In this episode of Storyline Sessions, horror author and Bram Stoker Award nominee Laurel Hightower shares her experience with writing grief and different sensitive topics, being traditionally published, choosing the right cover art and many more interesting subjects.

Laurel's website - https://laurelhightower.com/

Laurel's Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/laurelhightower/

Laurel's Twitter - https://twitter.com/HightowerLaurel

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Timestamps:

00:00 - Start

01:04 - Conversation start

01:18 - Silent Key reception

03:25 - Switching up genres and writing strong characters

06:23 - Picking the right cover

08:08 - Traditional vs self-publishing

12:01 - Editing process

14:52 - Co-editing short story anthologies and representing important issues in genre fiction

20:02 - Every Woman Knows This and writing about women issues

26:10 - Diversity in genre writing and biases

28:23 - Grief in horror

32:52 - Audiobooks

36:10 - Short vs long form

39:00 - Below novella and Bram Stoker Award nomination

42:50 - Cryptid horror and other types of horror Laurel enjoys

45:50 - Using pen names

47:55 - Splatterpunk

50:15 - Give Me Your Fingers

51:25 - Piracy

54:25 - Day job impact on writing

57:48 - Day of the Door (new novel)

01:00:42 - Mike Flanagan

01:03:05 - 2023 favorites

01:06:20 - Outro