Women in Horror: Interview with Lisa Morton
Lisa Morton is a screenwriter, author of non-fiction books, and prose writer whose work was described by the American Library Association’s Readers’ Advisory Guide to Horror as “consistently dark, unsettling, and frightening.” She is a six-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award®, the author of four novels and over 150 short stories, and a world-class Halloween and paranormal expert. Her recent releases include Night Terrors & Other Tales, Weird Women 2 (co-edited with Leslie S. Klinger), and Calling the Spirits: A History of Seances; her latest short stories appeared in Best American Mystery Stories 2020, Final Cuts: New Tales of Hollywood Horror and Other Spectacles, and In League with Sherlock Holmes. Her weekly original fiction podcast Spine Tinglers is now live at My Paranormal Network. Lisa lives in Los Angeles and online at www.lisamorton.com.
What inspired you to start writing?
It probably started with being an only child whose family moved a lot. Making up stories was a good way to keep myself entertained, regardless of what new neighborhood I’d abruptly find myself in. However, there was one particular event that made me want to pursue writing professionally: it happened when I was 15, and that event was seeing The Exorcist. It’s hard to explain to people now who weren’t in a theater watching that movie during its original release, but it absolutely terrified audiences, and as I saw viewers scream and faint and flee the theater, I realized I wanted to create art that could have that level of impact.
What was it about the horror genre that drew you to it?
As a smart kid who got uprooted a lot, I grew up as a bit of an outsider and so I always loved monsters because they felt a little like me. Later on, I realized I loved the deeply essential quality of horror – the way it boils down to good versus evil.
Do you make a conscious effort to include female characters and themes in your writing and if so, what do you want to portray?
I don’t know that I make a conscious effort so much as it’s just how I think. I’m always surprised when I hear other women writers talk about how they naturally imagine male protagonists. I really just want to create strong, interesting, smart women who readers might see themselves in.
What has writing horror taught you about the world and yourself?
I’ve realized just how much women are conditioned in our society to step back and let men lead, and I’ve also realized how hard it can be to work to overcome that conditioning. I do, however, believe that confidence is absolutely something that can be self-taught and that it’s absolutely crucial to writers to develop that. It’s a competitive field, and you need to have enough confidence to get your work out there and take whatever comes back after.
How have you seen the horror genre change over the years? And how do you think it will continue to evolve?
I am so happy to see the way it has opened up more to women writers, LGBTQ writers, and writers of color. When I was first starting to publish (in the early ‘90s!), all of those groups were woefully under-represented in the genre; I got tired of seeing anthologies and magazines with no female names, or being the only women writer in an anthology, or wondering what a writer from a different culture might have to say about a particular theme. It’s so wonderful now to realize that most of my favorite new writers of the last two decades have been part of this spectrum.
It’s also been nice to see horror become an accepted literary genre again, after dying back in the ‘90s, to the point where we had to joke about using “the H-word.” It’s tremendously gratifying to see major review outlets like The New York Times once again devoting serious space to horror.
How do you feel women have been represented thus far in the genre and what hopes do you have for representation in the genre going forward?
As I mentioned above, it’s a constant delight to see all of the new women writers who have appeared since the turn of the millennium. And it’s a relief to see that we’ve gotten away from some of the tropes surrounding female characters in the genre; there was a time towards the end of the ‘90s when it seemed as if every small press horror title (as well as some from major presses) included a rape scene. Thankfully, we now seem to be long past that.
Who are some of your favorite female characters in horror?
Going way back, I always loved the character of Helen Vaughan in Arthur Machen’s The Great God Pan (and DAMN, I’d love to adapt that into screenplay form!). Of course Regan in The Exorcist – the movie that changed my life – and Laurie Strode in Halloween. I’d have to mention the two marvelous women at the heart of the 1961 Mexican Gothic classic The Curse of the Crying Woman, because I love the dynamic between them, which is something that seems fairly unique. I’d also be lying if I didn’t say that I really identified with the protagonist of the brilliant French series Marianne, because, hey – she’s a tough-as-nails female horror writer.
Who are some women who write horror you recommend our audience check out?
ALL OF THEM! However, I’ll mention some of the women who inspired me when I first started writing prose (after wasting a dozen years on screenwriting): Roberta Lannes, Nancy Holder, Yvonne Navarro, Kathe Koja, Nancy Kilpatrick, Tanith Lee, and Elizabeth Massie.
What is one piece of advice you would give horror authors today?
Persevere. Whether you go the traditional publishing route or decide in favor of taking the indie road, nothing is going to come to you instantly. Be prepared for years of rejection, poor sales, bad reviews, internet trolls, and feeling like you’re invisible. I often think that any success I’ve gained may be due as much to me just being stubbornly productive for decades as any talent I may possess.
And to the women who write horror out there who are just getting started, what advice would you give them?
My standard two-word pronouncement: BE BOLD. Like I said above, you may have to work at it, but you’ll need to if you plan on becoming a longstanding part of the literary world.
