Creepshow writer Melanie Dale on pivoting into fiction

Creepshow writer Melanie Dale on pivoting into fiction

From The Creative Hustle With Anika Goyal by Anika Goyal

April 13, 2026 · 15 min · Season 3 · Episode 3

About this episode

Melanie Dale discusses her journey from writing nonfiction to fiction, exploring themes of humor, horror, and personal challenges.

She wrote laugh-out-loud funny books about the hardest parts of life : infertility, friendships, the seasons that don't go according to plan. Then she wrote horror screenplays for Creepshow, including episodes starring Joey King and Molly Ringwald. Then she shambled around as a zombie on The Walking Dead. Then she wrote a young adult horror novel about a girl whose greatest fear turns out to be completely real. On paper, none of that belongs together. In this conversation, it all makes perfect sense. In this episode we get into the pivot from nonfiction to fiction and what finally made her make it, what surviving cancer changed about what she was willing to write and how honestly she was willing to write it, why she thinks humor and horror are actually doing the same emotional work, how she wrote a character whose OCD makes danger feel real before the real danger arrives, and what it means to finally tell the story you've been circling for years. This one is for anyone who has ever felt like their interests are too different to belong together. They do. You just haven't found the through line yet. 🎙️ New episodes every week! Follow along on Instagram @thecreativehustlewithanikag

People in this episode

Host: Anika Goyal

Guest: Melanie Dale

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Creepshow, The Walking Dead

Books & works: young adult horror novel

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