Hey Horror Flora fans! I know it’s been a quiet year on the site so far, but the 5th year anniversary of Horror Flora is coming up, and as always I want to celebrate it a bit. I’ve got content of my own planned, of course, but one of the most requested features has been a second fan-submitted ICHF jam, so I figured this would be a good time for it!

THE SECOND FAN-WRITTEN ICHF JAM!

Starting now, you can send your own Iconic Character of Horror Fiction article to askhorrorflora@horrorflora.com.  For those who are new to the site, an ICHF is a personal essay that discusses a character from horror fiction (movies, novels, video games, etc.) in great detail, examining their personality traits, motivations, themes, and contribution to the Horror genre as a whole. If you’re not sure of the format of an ICHF, please check out the plentiful examples in my ICHF gallery right here.

I play pretty fast and loose with the rules of what makes an ICHF an ICHF, but here’s the rough guideline:

• The character must be from a Horror story.  Horror comedies count for this, as do crossovers with Horror and other genres – there’s some wiggle room here – but if the Horror genre isn’t a predominant aspect of the story, the character doesn’t count.  Being the villain of a Fantasy or Sci-Fi story that has a few scary moments isn’t going to cut it.
• ICHFs generally try to do a bit more than just describe the character in question.  Some analysis of what role they play in their story and how they play with the tropes of the horror genre is required.
• While ICHFs try to be organized and informative, they need to be a little casual.  They’re not normal essays – you don’t want them to feel stuffy.  Subjectivity is actually valued more than objectivity here.
• You can write ICHFs for characters I’ve already covered.  The great thing about fiction is that it lends itself to multiple perspectives, and I doubt I’ve said all there is to say about each character in the ICHF gallery as it currently stands.
• While I’m not issuing any hard limits on length, I generally try to keep ICHFs between 2 – 10 pages long, and would appreciate you doing the same if at all possible.

I can’t guarantee I’ll publish every entry that is sent to the contest, and I maintain the right to refuse to publish articles according to my discretion.  At the same time, I think it’d be awesome for the website for there to be some different views than my own on here, especially with a topic as broad as the entire horror genre.

You will receive full credit for the entries you submit, complete with a link back to your blog/website/what have you.  Ideally this jam should benefit both of us, so consider this an opportunity to get your work out there!

The contest ends October 3rd, 2021.  Submit your entries to askhorrorflora@horrorflora.com – AND KNOW THAT YOU CAN ENTER AS MANY ENTRIES AS YOU PLEASE.  And if you have questions about an entry, feel free to submit those as well!  I’ll try to answer them in a timely manner!