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Did you know....?

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...That the very first ghost stories ever recorded go back to ancient Greece? That Mary Shelly wrote "Frankenstein" on a bet? That H.P. Lovecraft felt that alien creatures were coming to him through another dimension? 

Horror has always been one of the most marketable forms of literature -- certainly my favorite to write. Since it is popular in movies, TV, and video games, horror writing can be done for fun and profit. 
  
Learn how the masters do it, beginning with this educational and entertaining online course: The Art of Writing Horror through KSURF virtual university.  It's easy and affordable. 
 
If you're ghoulishly good, your stories will be reviewed with commentary by the instructor (me, Laurie Notch). The best ones will be selected for the IdeaGems Magazine Halloween Issue which gives you a publishing credit. 

I will be posting as often as I can on The Art of Writing Horror blog at http://horrorwriting.ksurf.net/ with tantalizing tips, 'ooky' updates, freaky facts, weird writers, and creepy conjurings to put the spell on all you potential horror writers out there. Let's begin with a little brain teaser...

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Can You write Zombie Haiku?

A haiku is a syllabic poem that doesn't have to rhyme but most contain a total of 17 syllables. The traditional format is 3 lines, first line with 5 syllables, second line with 7, and third line with 5. Here's an example following traditional format:

Leave me be, zombie! (5)

Far away, I have to flee! (7)
Oh, wait. You bit me! (5)
(written by Laurie Notch)

Often, writers stick to the total of 17 syllables, but arrange them differently line by line:

Zombies,
Crawling, catching, eating
The brains of heroes of the unborn.
(written by Archie Richardson) 

 Writing Zombie Haiku is a wonderful, relatively painless discipline to get your brain power going and the creative juices flowing. (Brains! Yum!). Feel free to post your Zombie Haiku on the comments page of this blog or on our Feed The Zombie group page on Facebook. The only requirements are that 1) you keep to the haiku style of 17 syllables, and 2) zombies must be mentioned. You can write about any theme from sports to food to dating to politics. Here are a couple more examples to give you the idea and keep you inspired!

Theme: the Workplace
Zombie slackers sit
Heads on desks, so bored to death.
The brain dead abound.
(written by Laurie Notch)

Theme: Fine Dining 
Brains are delicious!
Since you have no need for yours,
May I dine on them?
(written by Ralph Dumain)

Go ye therefore and (de)compose!