Today we’d like to introduce you to Nicole M. Wolverton.
Hi Nicole M. , so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
The road to being a horror writer and horror scholar is at once long and winding, and a straight line. I was a weirdly curious kid with a creative streak, and I grew up into a weirdly curious adult with a more developed creative streak. Even though I’ve been writing horror since I was very young, publication didn’t happen until I was in my mid-thirties. It just… didn’t occur to me try until then. There’s something very personal about writing horror because you’re writing about the things that scare YOU. It can feel uncomfortable to put that out into the world, like you’re giving someone the key to destroy you. But here I am, two novels published with a third on the way in August 2026 (MEAT SWEATS, Horrorsmith Publishing) and 50-plus short stories and creative nonfiction works published.
Studying horror academically is something that was never on my radar. My family was fairly poverty-stricken when I was a kid, and it’s a miracle I even went to college in the first place. There was no money for it. Luckily, “stubborn” should be my middle. My undergraduate work had nothing to do with horror, though–it wasn’t until the COVID-19 pandemic and a related hospitalization in 2020 that exploring how horror works felt right. I hold a masters of liberal arts in horror and storytelling, and I’m working on a masters in philosophy, focusing on food, horror, and disgust. It brings me a lot of joy.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Anyone who writes for publication struggles–anyone who says they don’t is lying. Rejection is a huge part of being a writer, and you really have to come to terms with it and understand that often it has nothing to do with the quality of your writing. Instead, it might have to do with market conditions, political conditions, the story an editor just acquired that’s too similar to yours, or even if an editor had a childhood bully with the same name as your protagonist. I’ve edited a short fiction anthology myself (BODIES FULL OF BURNING, Sliced Up Press, 2021), and it was an eye opener for me as a writer. It taught me a lot about how to look at rejection.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
A good friend once made the observation that my horror work tends to be set in isolated rural and suburban spaces, and that makes sense–I grew up in rural Pennsylvania, and I very much distrust places that aren’t very populated. I said before that as horror writers, we write what scares us. It just makes sense that my work would be centered there, and I’m strangely proud of it. I mean, if I had to choose someone (or a group) that is my natural audience, it’s people who had that same experience of growing up in a rural place or a place with a small population, where you don’t fit in–and you’re sure you belong somewhere else. That you could be the person you were meant to be if you get somewhere else.
As a horror scholar, I’m focusing on the things that scare me there as well. I am maybe not frightened by food, per se, but I am fascinated by the use of food to make horror. Food is political, and horror is political–so investigating both my studies interesting.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
Luck is everything in writing fiction. I can only write the very best thing I can, and then the rest is out of my hands. Will I be lucky enough to find the right editor at the right time who understands what I’m saying with my work, who loves my story? Will the right reader find my book somehow? Will a librarian or book seller champion my work? Will someone write about my book, or pass it along to someone else who will love it? None of that can be forced. I can try to best position my book or short story to help things along, but in the end, hardly anything is in my control. That is truly the most difficult part of being a writer. Uncertainty can drive you a bit bonkers.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.nicolewolverton.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicolemwolverton
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@nicole.wolverton.author
