Chris Bartholomew is an accomplished author, publisher, editor and advocate. In her role as the head writer for Serial Killer Magazine, Chris has covered nearly every notable serial killer in history. Her work with Serial Killer Magazine has lead to her decision to keep many aspects of her personal life private in an effort to avoid any complications or harassment from serial killers, or serial killer fanatics. Chris is not limited to her work on serial killers; she is also an avid author and editor of popular fiction in many genres, not just limiting herself to horror.
She has edited 26 books. She has published over two hundred-fifty short stories in several magazines and books. Chris also publishes her own speculative fiction magazine, Static Movement, which can be found at
www.staticmovement.com.
Although horror is not the only genre that she writes, she admits that it is the most fun. She enjoys being scared and being able to scare others. Growing up in California she was familiar with the stories of many serial killers that lived in the area and even was terrorized a few times with phone calls from people threatening to kill her.
There is often a stigma attached to us horror writers that we must all be odd people in order to invent some of the things that we use in our writing. Chris rebuffs these kinds of generalities, grounded in the knowledge that she is a good and moral person and doesn't believe that authors of any stripe should be cast in one role or another.
Chris is an avid risk-taker as well. She had many episodes of near-death in her life that helped shape her writing direction. Not only is she an experienced skydiver but during one of her jumps her main parachute ripped up. Instead of cutting away and using her back-up she decided to ride it out and land with the damaged one. She admits that she could have easily died and her jump master was certainly unhappy with her decision, but Chris just says that taking risks is a part of life.
There are two schools of thought on writing a story, neither one inherently better than the other. One requires the writing of an outline and, perhaps, a character sketch before the author begins a tale. Proponents of this method argue that you cannot hope to achieve your goal unless you have a
plan of action in place. Chris Bartholomew does not ascribe to this method of writing. Instead, she prefers to begin writing and let the story roll out and take her along for the ride. This can sometimes lead to surprising revelations and take you in directions that you'd never thought you would go. Chris believes that this is the truly exciting side of writing.
Her advice for new writers:
Never try to write like someone else, always be true to you. Never set goals such as: if I don't get published by a certain time I'm a failure and am quitting. Success takes as long as it takes. Never rush a story to the ending; it'll be done when it's done. Never listen to criticism unless you can handle it. Don't take one person's word for anything, and always look on the positive side of things. Don't keep your rejection slips as most people do. Read them, learn from them, and then throw them away. At her webzine, when she rejects a story, she does not expect that person to carry that thought through all of their writing. Everyone is different, all editors are different, and one may hate something you wrote when the next one will love it. Always go forward.
Self-confidence is one of the most indispensable character traits that a young writer can possess. It is not necessary to be arrogant, but you must believe in what you are doing and you must believe that you will succeed.
Works provided:
1. Ante Up posted on 7/09.
2. The Goddess of Blackness posted on 9/09.
3. The Death of Grandma posted on 4/10.
4. Preparation posted on 8/09.
5. A Woman Scorned posted on 5/09.
6. Not By The Light Of The Moon or Cousin Edward's Body posted on 5/10.
7. The Abandoned Mine posted on 8/10.
8. The Death Clowns posted on 10/10.
You can contact Chris here.
Home