What makes a good spine-tingler? Stephen Graham Jones says it's all in the ending
Author Stephen Graham Jones discusses the craft of writing horror, emphasizing that the ending is the most critical element of a successful story. He suggests that the popularity of horror reflects a societal desire to find closure in an uncertain world.
Why it matters
It provides cultural insight into why horror fiction has become a significant commercial and psychological phenomenon in contemporary society.
Stephen Graham Jones never intended to be a writer.
"I only planned to drive a tractor and be a farmer," he says.
Jones, a member of the Blackfeet Nation from Midland, Texas, saw either oil fields or cornfields in his future. But he always knew he had the chops to tell a good story.
"I was always spilling Kool-Aid on the couch and telling my mom a story that my little brother did it," he says. "It was all self-preservation, of course, but to tell you the truth, I was reading novels since third or fourth grade and I would get to the end of those novels and I would think, 'I can do that, I can end a story like that.'"
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