How to Dismantle Your Life: Women in Horror LORI SAFRANEK

Today's Woman in Horror is Lori Safranek. Lori offers a new perspective because her background was in journalism and melded into horror.

Lori is a goddess in disguise, warm, caring, funny, intelligent and has a gift of telling a story to entertain readers. She is descriptive in her writing and offers a new view in horror. I suspect we will hear many more good things about Lori.

1. When did you start writing horror? Two years ago

2. Have you written in any other genre? I have a degree in journalism, so I’ve been a writer for a long time and worked for several years as a newspaper reporter. Other than that, I dabbled in writing mysteries, but with no success.

3. What makes you uncomfortable? I assume this means what subjects in horror stories make me uncomfortable, so I will say sexual abuse, children being hurt, excessive gore and torture scenes that add nothing to the story.

4. Does your family read your work? My husband does, he’s my first reader usually; my parents find it a bit strange, which is okay with me.

5. Does your writing make you uneasy? Not usually, but I did write a story about a serial killer, and his actions, though true to form for a serial killer, made me uncomfortable when writing them. But they were important to the story, so I kept them in.

6. Who would you say you write like? I really don’t know who I write like, if anyone. I try not to write like anyone else.

7. Who are your favourite authors? I have a number of favorites, in various genre, but in horror, I would say Edgar Allen Poe from when I was growing up and today, J.A. Konrath, Billie Sue Mossiman, David Bernstein, Mercedes Yardley, many more.

8. Who influences you as a writer? I started writing when I was a kid and was an avid fan of Agatha Christie. Although we don’t think of her that way, Mrs. Christie liked blood and poisoning and a good shiver down the spine. I was a newspaper reporter for several years and journalists influence me in the way they pare a story down to bare bones, no muss and no fuss. Edgar Allen Poe influences me in that I don’t enjoy writing about entrails leaking out of someone’s stomach, as much as I enjoy creeping out the reader, giving them something to worry about once they put the story down.

9. Do you remember what your first horror book was that you read? I think it would be stories by Edgar Allen Poe, most certainly The Tell-Tale Heart.

10. How old were you? I was in junior high, so 13 or 14. I read voraciously even then.

11. Is there any subject you will not touch as an author? I haven’t encountered anything yet that I wouldn’t tackle, but I doubt I could handle a story about torture.

12. What was the best advice you were given as a writer? Just write and don’t wait for inspiration to hit.

13. If you had to start all over again, what would you do different? I would have started writing and sending out stories many years ago.

14. How many books do you read a year? 200 or so, usually – four books a week.

15. Do you write every day? Not lately, due to health issues, but that’s my goal for this year.