Watch this excerpt from one of award-winning author KC Grifant’s workshops for Reach Your Apex, “Creating Horror Short Stories That Sizzle And Sell.” KC talks about why the hook deserves your deepest attention, what makes a good hook, and how to craft a hook that’ll keep people reading.

KC Grifant is an award-winning Southern Californian author who writes speculative stories in the horror, fantasy, sci-fi and weird west genres. She authored the award-winning supernatural western Monster Gunslinger series and Shrouded Horror: Tales of the Uncanny.

She is editor or co-editor of multiple anthologies (including Women of the Weird West, Dread Coast: SoCal Horror Tales, and Of Terrors and Tombstones), as well as creator of Weird West Fiction, a website that showcases diverse weird west authors.

In addition, she is a published short story writer, with dozens of tales appearing in podcasts, magazines and Stoker-nominated anthologies, including: PseudoPod, Andromeda Spaceways Magazine, Unnerving Magazine, Cosmic Horror Monthly, Dark Matter Magazine, Sley House Presents, the British SF Association’s Fission Magazine, Tales to Terrify, the Lovecraft eZine; Musings of the Muse; Dancing in the Shadows—A Tribute to Anne Rice; the Stoker-nominated Chromophobia; the Stoker-nominated Fright Mare: Women Write Horror, and many others.

She teaches genre and short story workshops and has been a moderator, panelist or speaker at dozens of conferences and events. In 2016, she co-founded the Horror Writers Association San Diego Chapter, an organization that helps to promote the horror genre and co-chaired its flagship international event, StokerCon, in 2024. She is also a member of numerous writing organizations and a Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association mentor. Aside from constructing imaginary worlds, she works as an award-winning science communicator and tries to keep up with two small wildlings.

Learn more at www.KCGrifant.com

KC Grifant’s next workshop