—๐šข ๐š™๐šŠ๐š๐š’๐šŽ๐š—๐šŒ๐šŽ ๐š๐š˜๐š› ๐š๐š‘๐š˜๐šœ๐šŽ ๐š™๐šŽ๐š˜๐š™๐š•๐šŽ ๐š ๐š‘๐š˜ ๐š‹๐šŽ๐š•๐š’๐šŽ๐šŸ๐šŽ ๐š๐š‘๐šŠ๐š ๐šข๐š˜๐šž ๐šœ๐š๐šŠ๐š›๐š ๐š ๐š›๐š’๐š๐š’๐š—๐š ๐š ๐š‘๐šŽ๐š— ๐šข๐š˜๐šž ๐šœ๐š’๐š ๐š๐š˜๐š ๐š— ๐šŠ๐š ๐šข๐š˜๐šž๐š› ๐š๐šŽ๐šœ๐š” ๐šŠ๐š—๐š ๐š™๐š’๐šŒ๐š” ๐šž๐š™ ๐šข๐š˜๐šž๐š› ๐š™๐šŽ๐š— ๐šŠ๐š—๐š ๐š๐š’๐š—๐š’๐šœ๐š‘ ๐š ๐š›๐š’๐š๐š’๐š—๐š ๐š ๐š‘๐šŽ๐š— ๐šข๐š˜๐šž ๐š™๐šž๐š ๐š๐š˜๐š ๐š— ๐šข๐š˜๐šž๐š› ๐š™๐šŽ๐š— ๐šŠ๐š๐šŠ๐š’๐š—; ๐šŠ ๐š ๐š›๐š’๐š๐šŽ๐š› ๐š’๐šœ ๐šŠ๐š•๐š ๐šŠ๐šข๐šœ ๐š ๐š›๐š’๐š๐š’๐š—๐š, ๐šœ๐šŽ๐šŽ๐š’๐š—๐š ๐šŽ๐šŸ๐šŽ๐š›๐šข๐š๐š‘๐š’๐š—๐š ๐š๐š‘๐š›๐š˜๐šž๐š๐š‘ ๐šŠ ๐š๐š‘๐š’๐š— ๐š–๐š’๐šœ๐š ๐š˜๐š ๐š ๐š˜๐š›๐š๐šœ, ๐š๐š’๐š๐š๐š’๐š—๐š ๐šœ๐š ๐š’๐š๐š ๐š•๐š’๐š๐š๐š•๐šŽ ๐š๐šŽ๐šœ๐šŒ๐š›๐š’๐š™๐š๐š’๐š˜๐š—๐šœ ๐š๐š˜ ๐šŽ๐šŸ๐šŽ๐š›๐šข๐š๐š‘๐š’๐š—๐š ๐š‘๐šŽ ๐šœ๐šŽ๐šŽ๐šœ, ๐šŠ๐š•๐š ๐šŠ๐šข๐šœ ๐š—๐š˜๐š๐š’๐šŒ๐š’๐š—๐š.
โ€” Shirley Jackson

It's day 7 of the #horrorwriterchallenge , so here's a quote from my favorite horror author, Shirley Jackson. Both her fiction and her essays and lectures are amazing reads.

Who is your favorite horror author?

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๐Ÿท๏ธ #womenofhorror #bookish #womenwhowritehorror #womenwhowrite #momswhowrite #writersofinstagram #horrorwritersofinstagram #writinginspiration #authorsonwriting #horrorbookstagram #cupofstars #gothichorror #hauntingofhillhouse #horrorliterature #shirleyjackson #horrorreaders
ะผฯƒโ„“ฮฑั•ั•ั”ั• A little microfiction piece for ะผฯƒโ„“ฮฑั•ั•ั”ั•

A little microfiction piece for day 6 of the #horrorwriterchallenge โ€” which asks for a 100-word story for the prompt "sticky". 

It's more than 100 words. It's more than 150 words. I didn't really have it in me to pare it down, I just wanted to write something inspired by Great Molasses Flood of 1919, in which 19 people were killed and 150 injured by a wave of molasses in Boston's North End. 

Super quick, not a favorite, but I hope you enjoy it anyway.

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๐Ÿท๏ธ #molasses #greatmolassesflood #bostonmolassesdisaster #bostonhistory #channelingspirits #spiritchanneling #historicalhorror #microfiction #horrormicrofiction #flashfiction #horrorflash #horrorstories #horrorwriter #amwritinghorror
๐™ฟ๐š›๐šŠ๐šŒ๐š๐š’๐šŒ๐šŽ ๐š ๐š‘๐šŠ๐š ๐™ฟ๐š›๐šŠ๐šŒ๐š๐š’๐šŒ๐šŽ ๐š ๐š‘๐šŠ๐š ๐šข๐š˜๐šž ๐šœ๐šž๐šŒ๐š” ๐šŠ๐š.

Day 5 of the #horrorwriterchallenge is about advice for newbie horror writers. This is my advice: whatever it is about writing that you find difficult, that you are least satisfied with, that you avoid because you just don't want to deal with it...do it. A lot. Throw yourself into it head-on.

If you suck at coming up with story ideas you like, try using single word prompts to write drabbles or two sentence stories. Just grind away at generating little story after little story. They don't have to be awesome, but just by forcing yourself to come up with a plot for random prompt words will help you strengthen your creativity and ability to generate story ideas out of all those little flashes of inspiration thay float around us every day.

If you suck at dialogue, try writing flash fiction using ONLY dialogue. Familiarize with how people really speak by eavesdropping on conversations at a cafe and (discreetly) take notes. 

If you suck at avoiding info dumping, write drabbles! You won't have enough words to info dump.

Figure out whatever it is that you find tricky, annoying, challenging, and do it until you feel confident. 

Bonus: Join a critique group like Scribophile or the Critters Workshop to both have your work analyzed by other writers and to see what kind of comments people make on other stories. It's such a great way to get a feel for what works and what doesn't.

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๐Ÿท๏ธ #horrorwriters #horrorwritersconnect #horrorcommunity #iwritehorror #100wordstories #amwritingfiction #justwrite #writingisfun #amwritingflashfiction #writinginspiration #ishouldbewriting #writingcommunity #writedrunkeditsober #authorsonwriting #writingchallenge #writingexercise #writingprompt #writingprompts #writersworkshop #writingadvice #writingtipsandtricks #writingtips #amwritinghorror #horrorwriter #writersonwriting
The day 4 prompt for the #horrorwriterchallenge is The day 4 prompt for the #horrorwriterchallenge is "what are you proudest of?"

It's really hard for me to nail this one down, but I think I have to say the month following my last birthday (August 25). I usually try to use my birthday to reflect and think about how happy I am with my life (usually not very) and what I want to focus on for my next trip around the sun.

This past birthday, I felt really frustrated with past-Gillian for being so timid about my writing. I'd been working at improving and had started to write little stories that I didn't think were half bad, but I didn't really know what to do with them or what I wanted out of writing in general. I'd had this account for a few years and knew a few friendly writers and bookstagrammers here, and figured it was a small enough group to try ripping off the proverbial bandaid and just post some of my writing exercises.

I didn't think I would stay consistent with posting...and I certainly never thought that my followers would grow from around 250 to over 2,000. I am proud of taking that step and letting it propel me to keep writing, keep learning, keep improving, and keep meeting new, cool people. I'm proud of the entire previous 11 months, but it was that first monthโ€”when it was terrifying and the imposter syndrome had a really tight grip on meโ€”that was the turning point for me.

Also...thank you to everyone who has joined me on this little adventure over the past year. I still think it's wild that anyone wants to read my stuff, but I'm delighted that you do. 

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๐Ÿท๏ธ #womenwhowritehorror #horrorwriters #womenofhorror #horrorcommunity #writersofinstagram #indieauthor #horrorwritersconnect #indiehorrorauthor #horrorwritersofinstagram #womenwhowrite #meetthewriter #bookish #indiehorror #iwritehorror #writingjourney #writingcommunity #writerplatform #authorplatform #writinggoals #horrorwriter
๐™ฝ๐š˜ ๐š•๐š’๐šŸ๐šŽ ๐š˜๐š›๐š๐šŠ๐š—๐š’ ๐™ฝ๐š˜ ๐š•๐š’๐šŸ๐šŽ ๐š˜๐š›๐š๐šŠ๐š—๐š’๐šœ๐š– ๐šŒ๐šŠ๐š— ๐šŒ๐š˜๐š—๐š๐š’๐š—๐šž๐šŽ ๐š๐š˜๐š› ๐š•๐š˜๐š—๐š ๐š๐š˜ ๐šŽ๐šก๐š’๐šœ๐š ๐šœ๐šŠ๐š—๐šŽ๐š•๐šข ๐šž๐š—๐š๐šŽ๐š› ๐šŒ๐š˜๐š—๐š๐š’๐š๐š’๐š˜๐š—๐šœ ๐š˜๐š ๐šŠ๐š‹๐šœ๐š˜๐š•๐šž๐š๐šŽ ๐š›๐šŽ๐šŠ๐š•๐š’๐š๐šข; ๐šŽ๐šŸ๐šŽ๐š— ๐š•๐šŠ๐š›๐š”๐šœ ๐šŠ๐š—๐š ๐š”๐šŠ๐š๐šข๐š๐š’๐š๐šœ ๐šŠ๐š›๐šŽ ๐šœ๐šž๐š™๐š™๐š˜๐šœ๐šŽ๐š, ๐š‹๐šข ๐šœ๐š˜๐š–๐šŽ, ๐š๐š˜ ๐š๐š›๐šŽ๐šŠ๐š–.
- ๐“๐ก๐ž ๐‡๐š๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐‡๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐‡๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž

The day 3 prompt of the #horrorwriterchallenge is "Your comfort horror book."

It's such a weird concept, a comfort horror book, but I think a lot of us horror fans have one. Mine is The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. I relate to Eleanor in some ways and feel an odd little connection to both her, the house, and the story. Jackson's prose is sharp, but at the same time there is something about reading her words that's like being wrapped in a warm, cozy blanket while rain pelts the windows as a thunderstorm rages outside.

If you haven't read it and you've only ever seen the Netflix tv series, be forewarned that they have absolutely nothing in common: not the plot, not the characters, not the theme, not the pacing. Both are awesome in their own right, but I think a number of fans of the show went into the book expecting one thing and being sorely disappointed at the story of a troubled, lonely woman's meandering descent into madness.

Do you have a horror book or story that you find comforting? What is it?

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๐Ÿท๏ธ #amreadinghorror #horrorbooks #ireadhorror #bookstagram #writingcommunity #horrornovel #scarystories #horrorfiction #horrorcommunity #womenofhorror #womenwhowritehorror #horrorwriters #horrorbookstagram #gothichorror #hauntingofhillhouse #horrorliterature #ghoststories #shirleyjackson #cupofstars
The #horrorwriterchallenge asks for our July writi The #horrorwriterchallenge asks for our July writing goals for day 2, so here are mine:

1. To get my short story collection out on time.

2. To have the full, expanded "They Hide Something Wicked" ready to post on August 1.

3. To make it into Round 3 of the NYC Midnight 100-word story challenge on July 30. 

4. To write and share a story for the July #horrorhullabaloo .

This should keep me plenty busy, especially considering that I'll be going on two trips this month.

What are your goals for the month?

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๐Ÿท๏ธ #horrorwritersofinstagram #horrorreaders #horrorwriters #meettheauthor #womenofhorror #horrorcommunity #writerscommunity #horrorfan #writersofinstagram #meetthewriter #indieauthor #momswhowrite #womenwhowrite #indiehorrorauthor #womenwhowritehorror #horrorwritersconnect #amwritingfiction #100wordstories #indiehorror #iwritehorror #horrorprompts #horrorshortstorycollection #writingcommunity #writinggoals #writingchallenge
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