#also fun fact: the v word brought me my first rejection latter! thanks dark magazine :/

[ghostbustermelanieking]

creative writing projects i have in progress/completed

(100% self indulgent but if you are interested!)

short stories

The V Word: Bobby's older brother Daniel wants everyone to believe their parents are dead, but Bobby knows this isn't true. He doesn't understand what happened the night everything fell apart, but he knows they'll be coming back. So when there is a tapping at Bobby's window one night, it makes perfect sense to let them in...

[untitled demon apartment story]: Marnie is positive there's a demon in her apartment building, and she is going to lay out the evidence. Too bad no one believes her...

Chosen Ones: When Elaine's children go missing one day, she connects the dots back to a supposedly imaginary wizard friend who claims to be their father (impossible, but her wife isn't there to confirm or deny); stories of a fantasy land that need help; and what is seemingly a door in the old oak tree in the backyard.

[untitled pet sitting story]: Leni sees her new pet sitting gig as easy money, but is confused when she can't find the cat she's supposed to be watching, and keeps hearing sounds that more closely resemble a dog at night. When she and best friend Mo find articles about dog abuse taking place at the owners' previous house, the pieces begin to come together...

[untitled "beheading" story]: Dani's strange interest/preoccupation with decapitation has haunted her through her life, and is potentially the reason her childhood friendship with Maggie fell apart. But shocking news about Maggie in the present day suddenly makes the issue more real than ever.

[untitled witch story]: Kids on a camping trip are eager to try out the ritual described in a campfire story, but the consequences are more severe than they anticipated.

The Spectral Air Conditioning Solution: The air conditioner in Katie's apartment has been broken for weeks with no end in sight. Luckily Katie has an unconventional solution: simply summon a ghost to provide free air conditioning. This is harder than she expects...

[untitled bloody mary story]: Amelia is initially delighted to be moving in with her great-niece Amy, but her past begins to catch up with her in an unfortunate series of circumstances when Amy's daughter Millie insists on playing Bloody Mary in Amelia's room.

short story/novella?/will probably rewrite as a novel

Room 721: In 1981, college roommates Kit Matheson and Eleanor Brown hold a seance on Halloween, which they believe to have had no consequences. In 2021, the now married Kit and Eleanor return to campus, and encounter Evie Castillo, the new tenant of the room, who is terrified by what Kit and Eleanor unintentionally left behind.

novel drafts

The House on Whaley Lake: Sisters Rebecca, Beth, Molly, and Madison Murphy still feel the varying effects of having grown up in a haunted house. When their aunt and mother purchase a lake house in the mountains of North Carolina, it feels like a chance to start over. But this new house might have more in common with their childhood home than they realize...

[untitled fake ghost story novel]: The McMillan family (parents Katrina and John, and kids Ben, Jane, Marley, and Joey) have gained Internet notoriety for fleeing their supposedly haunted house in the middle of the night, Amityville-style. But the McMillans have a secret: they've faked the whole thing, and the only one who knows the truth is Jane's best friend Holly, whose mother is renting them a new apartment. Most of the McMillans are highly skeptical of ghosts; but when a photo taken on a ghost tour collides with an impromptu seance, the family has to contend with the real thing...

[untitled 80s kids ghost story]: Looking for something to do in their small West Virginia town, best friends Han, Louie, Sasha, and Erin go searching for ghosts and other creatures of the night in the abandoned house up in the holler. When things go badly, they figure nothing will come from it; the house is empty, after all. But when new student Samantha is revealed to have recently moved into the house, the girls realize they must do something to fix things -- or otherwise Samantha's family will be in real danger.

[untitled creepy kid story]: The Moyer family -- parents Bonnie and David, kids Kira, Katherine, Marty, and Ollie -- are eager to move into their new house. But things start to go wrong when youngest Ollie begins behaving very strangely. Six months later, the Moyers have moved, but they are haunted by their experience -- and wonder if they can fully trust their brother and son...

edit i forgot one

[untitled middle grade novel]: When Meg's parents abruptly announce that they are getting divorced, she searches for solace in her best friend Joy Hammond, and Joy's sisters Miri and Ruthie. But the Hammonds have problems of their own. They live in an apartment adjacent to the church where their father preaches, and strange things have begun to happen there, including whispers of a girl named Mary who died in the sanctuary long ago. Meg is terrified, but she knows she can't abandon Joy now; and with things growing worse at home, Joy's house remains a refuge, even as the haunting gets worse...