Hyba Is Writing

Enrollment Open for First Run of Horror Writing Course Zombie March Ladies and gentlemen, it is my absolutely pleasure to finally announce that my horror writing course is live and that enrollment is open for its first run!  Learn to write powerful horror fiction that haunts your readers long after they've finished your story. Craft stories that linger in your readers' minds and make them wonder if maybe they should sleep with the lights on tonight.  This course includes foundational knowledge perfect for beginner horror writers, and applicable techniques and mechanic lessons that are perfect for taking your horror writing skills to the next level. No vague advice in these lessons - find specific technical details that will elevate your horror writing craft immediately. It's also scary affordable. (Even more affordable with the 20% discount for newsletter subscribers.) Check it out, if you dare! Make sure to read the information provided carefully, so that you don't mis...

The City of Light : Chapters 1 & 2 - Newsletter Exclusive! Are you subscribed to my newsletter? No? Well, subscribe, my friend, because I'm going to be sharing two chapters from the current draft of The City of Light in this month's newsletter!  The Kingdom of Valgus is in crisis. In the last month, nineteen people have died under mysterious circumstances. The disease is swift, and the death is painful. It is like nothing they have ever seen. Alev is the Royal Advisor’s son, and the next in line to succeed him. When his father is taken ill by this mysterious disease, he embarks on an investigation that will reveal a shocking evil in the heart of his home. In the meantime, he must choose between doing his duty to his father and country, and living the life he has always wanted. Noctora is the last surviving heir to the Valgan throne, but her world has fallen apart. Her brother, Listrik, Heir Apparent to the Crown of Valgus, and her parents, the King and Queen, h...

Zombie March - A Final Update... That Is, Until Enrollment Opens! I'm very excited to say that my horror writing course, Zombie March , is going to be launched for its first run in just a little over 24 hours! March 31, 2025 - mark your calendars! As I approach this moment, I find myself naturally equal parts excitement and anxiety. I'm nervous; this is, after all, my first course. But I'm also excited. I've wanted to design and share courses for over 7 years now, and the Zombie March Horror Writing Course is the first of my courses to reach completion. It feels like a huge milestone in my career, especially as I navigate the way in which I want to engage with fiction writing in the long-term. Writing and publishing stories and books is fun, challenging, and immensely fulfilling, but I've always gravitated back to the world of education. I love teaching. And so, here I am, trying to marry these two passions of mine together into something I hope will both be benefi...

The Black Hare Log #2 This post was originally posted on my tumblr account on November 18, 2024. Current Status: The game has approx. 30k words so far. I’m currently writing/developing the Prologue, which establishes the routes you will take, your core traits, your background, and more. 2/4 main routes are near completion. Goals for end of month (Nov 2024): Release the Prologue! (Oh, God, is it already the seventeenth?! ) Snippet: She eyes you, scrutinizes your face carefully, her gaze grazing over every centimeter of it. “Hmm…” she hums, a small smile tugging at the corner of her painted red lips. “You… you do not believe, do you?” Her eyes twinkle knowingly. “No matter, my dear stranger. We shall remedy that.” She reaches out her hands, fingers adorned in thin golden rings, palms up on the table. “Place your hands in mine,” she commands. Her eyes bore into you, and you find yourself compelled to do as she says. ✦✧✦✧ Tag list open! ✦✧✦✧ Let me know if you’d like...

Zombie March: A Horror Writing Course You love horror, and you want to write powerful, impactful horror that haunts your readers for a long time to come - but you don't have the knowledge, or the skills, or perhaps even the specific mechanics or techniques required to do so.  If this sounds familiar, then I have a pleasant surprise for you:   Zombie March is a 30-hour horror writing course that teaches you the foundational and practical knowledge you need to succeed as a horror writer. This course includes: Over 60 lessons to sink your teeth into A clear structure and course progression Drip schedule/asynchronous A final project to earn your course certificate* Case studies including short stories, movies, and video games  2 live one-on-one sessions Zombie March enrollment will open on March 31, 2025 at an unbeatable price for its first run, so don't miss out on your chance to enroll! A launch post with a link to the course will be shared when enrollment opens. (And, as ...

The Perfect Lesson: A Never-Ending Pursuit As I soldier away, working on my horror writing course , I notice an objectively frustrating behaviour in myself: I constantly find new things to add, or things to edit, or things to tweak, or things to rewrite - in every. single. lesson. This, I know, is the perfectionist in me - a part of myself I have done battle with since my days as a high school student. I also know that this perfectionist is, in fact, a sneaky little devil, and that I can, under no circumstances, allow them to win.  But does that count, even in education? Shouldn't I want to edit and edit and edit and edit until the lesson is sparkling with perfection - for the good of my students, so that they can get the best experience?  Honestly, that's a rhetorical question. The answer, of course, is that I want to provide students with the best possible educational experience that I can. But this doesn't mean perfection. It means doing the best that I am able to do - a...

The Black Hare Log #1 This post was originally posted on my tumblr account on November 9, 2024.  Some starting info for my first log entry: The game has approx. 20k words so far. I’m currently writing/developing the Prologue. Goals for end of month (Nov 2024): Release the kraken Prologue! Tiny snippet: “I might be small, but I sure can pack a good punch.“ The comment surprises him, and he breaks into a rich chuckle. “Well, that’s all a person really needs to know how to do, I suppose.” ✦✧✦✧ Tag list open! ✦✧✦✧ Let me know if you’d like to be added, and I’ll tag you in any updates related to this wip. [ This feature is available on tumblr; if you would like to keep up with this project on this blog, please add the blog to your feed or join my newsletter ! ] The experience so far: I’ve learned so much already, just in the last couple of weeks since starting The Black Hare . You might have seen me post a bit about making tiny IFs for a couple of game jams. Honestly, I don...

How to Write Horror: Starting a Horror Story Tension and mood are extremely important when it comes to horror fiction writing. As writers we feel a pressure to engage our readers right away, or lose them completely. Readers, for their part, give us a very short grace period, which differs from one individual to another, and during this grace period we need to set up the horror mood and hook them in, before they lose interest and put your story down.  So it's only natural that, if you're writing a horror story, you may be wondering how to start it off? It was a dark and stormy night... The good news is that horror does not particularly differ from any other genre in this regard.  Eerie prologue. Drop the reader straight into the creepy part of your story by whetting their appetite at the very start using a prologue. Usually, prologues will include characters who are secondary, or who are never seen again, and are used specifically as examples of what could happen to the main ch...

Analyzing Literature... in Darija This week, I officially started work on an educational program - I'll refer to it as Project YN - which I've been designing for some time now . Put simply, Project YN is a set of audio lessons which focus on discussing and analyzing important works of literature originally written in English.  But there's a little twist:  The entire program is presented in Darija. What is Darija, you may be wondering? Darija is the main dialect spoken in Morocco. It's an Arabic-based dialect, but has a great deal of Tamazight (also referred to as Amazigh languages or 'Berber' languages) influence, which is another dialect popular in the country.  Because Morocco was occupied by France and Spain for some time, there's also a French and Spanish influence in Darija. For example, people in the north of Morocco may refer to chewing gum as "chicle" (from Spanish), whereas those in the south may refer to it as "messka" (...

A Look Into My Upcoming Horror Fiction Writing Course Well, it's been a while since I had a full update regarding my horror writing course . I've hinted at its contents on my social media, and I've chatted a bit about how the course will function from an educational perspective , but it's about time I shared a little sneak peek into the actual course, hm?   One of a range of lessons in the 'History and Evolution of Horror Storytelling' module. What you see in the screenshot above is the general layout of the course. Off to the left, you have the modules and lessons, and on the top right corner there's a button to let you continue on after you've completed a lesson.  There's also a Comments section, which I provide in certain lessons to promote discussion among fellow writers about a range of intriguing topics. The course is mainly text-based, with images to support the text visually, and every now and then, there are some videos sprinkled throughout...

February 2025 Newsletter and Other Updates Ramadan Mubarak to everyone who observes this holy month! It's been a while since I updated this blog, so you can count this as a February 2025 writing update.  Newsletter Shenanigans  The newsletter for February didn't go out as planned. What with Ramadan prep, some health issues, LifeTM, and other responsibilities, I didn't get the chance to prepare the goodies that I wanted to send out with last month's newsletter. In fact, I didn't even get the chance to properly round out Scareuary!  You may already be aware, but the two goodies for this past month's newsletter were going to be a PDF version of all of the activities and events of this year's Scareuary, and a fancy character profiles booklet for The City of Light . I might share the Scareuary PDF some other time, but for now I want to move forward. I'm hoping I'll be back on track with this month's newsletter, and that there will be some fun goodies ...