The Writers Chair

There's a difference between scaring a reader and haunting one — and most horror writers never stop to think about which they're actually doing. Scaring is a jump on page 40. Haunting is the thing that's still in your head three weeks later. This week's guest has built his whole approach around chasing the second one, and it's changed how he writes, drafts, and even decides which books to write next.Alex Hunter is a British horror author whose debut novel, The Harvest shot to #1 in free horror on Amazon. His new novel, The House That Screamed — a dual-timeline, found-footage haunted house story — released this week, and his third, a folk horror titled The Forest Remembers, is due in 2027. He's been querying and signing with small presses since the start, and has very deliberately never self-published.We get into why he cut a two-thousand-word "clever" prologue to actually finish his first manuscript, how he went from a two-year, seven-draft slog to a twelve-week drafting process, and why hitting #1 on a free Amazon promo taught him to stop chasing downloads. He also walks through exactly how he cold-emailed an author for a blurb (and got a reply in ten minutes), and lays out the specific red flags that mean a small press is about to take your money instead of publish your book.🎙️ What we get into:Why cutting a 2,000-word "literary" prologue was the thing that got him to the finish lineHis shift from a two-year, seven-draft first novel to a twelve-week drafting processThe placeholder trick he uses to keep moving when a scene isn't working ("Chapter 10: something happens here")Why a #1 free Amazon promo taught him that quality beats quantityThe deliberate trope-stacking technique he used to subvert haunted house clichés in The House That ScreamedHow he restructured a multi-timeline manuscript (news articles, scripts, emails) to plant breadcrumbs without cheating the readerThe exact, low-key message that landed him a blurb from Bram Stoker Award winner Clay McLeod ChapmanWhy he's never self-published, and what he wanted from traditional validation insteadRed flags in small press contracts — "author's contributions," rights grabs, and being charged to fix a typoWriting The Forest Remembers through grief, and why a brutal beta-reader response felt like a complimentLinks & Resources:Alex Hunter: https://alexhunterhorror.comAlex Hunter on Instagram: @AlexHunterWritesClay McLeod Chapman (Bram Stoker Award–winning author)Subscribe to The Writer's ChairIf you enjoyed this conversation, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a fellow writer.📺 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@willcocksauthor🎧 Listen on your favourite app: https://pod.link/1829723468🖥️ Find out more: https://danielwillcocks.com/thewriterschair📚 About Alex HunterThe first child in his school year to be granted an adult library card, Alex Hunter borrowed The Rats by James Herbert and began dreaming of giving other people nightmares.His debut novel, The Harvest, was published in 2025. His latest novel, The House That Screamed, explores how trauma can be packaged, commodified, and consumed. His third novel, The Forest Remembers, will be published in 2027.Alex spends his time writing in the company of too many books and not enough daylight.

Four years of ebooks, Amazon ads, and feeding the algorithm — and Dan is done with it. Not dramatically. Just honestly. In this behind-the-scenes episode, Daniel and his co-writer R.P. Howley take stock of where Devil's Rock Publishing actually is in 2026: four Twisted Tales novellas out, a charity anthology closing submissions, and a growing suspicion that the readers they've been chasing are actually paperback collectors who'd rather buy at a convention than click an ad.This is a different kind of episode. No formal interview, no guest credentials. Just two people who talk daily, finally sitting down on camera to work through what's going well, what isn't, and what they're going to try instead. Rob is a marketing manager at a dementia charity, studying for his mortgage advisor qualification, waking up at 4am — and still co-publishing horror novellas. Dan is re-editing The Self-Publishing Blueprint for its 2026 update and relaunching The Writer's Room. This is what the indie author life actually looks like.💀 What we get into:* Why posting every day doesn't mean your followers are seeing it — and what to do instead* How marketing a book and marketing a charity use exactly the same core principles* The brutal economics of ebooks vs. paperbacks at events (and why in-person sales now make more sense)* Why they accidentally built a series for paperback collectors while spending all their time on digital platforms* The Hatching Season charity anthology — what they've learned from running submissions, and what "100+ entries" actually means for two people with no time* Rob's testimony: what he got from writing sprints before he ever knew Dan properly* The Twisted Tales series update: where books five and six are right now* Why "can you just" are the two most irritating words in any marketing meeting* The philosophy of not asking "what do I want?" but "what does the reader want?"* What premium in-person experiences might look like — earrings, wax seals, experience boxes, and why none of it is happening right nowLinks & Resources:R.P. Howley: @rphowleyauthor (Instagram and Facebook)Twisted Tales books: https://twistedtalesbooks.comDevil's Rock Publishing: https://devilsrockbooks.comHatching Season submissions: https://devilsrockbooks.com/submissionsThe Writer's Room: https://danielwillcocks.com/thewritersroomDaniel's writer resources: https://danielwillcocks.com/writersAbout Rob:Robyn Howley has three requirements to function; black coffee in the morning, red wine in the evening, and writing in between.He has the imagination of a six-year-old, the soul of a retiree, and dreams of one day making a full time income as a multi-passionate creative.He currently lives in Southampton, England, and when he’s not writing, he’s nestled on his favourite reading chair, wine in hand, consuming books; podcasts and YouTube tutorials on all aspects of writing, publishing and entrepreneurship.

Writer's block doesn't exist. That's not a provocation for the sake of it — Jasper Bark will tell you exactly who invented the term (a Freudian analyst who blamed it on potty training) and why the only cure for not writing is, stubbornly, to write. Anything. A laundry list. A page of you yelling at yourself. The words come.This week Daniel sits down with Jasper Bark — author, former freelance journalist, stand-up, performance poet, and the mind behind Crystal Lake Publishing's Bark Bites Horror imprint. Jasper has written for franchises owned by DreamWorks and New Line, ghosted other people's voices for years, and then had a long dark night of the soul (and too much whiskey) when his wife pointed out she'd never read a single thing that sounded like him. Finding his own voice is where the real story starts.The conversation runs from the brutal economics of the modern indie author (why he dresses as an Egyptian god at conventions) through the terror of self-censorship, the joy of throwing away a third of every sentence, and the sixteen-year journey of his new novel Harmed and Dangerous — a Southern Gothic thriller that began as a rejected comic pitch and finally arrived as a book he no longer cringes to hand over.💀 What we get into:Why "writer's block" is a made-up excuse — and the one technique that breaks it every timeHow to actually find your voice when you've spent years writing in everyone else'sThe real reason no one ever has "editor's block" or "plumber's block"Why turning off every notification you own is the only writing advice that survives time and attention being your scarcest resourcesThe shift from author-as-freelancer to author-as-artisan-trader — and what it means for how you sellWhy cutting 30,000 words from a 120,000-word draft feels like scoring a winning goalHow a song about Gary Gilmore's eyeballs seeded a paranormal Southern Gothic thrillerWhy horror is a healing, cathartic genre — and the two sectioned readers who proved it to himPlot vs. pants: when to outline and when to let the story drag youThe "deathbed self" trick for beating procrastinationLinks & Resources:Jasper Bark: www.jasperbark.com Crystal Lake Publishing https://www.crystallakepub.com Daniel's writer resources: https://danielwillcocks.com/writersSubscribe to The Writer's Chair If you enjoyed this conversation, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a fellow writer. 📺 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@willcocksauthor 🖥️ Find out more: https://danielwillcocks.com/thewriterschair📚 About Jasper BarkJasper Bark is infectious - and there’s no known cure. If you’re listening to this then you’re already at risk of contamination. The symptoms will begin to manifest any moment now. There’s nothing you can do about it. There’s no itching or unfortunate rashes, but you’ll become obsessed with his books, from the award winning collections 'Dead Air' and 'Stuck on You and Other Prime Cuts', to cult novels like 'The Final Cut' and acclaimed graphic novels such as 'Bloodfellas' and 'Beyond Lovecraft'.

Dan Howarth didn't set out to write a novel about far-right violence tearing communities apart. He set out to write what he knew — the north, the landscape, the idiotic magnificence of men — and the wound was already open. Lion Hearts is the book that nearly broke him during the writing, nearly got him an agent three times, and has now landed him on the 2026 British Fantasy Award shortlist for Best Novel. Sometimes the book that costs the most is the one that matters most.Dan Howarth is a British author of gritty northern weird fiction published under his own Northern Republic Press. His work sits at the intersection of place, folklore, and the social fault lines running through contemporary Britain. In this conversation, he and Daniel dig into writing location with precision rather than excess, the case for the novella as the perfect literary form, what indie publishing actually costs (financially and creatively), and why knowing who you are as a writer takes longer than most people think.💀 What we get into:- Why Dan writes British, specifically northern British, horror — and how place becomes character in his fiction- The screenwriting lesson that changed how he edits: if you can't say it in two lines, say it better- Character passes vs plot passes — Dan's practical approach to keeping voice consistent across multiple POVs in Last Night of Freedom- How both Territory and Drone accidentally became novellas, and why he thinks it's the perfect form for both writer and reader discovery- The case for traditional publishers taking novellas seriously — and why Eric LaRocca's Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke is the proof of concept- Three to four years into running Northern Republic Press: what he'd tell his earlier self about brand identity, cover consistency, and knowing what you stand for before you publish- Lion Hearts — the BFA-shortlisted novel that's not quite horror, not quite crime, and is one of the most politically raw things he's written- Why being indie means the book you couldn't place anywhere is also the book that gets you on award shortlists- The practical realities of self-publishing: proofreading, cover design, budgeting, and why there's no excuse for an unprofessional book in 2026- What's next: another novella, The Beacons, and a pipeline of four or five books already queued upLinks & Resources:Dan Howarth website: https://danhowarthwriter.com (verify exact URL)Dan Howarth on social media: @DanHowarth20Northern Republic Press: https://www.northernrepublic.co.ukPaul Stephenson / Hollowstone Press: https://paulstephensonbooks.com/Vicky Brewster: https://vickybrewstereditor.com/https://danielwillcocks.com/writersSubscribe to The Writer's ChairIf you enjoyed this conversation, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a fellow writer.📺 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@willcocksauthor🎧 Listen on your favourite app: https://pod.link/1829723468🖥️ Find out more: https://danielwillcocks.com/thewriterschair📚 About Dan HowarthDan Howarth is a British author of gritty Northern Weird horror fiction with a strong focus on societal issues and tinged with folklore and the supernatural. He is the author of Last Night of Freedom, Lionhearts (which was recently shortlisted for Best Novel in the 2026 British Fantasy Awards), Territory, his new novel Drone and the short story collection, Dark Missives. His short fiction has been published in numerous places including Weird Horror Magazine, Chthonic Matter Quarterly, The Other Stories podcast and Motives Unknown: New Northern Crime from Dead Ink Books.

Kayleigh Dobbs turned up to her first horror convention too nervous to speak to anyone, accidentally called Ramsey Campbell "Mr. Ramsey," and somehow came away with a fire lit under her that she hasn't stopped feeding since. Four years later, she has a short story in a Bram Stoker Award nominated collection, heads on semi-regular cake-and-coffee trips with Tim Lebbon, and is a well-revered reviewer of indie horror.Kayleigh is a writer, proofreader, and the founder of Happy Goat Horror — a review website and YouTube channel dedicated to horror fiction with a particular focus on indie publishing. In this conversation, she and Daniel dig into what horror actually is and why it matters, the community that makes the genre unlike any other, the complicated relationship between reviewing and writing, and why the most important thing any writer can do is write the book only they could write. Plus: an unexpected Britney Spears confession, a defence of the word "fuck," and a recommendation you almost certainly haven't heard of.💀 What we get into:Kayleigh's origin story — from metal-loving teenager secretly bopping to Britney, to discovering indie horror fiction barely four years ago through Chillicon and Sinister Horror CompanyWhy horror conventions feel nothing like fan conventions for film and TVThe Tim Lebbon tangent: how a chance ask at a convention became a semi-regular cake-and-coffee friendship, and why Kayleigh thinks he deserves to be far more widely knownJoe Hill's articulation of why horror makes sense of a senseless worldHorror as the genre that does the most for empathy: representation of women, queer voices, Latinx horror, and why the stats on female directors in horror vs romance will surprise youThe origin of Happy Goat Horror Indie vs traditional: what Kayleigh actually sees as a reviewer who reads across bothWhy authenticity on the page is something readers can feelAI, trends, and the only real defence a writer has: writing the most authentically human book they canKayleigh's novel she's determined to finish, a nonfiction project she's keeping firmly under wraps, and learning to stop being horrible to herself about productivityLinks & Resources:HATCHING SEASON: https://www.devilsrockbooks.com/submissionsTHE WRITERS ROOM: https://www.danielwillcocks.com/thewritersroomHappy Goat Horror: https://happygoathorror.com / https://www.youtube.com/@happygoathorrorTim Lebbon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u99-ttJBeus&pp=0gcJCSgLAYcqIYzvJonathan Janz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNzvZpwubQo&t=2908s Jamie Flanagan Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6e-JgykckcJoe Hill Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DU2iM1LIDw8&pp=0gcJCSgLAYcqIYzvWriter Resources: https://www.danielwillcocks.com/writers Subscribe to The Writer's ChairIf you enjoyed this conversation, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a fellow writer.📺 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@willcocksauthor 🖥️ Find out more: https://danielwillcocks.com/thewriterschair📚 About Kayleigh DobbsKayleigh Dobbs is a writer and reviewer based in South Wales, with a focus on horror and comedy/horror. Her micro-collection The End, an apocalypse themed book of shorts from Black Shuck Shadows, was a 2024 Imadjinn Award Finalist for Best Collection. Her short story "TBR" is included in This Way Lies Madness, an anthology from Flame Tree that is currently a Bram Stoker Award Finalist and British Fantasy Award Finalist. She has a Masters Degree in Scriptwriting, though her focus shifted some years ago to more bookish formats, and she freelances as a proofreader and editor. Kayleigh runs Happy Goat Horror, a review website and YouTube channel for horror fiction, with a particular interest in indie horror fiction. On the YT channel, she posts reviews, themed lists, rankings, and creator interviews. Recent interviewees include screenwriter Jamie Flanagan and author Joe Hill.

Dan Soule couldn't read properly until he was 11. He was profoundly dyslexic, functionally illiterate through most of his childhood. He went on to get a PhD in English and linguistics, spent seven years as a university academic, taught writing, quit — and then finally had enough free time to figure out how to write fiction. Horror wasn't the plan. It just kept buying his stories.Dan Soule is a horror author based in Northern Ireland, born in England and raised in Byron's hometown of Southwell. His work spans literary fiction, science fiction, and horror, with short fiction appearing in Storgy, Shoreline of Infinity, Sanitarium Magazine, and Devolution Z, among others. His novels include Witch Hopper, a 150,000-word small-town folk horror rooted in Nottinghamshire mythology, and Jam, a tightly wound ensemble horror that asks what happens when a motorway traffic jam becomes something far worse.This conversation covers the feedback loop that turned Dan into a horror writer, why he thinks of horror as the original master genre, the craft concept of "armature" and how it shapes every character in Jam, and why the indie/trad divide matters a lot less than whether the book is actually good.💀 What we get into:From profound dyslexia to a PhD in English — and why writing never came easily even thenHow horror found Dan rather than the other way around: the magazines that kept buying his stories until he had to accept what he was writingWhy Dan thinks horror is the master genre — older than any category we try to put it in, and leaking into everythingDean Koontz, Stephen Laws, M.R. Carey, Ronald Malfi, and Dan Simmons' The Terror — the authors who shaped Dan's taste for high-end pulpThe three-category reality of modern publishing: indie, small press, and the big four — and why good and bad books exist in all threeThe "armature" concept: giving each character their own musical frequency, extended metaphor, and sentence cadence — and how Dan built this into JamWhere Jam came from: a tipsy thought on an empty Scottish motorway, liminal spaces, and a family lineage of serial killersWhy ensemble horror — The Thing, The Mist — is the perfect structure for trapping a cast of strangers who'd never otherwise share a spaceWitch Hopper: Nottinghamshire's Green Man myth, vengeful grey ladies, and a father-son story built on local folkloreTwo book recommendations that aren't obvious: Scott Carson's The Chill and Easol Murphy's All of MeLinks & Resources:Dan Soule's website: dansoule.comDan Soule on Instagram/Twitter: @writerdansouleCrystal Lake Publishing: crystallakepub.comDaniel Willcocks writer resources: danielwillcocks.com/writersHatching Season charity anthology submissions: devilsrockbooks.com/submissionsThe Writer's Room (Tuesday writing sprints): danielwillcocks.com/the-writers-roomReedsy: reedsy.comSubscribe to The Writer's ChairIf you enjoyed this conversation, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a fellow horror fan or writer.📺 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@devilsrockbooks 🎧 Listen on your favourite app: https://pod.link/1829723468 💬 Join the community: https://www.devilsrockbooks.com/podcast📚 About Dan SouleDan writes stories where ancient folklore crashes into the modern world—usually with devastating results. His work blends dark fantasy and horror, creating atmospheric tales that explore the messy intersection of myth and everyday life. Whether he's crafting vivid, unsettling worlds or diving into the complexity of human relationships, Dan's writing balances beautiful, lyrical prose with moments that will make you hold your breath. Growing up in Nottinghamshire, England, Dan fell in love with landscapes steeped in old stories and older mysteries—influences that run through much of his work. These days, he lives on the Antrim Coast in Northern Ireland with his wife and two children, writing stories that continue to explore the dark corners where past and present meet.