Women in Horror: Interview with Sara Tantlinger
Sara Tantlinger is the author of the Bram Stoker Award-winning The Devil’s Dreamland: Poetry Inspired by H.H. Holmes, and the Stoker-nominated works To Be Devoured, Cradleland of Parasites, and Not All Monsters. Along with being a mentor for the HWA Mentorship Program, she is also a co-organizer for the HWA Pittsburgh Chapter. She embraces all things macabre and can be found lurking in graveyards or on Twitter @SaraTantlinger, at saratantlinger.com, and on Instagram @inkychaotics
What inspired you to start writing?
Poetry! I loved writing lyrics and poetry for as long as I can remember. Luckily, I think I burned all of my terrible, angsty middle-school poems, but poetry was absolutely my gateway into discovering how much I love writing.
What was it about the horror genre that drew you to it?
I’ve always been attracted to the macabre. My childhood was filled with R.L Stine and Christopher Pike books, and then of course Edgar Allan Poe, Stephen King, and Anne Rice. It wasn’t until I got older that I realized how healing horror has been for me. It’s a place where I can spin my grief, rage, and occasional existential crises out onto the page and create something horrifying and beautiful in return.
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 think I do prefer writing from a woman’s point of view most of the time, but I really like using a range of characters. It gets repetitive if the woman protagonist is always a strong, morally-aligned kind of person. I like writing darkness into my characters, showing their weak spots, making them human, you know? Plus, women villains just have more fun. Overall, the lives and minds of women are complex; we’ve faced some kind of adversity our entire lives, so showing how such challenges can be overcome, for better or for worse, is often a theme in my writing.
What has writing horror taught you about the world and yourself?
I feel like I am constantly learning, which is one of the reasons why I love writing so much. There are always new ways to challenge one’s self; I never want to become a complacent writer, and I think horror has so many ways to make sure that never happens because we have such a fun selection of tropes and subgenres to play around in, plus I’ve never felt too bound by genre, anyway.
Horror constantly allows me to express experiences and thoughts in ways that I’m not always sure how else to do. I don’t always aim for it to be that personal, but horror has a way of creeping into those hidden thoughts and bleeding them out onto the page. I love how universal horror is—everybody has a fear. And horror stories have roots all the way back to ancient times; we have always been telling each other dark stories, and I think that’s a really special bond for all of us in the genre.
How have you seen the horror genre change over the years? And how do you think it will continue to evolve?
I do think we’ve seen good strides in regard to diversity in horror, but we all still have a lot of work to do. I hope those with privilege and power continue to encourage (or maybe begin to encourage in some cases) storytellers from all backgrounds to write what they want to write. It’s not fair to always expect marginalized authors to write about their pain. There is no such thing as too much diversity in horror. Cultures thrive from sharing stories and learning from each other’s differences, so why should a genre be any different? We all die; we all fear something; so, it only makes sense that horror should, hopefully, be a genre that can potentially unite us.
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?
It’s so refreshing to see more women receive acknowledgement for their work. I hope representation going forward becomes more diverse; it’s important for white women to understand that while we have our own challenges compared to our male colleagues in horror, the obstacles for women of color in the genre are even more prevalent. We need more diversity in positions like editors, agents, publishers—this is essential if we truly want to expand the genre into something even more incredible.
Who are some of your favorite female characters in horror?
I’m a huge Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan and always really loved Buffy and Faith. Some other fictional favorites for me include the version of Margot Verger in NBC’s Hannibal, Laurie Strode (of course), and Rochelle from Jessica Guess’s novella Cirque Berserk.
Who are some women who write horror you recommend our audience check out?
This question is always so tough because I could go on and on about the women writing horror who I admire the heck out of! I’m going to name a few reads from the past year or two that have really stuck with me that I hope people check out: The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward, Queen of Teeth by Hailey Piper, Sometimes We’re Cruel, and Other Stories by J.A.W. McCarthy, Snow White’s Shattered Coffin by Cynthia Pelayo, and Christa Carmen’s short story “Vulture Eyes” featured in Vastarien vol. 4, issue 2.
What is one piece of advice you would give horror authors today?
Write the story you want to tell, the kind of story you want to read. No one else can write that story the way you will write it. Don’t worry about trends; write what brings your gory little heart joy.
And to the women who write horror out there who are just getting started, what advice would you give them?
Celebrate each other. Sometimes people like to tell us the playing field is equal, as if we have no more work to do, but that isn’t true, yet. I hope someday the diversity in horror does reach that level of equality, but until then, the work never stops. Lifting each other up and celebrating the successes of our sisters in horror is so important.
