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Sal O'Shea (they/them) @neuroatriplicate.bsky.social · Sep 11

“When I Walk Through That Door, I Am” by Jimmy Santiago Baca is an incredible book/epic poem that is extremely relevant to the ICE and immigrant-detention crisis in the United States. Highly recommended for everyone even if poetry isn’t normally your thing. #BookSky 💙📚

The cover to the book: “When I Walk Through That Door, I Am: An immigrant mother’s quest” by Jimmy Santiago Baca

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Reposted by Sal O'Shea (they/them)

Tristan Beaver Brain Zelden @tristanzelden.bsky.social · Aug 27

#HorrorWritersChat

Write out of spite. Your WIP should be a fuck you to someone, whether they doubt your craft and potential success or a fuck you to fascists cunts.

Matt Mason - One Chaotic Author @chaoticauthor.online · Aug 27

Question 2:

Advice time! What's the most unhinged advice you'd give to a new writer that actually works? (Thanks to @dracuniversal.bsky.social for this one)

No links, save them for the outro.

Quote post and include the tag #HorrorWritersChat. It's the only way other participants will find you.

Image shows creepy figures behind a curtain. All text in post.

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Reposted by Sal O'Shea (they/them)

Hanna Delaney @hannadelaney.bsky.social · Aug 27

If you're doing this so you'll be revered as the greatest author to have ever graced this earth, don't bother.
Write because you want to. No one owes you anything.
#horrorwriterschat

Matt Mason - One Chaotic Author @chaoticauthor.online · Aug 27

Question 2:

Advice time! What's the most unhinged advice you'd give to a new writer that actually works? (Thanks to @dracuniversal.bsky.social for this one)

No links, save them for the outro.

Quote post and include the tag #HorrorWritersChat. It's the only way other participants will find you.

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Sal O'Shea (they/them) @neuroatriplicate.bsky.social · Aug 27

Yes please.

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Sal O'Shea (they/them) @neuroatriplicate.bsky.social · Aug 27

Since other people are doing WIP pitches:

Drafting: Trans man tries to leave his too-picturesque-to-be-real New England hometown. It's not that simple.

Querying: I was obsessed with a certain podcast episode so I set it in 1871 and ended up with something completely different.

#HorrorWritersChat

Sal O'Shea (they/them) @neuroatriplicate.bsky.social · Aug 27

Hi! I'm Sal, writer of ghosts and queer people and the real-life horrors of mundane cis-hets.

Am drafting one thing and querying another, so no recent or upcoming releases for me. (Yet?)

#HorrorWritersChat

Matt Mason - One Chaotic Author @chaoticauthor.online · Aug 27

Question 1:

Introduce yourself: tell us who you are, what you write, and your elevator pitch on your most recent / upcoming horror release!

No links, save them for the outro.

Quote post and include the tag #HorrorWritersChat. It's the only way other participants will find you.

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Sal O'Shea (they/them) @neuroatriplicate.bsky.social · Aug 27

Hi! I'm Sal, writer of ghosts and queer people and the real-life horrors of mundane cis-hets.

Am drafting one thing and querying another, so no recent or upcoming releases for me. (Yet?)

#HorrorWritersChat

Matt Mason - One Chaotic Author @chaoticauthor.online · Aug 27

Question 1:

Introduce yourself: tell us who you are, what you write, and your elevator pitch on your most recent / upcoming horror release!

No links, save them for the outro.

Quote post and include the tag #HorrorWritersChat. It's the only way other participants will find you.

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Reposted by Sal O'Shea (they/them)

Adam Schwarz @adamjschwarz.bsky.social · Aug 25

Illinois Gov. Pritzker vows to pursue Trump officials who participate in an illegal National Guard deployment to Chicago:

"If you hurt my people, nothing will stop me - not time or political circumstance - from making sure that you face justice under our constitutional rule of law."

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Reposted by Sal O'Shea (they/them)

Doctora Malka Older @older.bsky.social · Aug 24

another thing I wish the reporting was harder on is the distinction between deporting people and detaining them. deportation is terrible, traumatic, tears apart families. But at least they can call home, explain what happened. The detention centers are a black hole.

Liz (or Lizzie) Kim 김혜성 💫 @lizzielizliz.bsky.social · Aug 24

Article:

kutv.com/news/local/u...

Utah music community rallies behind violinist detained by ICE

The local music community in Salt Lake City is rallying around one of their own, after news that just this week, John Shin—a violinist who received Bachelor's a

kutv.com

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Sal O'Shea (they/them) @neuroatriplicate.bsky.social · Aug 20

Thank you for hosting!

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Reposted by Sal O'Shea (they/them)

Samantha Bryant | She/her @samanthabwriter.bsky.social · Aug 20

I love playing with perception in horror stories, and the way we second-guess ourselves about what we saw or *thought* we saw or convinced ourselves we didn't see. Windows and mirrors are both GREAT for this. #HorrorWritersChat

Eryn McCee @erynmccee.bsky.social · Aug 20

Well then #HorrorWritersChat, what of this? I am absolutely not going near mirrors. But what about you...?

Q3 The eyes of the house

Windows or mirrors
which do you choose for horror, and why? One shows you what’s outside, the other what’s inside. Both can lie.

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Reposted by Sal O'Shea (they/them)

Michael G. Williams 🏳️‍🌈 @mcmanlypants.bsky.social · Aug 20

That characters' queerness is simultaneously the thing that will save them and the thing that made them feel they needed saving in the first place. It's a double-edged sword, and the fact we can pick it up and wield it is the thing the others around us want to keep hidden.

#HorrorWritersChat

Eryn McCee @erynmccee.bsky.social · Aug 20

It's a thing, no? The Bluebeard room, the closet, the hidden cellar, the space that you never look at. What's yours #HorrorWritersChat writers?

Question 2

Every haunted house has a room you don’t enter. What’s the forbidden room in your stories: the theme, fear, or subject you lock away?

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Reposted by Sal O'Shea (they/them)

Beverley Lee @beverleylee.bsky.social · Aug 20

There's nothing to see, only dusty darkness, which is strange as I've been hearing the scratching noises for weeks. I look down at my bandaged fingers and wonder again how I hurt them..
#HorrorWritersChat

Eryn McCee @erynmccee.bsky.social · Aug 20

Q4. Go on. Get in the basement and tell me what you can see. You know you want to!

#HorrorWritersChat

Q4

The door opened to the basement. But the stairs were gone. Instead you saw...
what?

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Reposted by Sal O'Shea (they/them)

Amelinda Bérubé @metuiteme.bsky.social · Aug 20

The forbidden room is also the very heart of the story, the source of the haunting - so taken that way, the ones I've built on are variations on "yourself as the actual worst" - what you're afraid to see in yourself; the person you're afraid to be; the person you can't help being

#HorrorWritersChat

Eryn McCee @erynmccee.bsky.social · Aug 20

It's a thing, no? The Bluebeard room, the closet, the hidden cellar, the space that you never look at. What's yours #HorrorWritersChat writers?

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Sal O'Shea (they/them) @neuroatriplicate.bsky.social · Aug 20

A beautifully lit parlor full of people smiling and chatting as if nothing was wrong. It's obvious they heard me open the door but are pretending not to. No one ever wants to look the truth in the face.

#HorrorWritersChat

Eryn McCee @erynmccee.bsky.social · Aug 20

Q4. Go on. Get in the basement and tell me what you can see. You know you want to!

#HorrorWritersChat

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Reposted by Sal O'Shea (they/them)

Marley, a Werewolf of Wall Street @marleywrites.bsky.social · Aug 20

What I’m writing now is about scary things outside (that you might think you’re safe from, but…) I feel like classic horror has to use both.

#HorrorWritersChat

Eryn McCee @erynmccee.bsky.social · Aug 20

Well then #HorrorWritersChat, what of this? I am absolutely not going near mirrors. But what about you...?

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Reposted by Sal O'Shea (they/them)

Hanna Delaney @hannadelaney.bsky.social · Aug 20

This is tough because I don't think I use them that much. I have one book where windows and mirrors are used, but for characters struggling to see something clearly. They know it's there, but can't quite make it out. Maybe I use them to veil stuff 🤔
#horrorwriterschat

Eryn McCee @erynmccee.bsky.social · Aug 20

Well then #HorrorWritersChat, what of this? I am absolutely not going near mirrors. But what about you...?

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Reposted by Sal O'Shea (they/them)

A.M. Weald - buy Fimbulvinter's Fires ❤️‍🔥 @amweald.com · Aug 20

Here's what I find scary: not being able to see what's happening, not being able to see yourself. You can't see out the window to see what's attacking you, because the escape pod rolled over onto it. You can't see yourself, how bad your injuries are, because there are no mirrors.

#HorrorWritersChat

Eryn McCee @erynmccee.bsky.social · Aug 20

Well then #HorrorWritersChat, what of this? I am absolutely not going near mirrors. But what about you...?

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Reposted by Sal O'Shea (they/them)

Marley, a Werewolf of Wall Street @marleywrites.bsky.social · Aug 20

I can interpret this a few different ways, but for me it might be the question, “What’s really inside of you — and what if it gets out?”

#HorrorWritersChat

Eryn McCee @erynmccee.bsky.social · Aug 20

It's a thing, no? The Bluebeard room, the closet, the hidden cellar, the space that you never look at. What's yours #HorrorWritersChat writers?

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Reposted by Sal O'Shea (they/them)

Bert Piedmont's FAT MONSTER now available! @bertpiedmont.bsky.social · Aug 20

At night, a window can become a mirror. An old, flaking mirror can become a window. Is there a fundamental difference? A being who can pass through one, see through one, can see and pass through both, & through still water.

Pick your fears carefully. What are you summoning?
#horrorwriterschat

Eryn McCee @erynmccee.bsky.social · Aug 20

Well then #HorrorWritersChat, what of this? I am absolutely not going near mirrors. But what about you...?

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Reposted by Sal O'Shea (they/them)

Samantha Bryant | She/her @samanthabwriter.bsky.social · Aug 20

Well, part of why I'm writing is to confront the things that scare and upset me, so if there's a Bluebeard room in my brain, that's the first door I'm breaking open. That said, there are themes I have no patience for or interest in: 90% of r*pe plots, for example. #HorrorWritersChat

Eryn McCee @erynmccee.bsky.social · Aug 20

It's a thing, no? The Bluebeard room, the closet, the hidden cellar, the space that you never look at. What's yours #HorrorWritersChat writers?

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Reposted by Sal O'Shea (they/them)

Trish Wilson @trishcwilson.bsky.social · Aug 20

#HorrorWritersChat - A reflective silver teapot or even a cup of tea may act as a mirror. It's no accident Narcissus died while admiring his reflection in a pool of water. All of a sudden, there you are staring at yourself in reverse. It's you but it isn't you. It's inside and outside. Horrifying.

Eryn McCee @erynmccee.bsky.social · Aug 20

Well then #HorrorWritersChat, what of this? I am absolutely not going near mirrors. But what about you...?

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Reposted by Sal O'Shea (they/them)

Mattie Gregory Lewis @devilsdoorbell.bsky.social · Aug 20

#HorrorWritersChat

It’s an evangelical megachurch auditorium just like the one where I first learned to hate myself. You’ll never see it represented directly and explicitly in my work because it is very banal and ugly. Catholicism at least has drip

Eryn McCee @erynmccee.bsky.social · Aug 20

It's a thing, no? The Bluebeard room, the closet, the hidden cellar, the space that you never look at. What's yours #HorrorWritersChat writers?

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Sal O'Shea (they/them) @neuroatriplicate.bsky.social · Aug 20

I was standing on some risers during a choir concert rehearsal and I could see the center isle reflected all the way down. I imagined seeing someone in the window reflections who wasn't visible to the naked eye. Thus "Reflection in the Window" was born.

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Sal O'Shea (they/them) @neuroatriplicate.bsky.social · Aug 20

Maybe this is cheating, but windows at night from the inside look an awful lot like mirrors. One of my short stories was inspired by that image - tall, wide windows in a New England church sanctuary, to be precise.

#HorrorWritersChat

Eryn McCee @erynmccee.bsky.social · Aug 20

Well then #HorrorWritersChat, what of this? I am absolutely not going near mirrors. But what about you...?

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