Name of Author: Emily Godhand
Title of Book: Fear of the Dark
Favorite Authors: H.P Lovecraft, @brucerelgin
Bio: Godhand is the Lady Magistra for the Wattpad Paranormal Research Society, or the @ParanormalCommunity head administrator and ambassador for Wattpad. She lives in Denver, Colorado with her five rats. She enjoys music, video games, and deconstructing social paradigms, with special regard for mental illness, gender, and health care.
She is an avid fan of Silent Hill, Supernatural, and H.P Lovecraft, and draws her inspirations from the constant nightmares she's had for 13 years. As such, her works tend to focus on an exploration of violence, immortality, and human consciousness.
Fear of the Dark
https://www.wattpad.com/story/12316278-fear-of-the-dark
Can you explain what your book is all about?
When Annie's girlfriend goes missing, she starts to have terrifying dreams of a dark tunnel that holds a flesh-eating monster, and visions of her love calling to her.
Her investigation leads her to an esoteric cult and ghosts who work for an undead private detective. When she teams up with the detective, she finds hope that she can fix her shattered reality.
"Just because you can't see things or don't believe in them, doesn't mean they don't exist."In Fear of the Dark this applies to ghosts and God and monsters, but also to PTSD, your strengths, and those who love and support you.
Who is your target audience - and why?
I try to write for a more mature audience given some of the heavy topics in the story (mental illness, abuse, social injustice and negative cultural perceptions). However, it's hard to give an age as my main goal is to have people who have experience with those topics find strength and validation and hope through the story. Unfortunately, those experiences aren't limited to an older audience, so I encourage readers to use their best judgment.
What is 'paranormal' about your story?
Annie's girlfriend's ghost gives her clues about her fate, but Annie starts to see other ghosts as well. Some are confused, some want to mess with her, but most want to get on with their un-life. One, however, leads her to an undead detective.
The story also follows V, a 'revenant' whose sigil tattoo siphons the health of those around her to heal herself. She employs a two ghost spies, a vampire landlord, a succubus lawyer-friend, and grew up in a haunted orphanage.
Once you start throwing in Lovecraftian monsters like Pickman's Model, Shoggoths, and death cults that harvest ghosts to heal themselves, it gets pretty weird.
Does it contain other genre elements, if so which ones - and why?
There is definitely a mystery/thriller element to it as the two women discover more about the cult, and with the ghosts and Lovecraftian influence there is plenty of horror touches.
Tell us about your writing process - how do you get from story idea to a Wattpad published story?
I carry a notebook or my phone everywhere with me and jot down an idea as soon as it comes, even if that idea is a full scene with dialogue. Then I settle down on an idea or story I want to tell, and figure out key scenes I want to have happen. I arrange them on a whiteboard and then fill in what would have to happen to get me to those points. This will give me a very detailed outline that I can use to spit up a VERY rough draft of ideas, feelings, and words that need to go into each scene.
Then I work on making it pretty.
Did you encounter any challenges when writing, if so - how did you overcome them?
I could say the biggest challenge is making time, given I work a full time Breadjob plus managing the WPRS. But even on my days off, I find that there's a lot of feelings of inadequacy and hating what I write. What helps with that is just writing it, not posting it, and then revising. Just get it out. Edit later. Write the worst thing you've ever written if that's how you feel, and then come back and edit it. You were writing. You'll learn what didn't work. You also have something to edit. That's very valuable.
You often hear that 'writing well' is the baseline for success. What does that mean for you?
To me, it means telling a story that resonates with the readers. It could be technically perfect and follow every 'rule' of storytelling and have impeccable punctuation and grammar, but if that story doesn't evoke a physical or emotional reaction (positive or negative) from the reader that stays with them after they put the book down, I haven't done my job.
