Chicago paraprofessional makes middle school scary
Horror novelist uses his own work to get students interested in writing

Middle school students are the perfect audience for horror stories. So when paraprofessional Deon Sanders incorporates horror writing into his work with students at Chicago’s Thurgood Marshall Middle School, they love it. But here’s the clincher: Sanders himself is the author of some of the stories. “They love me being a horror novelist in their classroom,” says Sanders, a member of the Chicago Teachers Union.

Sanders freely admits that an African-American horror writer is pretty unusual in a field dominated by white men. And just to make things more interesting, the horrible character at the center of his one published novel, Miss Mary Weather: A Southern Nightmare, is a beautiful black woman. Mary Weather is a mother who loses her mind after giving birth to a severely deformed baby. After the baby dies, Mary kills herself. An evil spirit inhabits her soul, and that’s when the plot thickens.

“Lots of African-American writers out there are great,” Sanders says. “But I wanted to do something different from what everyone else is doing.” His story is set in rural Alabama, where Sanders was born and where he says superstitions and fables are part of the common lore. He says he tries to take everyday things and “flip them to the unreality.”

While Sanders has only one published novel to his name, he has written seven others and is working on a sequel to Miss Mary Weather. In addition, his prolific output includes poems, short stories and screenplays. He sometimes has a couple of novels going at the same time, as well as poetry and other projects.

Much as he enjoys working in schools, his “whole goal is to become a professional writer,” Sanders says. “I’m going to keep writing and writing until it happens, until I get my first break,” whether it’s publishing a book that racks up good sales or selling a screenplay or movie rights. He says the reaction to Miss Mary (published by AmErica House) has been encouraging. He especially enjoys e-mail he’s received from readers in other countries.

Whatever Sanders ends up doing—one option is becoming a teacher—he wants to keep working with young people. “I still want to be able to help youth with writing and do something where I can make a difference.”