Why I Write Horror — And Why You May Need It

Why I Write Horror—And Why You Might Need It

People ask me sometimes—why horror?

They ask it like I’ve made a strange, almost impolite choice. Like I could have written something nice. A romance. A cozy mystery. Something where the dog doesn’t die and everyone learns a heartwarming lesson by the end.

I’ve written books like that. But horror is where I began and horror is where I’m most comfortable.

Not because I like blood or shock or jump scares. Not because I want to disturb anyone for the sake of it.

I write horror because it tells the truth.

Sometimes, it’s the only genre honest enough to look at the things we’d rather ignore.

Horror, at its best, isn’t about monsters. It’s about what lives inside us. Fear. Regret. Grief. Guilt. Doubt. Anger we can’t name. Pain we inherited and never asked for. Questions about what happens when we die—and whether we deserve what’s waiting.

You can put a vampire in the story. You can let the ghosts scream. You can make the house creak and the shadows stretch. But the real terror—the thing that sticks with you—comes from what those creatures represent. From what they say about us.

That’s why I wrote The Dead of the Day.

It’s a novella about an old man in a nursing home, a grandson with a heavy past, and a curse that runs deeper than blood. There are supernatural moments. There’s dread and unease. But at its core, this is a story about memory, sin, and the fear that even if you forget what you’ve done… you’re still not forgiven.

It’s about what happens when we carry things too long. When we refuse to talk about them. When we bury them until they become something else—something dangerous.

Horror lets us explore that without turning away.
It gives us a place to face the worst and come out the other side.
Sometimes shaken. Sometimes changed. But awake.

And maybe that’s what horror is really for.

We don’t read it just to be scared.

We read it to practice being brave.

Dead of the Day is available for pre-order now at Amazon.

If you’ve ever carried something too long, or wondered what you’ll leave behind when you go—this story might speak to you.

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Question for you:
Has a horror story ever helped you face something in your real life—loss, grief, fear, anger?

Tell me which one. I’d love to know how the darkness helped you see something clearly.