A Christian & A Horror Writer

*A quick disclaimer: in this post, I’ll be discussing my faith. I have refrained from speaking at any length about my faith as a Christian in the past. That is of the past. In the future I will speak of my faith in God without apologies. If that offends you, well, too bad. There are a lot of writer blogs out there, I’m sure you can find another.

With that business out of the way, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Stephen Roth and I’m a horror writer. The world of the macabre has fascinated me since an early age. I remember watching Friday the 13th with my younger sister when I was maybe 8 or 9 and reading any Goosebumps book I could get my hands on a few years later. As a teen, I graduated to Christopher Pike, though those stories were written with a female audience in mind. It was around that time I started writing my own stories. They weren’t good, but they were mine. Those stories were cheap imitations of my heroes, something that wouldn’t be broken until I was well into my twenties.

I have spent significant time writing both middle grade horror and adult horror. My late teenage years, a year or two in my twenties, and roughly half of my thirties were spent writing middle grade horror. Most of my twenties were spent writing short stories in the adult horror genre with the hope of padding my portfolio in preparation to query literary agents. I finished my first adult horror novel at the age of twenty-five. The previous five years have been focused on adult horror. Last year, I self-published Reel Ghosts on Amazon. It’s been a humbling experience but we’re not here to talk about that.

For most of that time, I’ve been a Christian. I met my wife when I was nineteen when we both worked at a movie theater. We started dating clandestine, due to the fact that I was an assistant manager and she wasn’t. There was a lot of drama back then, especially for a self-proclaimed “boring guy.” Most of it involved how my wife was treated by fellow co-workers when we started dating. Eventually, I left the theater, solving a problem for my general manager, who had grown suspicious.

I’d like to say that when I became a Christian it encompassed every aspect of my being, however, that wasn’t the case. Like a lot of Christians, I had two separate selves, one for Sunday and another, completely separate one for the rest of the week. Compartmentalization was my problem. I know I’m not the first Christian to have this problem and I won’t be the last.

This problem can be seen in my novel, Reel Ghosts. I’m proud of that novel, though it highlights the compartmentalization that I was suffering from at the time. Years of rejection had turned me bitter and desperate to the point that I let my dreams overshadow God’s will for me. I’m planning on going into further detail on this issue in my next post but allow me to give you the cliff notes.

I had always felt as if I had been holding back when it came to my adult horror fiction. In all my years of writing for adults, I had refrained from using profanity in my work. I did that despite letting occasional profane language slip from my tongue. Rather than clean-up my language to better emulate the image my Creator had for me, I instead molded my writing for my own personal gain. Unsurprisingly, at least as I look back now, Reel Ghosts, didn’t sell to agents, and instead was self-published.

I wish I could say that my error was realized immediately. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. In fact, in the first draft of my work in progress, The House That Wasn’t There, I approached the story in the same manner, using the same profane language, in other words. Apparently, I hadn’t learned my lesson.

So, what changed? What happened that made me realize that I had made a catastrophic mistake? Honestly, I don’t know. Over the past six months, I’ve been trying to become a better man, a better Christian man. Rather than listening to podcasts at work, I started listening to audiobooks about spiritual growth. It had been years since I opened the bible on a daily basis. That is something I recently changed. I also started listening to Christian music, something I had always thought was for those “crazy-spiritual Christians.”

I’m not a perfect man, nor am I a perfect Christian. I’m simply trying to be the man that God wants me to be. I might be a little slow to listen, but I’m getting there. With His help, I know I can.

A Christian and a horror writer can coexist in the same person. Putting Him first is the key. It took me a long time to realize that. The editing sessions on The House That Wasn’t There have been good for my soul. Each deletion of profane language is like a cleansing. It’s not easy, but it’s my penance for listening to those devil whispers.

As I said in the disclaimer above, I have refrained from speaking about my faith on this page. That was part of putting myself before God. That changes now. I will speak of my faith unapologetically from hence forth, hopefully, you’ll still read.

Thanks for reading. Remember to follow your dreams, even if they terrify you. You know what? That won’t do anymore. “I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:13

Stephen Roth

Christian & Writer