I was thrilled and stunned to discover that my poetry collection, Hag, has been placed on the preliminary ballot for the HWA Bram Stoker awards for superior achievement in a poetry collection. After a bit of a chuckle over the fact that the contents of my mind are classed as horror, I started thinking about how I got here. I’ve reflected before on how my upbringing as a working-class writer presents me with various challenges but coming from that position has its advantages. I didn’t grow up knowing about literary genres, I didn’t know which were considered prestigious and literary and which were labelled genre like it makes the work somehow lesser. I didn’t even really distinguish between prose and poetry. I just liked stories, regardless of the world in which they were set or the form they were in, and I read whatever I could get my hands on. In that situation, ignorance really was bliss.
That said, horror has a special place in my heart. I love a good ghost story or a well-made horror film. I’m currently studying for a creative writing PhD on witches in women’s poetry because I’m fascinated by myths, folklore and the ancient monsters that haunt the landscape and our nightmares. I’m not sure why it is, I don’t consider myself a particularly brave person. I think it’s because at the heart of every horror story is a beautiful, if sometimes brutal, picture of humanity. For me, the point of horror isn’t the monsters, it’s the people who face them.
Sometimes, I find the darkness a comfort. When you’re facing real-life horrors, reading stories of people facing more supernatural concerns comes off as light relief. Right now, my Mum is gravely ill and believe me, there’s not a haunted doll or creature from the deep as scary as that. Sometimes it helps me find a way through my own problems. Either way, I feel a bit less lonely and more connected to possibilities when I’m reading or watching horror.
Creatively, I also find a lot of inspiration from horror. A few years ago, my Dad died. At the time I was studying for an MA in Creative Writing and it meant so much to my Dad to see his daughter pursue her dream to be a writer that I never thought of taking a break. I went away for a week to Arran; I was a long way from home, all alone on the island out of season. I could walk for hours without seeing a soul. While I was there, I listened to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and read Glyn Maxwell’s book, Time’s Fool, a novel written in verse about a man trapped on a train. (For someone travelling from the South Coast of England to Scotland by train, that in itself might be considered a horror.) I started to write about a haunted ghost train, inspired as much by the rhythm of the trains I travelled on as Maxwell’s verse and Shelley’s genius. At a certain point, I got stuck. I had the ghost train, but I didn’t really know where it was going. When I got home, I started reading the incredible Locke and Key series of graphic novels by Joe Hill and I found my answer. My long poem about a ghost train to another dimension was eventually published in the British Fantasy Society journal but to me it’s not a fantasy - it’s about navigating through grief, articulating that most profound of horrors. I wouldn’t have got there if I hadn’t chosen to stick to my habit of reading different genres and forms. In the same way, I wouldn’t have completed my collection, Hag, without the same broad interests and experiences.
That’s why it means so much to me to be on the preliminary ballot for the HWA Bram Stoker awards and why it’s such a surprise. To be listed in the company of other writers who tell such absorbing stories and demonstrate the resilience of the human spirit is an honour. I am proud to demonstrate the poetry of horror, the beauty of it all. I think I’m going to continue my habit of ignoring established views on literary genres and their standing and keep exploring the whole bookshop in search of a good story.
You can read a sample of the poems from Hag here or drop me a line if you’d like to read more or have any questions or comments. Recommendations for terrifying stories in any form or genre are always welcome.
Check out the trailer for Locke and Key on Netflix, which I am insanely excited to see, what a magnificent world to appear on the TV screen.