Nightmare Melodies Writing Contest
Aspiring writers of the world,
Greetings from the editor of Nightmare Melodies! It is with immense pleasure that I share with you all a tiny chunk of my soul—this anthology. I had the incredible honour of reading each piece of horror writing submitted to this collection, and I kid you not when I say every single work stole a portion of my soul. It was an incredibly humbling and beautiful experience to give pieces of my soul to these poems. You will find that this anthology carries not only a fragment of my soul but also the souls of all the poets who made this potpourri of precious poems possible. Our souls were brought together by the darkness of the real world, the dreamscape of nightmares, and the darkness within. There is a haunting beauty in the absence of light, and these poets captured it perfectly. (Their spine-tingling horror poetry had me checking under my bed before going to sleep!)
As an aspiring writer myself, I understand that writing can sometimes feel like an uncertain journey through a dark dreamscape of dictionaries and thesauruses, what-ifs, structuring creativity to conform to conventional forms, and confusing commas, but fear not, for if you harbour a keen interest and love for writing, you are already on the right track!
I encourage you to continue exploring the genre of horror poetry. It is one with intricate nuances about the human psyche, terrifying jump scares, and high chances of scaring the living daylights out of yourself, but it is also one that will spark in you the satisfaction of creating something that speaks to people and stimulates them to delve deeper into their minds and confront the darker corners.
If you ever feel discouraged, remember this: writing is like a horror movie marathon. It is scary, it is thrilling, and sometimes you must take a break and eat some popcorn. Please keep writing, exploring, and scaring the pants off of us with your nightmare melodies. You never know who you might inspire or whose nightmares you might haunt.
Congratulations and sweet dreams! (If you dare)
Your (slightly spooked but mostly impressed) judge and editor, Hamsini Mangalampalli
The Maestro of the Nightmare Melodies has been awakened to haunt your dreams!