On August 23, 2023, award-winning psychological horror author L. Marie Wood joined me for the eighth episode of the Scene It First series, sponsored by Fictionary. In this series, I speak with bestselling, award-winning authors to talk about first scenes, share secrets of writing craft, and celebrate the stories that thrill and inspire us all.

In this episode, we talked about the similarities of horror and romance, psychological horror, Black women in horror, and the first scene of her novella Telecommuting. See more about Lisa below.

Upcoming interviews can be joined live by registered members of the Fictionary community, and it’s always free to register.

In addition to hosting the Scene It First series, James Gallagher is the owner of Castle Walls Editing, a Fictionary-Certified StoryCoach Editor, and the copy editor, developmental editor, or proofreader of more than 300 books.

About L. Marie Wood

Lisa has written six novels, 150 short stories, seven feature-length screenplays, and several short screenplays.

Lisa’s novel The Promise Keeper won the Golden Stake Award for Literature at the International Vampire Film and Arts Festival. Lisa won Best Horror Screenplay at the NOVA International Film Festival, Best Afrofuturism/Horror/Sci-Fi Screenplay at Urban Media Makers Film Festival, and Best Short Screenplay Indo-Global International Film Festival.

Lisa’s first novel and first short story collection were on the long list for the coveted Bram Stoker award. Her short story “The Ever After” was part of the Bram Stoker Finalist anthology Sycorax’s Daughters, and Lisa was recognized in The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, Vol. 15 (2004) and as one of the 100+ Black Women in Horror Fiction (2018).

Website: Lmariewood.com

About Fictionary

Fictionary is a story-editing software that allows writers and editors to glean insights and perform developmental edits on their works using Fictionary’s 38 story elements for character, plot, and setting.

The software also provides attractive visual reports, including the story arc (showing location of the inciting incident, plot point 1, midpoint, plot point 2, and climax), as well as reports illustrating such items as the story map, character list, and word count per scene.

More information can be found at Fictionary.co.

The Fictionary community can be found here (free to register).