Ten Questions with the Author ;​

​1.) From where do you pull most of your inspiration ?​

1.       ... From everyday life mostly - I see something happen , or watch someone doing something , and my brain puts its own twist on things . If I see a guy pumping gas , my brain thinks - ' What's really stopping someone from walking by and throwing a match ? ' ...​​

2.) What was the first REAL story you remember writing ?

          ... In sixth grade - ' Little Johnny's Lunchbox ' - we were told to write anything we wanted for a homework assignment . My Mom let me use the electric typewriter she would bring home from work once in a while . I wrote six pages that night about a kid who's lunchbox would sit on the shelf with all the other kids' boxes in the closet , then start to rumble around the closer it got to lunch time . The entire story was built around an idea that the guy who made the box at the factory died while making that particlar box , it it just happened to occur right before his lunch time - so the factory worker's ghost inhabited the lunchbox . I got an A , and pretty much freaked Ms. Palas out a little judging by her red penned notes at the top . Up to that point I was scribbling down ideas , never really finishing anything  ...

​3.) Every Author experiences "Writer's block" , how do you adjust to it ?

          ... Writer's Block can be brutal - nothing worse than watching the cursor blink in the top left corner of the screen . My mind is always going , and I tend to keep a lot of different titles and ideas in different folders , so if I run in to any problems I can just open something I started working on before , or start mapping out notes for a geat title I came up with - then eventually the block-bubble​ will pop and my mind starts jamming again . Everyone deals with Writer's Block differently - that's just my way of getting around it - keeping my mind busy instead of sitting there getting frustrated by watching the blinking cursor ...

4.) In your first two books you've had interesting and distinct Character Names - any specific details on why that is important to you as a writer ?

               ... Sometimes a good character name is almost as important as the title of the story itself , and it's one of my favorite things about writing - coming up with all the names . In 37 Planes I needed a ton of names - sometimes I mapped them out so they really meant something - and sometimes I scribbled combinations of names . Like Joey Tadegah , when his character popped up in my head I knew the name had to be something that defined who he was , and where he may have came from . In Folkhlore , Yorris' name was the first one I came up with after I invisioned the make up of his character  - and when it came to the others I thought of Southern , Mid , and Northern Europe - playing with the different letters and how they may have been pronounced or spelled ... so much fun . Most of the time I'll come up with a name that will make a reader stop , and reread it - pronounce it out loud  ... anything to help draw the reader's attention -pulling them in even further ...

5.) Speaking of Characters , in both 37 Planes  and Folkhlore - You have written accent driven dialogue - another way to get the reader to slow down and enjoy the story ?

​            ... Anybody can write the dalogue straight , then force the reader to play the accent along in their head at the same time - I think it's a little more interesting to have the reader sound out each word until they get the swing of the character's accent , and if they read it aloud long enough maybe they can end up speaking as that character - identifying even more with a quirky , or annoying aspect that makes one love , or even hate that character even more ...

​6.) You seem to enjoy writing descriptive , detailed violence - a lot of which is rarely explained the same way twice - do you actually sit around and think of different descriptive phrases ?

             ... No , that sounds a little too UnaBomberish - but I see the point of the question . I think it goes back to the question regarding the accented dialogue - anyone can create a written act of violence , but why not take it a few steps further if your mind is curious in that regard . It's not about being disgusting or disturbing just to come across that way - it has a lot to do with wanting to know what is going through both minds as one stabs , and the other sees and feels the blade slide in to his skin , and beyond . What are those two people thinking as one provides the shock and pain , and the other  has to come to the realization that they are more than likely going to die from bleeding out , or having an organ punctured ? Crawling around in both of those minds at the same time is one of the most challenging aspects a writer can give themself ...

7.)  Do you have any other plans for Folkhlore as a series , or even a follow up to 37 Planes ?

            ... Oh yes ... For Folkhlore I have five solid individual good ideas , and I have about thirty-ish pages of the next chronicle roughed out - I have that entire story in my head , and how it plays from beginning to end . I also don't want to limit myself to just the Folkhlore series - that's why I released 37 Planes first , and why what I'm writing now for the third book is completely different than the others . I feel the best thing I can do for myself  is to keep branching out  in different directions - release a Folkhlore Chronicle every other book - and keep my mind fresh by working on polar opposite projects inbetween those novels . As far as 37 Planes goes , and because of how it ends , I only have a prequel in my head really - but I kind of wanted it to go in that direction from the beginning  anyway . I'm just as curious to know how Daven Rhodes ran his old life more than anyone else might be ...

8.) When you say "Map Out"  or "Rough Out" does that mean you outline all of your books so the story is in front of you from A to Z ?

​          ...  The one thing that no one believes me when I tell them , is that I never really outline anything - I mean , I have notes at the bottom of the page , or I have a page or two of the original ideas to reference - but other than that , I write from memory . It may not be the healthiest way to do things - with all those thoughts crowding my head until I can finally write them out , but it's just the way I like to work ...

9.) Can you see yourself writing something other than Horror any time in the future ?

              ... Yes , I have a few ideas - but most of those are screenplays , or even a few TV Shows , I don't know if I could ever write a full non-Horror related novel - the interest just wouldn't be there at this point . I DO have an idea for a fun Summer novel sometime in the future - we'll see if that ever comes about ...

10.) Finally , what do you find is the biggest challenge of writing , and most of all FINISHING​​ a novel ? It's not an easy accomplishment  , as most aspiring authors will admit to ...

            ... Time mostly , and getting past that first fifty pages . Even when I was working full-time I set aside a few hours a night when I started 37 Planes - staying up until two , or three a.m. pretty much evey night , my goal was five to ten pages a night . The most challenging aspect is to keep the inner drive going - keep the gears grinding away on that story that's in your head , and having the patience to type it out one word at a time . Another thing is being able to sit for hours , and days at a time - clacking away ... it's a solitary existence , and you have to be able to handle that . That's why I need background noise like movies on the TV , or especially watching football on Sundays - something about having that chance to look up to something comfortable to the senses , anything other than a white page w/black letters for more than a few moments always keeps my mind fresh . What bums me out is that I can't listen to music and write - it's never worked for me as I tend to pay more attention to the music , then I end up playing DJ with my iPod . It's easy to stop writing , and let your story end at thirty-something pages - but the thrill of passing page one-hundred , then two-fifty , then that magical plateau of three-hundred ... that's when you really know you're kicking ass , and you're actually going to finish that blip of a thought springing out of nowhere that sat you down , and made you start clicking away to begin with ... pretty awesome feeling ... 

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