Well, if you couldn't tell from the bundle of goofy stories at the beginning of the month, it's April again, and with April Fools behind us, it's time for another annual writing event...

Nightmare Night in April, 2023!

The Horror Write-Off where you write a horror-story on the opposite side of the year)

April 30 is 6 months between Halloweens, so every year, I hold "Halloween in April" festivities, including an annual horror-write off here on FiMFiction: "Nightmare Night in April".

I don't do this as a contest, just for fun, so first-time writers, unusual ideas, and cross-posting with other events are all welcome!

Rules...

Stories that you submit must meet the following criteria to be part of the event...

• Must be Horror - If it doesn't have the Horror tag, or SHOULDN'T have the horror tag, it doesn't belong here. Stories where the horror isn't violent or sad are encouraged though.
• Any length, any setting - in past years I asked that it be a standalone short story, but I really don't bother anymore: you can make this any length, any setting, even a chapter in another story, as long as you are writing and publishing it in April.
• Make sure it's Readable - Your Spelling, Grammar, and Organization need to be of the quality people can read. Please do a proofreading pass, or maybe even get someone else to do so. It doesn't have to be amazing, just readable.
• You MUST link the write-off folder - Part of how these work is that the bulk of them get packaged as a group, meaning the other stories get exposure from them.
• Submit your story HERE by the deadline of May 1st - Incomplete stories are fine as long as the horror plot is built up and you are nearing a conclusion.

What makes a good horror story?

Remember, Horror doesn't have to be scary, it just has to be morbid! A good Horror story has...

• Disturbing Premise - This is the meat of original horror is when you get something that seems awful to think about.
• Tension - Keeps the reader on the edge of their seat, in one way or another.
• Originality - The point is to create original horror stories. If you can't do something new, at least do a big enough twist on something old that it feels original.
• Believability - Obviously, most of these won't be realistic, but a good horror story makes you question... "could this actually happen?"
• Lingering Feels - A good Horror Story should leave you with that lingering sense of morbid curiosity, dread, or dark satisfaction.
• Philosophical Interest - This is important: good horror makes us ask uncomfortable questions about our world. That's the greatest value of horror.

How this Ends...

The deadline is the morning of May 1st. I will close the folder on that date.

Need Help?

Remember that I have a set of blogs with writing advice, and I'll try to update it this month, so if you want advice, that's a good place to go. Also, I did a seminar at an online con a few years ago, which you can watch on YouTube at this link: it's a good source of ideas and inspiration! You can also ask in this thread, and I or another writer will respond.

I shoulda held onto 500 Little Zombies just a bit longer...
Anyway, I believe I will be able to contribute.
EDIT: Yeah, I’ve got one.

7821150
Two chapters left to finish in my horror fic from last year. Bit daunting, but I'll give it a shot!

7821150 Are there any judges, reviews or rewards?

7823274
No, I've tried to do that in the past and ended up not being able to judge which ones were the best. The point of this event is to encourage people, especially first-time writers, to write stories in a genre that can have really interesting concepts, not to hold a contest or anything.

I should actually have two and a half fics. One of them really isn’t a thousand words worth of material, but I could add it as a chapter to my collection of shorts fic. I’m just not sure how to present that. Maybe I can make an explanatory index that directs people to the right chapter.