Interview with Stephen Sayers, horror fiction writer.

This is an interview with best selling author Stephen Sayers who writes speculative fiction with a horror component. His trilogy, The Caretaker Series, includes A Taker of Morrows, The Soul Dweller, and The Immortal Force, published through Hydra Publications, a boutique publishing house that specializes in his genre. 

How did you get into writing novels?

I never set out to be a writer, but after a challenge from my daughter, I decided to write her a novel. I thought it would probably be of questionable literary quality, but still I would give it to her on some birthday or holiday and watch it collect dust on her bookshelf. I didn’t see it becoming anything more than a nice gift from her father, an experience we could share together. But when I started writing, a switch turned on inside me, something I’d never felt before, igniting a passion I didn’t know I had. I worked hard to learn the craft, attended conferences and workshops, and found that I had gained enough knowledge to somehow come up with something worthy of publication. 

What do you like the most about it?

The process of storytelling still amazes me. I love the magic of transferring a story onto paper that has only existed in your head. I like that I can’t explain it, where the ideas come from, how the characters appear to come alive and truly exist, and how words on a page can create connections with these characters and draw true emotion. Writing is evidence that there is still a little magic in the world.

What do you like the least about it?

As an author at a small press, writing novels is much more than just putting words onto a page. It involves marketing, social media, and grass roots efforts to build your readership and create a brand (Oh, how I hate that word!!). While some of that can be fun (book shows, interviews, etc.), I don’t think most authors are prepared for the enormous effort that must accompany each finished product.

 What process do you use in writing your novels?

My process is undoubtedly unorthodox. I have heard of author who plan out each chapter and section and basically have the novel written before they ever put pen to paper. I wish I could work this way, but the only way ideas come to me is when I write. When I think and plan a novel, I can’t get any traction. My process has been to construct a beginning and an ending to the story in my head. Once I work out the details of these two endpoints, I write and let the story come unfold in whatever way it will come. Sometimes this leads to dead ends that must be cleaned up or discarded. But I’ve always felt that every word written, even ones that don’t end up in the novel, are never wasted effort. And I’m always amazed at the final product. Somehow this process works for me at this point. 

What genre do you write and have you considered writing in other genres?

Ever since I was a kid I loved horror and the supernatural. The stories that I loved growing up were always those that made me scared, so I think it is natural that I would choose to write within those genres. I have dabbled in historical fiction, too. One of my novels has a number of scenes that take place in the mid-1940s, and it is interesting as a writer to try to recapture a long-gone time and place. I am currently writing a novel that is set 80 years in the past. So, historical fiction seems to keep calling to me, and I am enjoying pursuing that sub-genre within a supernatural/horror-based novel.

Interview with author Wade Flaming

How did you get into writing novels?

When I got laid off from my job, I received a decent severance package. It gave me time to explore my options. I considered different fields and thought about writing. Only I didn’t realize how hard it was to make money at it, even with a great imagination. Writing seemed easy to me, and I remembered how much I liked literature in school. Also, the November writing challenge was beginning about then, and that’s how I wrote my first novel.

What do you like the most about it?

I like using my imagination to create stories. I find both writing and editing enjoyable.

What do you like the least about it?

The social interaction and social media side of writing is a little off-putting. I know it is part of the business, but it is still something I have been avoiding.

Where do you find other people who do the same work?

My first exposure was to another woman at work who was writing novels. Other than that, this group is the first one where I have met other writers.

Writers Are Like Travel Agents

It is a dark and stormy night…oops, I think that line has been used, although it could turn dark and stormy for my characters anytime. Story settings—locale, weather, time, mood—all bring important elements to storytelling. In so many cases, writers overlook setting. 

Is the reader somewhere on earth, the moon, the afterlife, floating in the universe? Grounding the reader in the character’s surroundings enhances and supports the plot. Setting can even be a character when the story depends on it, such as Burnett’s The Secret Garden and even J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series.

In my short story about unexpected heroics, a character travels several miles along the West Coast. The journey begins on a blistering hot Santa Ana day in a dreadful neighborhood where drugs and violent crimes are common. 

The second travel location takes place in sunny San Diego, a busy street sidewalk, rerouted for building construction. People walk obliviously around the noisy intersection with their earplugs connected to handheld devices. 

My character’s final stop is Sonoma Valley, wine country. Who wouldn’t want to include the beautiful hills and vineyards in their travel plans? My character is up for it, stopping to relax in a meadow of sweeping yellow flowers. A pleasant day. A beautiful spot for a moment of respite. 

Yes, my character gets around.

Although I’ve only visited one of these places in my own travel experiences, the Internet provides abundant information and pictures, even local slang and haunts. Visiting any place in the world with a touch of a button can help bring authenticity to a setting. For SciFi and fantasy genres, setting takes dedicated world building and imagination. I call them story architects.

Settings do not need to be elaborate or cover pages of a story, except for those genres just mentioned. In most situations, a simple phrase or sentence placed strategically accomplishes enough to ground readers. However, setting should always reflect something about the character.

Readers expect to be transported to new and exciting (or not so exciting) places. Writers are like travel agents. Give them an itinerary and take them there.

How do Writers Engage Readers?

What makes a novel a page turner? How do writers know they are keeping the reader engaged? Is there some magic hocus-pocus or formula, or do we just hope and pray our stories are so interesting the reader can’t put it down? Many books fail to deliver. Even bestsellers don’t always keep us up at night. The failure, as many are quick to point out, is lack of emotional connection.

We writers are a nervous lot. We love to write stories, but we also fear what are writing is not good enough. We fear readers will close the book, and all that “sweat equity” was all for nil. We aim to entertain, to garner an audience, to make some small impression in sharing a bit of our soul. We want the reader to ask, “What’s next?” Is it all about emotion or is plot an equal player?

A story can be action-packed and full of twists and turns, but is it enough? Without a character’s reaction and analysis, spurring him into the next action, I suppose a basic minute-by-minute description of events wouldn’t mean much.

Sights, sounds, smells, and tastes are important sensory details that bring the character and his experiences to life.

Finding the right pacing and balance takes careful planning. What emotion is the writer trying to convey in a given scene? And it’s not just the obvious emotion that yanks at the reader. It’s the underlying ones, the contradictory ones, that make the reader breathless. Emotions are conveyed through showing, not telling, although some emotional tells are useful when used strategically.

I’ve heard a literary agent or two claim a book can be riveting without even having a plot, that if characters are drawn well and readers relate to their emotional journey, story is secondary.

Interesting interpretation. I can vouch for its validity. When a book is filled with more narrative than dialogue and it still holds my interest, it is indeed because I’m in the character’s head. So, perhaps when we are told to write what we know, it doesn’t mean knowledge but how events affect us and how we react.

Speed Writing

In a world where technology has accelerated the delivery of services, information, results, business—you name it—the word speed has become a buzz word for terms such as speed dating, speed dialing, speed skating, speed racing, speed testing, etc., but what about speed writing? Although speed-writing generally refers to shorthand, it can be used to describe a creative writing process.

Often, a writer hears advice to just “get the story down on paper.” Do not worry about anything but the basic story. In that sense, I call it speed-writing. Whatever pops into your head, transfer it to paper. For example, the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is the most impressive proponent of challenging writers to meet a 50,000-word goal during the month of November. 

The theory is, once the writer creates the bare-bones draft of his story, he can begin the real work through editing and revising—adding, deleting, embellishing, reworking, and rearranging—until the story is polished.

This may work for many writers, but what I have experienced in trying this method is short-changing my original vision. When I sit down to write a scene, I have a certain feel for the setting, how the action unfolds, my characters’ emotions, interactions, and reactions, the combined atmosphere and tone. With speed-writing and dependence on the rewrite, I have found I’ve forgotten or cannot recapture my initial picture once I go back. Therefore, my manuscript suffers.

When I write, I prefer the tedious method. It may take me longer, but my words have to fall on paper with a rhythm, a sequencing speed-writing doesn’t capture. My biggest fear?  Quickness can backfire. I risk losing my original vision, poetic prose, artistic style, and cohesiveness. Extensive revision doesn't always capture the authenticity.

Again, there are no concrete rules for writing, no set processes one must follow. Speed-writing may work spectacularly for some writers but not all. Others may chose a more deliberate approach. How a writer arrives at a creative product is as varied as the color wheel. In the end, creativity isn’t creativity if it’s subjected to rules.