Simon Whaley chats to Charlotte Colwill of Colwill & Peddle about the chilling genre of literary horror.
Charlotte Colwill began her literary career working in independent bookshops in London and Melbourne, before running the children’s department in Foyles’ flagship Charing Cross Road store. She became an agent in 2018 and worked on many of Wilbur Smith’s co-authored titles at the Tibor Jones agency before joining the Jo Unwin agency. In 2022, she joined forces with Kay Peddle to form Colwill & Peddle. Her current authors include Andrew Lane, Anne Booth, Clifford Samuel, and Kat and Brian Keaney.
What do you enjoy most about being a literary agent?
Discovering brilliant new writers and helping to start their careers is incredibly exciting. For a book lover, there is nothing better. That phone call when you get to tell an author that a publisher has made an offer for their book, and that all their hard work has paid off, is a particular highlight.
How would you define literary horror?
That’s tricky! I would say that literary horror tends to use the tropes of horror but in slightly subtler and more unusual ways, and tends to blend those elements with other kinds of character and storytelling.
How does literary horror differ from general horror?
The audience for literary horror is perhaps more used to reading literary fiction than they are traditional genre horror titles. But there are plenty of borderline cases. Even Stephen King, who many would consider the epitome of commercial horror, I would argue is more of a literary horror writer, given the quality of his prose and the depth of many of those stories.
What typical mistakes do you see in the horror submissions you receive?
I suppose some submissions are probably more suitably classified as gothic or dark fiction. I think horror has to be genuinely scary or gory (for body horror), or it’s just not going to fly with horror fans.
What advice do you have about pacing a horror novel effectively?
You certainly want to build fear and tension gradually throughout your story, and you want to give readers a satisfying crescendo that completely grips and terrifies them. But that said, horror readers love to be surprised. So, a shock or a scare somewhere in the story that is unexpected is always going to be memorable and effective. It’s a movie, but think of that scene in Hereditary that sends the narrative off in a completely different direction.
What tropes do readers and publishers expect to see in literary horror?
There is quite a range, depending on the style of horror you are working in, but certainly haunted or possessed houses and domestic settings are still hugely popular and effective, as they take spaces that we consider safe and injects them with fear. Spooky kids never fail to freak people out, and sub-genres featuring vampires, witches, zombies, or cannibals are still providing a rich vein for new scary stories. It is still vitally important to be saying and doing something new and different with those tropes, though.
Depth of theme is also very important in literary horror. As well as scaring us, what are you trying to say about what is genuinely horrifying in society and in the human experience?
How well does literary horror translate into foreign markets?
It can do well, and the demand is increasing, especially where the story has universal (rather than local) resonance and appeal, and speaks to situations that global readers can really relate to. Mariana Enriquez is a great example of horror that has really travelled well, as the themes of her work (lost children, malicious ghosts) are universal, and her treatment of them is so fresh and compelling.
Are there opportunities for film/TV rights with literary horror?
Absolutely. Horror is having a moment on the big and small screens (an acting Oscar finally went to a horror performance this year!), and producers are looking to books for source material. Having an original and universally scary concept is key here.
How are publishers looking for diversity in the literary horror market?
In all kinds of ways; agents and publishers alike are looking for horror titles from new voices and perspectives. With a genre that leans heavily on tropes, we are constantly looking for points of difference and new sources of depth, and those can often be found with writers who are traditionally underrepresented in the genre. I love to find horror that takes as its starting point a setting or a perspective we haven’t seen before, and asks the reader to consider the horror of situations they’ve not yet experienced or even considered. There is always something scary and exciting about the unknown made known in horror, and that is something that increased diversity can provide.
Charlotte Colwill’s Top Tip
Think about what truly keeps you up at night, dial it up to a hundred, and bring it to the page—it will scare us too.
Further Information
To submit to Colwill & Peddle, please check out their current submission guidelines: www.colwillandpeddle.com/submissions