Literary Spotlight: Sarah Langan

Sara Langan

Sarah Langan has won the Dark Scribe’s Black Quill Award for Best Dark Genre Novel. Her novel, The Keeper, was a New York Times editor’s pick.

Q: How has studying with writing masters helped shape your writing and do you recommend this path for all writers?

Getting an MFA in creative writing makes sense for most people. They open doors. Agents and editors take note of an MFA degree. People who come out of MFA programs know how to edit their own work.

Q: What is it that readers get from your books?

I don’t think they’re drawn to the horror; they’re drawn to the characters and the story. I think the horror/spec fiction/science fiction genres confront those things that we fear and no longer know how to articulate.

Q: In an interview with Deep Blue Publishing, you said, “Publishing seems like a crapshoot to me. If I abhor anything, it’s the fact that good writing doesn’t always find a home.” How can an unpublished writer stand out in the eyes of a publisher?

A: I think it’s the agent’s job to make that pitch, and figure out what distinguishes your manuscript form the 200 other books New York editors receive weekly. You hear about authors who hit the zeitgeist with mediocre books and make millions. In the end, I think you make your book stand out by writing a really good book.

Carlotta Holton is the author of Salem Pact and Touching The Dead, and is a member of the National Federation of Press Women and an affiliate member of the Horror Writers Association.

Carlotta Holton has just received her second award for Touching the Dead from the National Federation of Press Women Communications Contest. Click here to purchase the book.