Interview with Author Laura Nettles

Interview with Laura Nettles

1.    Congratulations on your newest release! Can you please tell us a little about it?

Thank you so much! “Tiny Shivers” is a horror collection of 101 stories divided up into horror subgenres: Cosmic Slithers, Terrors of the Mundane, Angels and Demons, The Seeping Supernatural, Twisted Psychology, Shadowy Gothic, Mutated Sci-fi, and Holiday Food Horror. Fourteen of these stories were previously published in anthologies, magazines, and publisher’s Patreons. It’s my book baby of two and a half years of work. Tales range from short stories to flash fictions to drabbles.

2.    What inspired this project?

I had written my first novel (a YA sci-fi, now shelved), and was looking to improve my writing. I came across an interview with Sacha Black where she promoted her book “The Anatomy of Prose.” I devoured it and it changed my life. One of the exercises in the book is to write flash fiction to reiterate faster and focus on the revision aspects, making every word count. I did it. A horror flash about Cthulhu flowed from my fingers and I realized I loved writing horror. Never looked back since. I submitted my stories left, right, and center. After five months and two days I had my first publishing credit in “Shiver: A Chilling Horror Anthology.” I kept going and eventually wanted to release a collection of my own where my stories were all together. As of today, I have twenty-eight stories published in various anthologies. Many of these will be available in my second collection once I have enough horror to fill another volume.

3.    I know this is tough, but if you had to pick ONLY ONE of your Tiny Shivers stories to be expanded and made into either a full book or a movie, which story would you pick and why?

I would pick my short story “Tentacles and Boomboxes” for a movie adaptation. It’s a 1980s Lovecraftian LARP gone terribly, terribly wrong. Or right… depending on who/what you are. There is a limited cast of five characters in this version, but I could see it being expanded with more parts to play. More obstacles and locations for our characters to explore on page/screen utilizing the talents of the players. More LARP prop creatures with reflective eyes to unsettle, and make you question reality. By heightening the unease, the real ones will seem all the scarier by the end. Would love to see a new rendition of a Necronomicon, this one made by a college art major. There is already the iconic Evil Dead version, but there’s always room for more iterations. I think the twist could be fun to experience with an audience together. If I had my way, the fx would be practical with cg enhancements. Make it feel more real for the actors and bring the unreal into our physical world.

4.    When did you first develop a love for horror and science fiction?

I was a terrified child. Goosebumps was banned in my parent’s house after one episode shown in elementary school gave me nightmares. The one with the plant in the basement replacing the dad. Terrifying. A babysitter put on The Birds when I was six, which also scarred me. Grew up loving Star Wars and then discovered Doctor Who in high school. Dipped my toes back into horror with Abbott and Castello Meet Frankenstein, and then the remake of When a Stranger Calls. Also did the right of passage and watched Psycho. I’d say my love of horror blossomed in college with the German Expressionist part of my film history class. Nosferatu and its shadows drew me in, the painted lighting on sets and actors for The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari fascinated me, and wonky sets with no straight lines set my mind alight. Then, all the Universal classic monsters opened that world up. Klaus Kinski as the vampire in the German remake of Nosferatu entranced me. I also watched films like A Haunting in Connecticut, Insidious and The Conjuring. Loved them all.

After college, I discovered the world of Junji Ito and fell in love. The way mundane things like spirals could be cosmically horrifying blew my mind. I wanted to think outside the box as well. Horror was more than just jump scares and pulling the sound out of a scene. I’ve since expanded into reading PTSD Radio as well by Masaaki Nakayama. It’s expanded my mind. These two authors have inspired my love of the drawn horrors. I want to illustrate comic versions of some of my drabbles because of them. So inspiring.

5.    When did you first decide to become a writer?

I came late to the writing world. I always thought if I were to be involved in books, it would be as an illustrator. I dabbled in fan fiction in college, but nothing serious. That was, until I heard of this thing called NaNoWriMo in 2018. I made a plot embryo for a YA sci-fi in October and wrote a 51k first draft the next month. It was magical. It was like a part of me I had never known was starting to blossom. I knew then I did not want to give up writing. The high of writing “The End.”  It was during the revision process in August 9th, 2020 I found “The Anatomy of Prose” by Sacha Black and turned my hand to short horror fiction in an exercise. I realized what I could do with very few words: the feelings I could invoke, the imagery I could conjure. The rest is history.

6.    As well as being an author, you’re a podcaster! Can you please tell us a little about your podcast?

My podcast is Twisted Tendrils: Horrific Writing Advice. It’s a passion project where I give tips on writing horror and interview authors. It’s been on hiatus for a while, but I have two episodes in the can I should be releasing in the coming weeks. I go over things like literary techniques that can be utilized to enhance horror, different horror sub-genres you may want to try and explore, varying sentence types and structures, the concept of healing through horror, and more.

7.    Writing shorter fiction may be daunting to some aspiring writers. What tips would you give authors looking to write drabbles?

For a drabble, my advice is focus on a single pivotal moment. A moment of transformation: a birth, death, physical transformation, mental change, absorption, execution of a plan, feeding, etc. Keep the characters limited. Three individuals absolute tops. One or two is better. A mob or group of unnamed count as one. Stick to a single location. Use architypes for shorthand to save on words setting up the scene. (Just say they are a solider wearing a worn but well-kept uniform, not necessarily what rank in what platoon, of which country, waring what type of uniform who had so-and-so for a commander back in the day who railed on them if their shoes weren’t buffed to a shine.) Don’t spend days on backstory or world building, it won’t come through with that limited of a word count. Sometimes I don’t even know my character’s gender, only how their face feels as it freezes in space.

I find something to spark the story idea. It’s usually a prompt/theme for an anthology, a painting, or a single word I weave around. Research can help. If the theme is “Christmas horror” look up folklore surrounding the holiday and see if it sparks anything. Look at images, listen to music or ambience.

Read drabbles to see how others have done it in the past. You can break the mold, but you don’t have to reinvent the wheel at the same time. Study. Experiment with different literary techniques. Have fun! It will only take about half an hour to write it, so throw caution to the wind and go wild. The worst that can happen is you learn what didn’t work for you at that moment and start on a new one. Build up your back catalogue. Push the boundaries of your comfort zone. Make every word fight for its existence in the final edit. Get beta reader feedback. Take a chance and submit to publishers!

8.    Do you have a dream podcast guest? Maybe a favorite author?

Dream podcast guest. Either Junji Ito or Masaaki Nakayama. I love both their work so much. I would need an interpreter though as I am just starting to learn Japanese. Their command of the page turn scare is immaculate. Making you not want to see what’s next, yet needing to all the same. Then you turn the page and are horrified and entranced at the same time by their depiction of what you did not want to visualize. Chef’s kiss.

9.    Where can readers learn more about you?

My website has a running list with links for where I’m published. You can catch me live on YouTube sometimes as well (my channel is Laura Nettles). I document my writing journey and get things done with other author friends. If you’re interested in my day job, I have an IMDb page for all the movies I’ve lit visual effects for. I’ve worked on a few Del Toro projects, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and more. If you wish to reach out to me, my Instagram DMs are open at nettles.animation, or my contact form on my website.

To buy Tiny Shivers, check out Amazon!