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Horror Author Roundtable
2.
AOTW: It has been said that some authors do not like the limitation of being called a genre writer, i.e., a "horror writer," yet other authors just see it as a marketing term and don't mind the label. What is your opinion about the label "horror author?"
F. Paul Wilson: In the 1970s I wrote only science fiction (some of it horror tinged, but still SF); I was a sci-fi guy and proud of it.
I spent the 1980s as a horror author; that was all I wrote then and I was happy to be known as such.
But since 1990 I've written horror, science fiction, medical thrillers, a religious thriller, a political thriller, and even a new-agey novel (which won't surface for at least a year), so I'm not so happy with the horror pigeonhole anymore. I realize that all along I've been a thriller writer --- SF thrillers, horror thrillers, and so on. Call me a horror writer and I won't correct you, but since I'm switching back and forth between genres so much, I think "thriller writer" would be more accurate.
Suzy McKee Charnas: Any label except "mainstream" will cut you out of being seriously reviewed (unless you write a string of bestsellers). Any label will turn off many, many readers who, if they got past the label and read your work, would love it. On the other hand, and there is always another hand, a lot of readers who come into a store looking for horror books will find your work (and the chance to become your fans) if you are identified as a horror writer and shelved with others of that ilk. If you love writing horror and have no ambitions to do anything else, the label probably helps more than it hinders; if not, not. It's a practical question each author has to try to decide for herself, although in most cases the decisions are made by editors and marketing departments, and she has nothing to say about it, which is why authors may resent the label even if in fact it suits them and their work perfectly. Nobody likes to be pushed around.
Gregory Maguire: I usually think the phrase "horror author" refers to my clothes.
Michael Norman: I am a storyteller who happens to write about encounters with ghosts.
Fred Saberhagen: Actually I never think of myself as writing horror, though if it helps to sell the books to put them on that shelf, that's fine. My Dracula series often shows up there.
Geoffrey Huntington: I love it. When I write historical fiction, I'm happy to be called a historical fiction writer. Likewise when I write mysteries. If you love what you're writing you're glad to be identified with the genre.
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro: I think all writers are sub-genres of one --- the work of that writer. All other labels are publishing artifacts, and, although useful, are also limiting. They're also inevitable in this category-driven marketplace.
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