Writing Comedic Horror with NYT Bestseller Grady Hendrix
NYT Bestseller Grady Hendrix is a master of voicing his comedic ideas in an unexpected genre: horror. By focusing on timing and relevancy and making sure to meticulously revise, he’s able to write jokes that are appropriately placed and contribute to the feel of the story instead of subtracting from it. Hendrix is best known for Horrorstör, a thrilling haunted house story which is currently being produced for the big screen. His newest novel, The Final Girl Support Group, releases tomorrow.
From Amazon.com:
New York Times bestselling author Grady Hendrix makes up lies and sells them to people. His novels include HORRORSTÖR about a haunted IKEA, MY BEST FRIEND’S EXORCISM, which is basically “Beaches” meets “The Exorcist”, WE SOLD OUR SOULS, a heavy metal horror epic, THE SOUTHERN BOOK CLUB’S GUIDE TO SLAYING VAMPIRES, and THE FINAL GIRL SUPPORT GROUP, coming on July 13, 2021. He’s also the author of PAPERBACKS FROM HELL, an award-winning history of the horror paperback boom of the Seventies and Eighties. He wrote the screenplay for, MOHAWK, a horror flick about the War of 1812, and SATANIC PANIC about a pizza delivery woman fighting rich Satanists. You can discover more ridiculous facts about him at www.gradyhendrix.com.
Whether you’re traditionally published or indie, writing a good book is only the first step in becoming a successful author. The days of just turning a manuscript into your editor and walking away are gone. If you want to succeed in today’s publishing world, you need to understand every aspect of the business – editing, formatting, marketing, contracts. It all starts with a good book, then the real work begins.
Join international bestselling author J.D. Barker and indie powerhouses, J. Thorn and Zach Bohannon, as they gain unique insight and valuable advice from the most prolific and accomplished authors in the business.
In this episode, you’ll discover:
- Why it’s ok to have a fluid writing process
- Why to explore writing short stories
- Approaches to writing in stigmatized genres
- How Grady transitioned from journalism to fiction
- The importance of accepting criticism
Links:
J. D. Barker – http://jdbarker.com/
J. Thorn – https://theauthorlife.com/
Zach Bohannon – https://zachbohannon.com/
Grady Hendrix – http://www.gradyhendrix.com/
The Final Girl Support Group – https://mybook.to/FinalGirl
Story Rubric – http://storyrubric.com
Nonfic Rubric – http://nonficrubric.com
The Career Author Summit 2021 – https://thecareerauthor.com/summit2021/
Proudly sponsored by Kobo Writing Life – https://kobowritinglife.com/
Music by Nicorus – https://cctrax.com/nicorus/dust-to-dust-ep
Voice Over by Rick Ganley – http://www.nhpr.com and recorded at Mill Pond Studio – http://www.millpondstudio.com
Contact – https://writersinkpodcast.com/dev/contact/
*Full disclosure: Some of the links are affiliate links.
Christopher Wills
3 years ago
Morning guys, I enjoyed the interview today and Grady sounds like a fun guy to be around despite his newfound love for metal music. Interesting juxtaposition; horror and comedy, but it seems natural now that it has been stated. Some of his books sound very readable and it would be cool to see them in film.
Now that I am thinking of it I have seen some comedy horror films, but I haven’t read any comedy horror novels yet – I’ll try one of Grady’s. One of my favourite comedy horror movies is “Carry on Screaming” which is a great film if you like simple 60s British seaside humour. I also remember “Abbot and Costello meet Frankenstein” but I’m sure there have been more modern comedy horror movies. The more I think of it the more I can think of like “The Addams Family”, “The Munsters”, and “Scooby Doo”.
Comedy horror appears to be a popular subterranean culture ignored by the media. I think Grady could be onto something.
Great interview today.
J. Thorn
3 years ago
Thanks! You should check out Shaun of the Dead. It’s a British parody of the zombie movie.
Christopher Wills
3 years ago
I have seen that, I love the ending.
Jessica Zellman
3 years ago
“More weight!” My sister and I have been making that stupid inside joke since I was 9 years old and our family visited Salem. We went back 15 years later and nothing about that museum had changed. Ha!
Thanks for the laugh. 🙂
J. Thorn
3 years ago
LOL!