This is a horror book for younger readers. Is it difficult finding the balance between scary and entertaining whilst keeping everything age-appropriate?
Finding that balance is really important, especially when you’re writing for younger readers. You’ve got to know where to draw the line. With my stories, there are always some darker, more grisly elements, but with this one, I wanted to keep things fresh but lean more into the horror, simply because it’s just such a fun genre to write and to read. I just really enjoy writing grotesque, tense, and scary moments.
In terms of writing for a younger audience, yeah, you don’t want to go too far. There are boundaries; you can’t lean into certain adult elements like sex or extreme violence. But this book doesn’t shy away from horror either. When I sent in the first draft, there was one scene in particular I thought the publisher might want to tone down. I remember thinking, ‘they’re definitely going to ask me to change that.’ But actually, they really liked it and felt it worked in context. And it was interesting working with my new publisher on this book. My editor, Sarah Odedina, was brilliant. I asked her outright, “Is Chapter 19 going to be a problem?”, because I knew my old publisher probably would have found a problem with it and asked me to change it. But Sarah said, “No, I mean it is a bit horrible and shocking, but it says a lot about the character who does it. It’s not gratuitous.” That really stuck with me.
I think that’s the key with writing horror for teenagers: you take it down a step. The darkness is there, but it isn’t indulgent. When a violent scene happens, you don’t linger on it. I’ll build up tension, maybe suggest what’s happening, or show the aftermath, but I don’t revel in gore. When I do include violence, it’s sharp, brutal, and then we move on.
The truth is, young readers want the horror, they want the scares, and they want to be treated as mature readers. When I write my books for teenagers, I also write them for adults, and I don’t want to patronise or talk down to them. And I’m glad I found a publisher who felt the same, who didn’t shy away from keeping the book shocking where it needed to be.
At the end of the day, if someone picks up a horror book, they want to be scared, they want to be shocked, they want to be unnerved. So yes, you’ve got to tread carefully, but at the same time, you don’t want to be too careful. Otherwise, you might create something where you’re thinking, ‘Oh, that’s a little bit horrible, but it’s not very scary.’