This Four on the Floor interview features Melissa Lason and Michelle Garza, a writing team I came across through their involvement with Silverwood: The Door (a collaboration with Brian Keene, Stephen Kozeniewski, and Richard Chizmar).

Read on for their bio and and insights into horror and the writing process. 

Bio: Melissa Lason and Michelle Garza have been writing together since they were little girls. Dubbed the Sisters of Slaughter by the editors of Fireside Press, they are constantly working together on new stories in the horror and dark fantasy genres. Their work has been included in Fresh Meat, published by Sinister Grin Press; Wishful Thinking, from Fireside Press; and Widowmakers, a benefit anthology of dark fiction.

Also the authors of Those Who Follow, Kingdom of Teeth, Mayan Blue, and Twin Lakes: Autumn Fires, Melissa and Michelle were kind enough to share insights into their profession in the following interview:

James Gallagher: People probably imagine that, as twins, you have a psychic bond and are always in sync. But where do your strengths differ, and how does this help your writing?

Sisters of Slaughter: As twins, we have had those moments where we have dressed the exact same for a holiday dinner and never discussed it with each other, or where we have had a bad feeling only to find out the other one had gotten hurt. But besides being identical and sharing an unbreakable bond since birth, we are also very different in some ways.

Melissa is killer at making up story ideas and can find ways around certain parts in a story that Michelle might get stuck on, while Michelle is stronger at ending stories and finding a good place to start them so there aren’t too many needless words. This makes writing faster because we combine those strengths and the stories flow easier than if we were doing this solo. Two heads are better than one. Ha-ha-ha.

James: You not only collaborate with each other, but you also worked with Brian Keene, Richard Chizmar, and Stephen Kozeniewski on the serial release Silverwood: The Door. What was that experience like?

Sisters: Our collaboration with Brian Keene, Richard Chizmar, and Stephen Kozeniewski made us really nervous until we sat down at the writing table with them and realized we were just doing what we had always done.

We worked off of a series bible, which helped the team define a clear outline of each episode, and once those specific beats were determined, we split up the workload and got down to business.

Being with these guys, as well as Lydia from Serialbox and the creator of Silverwood, Tony, felt comfortable and natural. It worked out really well and we would definitely jump on the opportunity to write with them again.

James: Are there ways that being edited has helped you grow as writers?

Sisters: We can’t stress enough how important editors are. They are the superstars working behind the scenes to help a writer achieve their goal of creating a special story. Every editor we have ever worked with has helped us better our form. We would like to thank them all very much for helping us make our work shine.

James: What recent books, movies, or TV series have caught your attention or inspired you?

Sisters: A few books, television shows, and movies that have inspired us recently have been Mindhunter, True Detective, The Ritual, The Witch, and Goblin by Josh Malerman. Those are only a handful, but each of these had a special atmosphere we found interesting.

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For more about Melissa and Michelle, check them out on Facebook or Twitter.

ABOUT JAMES GALLAGHER

I am a copyeditor and the owner of Castle Walls Editing. For information about how I can help you with your writing projects, contact me through this site or email me at James@castlewallsediting.com.