May 13, 2024 • 31 mins
Lindy Ryan, anthologist and horror author, discusses her debut horror novel Bless Your Heart, which explores themes of family, loss, and confronting monsters. She also discusses the intricacies of bringing an anthology to market.
Key Discussion Points:
Writing as Therapy: Ryan shares the personal beginnings of her writing journey, using her narratives as a means to cope with the loss of her grandmothers and to celebrate the women in her family.
Anthology Curating: The process of assembling an anthology is detailed, highlighting the logistical challenges and creative fulfillment it brings, alongside tips on managing contributions from multiple authors.
Women in Horror: A discussion on the historical underrepresentation of women in the horror genre and the positive shifts towards inclusivity and diversity, as well as horro sub-genres like f 'cozy horror'.
Transition to Screen: Insights into the adaptation of literary works into films and TV, underscoring the need for flexibility and openness to reinterpretation in the screenwriting and production processes.
Empowering Women Writers: The importance of community and mentorship among women in horror is emphasized, encouraging female authors to engage and support each other in the genre.
The episode concludes with a message of solidarity and encouragement for women navigating the horror genre, advocating for community engagement and mentorship. Listeners are encouraged to explore Ryan's work, Mother Knows Best, a newly released anthology perfect for Mother's Day.
Mentioned Links:
- Lindy Ryan's website
- Bless Your Heart on Amazon
- Mother Knows Best anthology on Amazon
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Beth McMullen (00:00):
Hi friends, I'm Beth McMullen, I'm Lisa Schmid
and we're the co-hosts ofWriters with Wrinkles.
This is season three, episode20.
And today we are excited towelcome Lindy Ryan to the show.
Lindy is an award-winningauthor and anthologist.
She's the current author inresidence at Rue Morgue, the
world's leading horror cultureand entertainment brand, and the
(00:20):
Chilquill columnist at Booktrip.
In 2020, lindy was named aPublisher's Weekly Star, watch
Honoree, before being named oneof horror's most masterful
anthology curators and achampion for women's voices in
horror.
Her debut horror mystery seriesstarter, bless your Heart, is
available now from MinotaurBooks.
So welcome, lindy.
(00:41):
We're super excited to have youhere today.
Thank you so much for having me.
So I want to talk a little bit,before we jump into our
questions, about Bless yourHeart, which just came out April
9th and is doing gangbustersAudience.
If you have not checked outthis book, please go and do that
because it looks super fun.
I was looking at the book onAmazon and I read the Rachel
(01:06):
Harrison blurb, which is this agloriously gruesome,
compulsively readable debut thatis as grisly as it is clever
and heartfelt, and I was like,okay, I'm in.
I love that.
It just sounds like it'shitting all the marks.
So can you tell us a little bitabout the book and how you came
to write it?
Lindy Ryan (01:27):
Sure.
Lisa Schmid (01:27):
I'll say that Rachel Harrison has a way with
words, doesn't she?
She is fantastic.
You know, bless your Heartstarted.
I always kind of tell thisstory.
It started as a therapyexercise.
You know, I lost both of mygrandmothers kind of recently
when I started writing it, so itwas a way for me to kind of let
them go and be with them justone more time.
(01:47):
And so I started writing thisstory about these four
generations of women and becauseI'm a monster girl through and
through, I was like let's havethem, you know, deal with some
monsters.
And it just kind of took on alife of its own.
You know, through the course ofthe book, very much inspired by
my family members and myhometown and the people and the
characters and the history ofthat setting, and you know, it
(02:12):
just kind of grew and ended upbeing this wonderful moment for
me with my family, as well as away to introduce, I mean, my
best memories of them to readersinside a new world of their own
creation.
So it's very personal but alsovery detached.
At this point you kind of haveto readers inside a new world of
their own creation.
So it's very personal but alsovery detached at this point.
You kind of have to at somepoint stop seeing characters as
you know, people that you're,you know, inspired by or based
(02:34):
upon.
Let them live their own lives.
So, yeah, that's a little bitabout the book, how it came to
be, and now it's just offmarching on its own monster
slaying path.
Are you currently working onthe sequel?
I am actually finishing finaledits on the sequel as we speak.
So it's coming April next yearand I'm very excited.
Beth McMullen (02:55):
That is great.
How many do you have in thepipeline?
Do you know?
Or did you say, okay, I'm goingto do three and then I'm going
to reassess.
Lisa Schmid (03:02):
I don't know moment .
You know it started off as onebook and then we decided to do
three, and then I'm going toreassess I don't know moment.
You know it started off as onebook and then we decided to do
two, and now we're looking atthe next and the next, and so I
think this series will live onas long as the Evans women do
and as long as readers findconnection inside that
matriarchy.
And I'll keep writing as longas they have a story to tell.
Beth McMullen (03:22):
That's great.
I'm super excited.
I ordered my copy because Iread the little blurb and I read
the description and I was like,oh yeah, this is the kind of
book that I love to read.
So I'm very excited to read it.
And, of course, congratulationson the release.
And actually I think we aresuper flattered that, because
you were at the end of writingthe second one and getting all
(03:46):
that stuff done, that you tookthe time to come and talk to us,
because we know what it's liketo be in that kind of rush to
finish.
Lisa Schmid (03:53):
So very cool.
No, thank you.
It's actually really inspiringfor me to get through final
edits and be able to talk aboutthe book and about the story and
about the world.
It gives me some momentum andexcitement to, you know, get
through the nitty gritty of theediting process right.
Always the best part of writinga new book is the end letter,
(04:13):
so it's perfect timing.
Really, that's great.
Lindy Ryan (04:17):
So why don't we jump into the first question and
this is, it's funny, because wewere looking for, we were
interested in anthologies likehow do they come about?
How do they?
You know, how does one personcurate all these, these stories
from all these different authors?
And also the mechanics behind,how it gets put together from a
(04:41):
logistical point of view, from,like, the publisher to managing
all the agents that are involvedin this process.
Because I was, like I wasoriginally, a couple of years
ago, asked to write a shortstory for an anthology and then
it never came about.
And then I finally reached outand I'm like, hey, whatever
happened, he's like oh, it'sjust too complicated, there's
(05:01):
just too many spinning wheelsand too many hands in the pie.
And he's like we just we never,it never even went on sub.
So really curious, like I knowthat's a big question with a lot
of answers, but maybe you canhelp us out.
Lisa Schmid (05:16):
I can try.
I think it would take weeks totalk through anthologies and in
any given day I'd probably havea different, different phone to
pick.
They're a lot of work, they'rea tremendous logistical burden,
but they are so wonderful whenthey're completed and they come
together nicely.
I mean I've done several.
I have two coming out this year, one that just came out
(05:37):
yesterday and one that comes outin September and they're both
completely different experiencesand completely different
processes.
So I think one of the thingsabout curating anthologies is
that it's kind of a new projectevery time and you certainly get
on the momentum of how to dealwith submissions or how to build
a table of contents or ifyou're going to have all invited
(06:00):
or all open or a mix, or ifyou're selling it on a proposal
versus a completed project.
So I think you have to startwith some of those questions and
then move from there.
When it comes to working withagents, most agents in my
experiences don't get involvedwith anthology contracts because
they're short story sales, sothey're pretty simple word count
(06:22):
sales, flat fee stuff, and alot of agents don't get in the
mix with that, since there's nota lot of things to think about
down the road, but some doabsolutely and, you know, want
to keep an eye on, on makingsure that you know their authors
, that they represent, aresigning on to reputable
(06:43):
anthologies, and that's one of,I think, the biggest.
I don't know if it's achallenge, but one of the
biggest things to think about iswho is your editor and who is
your publisher.
Can they really handle ananthology?
And that tends to be a definingpoint.
A lot lately is who is theeditor and who is the publisher
and can they support the authorsand and and the story process?
(07:04):
And it's a tremendous effortbecause you're dealing with, you
know, 20 to 30 stories orpieces of content that need to
work together tonally andthematically without sounding
like the same thing over andover again.
So you want every story to be,you know, a strong, independent
woman on her own in theanthology, but play well with
(07:25):
others and really come togetheras a whole.
And that's the hardest part Ithink about curating or shaping
an anthology is making sureevery story shines on its own
but becomes part of a whole, sothat a reader has the you know
has an experience of a bookreading, not of a short story
reading.
So there's a tremendous amountof mechanics that go into it,
(07:46):
and I think the first step isdeciding what do you, you know,
what kind of anthology are youtrying to build or what's the
process that you're going totake to sell it or to bring it
to market?
And then you kind of reverseengineer back from there to make
sure that you're makingintentional choices, the whole
way through which, I know, is anon-answer.
I know that I'm thinking aboutit because it's tough, but it's
(08:11):
an exercise in patience, butit's a beautifully creative
space to be in.
Lindy Ryan (08:14):
So when and no, that was a really good answer when
so say, for example, is it justyour agent that sends it out on
sub, is that how it works?
So one agent is kind of thepoint of contact for that book
and and they are not necessarilyrepresenting everyone, but
they're just that's the personthat is the lead on it.
Lisa Schmid (08:36):
Yeah.
So if you're selling on aproposal you know to a publisher
, it's the anthologist's job tobuild the proposal.
So do the outreach to bring onall the contributors and to kind
of craft this.
This is who's in the anthology,this is what the anthology is
about.
This is our anticipated wordcount and all those important
details, timelines, and then theanthologist's agent represents
(08:59):
the project, since they'rerepresenting the editor.
At least in my experience,that's how I've always done it.
I build the proposal, I gatherup all the contributors, I take
it to my agent, she takes it outand finds me a publisher, and
then I'm the liaison between thepublisher and the cohort of
writers and artists and poets orwhoever's in the anthology.
(09:21):
So, and I deal withcontributors independently, you
know, working through theiredits, working through their
contracts, all that good stuffand then the agent represents
the project as a whole.
Lindy Ryan (09:31):
So then you are the person that the editor never
talks to any of the otherauthors.
It's all through you and likethey're editing all the stories
and then it gets funneledthrough you?
Lisa Schmid (09:42):
Yeah, I mean I as an anthologist, I edit all of
the stories and build them intothe anthology and so when I hand
over the manuscript it iscompletely edited and ordered,
all that good stuff.
The editor at the publisherwill usually do a read and make
sure there's, you know, nothingI missed.
And then we do proofreading andall those types of line and
copy editing later.
(10:03):
But it's up to the editor tocurate and part of that curation
is dev editing all of thestories and making them fit
together.
Lindy Ryan (10:10):
That's amazing.
That's a lot of work.
I mean that is a lot of work.
My brain breaks when I'm justtrying to write my own book.
I can't even imagine navigatingand juggling 20, 30 authors.
Lisa Schmid (10:25):
Yeah, it's a lot of work and every author is
different.
We are all different, verydifferent creatively, in how we
organize or how we engage in aprocess and as an anthologist,
that's very exciting for mebecause it kind of trains me as
a writer to think differently orto challenge the way I think
about things or do things.
So it's a wonderful thing to bea writer who is also an
(10:46):
anthologist because I get tolearn so much from other writers
who I admire or I want to workwith or I've read their writing
and I want to understand theirprocess or kind of get inside
their brain.
So it's very educational.
So that's the price you pay forthe the you know the grunt work
of doing the work is you reallyget that really wonderful
learning experience and get toknow people in your space and to
(11:08):
build that network and thatcommunity.
So a lot of pros outweigh anyof the cons, I think, for an
anthology.
Lindy Ryan (11:16):
It's very cool.
Beth McMullen (11:18):
You mentioned that one came out yesterday that
released yesterday.
What is that one called?
So yesterday's anthology?
Lisa Schmid (11:24):
release.
It's called Mother Knows Bestand it is a women in horror
anthology.
All surrounding you know mama,trauma, horror, mom tropes and
or mom tropes and motherhoodtropes in horror.
So it's my second all women inhorror anthology with 27
incredible women writing storiesand poems inside the book.
So just in time for Mother'sDay.
Beth McMullen (11:47):
I am.
I love that.
That is so fun and I love thebook.
So just in time for Mother'sDay, I am, I love that.
That is so fun and I love thetiming.
That is so amazing.
Okay, we will make sure to putthat a note about that title in
the podcast notes as well, sopeople can find that book.
This actually reads leads verynicely to the next question,
which is how do you feelpublishing has treated women in
(12:09):
the horror genre and thoseauthors who are working in that
space?
Do you see it evolving?
Is it getting better?
I think for a long time therethere wasn't.
You just didn't see a lot ofnames in that space.
It feels like it's changing,but I don't know.
I'd love to hear your take onthat.
Lisa Schmid (12:25):
Yeah, I mean absolutely.
You know how has publishingtreated women in horror?
Historically not well and stillcurrently, in a lot of ways,
not well.
We consistently see women whohelped define the genre left out
of conversations about thegenre and that's incredibly
frustrating.
But I do think that the it isevolving.
(12:45):
You know, women's voices, allmarginalized and
underrepresented voices, arebeing lifted inside the genre
and we are seeing so much moreinclusion and diversity in who
are telling these stories and,as we talked about in a podcast
yesterday, we're telling womenare telling their story.
We've had moms in horror, forexample, for a really long time.
(13:06):
Right, there's so manyquintessential characters we
could name that are evil moms inhorror, but now women are
telling stories about their ownmotherhood experiences, and so
it's's a huge umbrella of genreand I think when people think
horror we start to, you know, wenarrow our vision into a
specific sub-genre of horror andfail to consider just how much
(13:39):
there is, and so now we'reseeing buzzwords like pink
horror or quiet horror or,apparently, in my case, cozy
horror.
So these aren't new, they'vealways been there.
It's just they're becoming partof the conversation finally,
and in the mainstream and in thebig five and in the book.
You know shelves and you knowthe horror.
Shelves are always a curiouscollection of you know kind of
(14:03):
sub genres put together, butthey're no longer dominated by
the same three names and that'sfantastic.
And that's when we continue tosee that growth and expansion
and diversity of voices.
That's what makes it rich anddynamic.
So I hope we continue seeingmore of that and I absolutely
think we will.
Lindy Ryan (14:20):
So that's good.
I think that's one question andit's something Beth and I just
in publishing in general, howwomen are treated in comparison
to men.
There's always nuances that wesense and we feel.
So it's specifically in horror,which has always been so much
more of a male-dominated genre.
It's really interesting andit's heartening to hear that
(14:43):
it's evolving.
Lisa Schmid (14:45):
Yeah, I think there is, you know, kind of breaking
down the barriers to understandwhat horror is as a genre and as
a consequence of that, we'reseeing, you know, more ways to
tell those horror stories andmore voices coming in.
So at the end of the day, thegenre itself is flourishing
because we're no longer thinkinghorror has to be gory or it has
to be supernatural or it has to, you know, involve a knife
(15:07):
welding lunatic, or, you know, aguy who can't get rid of his
mom's influence, or somethinglike.
We're these same stories overand over.
We're moving and pushing openand being able to tell, you know
, different versions of thosesame tropes and lean into the
same storytelling devices, butfrom different perspectives.
And you're right, I mean, Icame up in horror completely.
(15:29):
I think I've been a horrorreader since day one, obsessed
with monsters and horror and,you know, spooky stuff my whole
life.
But it was never even when Istarted writing.
I started writing in adifferent genre because, you
know, horror wasn't kind in, youknow, to women's voices at the
time, and so it was kind of like, well, your women write women's
fiction.
And it's like, well, I don'tjust read women's fiction, so
why must I write only women'sfiction, and so I love that you
(15:52):
know we're breaking free ofthose, those barriers.
Beth McMullen (15:56):
It's great for writers too, because there's
just so much more.
I'm like you.
I love reading horror.
I it's funny I've never triedto write it or wanted to write
it, but as a consumer, as areader, it's one of my favorite
genres and I have gravitatedtoward it my whole life.
And when I first startedreading, there was Shirley
Jackson.
You had her, but there wasnobody else.
(16:17):
There were the guys, and theytell a different story.
It's just the way it is.
It's just facts.
And to see now all of thesedifferent things that you can
read, all of these differentspaces on the shelf that are
filled with different stuff,it's exciting as a reader
because you're not reading thesame thing over and over and
over again.
It's just.
I love the way that you saythis world is expanding, because
(16:40):
it really is.
And if you're a reader ofhorror, you know that, even if
you haven't, like, acknowledgedthat it's happening, you know
that in what you're able to pickup and what you're reading and
the stories that you're beingable to consume, I think it's
really a super exciting time.
And horror is hot.
Everybody wants in on it and Ithink that's because of this
expansion.
Right?
(17:00):
You're seeing, suddenly you'regrabbing readers that maybe are
cozy fans didn't know they likedhorror, read your book and are
like, oh yeah, I love this.
So you're able to bring in morepeople, right?
Who maybe would never have saidI'm a horror fan, because they
just weren't.
They were only seeing this oneslice and now the pies got all
these slices, so it's reallycool.
Lisa Schmid (17:21):
Yeah, absolutely.
And, like I said, I think theexpansion, like we're not
thinking horror must be gory orit must be these things.
It can be anything.
And I think women have uniquestake in horror.
Our lives are filled withvarious small horrors and so,
while we're not necessarily, ornot only, you know, writing like
ghosts and monsters, we'rewriting female experiences,
(17:42):
we're thinking about body horror, we're thinking about
motherhood horror.
We're thinking about these.
You know, these things that welive through that are actually
quite horrifying, really, whenyou scrape them down to their
bones or loss of loved ones, ormourning our children as they
grow, or I mean whatever anyunique experience.
There's horror in that butthere's hope in that right,
because we get through it and wesurvive it or we overcome it.
(18:05):
And that's what horror is about.
It's about overcoming yourfears and, yes, those fears
might be a haunting or a monsteror a slasher or you know an
experience, but they could bejust our own internal trauma or
guilt or, you know, justexisting outside of our space,
outdoors.
So you know, and we see a lotof really successful commercial
(18:26):
horror projects and film andtelevision embracing those
concepts, and people you knowseem surprised, but when you
kind of break it down.
It's like, is it really thatsurprising?
Because I've had the sameexperience my whole life too,
and somebody was brave enough totell the story.
And so, yeah, it's a, it's abeautiful Renaissance, and in
the horror world, and we stillhave Shirley Jackson, we still
(18:47):
have Mary Shelley, we still haveall of those women who paved
the way for us, and now we getto you know, march down that
road that they laid out, forsure.
Lindy Ryan (18:58):
Well, so that lead, this is going to be a really
hard right turn to our nextquestion, really hard right turn
.
So you've had a few booksturned into movies.
Tell us about how that came tofruition and what you learned
from those experiences, causethat's of course every author's
dream to see their you knowtheir book on the big screen or
(19:20):
the small screen.
Lisa Schmid (19:21):
I think anytime you get to watch this beautiful
creation that you've made comealive in a way that other people
can experience is, you know,wonderful.
And yeah, so I've done a coupleof book to film projects on the
kind of rom-com side, and thenI've done some that were just
straight to film, that didn'thave books behind them, and then
(19:42):
, of course, I did an animatedshort film a couple of years ago
based on a children's storywhich is talk about hard right
turns, so, and that's beenamazing.
And now Bless your Heart is indevelopment for television as
well, and so it's a wholedifferent ballgame, so kind of
like anthologies, thatexperience is never the same.
This you know, at least in myexperience, that experience has
(20:04):
always been very unique, youknow, taking something that's
screenplay only, or taking bookto film or animated project, or
now we're in the world oftelevision development, which is
a totally different ballgame.
So you know it's.
I think as a writer, we havethis tendency to get really
attached to how we see our world, how we see our characters and
(20:25):
how we, you know how wevisualize our own stories.
And when you start moving intothe cinema world, where you've
got directors and producers andtalent and opinions and all of
that creativity can sometimesresult in a very different
project.
That's maybe not how weimagined it and I think it can
be challenging to embrace that.
(20:46):
But if you do, or when you do,then you realize that you've not
written you know one book orone film.
You've written five or six.
Right, you've got everybody'sversion and that makes it, you
know, dynamic and interestingand allows you to see beyond
yourself and really to open up,and so it's.
It's difficult, kind ofwatching this thing you've
(21:08):
created grow and morph andchange, but it's also incredibly
rewarding and fun and you getto meet the most incredible
people and you know the mostincredible directors and
producers, all those people whomake the magic and you get to
work as a team.
And so for a writer, that'sawesome because you know when,
when we're writing, it's.
It can be a very solitaryexperience.
You know we have beta readersor trusted readers or we have
(21:31):
our editors, who we love andhate in equal measure.
Right, we have that team.
But when you go out into thefilm or television side, it's a
whole different team and it justbecomes a really collaborative,
exciting experience.
Everyone is working to bringthose characters or that world
you created to life, and so it's.
It makes you feel really smalland really big at the same time,
(21:54):
and I think it's the mostincredible experience to go
through, for, even for all itsfrustrations.
And you know, sometimes thingsmove really fast and sometimes
they move really slow, but youjust ride the wave and enjoy
every step of it and then youget the end of the day.
You pour yourself a glass ofwine or coffee or water or
whatever you want, and watch,watch your characters come to
(22:16):
life on their own, and nothingis more magical It'd be amazing.
Lindy Ryan (22:20):
I mean, what an amazing feeling to see those,
those characters, like in astory that you know people are
watching.
Lisa Schmid (22:27):
Yeah, it's, I can't even compare it to anything and
I'm, you know, as we're movingthrough the process with Bless
your Heart and seeing some ofthe different things happening,
it's like, oh, I never thoughtof that, but oh, that's an
incredible idea, right.
And it keeps you inspired andit keeps you motivated to
continue creating, not just,maybe, that project, but other
next steps.
You know it's, I think you know, we write it, we slave over a
(22:49):
novel, right.
That may take us a month, acouple of months Wouldn't that
be nice?
Months, or even years to finish, and it can be.
It's a hard battle to do allthat and you wonder if it's
worth it sometimes, or if youhave another one in you.
And those types of experiencesjust enjoying them and riding
that wave, I think, gives youthat momentum to keep going.
(23:11):
So I'm always grateful for that, because finding inspiration is
super hard for me.
Beth McMullen (23:17):
I like the mindset that you're talking
about, that you have to be openand flexible and kind of let go
of your notion that this storycan only be viewed this one way.
It's almost what happens withour readers, right?
We let stuff out and thenpeople reflect back to you
scenes or impressions that younever thought about, or never
(23:38):
thought about it in the way thatthey're describing it, because
it becomes their experience.
You've given it to them and itbecomes their experience, and
it's often hard for us to say,okay, that's not really the way
I meant it, but they're takingit this way, but okay, so, but I
mean just letting it go andletting it be the viewer's
experience, letting it be the TVwriter's experience, letting it
be the reader's experience.
(23:59):
I love that mindset of justbeing okay with your story.
It's serving whatever needthere is for that, that person,
which is kind of why we do it.
So that's that's a good thingfor people to remember if they
are walking this path.
Lisa Schmid (24:16):
Yeah, I think it's just to be open to it.
You know, with bless your heart, in particular that one has
been unique because there arefour women telling the story and
it's a multi POV project and inaddition to the four core
characters, there's a couple ofother people who have a POV.
So one of the things that'sbeen most fun to me is I know
who I think is the character,that that's the main, the main
character of the world, and Iget to listen to everyone tell
(24:37):
me their opinions on who thatmain character is, which
drastically reshapes everything.
And so it's like I saideveryone has this different
version of the same story andit's it's.
You know, it's really fun andreally frustrating in equal
measure, but you learn and yougrow and you just sponge up all
(24:57):
of that inspiration that you canand I think that's the biggest
win for sure.
Beth McMullen (25:03):
Well, lisa and I are going to be there with our
popcorn when it comes out,sitting on the couch watching it
.
Very exciting, right, I know, Iknow, right, you'll be there
going.
Oh, that's interesting.
How did that happen?
Our last question, whichactually we maybe had these a
little out of order because thisgoes back a little bit to the
female authors in horror subjectthat we were discussing before.
(25:25):
We were talking about the booksto movies what advice?
You have a lot of experience,you have deep experience in
writing her, in publishing herin various ways.
So what advice would you giveto female authors who are
thinking about trying to publishhorror and working in that
genre?
What are some things that theycould, they could do or think
about that might help them downthat path?
Lisa Schmid (25:48):
I always like to think of women in horror as a
sisterhood and I'm sure everyoneis tired of hearing me say this
, but I beat this drum a lotLike we are in this genre, we
are in this fight together toraise our voices and each
other's voices.
So, for me, one of or maybe themost important the best thing I
ever did for myself as acreative woman in horror was to
(26:10):
meet other women in horror andto build that community and that
network, because you get a lotfrom it and you get the support,
you get the experience, you getthe mentorship, you get the
validation of the stories you'retrying to tell.
So I think you know, for femaleauthors seeking to get
published in the horror genre,my first, absolute first word of
(26:32):
advice would be reach out toother women in horror.
We are here, we are ready to befriendly and embrace you in the
community, and I think that'swhat's so wonderful about horror
, right, like all these spooky,scary people and no, we're
actually friendly folk, you know.
So come, let's be friends anddrink tea.
And I think I have spent thepast few years really working
(26:52):
with women in horror and gettingto know them out there, and
every single one of these womenare incredible people and
incredible writers andincredibly supportive and they
have given me that sisterhood,that network, that launchpad.
And there's many times when Iget frustrated or I get
irritated or I get stuck or Ifeel like I'm reaching or
(27:13):
pushing too hard, and I justpick up the phone and I call one
of those women and I say youknow, listen to this and we talk
, and no other avenue tobuilding community has been more
meaningful than building thoserelationships.
So, and that's not even justwriters and authors, but there's
editors, there's publishers,there's publicists, there's
(27:35):
podcasters, there's reviewersright, there are women who have
their feet and their footprintin every aspect of the business.
And we all, you know, we knoweach other, we talk to one
another and we're here tosupport that community.
So I definitely always try toencourage people to, you know,
reach out and you know we're alla bunch of.
You know mogwais I'm a hiding,you know, in the in the dark of
(27:59):
the house, and so tend to be alot of introverted people but
still very differently type.
So I have a hard time likegoing out and saying, hi, I'm
Lindy, tell me about you.
And instead, you know, I lookfor more organic opportunities,
because I'm incredibly shy andsocially anxious, so, but I
think most of us are and we haveto get over some of those own
obstacles, because we're allcoming from the same place and
(28:21):
we just need that outreach.
And, but you know, to getpublished, reach out and make
those networks, meet thoseauthors that you admire, those
editors, those publishers, thosepublishers they are.
Every every aspect ofpublishing has them, you know.
And to engage in the readercommunity as well.
I mean, just don't be afraid tomake friends.
Writing is solitary andisolating and you feel like
(28:42):
you're living in a closet andyou probably are, you know,
running around in your pajamaswith like 37 cups of coffee and
swamp witch hair, and it's likesame.
We're all here doing the samething.
So you know, look, that's oneof the reasons I love doing so
much women in horror,anthologies and showcases and
you know other ideas or aspectsbecause it lets me meet people,
(29:06):
but it lets them meet oneanother as well.
So I think mentorship is a hugeasset and you just got to reach
out and go for it, becausewe're here and we want to lift
you up.
Beth McMullen (29:18):
So that is a beautiful, beautiful note to
wrap up on.
I know that we're alwaystalking about how this community
various parts of it and subparts of it are is so supportive
, but you do have to engage init and it's hard if you're shy
or introverted, but, as you said, you can kind of slide in and
(29:41):
meet people and what a what agreat resource as you're
starting to go down this, thishorror path.
So thank you for sharing thatwith us and thank you for coming
on the show and sharing all ofthis wisdom with us.
I think this is gonna be agreat episode for our listeners,
those who are interested orcurrently writing horror and
(30:02):
those who aren't.
Just to know that a lot ofthese aspects we're talking
about apply to whatever genreyou're writing in.
But for those who are writinghorror, I think it's great to
hear this, especially the womenthat are that are writing.
So thank you so much for comingon.
We really appreciate it.
Thank you so much for having me.
It's been a pleasure and,listeners, remember you can find
out more about Lindy on herwebsite, which I'll put in the
(30:24):
podcast notes along with herrecent books that have come out,
and be sure to visitwriterswithwrinklesnet to follow
, support and share about theshow, and Lisa and I will see
you again next week for our May10th episode, which is a deep
dive craft episode, and thoseare always really fun.
So we hope you join us for thatand until then, happy reading,
(30:44):
writing and listening.
Hi friends, I'm Beth McMullen, I'm Lisa Schmid
and we're the co-hosts ofWriters with Wrinkles.
This is season three, episode20.
And today we are excited towelcome Lindy Ryan to the show.
Lindy is an award-winningauthor and anthologist.
She's the current author inresidence at Rue Morgue, the
world's leading horror cultureand entertainment brand, and the
(00:20):
Chilquill columnist at Booktrip.
In 2020, lindy was named aPublisher's Weekly Star, watch
Honoree, before being named oneof horror's most masterful
anthology curators and achampion for women's voices in
horror.
Her debut horror mystery seriesstarter, bless your Heart, is
available now from MinotaurBooks.
So welcome, lindy.
(00:41):
We're super excited to have youhere today.
Thank you so much for having me.
So I want to talk a little bit,before we jump into our
questions, about Bless yourHeart, which just came out April
9th and is doing gangbustersAudience.
If you have not checked outthis book, please go and do that
because it looks super fun.
I was looking at the book onAmazon and I read the Rachel
(01:06):
Harrison blurb, which is this agloriously gruesome,
compulsively readable debut thatis as grisly as it is clever
and heartfelt, and I was like,okay, I'm in.
I love that.
It just sounds like it'shitting all the marks.
So can you tell us a little bitabout the book and how you came
to write it?
Lindy Ryan (01:27):
Sure.
Lisa Schmid (01:27):
I'll say that Rachel Harrison has a way with
words, doesn't she?
She is fantastic.
You know, bless your Heartstarted.
I always kind of tell thisstory.
It started as a therapyexercise.
You know, I lost both of mygrandmothers kind of recently
when I started writing it, so itwas a way for me to kind of let
them go and be with them justone more time.
(01:47):
And so I started writing thisstory about these four
generations of women and becauseI'm a monster girl through and
through, I was like let's havethem, you know, deal with some
monsters.
And it just kind of took on alife of its own.
You know, through the course ofthe book, very much inspired by
my family members and myhometown and the people and the
characters and the history ofthat setting, and you know, it
(02:12):
just kind of grew and ended upbeing this wonderful moment for
me with my family, as well as away to introduce, I mean, my
best memories of them to readersinside a new world of their own
creation.
So it's very personal but alsovery detached.
At this point you kind of haveto readers inside a new world of
their own creation.
So it's very personal but alsovery detached at this point.
You kind of have to at somepoint stop seeing characters as
you know, people that you're,you know, inspired by or based
(02:34):
upon.
Let them live their own lives.
So, yeah, that's a little bitabout the book, how it came to
be, and now it's just offmarching on its own monster
slaying path.
Are you currently working onthe sequel?
I am actually finishing finaledits on the sequel as we speak.
So it's coming April next yearand I'm very excited.
Beth McMullen (02:55):
That is great.
How many do you have in thepipeline?
Do you know?
Or did you say, okay, I'm goingto do three and then I'm going
to reassess.
Lisa Schmid (03:02):
I don't know moment .
You know it started off as onebook and then we decided to do
three, and then I'm going toreassess I don't know moment.
You know it started off as onebook and then we decided to do
two, and now we're looking atthe next and the next, and so I
think this series will live onas long as the Evans women do
and as long as readers findconnection inside that
matriarchy.
And I'll keep writing as longas they have a story to tell.
Beth McMullen (03:22):
That's great.
I'm super excited.
I ordered my copy because Iread the little blurb and I read
the description and I was like,oh yeah, this is the kind of
book that I love to read.
So I'm very excited to read it.
And, of course, congratulationson the release.
And actually I think we aresuper flattered that, because
you were at the end of writingthe second one and getting all
(03:46):
that stuff done, that you tookthe time to come and talk to us,
because we know what it's liketo be in that kind of rush to
finish.
Lisa Schmid (03:53):
So very cool.
No, thank you.
It's actually really inspiringfor me to get through final
edits and be able to talk aboutthe book and about the story and
about the world.
It gives me some momentum andexcitement to, you know, get
through the nitty gritty of theediting process right.
Always the best part of writinga new book is the end letter,
(04:13):
so it's perfect timing.
Really, that's great.
Lindy Ryan (04:17):
So why don't we jump into the first question and
this is, it's funny, because wewere looking for, we were
interested in anthologies likehow do they come about?
How do they?
You know, how does one personcurate all these, these stories
from all these different authors?
And also the mechanics behind,how it gets put together from a
(04:41):
logistical point of view, from,like, the publisher to managing
all the agents that are involvedin this process.
Because I was, like I wasoriginally, a couple of years
ago, asked to write a shortstory for an anthology and then
it never came about.
And then I finally reached outand I'm like, hey, whatever
happened, he's like oh, it'sjust too complicated, there's
(05:01):
just too many spinning wheelsand too many hands in the pie.
And he's like we just we never,it never even went on sub.
So really curious, like I knowthat's a big question with a lot
of answers, but maybe you canhelp us out.
Lisa Schmid (05:16):
I can try.
I think it would take weeks totalk through anthologies and in
any given day I'd probably havea different, different phone to
pick.
They're a lot of work, they'rea tremendous logistical burden,
but they are so wonderful whenthey're completed and they come
together nicely.
I mean I've done several.
I have two coming out this year, one that just came out
(05:37):
yesterday and one that comes outin September and they're both
completely different experiencesand completely different
processes.
So I think one of the thingsabout curating anthologies is
that it's kind of a new projectevery time and you certainly get
on the momentum of how to dealwith submissions or how to build
a table of contents or ifyou're going to have all invited
(06:00):
or all open or a mix, or ifyou're selling it on a proposal
versus a completed project.
So I think you have to startwith some of those questions and
then move from there.
When it comes to working withagents, most agents in my
experiences don't get involvedwith anthology contracts because
they're short story sales, sothey're pretty simple word count
(06:22):
sales, flat fee stuff, and alot of agents don't get in the
mix with that, since there's nota lot of things to think about
down the road, but some doabsolutely and, you know, want
to keep an eye on, on makingsure that you know their authors
, that they represent, aresigning on to reputable
(06:43):
anthologies, and that's one of,I think, the biggest.
I don't know if it's achallenge, but one of the
biggest things to think about iswho is your editor and who is
your publisher.
Can they really handle ananthology?
And that tends to be a definingpoint.
A lot lately is who is theeditor and who is the publisher
and can they support the authorsand and and the story process?
(07:04):
And it's a tremendous effortbecause you're dealing with, you
know, 20 to 30 stories orpieces of content that need to
work together tonally andthematically without sounding
like the same thing over andover again.
So you want every story to be,you know, a strong, independent
woman on her own in theanthology, but play well with
(07:25):
others and really come togetheras a whole.
And that's the hardest part Ithink about curating or shaping
an anthology is making sureevery story shines on its own
but becomes part of a whole, sothat a reader has the you know
has an experience of a bookreading, not of a short story
reading.
So there's a tremendous amountof mechanics that go into it,
(07:46):
and I think the first step isdeciding what do you, you know,
what kind of anthology are youtrying to build or what's the
process that you're going totake to sell it or to bring it
to market?
And then you kind of reverseengineer back from there to make
sure that you're makingintentional choices, the whole
way through which, I know, is anon-answer.
I know that I'm thinking aboutit because it's tough, but it's
(08:11):
an exercise in patience, butit's a beautifully creative
space to be in.
Lindy Ryan (08:14):
So when and no, that was a really good answer when
so say, for example, is it justyour agent that sends it out on
sub, is that how it works?
So one agent is kind of thepoint of contact for that book
and and they are not necessarilyrepresenting everyone, but
they're just that's the personthat is the lead on it.
Lisa Schmid (08:36):
Yeah.
So if you're selling on aproposal you know to a publisher
, it's the anthologist's job tobuild the proposal.
So do the outreach to bring onall the contributors and to kind
of craft this.
This is who's in the anthology,this is what the anthology is
about.
This is our anticipated wordcount and all those important
details, timelines, and then theanthologist's agent represents
(08:59):
the project, since they'rerepresenting the editor.
At least in my experience,that's how I've always done it.
I build the proposal, I gatherup all the contributors, I take
it to my agent, she takes it outand finds me a publisher, and
then I'm the liaison between thepublisher and the cohort of
writers and artists and poets orwhoever's in the anthology.
(09:21):
So, and I deal withcontributors independently, you
know, working through theiredits, working through their
contracts, all that good stuffand then the agent represents
the project as a whole.
Lindy Ryan (09:31):
So then you are the person that the editor never
talks to any of the otherauthors.
It's all through you and likethey're editing all the stories
and then it gets funneledthrough you?
Lisa Schmid (09:42):
Yeah, I mean I as an anthologist, I edit all of
the stories and build them intothe anthology and so when I hand
over the manuscript it iscompletely edited and ordered,
all that good stuff.
The editor at the publisherwill usually do a read and make
sure there's, you know, nothingI missed.
And then we do proofreading andall those types of line and
copy editing later.
(10:03):
But it's up to the editor tocurate and part of that curation
is dev editing all of thestories and making them fit
together.
Lindy Ryan (10:10):
That's amazing.
That's a lot of work.
I mean that is a lot of work.
My brain breaks when I'm justtrying to write my own book.
I can't even imagine navigatingand juggling 20, 30 authors.
Lisa Schmid (10:25):
Yeah, it's a lot of work and every author is
different.
We are all different, verydifferent creatively, in how we
organize or how we engage in aprocess and as an anthologist,
that's very exciting for mebecause it kind of trains me as
a writer to think differently orto challenge the way I think
about things or do things.
So it's a wonderful thing to bea writer who is also an
(10:46):
anthologist because I get tolearn so much from other writers
who I admire or I want to workwith or I've read their writing
and I want to understand theirprocess or kind of get inside
their brain.
So it's very educational.
So that's the price you pay forthe the you know the grunt work
of doing the work is you reallyget that really wonderful
learning experience and get toknow people in your space and to
(11:08):
build that network and thatcommunity.
So a lot of pros outweigh anyof the cons, I think, for an
anthology.
Lindy Ryan (11:16):
It's very cool.
Beth McMullen (11:18):
You mentioned that one came out yesterday that
released yesterday.
What is that one called?
So yesterday's anthology?
Lisa Schmid (11:24):
release.
It's called Mother Knows Bestand it is a women in horror
anthology.
All surrounding you know mama,trauma, horror, mom tropes and
or mom tropes and motherhoodtropes in horror.
So it's my second all women inhorror anthology with 27
incredible women writing storiesand poems inside the book.
So just in time for Mother'sDay.
Beth McMullen (11:47):
I am.
I love that.
That is so fun and I love thebook.
So just in time for Mother'sDay, I am, I love that.
That is so fun and I love thetiming.
That is so amazing.
Okay, we will make sure to putthat a note about that title in
the podcast notes as well, sopeople can find that book.
This actually reads leads verynicely to the next question,
which is how do you feelpublishing has treated women in
(12:09):
the horror genre and thoseauthors who are working in that
space?
Do you see it evolving?
Is it getting better?
I think for a long time therethere wasn't.
You just didn't see a lot ofnames in that space.
It feels like it's changing,but I don't know.
I'd love to hear your take onthat.
Lisa Schmid (12:25):
Yeah, I mean absolutely.
You know how has publishingtreated women in horror?
Historically not well and stillcurrently, in a lot of ways,
not well.
We consistently see women whohelped define the genre left out
of conversations about thegenre and that's incredibly
frustrating.
But I do think that the it isevolving.
(12:45):
You know, women's voices, allmarginalized and
underrepresented voices, arebeing lifted inside the genre
and we are seeing so much moreinclusion and diversity in who
are telling these stories and,as we talked about in a podcast
yesterday, we're telling womenare telling their story.
We've had moms in horror, forexample, for a really long time.
(13:06):
Right, there's so manyquintessential characters we
could name that are evil moms inhorror, but now women are
telling stories about their ownmotherhood experiences, and so
it's's a huge umbrella of genreand I think when people think
horror we start to, you know, wenarrow our vision into a
specific sub-genre of horror andfail to consider just how much
(13:39):
there is, and so now we'reseeing buzzwords like pink
horror or quiet horror or,apparently, in my case, cozy
horror.
So these aren't new, they'vealways been there.
It's just they're becoming partof the conversation finally,
and in the mainstream and in thebig five and in the book.
You know shelves and you knowthe horror.
Shelves are always a curiouscollection of you know kind of
(14:03):
sub genres put together, butthey're no longer dominated by
the same three names and that'sfantastic.
And that's when we continue tosee that growth and expansion
and diversity of voices.
That's what makes it rich anddynamic.
So I hope we continue seeingmore of that and I absolutely
think we will.
Lindy Ryan (14:20):
So that's good.
I think that's one question andit's something Beth and I just
in publishing in general, howwomen are treated in comparison
to men.
There's always nuances that wesense and we feel.
So it's specifically in horror,which has always been so much
more of a male-dominated genre.
It's really interesting andit's heartening to hear that
(14:43):
it's evolving.
Lisa Schmid (14:45):
Yeah, I think there is, you know, kind of breaking
down the barriers to understandwhat horror is as a genre and as
a consequence of that, we'reseeing, you know, more ways to
tell those horror stories andmore voices coming in.
So at the end of the day, thegenre itself is flourishing
because we're no longer thinkinghorror has to be gory or it has
to be supernatural or it has to, you know, involve a knife
(15:07):
welding lunatic, or, you know, aguy who can't get rid of his
mom's influence, or somethinglike.
We're these same stories overand over.
We're moving and pushing openand being able to tell, you know
, different versions of thosesame tropes and lean into the
same storytelling devices, butfrom different perspectives.
And you're right, I mean, Icame up in horror completely.
(15:29):
I think I've been a horrorreader since day one, obsessed
with monsters and horror and,you know, spooky stuff my whole
life.
But it was never even when Istarted writing.
I started writing in adifferent genre because, you
know, horror wasn't kind in, youknow, to women's voices at the
time, and so it was kind of like, well, your women write women's
fiction.
And it's like, well, I don'tjust read women's fiction, so
why must I write only women'sfiction, and so I love that you
(15:52):
know we're breaking free ofthose, those barriers.
Beth McMullen (15:56):
It's great for writers too, because there's
just so much more.
I'm like you.
I love reading horror.
I it's funny I've never triedto write it or wanted to write
it, but as a consumer, as areader, it's one of my favorite
genres and I have gravitatedtoward it my whole life.
And when I first startedreading, there was Shirley
Jackson.
You had her, but there wasnobody else.
(16:17):
There were the guys, and theytell a different story.
It's just the way it is.
It's just facts.
And to see now all of thesedifferent things that you can
read, all of these differentspaces on the shelf that are
filled with different stuff,it's exciting as a reader
because you're not reading thesame thing over and over and
over again.
It's just.
I love the way that you saythis world is expanding, because
(16:40):
it really is.
And if you're a reader ofhorror, you know that, even if
you haven't, like, acknowledgedthat it's happening, you know
that in what you're able to pickup and what you're reading and
the stories that you're beingable to consume, I think it's
really a super exciting time.
And horror is hot.
Everybody wants in on it and Ithink that's because of this
expansion.
Right?
(17:00):
You're seeing, suddenly you'regrabbing readers that maybe are
cozy fans didn't know they likedhorror, read your book and are
like, oh yeah, I love this.
So you're able to bring in morepeople, right?
Who maybe would never have saidI'm a horror fan, because they
just weren't.
They were only seeing this oneslice and now the pies got all
these slices, so it's reallycool.
Lisa Schmid (17:21):
Yeah, absolutely.
And, like I said, I think theexpansion, like we're not
thinking horror must be gory orit must be these things.
It can be anything.
And I think women have uniquestake in horror.
Our lives are filled withvarious small horrors and so,
while we're not necessarily, ornot only, you know, writing like
ghosts and monsters, we'rewriting female experiences,
(17:42):
we're thinking about body horror, we're thinking about
motherhood horror.
We're thinking about these.
You know, these things that welive through that are actually
quite horrifying, really, whenyou scrape them down to their
bones or loss of loved ones, ormourning our children as they
grow, or I mean whatever anyunique experience.
There's horror in that butthere's hope in that right,
because we get through it and wesurvive it or we overcome it.
(18:05):
And that's what horror is about.
It's about overcoming yourfears and, yes, those fears
might be a haunting or a monsteror a slasher or you know an
experience, but they could bejust our own internal trauma or
guilt or, you know, justexisting outside of our space,
outdoors.
So you know, and we see a lotof really successful commercial
(18:26):
horror projects and film andtelevision embracing those
concepts, and people you knowseem surprised, but when you
kind of break it down.
It's like, is it really thatsurprising?
Because I've had the sameexperience my whole life too,
and somebody was brave enough totell the story.
And so, yeah, it's a, it's abeautiful Renaissance, and in
the horror world, and we stillhave Shirley Jackson, we still
(18:47):
have Mary Shelley, we still haveall of those women who paved
the way for us, and now we getto you know, march down that
road that they laid out, forsure.
Lindy Ryan (18:58):
Well, so that lead, this is going to be a really
hard right turn to our nextquestion, really hard right turn
.
So you've had a few booksturned into movies.
Tell us about how that came tofruition and what you learned
from those experiences, causethat's of course every author's
dream to see their you knowtheir book on the big screen or
(19:20):
the small screen.
Lisa Schmid (19:21):
I think anytime you get to watch this beautiful
creation that you've made comealive in a way that other people
can experience is, you know,wonderful.
And yeah, so I've done a coupleof book to film projects on the
kind of rom-com side, and thenI've done some that were just
straight to film, that didn'thave books behind them, and then
(19:42):
, of course, I did an animatedshort film a couple of years ago
based on a children's storywhich is talk about hard right
turns, so, and that's beenamazing.
And now Bless your Heart is indevelopment for television as
well, and so it's a wholedifferent ballgame, so kind of
like anthologies, thatexperience is never the same.
This you know, at least in myexperience, that experience has
(20:04):
always been very unique, youknow, taking something that's
screenplay only, or taking bookto film or animated project, or
now we're in the world oftelevision development, which is
a totally different ballgame.
So you know it's.
I think as a writer, we havethis tendency to get really
attached to how we see our world, how we see our characters and
(20:25):
how we, you know how wevisualize our own stories.
And when you start moving intothe cinema world, where you've
got directors and producers andtalent and opinions and all of
that creativity can sometimesresult in a very different
project.
That's maybe not how weimagined it and I think it can
be challenging to embrace that.
(20:46):
But if you do, or when you do,then you realize that you've not
written you know one book orone film.
You've written five or six.
Right, you've got everybody'sversion and that makes it, you
know, dynamic and interestingand allows you to see beyond
yourself and really to open up,and so it's.
It's difficult, kind ofwatching this thing you've
(21:08):
created grow and morph andchange, but it's also incredibly
rewarding and fun and you getto meet the most incredible
people and you know the mostincredible directors and
producers, all those people whomake the magic and you get to
work as a team.
And so for a writer, that'sawesome because you know when,
when we're writing, it's.
It can be a very solitaryexperience.
You know we have beta readersor trusted readers or we have
(21:31):
our editors, who we love andhate in equal measure.
Right, we have that team.
But when you go out into thefilm or television side, it's a
whole different team and it justbecomes a really collaborative,
exciting experience.
Everyone is working to bringthose characters or that world
you created to life, and so it's.
It makes you feel really smalland really big at the same time,
(21:54):
and I think it's the mostincredible experience to go
through, for, even for all itsfrustrations.
And you know, sometimes thingsmove really fast and sometimes
they move really slow, but youjust ride the wave and enjoy
every step of it and then youget the end of the day.
You pour yourself a glass ofwine or coffee or water or
whatever you want, and watch,watch your characters come to
(22:16):
life on their own, and nothingis more magical It'd be amazing.
Lindy Ryan (22:20):
I mean, what an amazing feeling to see those,
those characters, like in astory that you know people are
watching.
Lisa Schmid (22:27):
Yeah, it's, I can't even compare it to anything and
I'm, you know, as we're movingthrough the process with Bless
your Heart and seeing some ofthe different things happening,
it's like, oh, I never thoughtof that, but oh, that's an
incredible idea, right.
And it keeps you inspired andit keeps you motivated to
continue creating, not just,maybe, that project, but other
next steps.
You know it's, I think you know, we write it, we slave over a
(22:49):
novel, right.
That may take us a month, acouple of months Wouldn't that
be nice?
Months, or even years to finish, and it can be.
It's a hard battle to do allthat and you wonder if it's
worth it sometimes, or if youhave another one in you.
And those types of experiencesjust enjoying them and riding
that wave, I think, gives youthat momentum to keep going.
(23:11):
So I'm always grateful for that, because finding inspiration is
super hard for me.
Beth McMullen (23:17):
I like the mindset that you're talking
about, that you have to be openand flexible and kind of let go
of your notion that this storycan only be viewed this one way.
It's almost what happens withour readers, right?
We let stuff out and thenpeople reflect back to you
scenes or impressions that younever thought about, or never
(23:38):
thought about it in the way thatthey're describing it, because
it becomes their experience.
You've given it to them and itbecomes their experience, and
it's often hard for us to say,okay, that's not really the way
I meant it, but they're takingit this way, but okay, so, but I
mean just letting it go andletting it be the viewer's
experience, letting it be the TVwriter's experience, letting it
be the reader's experience.
(23:59):
I love that mindset of justbeing okay with your story.
It's serving whatever needthere is for that, that person,
which is kind of why we do it.
So that's that's a good thingfor people to remember if they
are walking this path.
Lisa Schmid (24:16):
Yeah, I think it's just to be open to it.
You know, with bless your heart, in particular that one has
been unique because there arefour women telling the story and
it's a multi POV project and inaddition to the four core
characters, there's a couple ofother people who have a POV.
So one of the things that'sbeen most fun to me is I know
who I think is the character,that that's the main, the main
character of the world, and Iget to listen to everyone tell
(24:37):
me their opinions on who thatmain character is, which
drastically reshapes everything.
And so it's like I saideveryone has this different
version of the same story andit's it's.
You know, it's really fun andreally frustrating in equal
measure, but you learn and yougrow and you just sponge up all
(24:57):
of that inspiration that you canand I think that's the biggest
win for sure.
Beth McMullen (25:03):
Well, lisa and I are going to be there with our
popcorn when it comes out,sitting on the couch watching it
.
Very exciting, right, I know, Iknow, right, you'll be there
going.
Oh, that's interesting.
How did that happen?
Our last question, whichactually we maybe had these a
little out of order because thisgoes back a little bit to the
female authors in horror subjectthat we were discussing before.
(25:25):
We were talking about the booksto movies what advice?
You have a lot of experience,you have deep experience in
writing her, in publishing herin various ways.
So what advice would you giveto female authors who are
thinking about trying to publishhorror and working in that
genre?
What are some things that theycould, they could do or think
about that might help them downthat path?
Lisa Schmid (25:48):
I always like to think of women in horror as a
sisterhood and I'm sure everyoneis tired of hearing me say this
, but I beat this drum a lotLike we are in this genre, we
are in this fight together toraise our voices and each
other's voices.
So, for me, one of or maybe themost important the best thing I
ever did for myself as acreative woman in horror was to
(26:10):
meet other women in horror andto build that community and that
network, because you get a lotfrom it and you get the support,
you get the experience, you getthe mentorship, you get the
validation of the stories you'retrying to tell.
So I think you know, for femaleauthors seeking to get
published in the horror genre,my first, absolute first word of
(26:32):
advice would be reach out toother women in horror.
We are here, we are ready to befriendly and embrace you in the
community, and I think that'swhat's so wonderful about horror
, right, like all these spooky,scary people and no, we're
actually friendly folk, you know.
So come, let's be friends anddrink tea.
And I think I have spent thepast few years really working
(26:52):
with women in horror and gettingto know them out there, and
every single one of these womenare incredible people and
incredible writers andincredibly supportive and they
have given me that sisterhood,that network, that launchpad.
And there's many times when Iget frustrated or I get
irritated or I get stuck or Ifeel like I'm reaching or
(27:13):
pushing too hard, and I justpick up the phone and I call one
of those women and I say youknow, listen to this and we talk
, and no other avenue tobuilding community has been more
meaningful than building thoserelationships.
So, and that's not even justwriters and authors, but there's
editors, there's publishers,there's publicists, there's
(27:35):
podcasters, there's reviewersright, there are women who have
their feet and their footprintin every aspect of the business.
And we all, you know, we knoweach other, we talk to one
another and we're here tosupport that community.
So I definitely always try toencourage people to, you know,
reach out and you know we're alla bunch of.
You know mogwais I'm a hiding,you know, in the in the dark of
(27:59):
the house, and so tend to be alot of introverted people but
still very differently type.
So I have a hard time likegoing out and saying, hi, I'm
Lindy, tell me about you.
And instead, you know, I lookfor more organic opportunities,
because I'm incredibly shy andsocially anxious, so, but I
think most of us are and we haveto get over some of those own
obstacles, because we're allcoming from the same place and
(28:21):
we just need that outreach.
And, but you know, to getpublished, reach out and make
those networks, meet thoseauthors that you admire, those
editors, those publishers, thosepublishers they are.
Every every aspect ofpublishing has them, you know.
And to engage in the readercommunity as well.
I mean, just don't be afraid tomake friends.
Writing is solitary andisolating and you feel like
(28:42):
you're living in a closet andyou probably are, you know,
running around in your pajamaswith like 37 cups of coffee and
swamp witch hair, and it's likesame.
We're all here doing the samething.
So you know, look, that's oneof the reasons I love doing so
much women in horror,anthologies and showcases and
you know other ideas or aspectsbecause it lets me meet people,
(29:06):
but it lets them meet oneanother as well.
So I think mentorship is a hugeasset and you just got to reach
out and go for it, becausewe're here and we want to lift
you up.
Beth McMullen (29:18):
So that is a beautiful, beautiful note to
wrap up on.
I know that we're alwaystalking about how this community
various parts of it and subparts of it are is so supportive
, but you do have to engage init and it's hard if you're shy
or introverted, but, as you said, you can kind of slide in and
(29:41):
meet people and what a what agreat resource as you're
starting to go down this, thishorror path.
So thank you for sharing thatwith us and thank you for coming
on the show and sharing all ofthis wisdom with us.
I think this is gonna be agreat episode for our listeners,
those who are interested orcurrently writing horror and
(30:02):
those who aren't.
Just to know that a lot ofthese aspects we're talking
about apply to whatever genreyou're writing in.
But for those who are writinghorror, I think it's great to
hear this, especially the womenthat are that are writing.
So thank you so much for comingon.
We really appreciate it.
Thank you so much for having me.
It's been a pleasure and,listeners, remember you can find
out more about Lindy on herwebsite, which I'll put in the
(30:24):
podcast notes along with herrecent books that have come out,
and be sure to visitwriterswithwrinklesnet to follow
, support and share about theshow, and Lisa and I will see
you again next week for our May10th episode, which is a deep
dive craft episode, and thoseare always really fun.
So we hope you join us for thatand until then, happy reading,
(30:44):
writing and listening.
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