Author Creates New Book Genre: Christian Horror

I began writing what would eventually become my first novel, Suffering Madness, in 1995. My design goals at the time were fairly small - I was targeting the short story market in magazines to try to develop a name. After enough rejections to wallpaper my office, I realized my writing was pretty bad.

Fortunately, my desire to write and tell stories overshadowed any detail like the mechanics of writing, and I was dumb enough to press past the rejections telling me I was clueless. I joined three critique groups at the same time, each requiring writing assignments and critiques, and each holding their own strength in writing. One focused on character development, another on the mechanics of writing (The Elements of Styleby Shrunk and White was their foundation), and the last centered on how to tell a really good story. All three were brutal to some extent, however one was absolutely bloodthirsty in devouring any mistake in grammar, spelling, or weak plots. Some writers jumped ship in their first or second week; but as I already stated, I was too dumb to know any better. I suffered through the critiques bleeding all over my precious creations, cutting up my babies, and splattering blood ink on my stories. I learned to develop thick skin and separate constructive criticism from personal opinion.

In hindsight, I spent roughly twenty to thirty hours a week working all three critique groups over the course of about two years, and I have the bruises and scars to prove it. Yet each provided their own school of instruction and helped get my writing published in magazines, anthology books, and excerpts in newspapers.

Read more about Glenn Sasscer and his development of the book genre Christian horror here.