The lovely ladies at Black Ink Fiction have put together a feature on emerging women in horror.
All the female authors: https://womenofhorror.square.site/women-in-horror
I found filling out the questionnaire was a revealing process. The first question challenged me to name a woman horror writer who had influenced me. To be honest, I COULDN'T! All the horror writers that had influenced me big time were male. Stephen King, Bram Stoker, James Herbert, Edgar Allen Poe and H.P. Lovecraft.
The other writers that came to mind were Ira Levin (who wrote Rosemarie's Baby) and when I looked him up, he was also a man, and if I had reached back into the past of the Gothic tradition, Ann Radcliffe who wrote The Mysteries of Udolpho. Female fantasy writers who include a good balance of darker elements did come to mind, and if you check my interview, you will read about them.
Upon reading interviews by fellow women writers I notice some identified Agatha Christy as an influence (I was a huge fan, but classed her as a murder mystery writer), and Shirley Jackson, author of The Haunting of Hill House. A couple of authors referred to Mary Shelley, but she is usually classed as the "mother of science-fiction" and it is often necessary to point out that Dr. Frankenstien is the inventor NOT the monster! The movies have had such a contrary influence on the plot.
I was surprised that nobody else traced their love of horror back to fairy-stories. The modern Disney stories have been sanitised and filmed with cheery music, bright costumes & falsely happy endings. I would encourage the younger reader to seek out original Hans Andersen, Brother's Grimm and Arabian Nights volumes. There will be some surprises.
Of course, it is quite okay to class writers in multiple genres and garner influences where one wants. The first lesson I learned filling out the questionnaire is that men have perhaps dominated the horror scene during certain eras. The second lesson I learned reading other interviews is how diverse women writers really were. Two excellent lessons!
My interview: https://womenofhorror.square.site/cecilia-hopkins-drewer
