April Fools has come and gone, and though it's a little later than I normally post it, it's time for my other annual writing event...

Nightmare Night in April: 2024

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

April 30 is 6 months after last Halloween, and 6 months before the next Halloween, 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!

This may be the last year I do this, so if you're interested, be sure to get one in!

Writing Event Rules

Stories that you submit for the event should meet the following criteria...

• 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 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, maybe get someone else to do one for you. It doesn't have to be amazing, just readable.
• Your story's description 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 each one posted.
• Submit your story HERE by the deadline of April 30th - Incomplete stories are fine, just publish at least one chapter in April and put the story in before the I close the folder on May 1st. On April 30th, I will try to promote all the stories that submitted throughout the day.

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, when you explore 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.

Need Help?

Remember that I have a set of blogs with writing advice, so if you want my 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.

How this Ends

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

I just published a story for this, but the folder's not open. Will it be open on April 30th, or did you forget to open it?

7961140
I think you can add it from the story page. Dropdown menu next to the view count > "Add to Groups" > select the group & the folder.

It's a known bug that you can't submit stories to empty folders via the folder page.

... Also, just to verify that this worked, I submitted your story myself. Guess it works!

7961337

Ah, I had completely forgotten you could do it from the story itself. I'm so used to going the group folder route.

Thank you for adding it to the folder! Much appreciated.

7961337
Thanks for helping, it's been a busy week.

7961379
And yeah, yours is the first story to be submitted. I've been a bit short on time to proof and post mine.

It is May 1st today, and I uploaded a story a few hours ago, hoping it will work. Okay, in the folder