 © 2005 Australian Horror Writers Association. All Rights Reserved.
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Scary stories. We all recall some tale of witches, goblins, boogeymen, or other shadowy creatures from our childhood designed to frighten us into being good little children. Closet lights became our best friends as did the covers that we could quite easily pull over our heads to keep our fears at bay. And, of course, the promise of daylight almost always made the shadows morph back into mundane objects such as a tossed article of clothing, a bookcase, or a favourite toy. The thrill of being afraid was over -- until night fell again.
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"Horror writers take their craft seriously and professionally - people get a thrill out of being scared, not necessarily being grossed out, but frightened by things they know cannot harm them in reality," says Marty Young, founder of the Australian Horror Writers Association (AHWA). Marty recalls growing up reading horror novels and watching spooky movies from the video store where his dad worked. It was a fun way to safely escape reality.
It was this early introduction to the genre that led him to begin his own career as a horror writer and to go about helping others in his situation by establishing the Australian Horror Writers Association in 2002.
"It was established to help new authors in the genre who previously had no idea what resources existed for them, who else wrote what they wrote, or what markets were open to their stories," says Marty. "When I first came to Australia in March 2000, I tried to find horror writing groups or clubs that I could join to be kept up-to-date on the Australian (and International) scene, but found that horror was either merged into SF and fantasy groups or ignored. I thought it would be better if horror writers had a group specifically suited to their needs."
AHWA officially launches July 2005 during the Continuum 3 in Melbourne, which is when the organisation will also announce the winners of their Short Story Competition, now in progress through 31 May 2005. This contest is open to Australian and international writers.
Like many up-and-coming authors, Marty Young understands that the road to publication has it's obstacles.
"I enrolled in 3 diploma courses on creative and business writing. I completed these in 1995 amongst working full time, and graduated with distinction from 2 of them, which I was pretty proud of. My problem was/is, I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so I only sent 2 stories off for publication in those years!! Each rejection hurt, and while I actually got really good feedback, I thought I needed more experience. I went to uni to further my studies, but got sideswiped by Geology - it was probably the social scene that got me. I basically stopped writing in order to complete my Honours degree (studying dinosaur fossils), and then I got invited to the Australian National University in Canberra to do a PhD. A doctorate does not give you much free time to pursue anything else, but I've recently handed the first draft in to my supervisors, so most of that horror is over.
"I have been studying calcareous- and organic-walled dinoflagellate cysts and their environmental preferences from marine cores offshore SE Asia - NW Australia for the past 3-4 years, focusing on climate change over the past 30,000 years... All the while, stories were piling up in my head, and finally, in late 2002/early 2003, I had to pick up the pen again and resume writing. Somehow I managed to write the first draft of a novel (at the moment it's 300,000+ words, so it desperately needs editing). It's only been this year (2005) that I've really been able to concentrate on my writing, and actually start submitting the short stories to magazines and try to finish my novel. I've had great feedback (two magazines said they would be interested in re-reading the stories I sent them once some editing had been made), so I feel I'm getting close."
You'll be pleased to learn that Marty utilises some of his vast knowledge from his field in his storywriting. "I often include aspects from my science career into my stories (they say you should write about what you know), and often I find that my experiences have made their own way in! I've dealt a lot with climate change, so there's a wealth of ideas lurking there. I've also spent a fair bit of time on research vessels in the ocean and out in the Australian outback, so I've got some great settings lurking about in my head...," admits Marty.
Now that his studies are done for the moment, Marty plans to move forward toward a writing career as, like many scholars, he finds it difficult to write science and literature at the same time. After some serious editing, expect to see his first novel out by the end of 2006.
Meanwhile, Marty continues to work tirelessly to perfect his website and, thereby, help other authors who wish to advance their careers. At the same time, he opens our eyes to our own need to feel the thrill of fear and to point out that no other genre satisfies this basic desire like a good horror story.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE OF MARTY'S ONLINE INTERVIEW.