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2013 Archives Women Of Horror Week

What Made Me Write Horror – Kim Culpepper

To delve into what made me love writing horror, you first must learn what made me love reading horror. I got into the horror genre at the young age of 12. I read my very first Stephen King book, Pet Cemetery, and was immediately smitten with not only the author himself but the genre of horror. I don’t know if it was the fact that horror made me an escape into someone else’s life that was having a worse day than me or the fascination with death but it was certainly a love at first site type of thing.

 

I grew up in one of he poorest states in America, a small town in Mississippi, and we didn’t have much and my parents never strived to have much more than nothing. Depression ran in my family and I struggled with it throughout my entire teenage years. Writing became an outlet for me when I felt all hope was lost and nothing made me release the anger and teenage angst better than horror. I could kill someone off horribly and still feel the sunlight on my face as I strolled through the halls of high school.

 

As I’ve become an adult and now have two children of my own, I swore they would never know what it was like to want for anything and so far I’ve accomplished that goal. I have only recently taken my writing seriously and continuously strive to make something from all the misery and heartache that my childhood and teenage years brought me. The only difference? I can think longer about those horrific things that I wrote and not be so angry about them. I’ve let a lot of things go.

 

I’m currently on depression meds so I don’t have those ugly demons that throw fire at my very soul and threaten to take away my happiness, however; they do rear their ugly heads from time to time. I find writing horror as an outlet for all the people that make me angry, all the days that go horribly wrong, and combine them with all of the love and support that I continue to receive from the ones who love me.

 

As a female in horror, I get that awkward look when I tell people what genre I write. I think part of that is because I write horror and live in the Bible belt but also because I’m a female. I’ve been thrown into that stereotype that all females write romance and women are supposed to think everything is all buttery and gooey in this world. Unlucky for me, I’ve had to learn from a young age that this just isn’t so. I’m a bit of a realist.

 

In conclusion, I’ve met a lot of women who write horror and love the genre through social media. I still feel alone down here next to the muddy Mississippi and am always on the lookout for new friends who love the genre as much as I do. It’s always fun to share and laugh at the reality of life through the genre of horror.

 

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Kim is currently looking for a literary agent for her first novel “The Blood Talisman.

She has an official website which you can visit here and a twitter which we recommend you follow!