Posts Tagged horror

Girl of Lore Interview with Author Melanie Dale

By on April 13, 2026   /   Articles, Author Interviews   /   Leave a comment

When I learned about a new book coming out that had a character with OCD (which I also write about) but was in the paranormal genre, I just had to read it! I’m excited to share my interview with Melanie Dale, the author of Girl of Lore, due out on April 21, 2026.

About the Book

Hi Melanie! Really fun read. Please give us a short summary of Girl of Lore.

Hi! I’m excited to chat with you! Okay summary. Fifteen-year-old loner and cemetery-lurker Mina Murray starts Lore Club to investigate local legends, but along the way she discovers a mysterious book and a body drained of blood. When a classmate goes missing, she worries that the town’s stories might be real. Is the monster lurking in the dark or in her own brain? Bahm bahm bahhmmm…

I felt a Stranger Things vibe. Any inspiration from it?

Oh my gosh I love Stranger Things and that is high praise. My inspiration came from Dracula and classic horror, but Mina and her friends do run all over town like the kids in Stranger Things. And the book is set in Georgia, where Stranger Things was filmed!

I enjoyed how you explained how people often think OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) means “being uber-organized and power cleaning all the time,” but how that isn’t always true. (There are many other types of OCD.) As someone with OCD, I appreciated this being addressed in the book. Can you explain what your goal was with helping the readers know more about OCD?

Yes! I have OCD as well, and when I was Mina’s age, I didn’t understand what was happening inside my head. It was scary and exhausting. I want readers like me to see themselves in Mina’s story and know that they aren’t alone and there’s help, and I want to give readers who don’t struggle with OCD a glimpse inside Mina’s head so they can understand that it isn’t like the stereotypes. My husband learned a lot about how my brain works from reading Girl of Lore! That’s what I love about reading fiction. It helps us develop empathy.

 

About the Author

Why did you want to write this book?

GIRL OF LORE is a love letter to my favorite genre and the stories that have shaped me, and it’s filled with gothic Easter eggs, obvious ones as well as tiny winks. My favorite novel of all time is Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Mina Murray is my favorite gothic character because she’s so smart and underestimated by the men. I remember when my son was in middle school I gave him a boxed set of some of my favorite horror classics, books like Dracula, Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Call of Cthulhu, etc., and he gamely tried to plow through Dracula but petered off when Jonathan Harker was still trapped in that castle and I thought, “What if I could make this story more accessible for him? What if these characters were teens living in Georgia?” 

How are you like Mina? And how are you different?

Ooh, fun question. Nobody’s asked me this. Hmm, Mina and I both have OCD, but some of my intrusive thoughts and compulsions are different than hers. I gave her my cherry red Doc Martens and love of graveyards. But I am an extrovert and more comfortable around people. Mina is much better at drawing than I am. She’s vegan and I’m not. We both love dogs. My Maltipoo Khaleesi is asleep in my lap while we’re having this interview.  

Did you grow up reading horror/ghost stories? If so, what is your favorite?

Yes! In second grade I found In a Dark, Dark Room in the school library and read about Jenny, who wore a green ribbon around her neck. She wore the ribbon her whole life and when she was very old, she finally removed the ribbon. I’ll never forget the last line of that story: “and Jenny’s head fell off.” Oh my gosh AWESOME. I felt this delicious, visceral reaction. So ghoulish. I was hooked. I had a friend named Jenny and told her the story. She did not appreciate those nightmares. As I got older I discovered classic gothic literature and fell in love.  

 

Scripts vs Manuscripts & Adults vs Kids

I read that you also wrote episodes for the horror television show Creepshow (and one Molly Ringwald starred in). Very cool! For those of us writers who also have an interest in switching gears, please explain one difference in writing a teleplay vs a novel. 

With a novel, I’m writing all of it. Story, dialogue, setting, character descriptions. Film is very collaborative, so I learned to cut out a lot of the detailed descriptions and focus on the story and dialogue. For instance, in my first script I spent pages describing every detail on Molly Ringwald’s character’s desk and the script was twice as long as it needed to be. Cut cut cut. The set designer would make those details. I didn’t need to. And then writing a novel, the banter between characters came easily to me, but Mina’s inner thought life and fleshing out descriptions of locations was challenging. Many scenes in the book started out as straight dialogue, then I went back in and layered in actions and details.

In addition to writing for the upper middle grade market, you write for adults. Was it a difficult shift to write for a younger audience?

My books for adults are all nonfiction, so the biggest shift was switching to fiction, not the age of the reader. At the time I was writing Girl of Lore, I was raising three teenagers, which helped. That being said, I am a GenXer, so I’m thankful for early readers who noted several moments where a teen would not say that or think that.

This is me at the age Mina is in the book. I’m journaling!

And what drew you to the younger audience?

As a parent, I noticed a reading gap for my kids between middle grade and YA that I wanted to help fill. When they hit the tween and young teen years, they weren’t quite ready for some of the YA content but they wanted stories of teens like them. 

  

Writing & Research

I loved how you had a character with OCD in a horror novel (quite unusual and why I wanted to read this book!). Which part came first: the character having OCD or the supernatural element? (And you do a great job of having her conquer both.)

Thank you! The OCD and supernatural grew together, although I skirted around the OCD in the first few drafts. I had a meeting with my agent to process some helpful feedback and mentioned that I’d like to explore Mina’s OCD more but I was worried it would be too scary for middle grade. She encouraged me to go for it, and I’m so glad she did.  

With writing horror, I’m curious whether you start with knowing the ending and work your way backwards. Can you walk us through when you began (without any spoilers!)?

Dude, this was my first novel and I knew nothing. Ha, I had an idea for the concept, but I had never plotted out a story so large, so it took many drafts and invaluable feedback to point it in the right direction. I spent a long, long time creating the characters and getting them talking to each other. I wrote so many scenes that I ended up cutting. Maybe some of them will appear in future stories. I axed whole characters, gave Mina a more traumatic backstory, upped the stakes and then upped them again. My editor, Jessi Smith, helped pry my fingers off the original story of Dracula and encouraged me that Mina and her Lore Club friends were strong enough to live their own story.   

I always find it interesting the research involved in fiction. What research did you do for this book?

I worried that I’d end up on a watchlist somewhere with the kinds of things I was googling. Burying bodies, mausoleums, obelisks, crypts. A friend of mine used to work in a morgue and I called her up and asked her what to do with a dead body, then threw in “FICTIONALLY” when there was a pause at the other end of the line. I had the best time researching graveyards. I really wanted to picture Mina’s graveyard where she spends a lot of her time in the book, so I visited a ton of cemeteries. Whenever I travel, I love visiting cemeteries and try to take as many ghost tours as I can. When I was in New Orleans I visited St. Louis Cemetery No. 1. In Edinburgh I visited Greyfriars. We have a bunch of really beautiful graveyards near where I live. The older and wilder the better. 

 

For Teachers

Are you doing school visits related to this book? 

I am so excited to talk with fifth-, sixth-, and seventh-graders about writing! You can find out more about my author visits at School Visits – Melanie Dale 

How can we learn more about you? 

You can find me on my website at melaniedale.com or on Instagram and Substack @melanierdale. 

This was super fascinating. Thanks for your time, Melanie!

Thanks for having me! 

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WNDMG Author Interview: Leslie Vedder on her Novel THE NOWHERE BEAST

By on January 14, 2026   /   Articles, Author Interviews, books, New Releases  

Author Interview – Leslie Vedder

I’m so excited to be able to introduce you to author Leslie Vedder today. Leslie is a YA author who has written a beautiful Middle grade fantasy duo, and today we will be discussing the second book, THE NOWHERE BEAST, coming out February 10th, 2026 from G. Putnam Sons/Penguin Kids.

I adore fantasy, and this one intrigues me because it seems to have horror elements too. I actually only very recently started reading MG horror, so I am so excited to talk with Leslie and hear all about her wonderful book.

Librarians and educators- you don’t want to miss this!

About THE NOWHERE BEAST:

In the sequel to darkly inventive The Labyrinth of Souls, a girl must face a mysterious monster made of nothing but darkness and shadows that no one else can see.

For fans of Tim Burton, V.E. Schwab, and stories with a dash of the strange and macabre.

Ix Tatterfall is no stranger to the odd and the eerie. Her unusual lineage provides unique abilities, such as a strong Darklight power and unencumbered travel into the deadly Labyrinth of Souls. But even Ix is unprepared for the Nowhere Beast, a creature that threatens to consume everything she holds dear.

When the ghosts of Candle Corps past begin to rise from the catacombs, Ix and her friends are called to partake in an ancient magical tradition called the Reckoning, meant to reinforce the seals of protection at their magical school that hold the most dangerous Nightmare creatures from the Labyrinth at bay.

But the Reckoning quickly transforms into more than a test of their courage and skill; it is a race against time to save their world from the monstrous shadow beast created from the hopeless depths of Nothing from a land called Nowhere.

With the help of a mischievous Sorrow, a shadowy Scavenger Prince, and her loyal friends, Ix must navigate the pits of loneliness and confront her deepest fears. But does she know that the darkness inside her heart can be just as treacherous as the monster lurking in the shadows?

Interview with Leslie:

I loved getting to talk to Leslie about her new book and I know you will enjoy meeting her and Ix as well.

SSS: What a wonderful premise. I am so intrigued! What inspired you to write Ix’s story?

LV: This book really began with the world of Spinar and the mysterious Labyrinth of Souls. It’s a place that exists outside of our world—a mysterious place that’s ruled by our emotions. There are the Seven Sorrows, like Wrath and Misery and Despair, which are personification of feelings. As well as Nightmare Creatures, like Fright Bats that cause a sudden thrill of fear when they fly overhead, or the adorable but troublesome Weighty Sloth that sits like the weight of the world hanging off your shoulders until you can get rid of it.

This is very much a book about how we deal with our big and often complicated feelings.

The main character, Ix Tatterfall, is a bit of an outcast and a weirdo. She often finds it easier to connect to Nightmare creatures than to her classmates. (She and Wednesday Addams would have some things to talk about.) But she’s the perfect person to explore the forbidden Labyrinth and learn to understand the creatures within!

SSS: Tell us about this Nowhere Beast (the actual creature, and not just the whole book!) What makes it terrifying to the MC?

LV: I love this question, because this was actually one of my favorite parts of this book to write! The Nowhere Beast is a shadowy creature that comes from the mysterious land of Nowhere. It’s the place where missing things go: pens and buttons and single socks. But it’s also the place where other things abandoned and forgotten by humans end up—like sad, hopeless wishes whispered alone in the dark, which become Whisperwinks.

The Nowhere Beast first appears as a shadow, stalking Ix through the darkness and even into her dreams. I think it’s inherently frightening to know something’s there, just outside of the circle of our lamp or nightlight, but not know what it is. The monster in the dark is as much about what we imagine it might be as what it really is.

No spoilers, but I also loved the chance to hopefully surprise the reader at the end of the book, when we find out the true origin of the beast!

SSS: Tell us about MG horror- I know a lot of kids (like my own) are really into getting scared with books! Why do you think horror is so intriguing for younger readers?

 LV: I think there’s something really fun about being scared—especially when you can do it from the safety of your bed. I will never forget the first book that really terrified me. It was Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz, with the absolutely horrifying art by Stephen Gammell. Those stories definitely kept me up! Wherever that book is, in my family’s old Halloween box, I’m pretty sure it’d scare me just as much now.

 Often when we read scary stories, we’re not just watching characters be scared; we’re watching them learn to be brave and to overcome their fears. I think reading horror makes us a little bit braver, too.

 

SSS: I absolutely adore reading fantasy novels and love discovering worlds that are magical and fun adventurous stories where it seems like ALL the stakes are high! What drew you to writing fantasy?

LV: Fantasy books were definitely my first love! When I was little, a wonderful librarian at my local library took me by the hand and led me to the Alanna books by Tamora Pierce. I was hooked. I’d never been swept away into an adventure like that before; I’d never realized reading could be that fun.  

Fantasy set my imagination on fire like no other genre. It utterly transports us out of our lives in the most magical way, so the obstacles and challenges we’re so familiar with become fighting dragons and riding giant cats and sneaking into the enchanted forest without the wizards finding out. And since fantasy can be so full of action and danger, it quite naturally lends itself to stories where the stakes are ratcheted up to eleven. I love the freedom fantasy gives me to let my imagination run wild.

 

 SSS: I know you are an author of YA as well! How was pivoting to MG? Was it more difficult or easier to nail down the MG voice? Was it more fun!

LV: I had a lot of fun pivoting to MG, but there were also I lot of challenges I wasn’t expecting. Like word count! I wanted to create a rich and full fantasy world, but I had to figure out how to do that in a much shorter amount of time. 

I also spent a lot of time working to capture the MG voice for the main character, Ix Tatterfall. I wanted her to be a little weird and a little lonely, but with a lot of heart. I had to remind myself over and over that I didn’t always need to take myself so seriously. That being said, I absolutely adored being able to put in so much silliness and humor. These books are chock-full of made-up Nightmare creatures of all shapes and sizes. (I totally went overboard and had to cut extra Nightmares from every draft.)

Link to order here.

Writing Process

SSS: When did you start writing the story and was the process a long one?

LV: For me, there’s a lot of brainstorming that takes place before I start writing—on walks, and at coffee shops, and even in the shower. I feel like I start by socking away ideas for projects like a squirrel saving up nuts for the winter. Then at some point, I’ll suddenly hit on something that brings the project to life. For Ix Tatterfall, it was 100% the Labyrinth, with all its fun and fearsome nightmares. Once I hit on that, I felt like I was ready to write a book, and not just a random collection of ideas swimming around in my brain.

From there, I always try to get my first draft down as quickly as possible—usually just a couple of months. But it is a very rough first draft, and there’s always a lot of editing to be done afterward!

 

SSS: Are you a pantser or a plotter? And what helps you with finishing stories when you first start writing your drafts?

LV: I am very much a plotter. I need to know how a book is going to end to understand how to get there. But I think of my outlines more like road maps for an epic road trip, rather than step-by-step instructions. I chart out the basic path I’d like to take, the destination, and a few can’t-miss stops along the way—but I also leave myself a lot of space to discover new ideas, subplots, and roadside attractions along the journey.

Outlines are also my secret weapon for staying on track and actually getting to the end of a book. I often make myself a calendar with several goals marked—a really ambitious one, a more moderate one, and one that has a lot of wiggle room for unexpected road blocks. I print out a sheet with chapters listed on it, so I can mark them off with colored pens as I finish each one. I find crossing things out on paper to be really satisfying.

 

SSS: Do you think writing a sequel is harder or easier than writing the first book in a series?

LV: Personally, I find sequels a little easier because the characters are already established and so much of the worldbuilding is done. Without as much background information to convey, you get to jump right into the exciting part of the story.

That being said, one of the things that is harder about sequel writing is expectations—both from yourself and from readers. You want the book be as good as the first one, but still new and exciting—and you definitely don’t want to let fans down. So sometimes the pressure of book two is a lot more intense!

 

SSS: Any advice for fellow middle-grade authors looking to write MG horror or fantasy?

 LV: Remember to have fun! Kids love to laugh, especially when they’ve just had a big scare, so don’t be afraid to embrace some humor. Trying to be funny on purpose can be daunting, but think about the things that made you laugh when you were a kid—slime fights, and bunny slippers, and talking animals in silly hats. Go back and reread your favorite middle grade books and watch your favorite kids’ movies. It took some practice to remember how to have that kind of fun. Finding the right spark of humor (which, for me, was very much wordplay and puns) brought the whole story to life.

Bonus!

SSS: Bonus question! Tell me about this gorgeous cover!

LV: Abigail Larson is the amazing artist for both covers—she also does the black and white illustrations throughout the books! She is so good at bringing out the spooky-creepy side of the Labyrinth, but also the fun, heartwarming moments between Ix and her found family.

The cover has Ix with the shadow of the mysterious horned Nowhere Beast behind her, along with some hissing Mistcats at her feet. The back shows Ix’s best friends, Morrigan and Ollie, with one of my very favorite characters in the whole book, Smiles the Grinning Cat! I feel like there can never be enough cats on the cover of a book—or inside it, for that matter—so this cover was a dream come true. Or, to make a Labyrinth pun, a Nightmare come true!

 

Thank you Leslie for joining us and I hope readers and librarians enjoy your book! I know I am so excited to dive in!!!

About Leslie Vedder:

Leslie Vedder is a YA author who loves girl heroes and adventurers. She grew up on fantasy books, anime, fanfiction, and the Lord of the Rings movies, and met her true love in high school choir. She graduated from San Francisco State University with a B.A. in creative writing. She lives in Boulder with her wife and her spoiled house cat, Fox Mulder, who’s just as curious and adventurous as his namesake. 

Website: https://www.leslievedder.com/

INSTAGRAM: @leslie.vedder

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Black MG Magic

By on August 7, 2020   /   Articles, Book Lists, Diversity  

I firmly believe that it’s important to stand together against racism, and I’ve been making an effort to feature more black characters in my book talks and displays. Many of the book lists that I’ve come across featuring black protagonists have been full of great contemporary, realistic stories that deal with the experience of growing up black in America but haven’t had a lot of fantasy, sci-fi, or horror. So, here is a list of some of my favorite fantastical, magical, and spooky middle-grade stories featuring black heroes and heroines.

Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky Cover

Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia- This upper middle grade follows seventh-grader Tristan Strong who accidentally rips a hole into a parallel world where West African gods and African American folk heroes battle iron monsters. To return home, Tristan must help the heroes find Anansi, who can heal the rift that he’s created between the worlds.

 

The Jumbies Cober

The Jumbies by Tracey Baptiste- Eleven year old Corrine doesn’t believe in jumbies, evil shape-shifting creatures that are said to live in the woods near her home, but when her father begins acting strangely following the arrival of the beautiful lady Severine, Corrine begins to suspect that Severine might actually be a jumbie and that she and her father are in danger.

 

Gloom Town Cover

Gloom Town by Ronald L. Smith- To help his struggling single mom, twelve-year-old Rory gets a job as a valet for the mysterious Lord Foxglove, but he soon discovers that the eerie goings-on at Foxglove Manor will put the whole town in danger, and it’s up to Rory and his best friend Izzy to stop them.

 

 

Bayou Magic Cover

Bayou Magic by Jewell Parker Rhodes- When ten-year-old Maddy visits her grandmother in Bon Temps, LA, she discovers that she can summon fireflies and see mermaids, and when disaster rocks Maddy’s family, her magical gifts are the only things that can save her beloved bayou.

 

 

Dragons in a Bag coverDragons in a Bag by Zetta Elliott- Nine-year-old Jaxon discovers a package of dragons when staying with a relative for the afternoon. “Ma”, the mean old lady, who raised his mother tries to return the dragons to their magical realm, but a transporter accident strands her, leaving the dragons in Zaxon’s care.

 

 

Forgotten Girl Cover

The Forgotten Girl by India Hill Brown- Iris and her best friend Daniel are playing in the woods behind her house when they discover the abandoned grave of a girl named Avery who died when she was near Iris’s age. Shortly after the discovery, Iris begins having nightmares about a ghost girl in the woods.

 

The Last Last-Day-of-Summer cover

The Last Last-Day-of-Summer by Lamar Giles- On the last day of summer vacation, Otto and Sheed Alston accidentally freeze time in their small Virginia town. Now, they’ll need all their bravery and smarts to defeat the villainous Mr. Flux and save the day.

 

 

Shadows of Sherwood cover

Shadows of Sherwood by Kekla Magoon- In this futuristic Rbin Hood retelling, twelve-year-old Robyn Loxley flees to the forest following the disappearance of her parents. She bands together with a ragtag group of orphans and embarks on a mission to find her parents and stop the tyrannical Governor Crown.

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