What I enjoy about horror as a genre is not the supernatural. Monsters, vampires, and witches do not appeal to me. Give me a serial killer or slasher film any day of the week, and I’m a happy camper. That is what I intend to write.
I took a horror writing masterclass last year. While they provided many examples of paranormal and Lovecraftian styles, I realized that horror is something I’d like to explore further. I finished the first draft of my first horror novel earlier this year. It turned out to be only a novella at 35K, but I’d like to expand it to 65K on the second draft. So I’ll have to double the size of this story, and I’ll do it in April.
For those of you who might not understand the term Sapphic, it simply means “women loving women,” and my readers are fully aware that I frequently write such fiction. How do I combine lesbians with graphic violence to create a masterpiece? I have no idea if this is going to work. Dying To Meat You tells the story of a struggling writer who accepts a job as a ghostwriter. She travels to a remote ranch in South East Texas to collaborate on a horror novel with a famous author who turns out to be a serial killer who lures women there so she can have them for lunch… literally. Katherine Bishop is a cannibal who feeds on beautiful women after they fall in love with her. Cannibals. Horrific death scenes. Hot lesbian sex. And running from the killer. To me, this sounds like a Sapphic Horror Romance.
A happily ever after is required in romance. There isn’t always one in horror. Sometimes, horror leaves many unanswered questions, such as “Is the killer really dead?” While I don’t intend for this to be a series, I did write it with a cliffhanger ending. Who, if anyone, dies at the end? Do they meet again for the sake of a happy ending? This is the question I’m grappling with as I begin the second draft.
For the first draft, I used an Alpha reader; a friend posed a lot of questions to spark the imagination but also discovered major plot holes that needed to be filled. I’m excited about moving forward with the book, but I also see potential for an untapped market, assuming there is one. Someone suggested I write the story I couldn’t find, so here it is. Sapphic Horror devoid of supernatural components, mythical creatures, and folklore.