If you’ve been frequenting any number of horror message boards over the past few weeks you’ve seen something big begin to happen in the Horror Biz. This month Dorchester Publishing announced a fundamental shift in their publishing schedule and format. The news spread like wild fire across the various horror message boards I frequent. There were a lot of rumors floating around as to what this really meant. Why is this important? Because if you didn’t realize it, Leisure (mainly it’s horror line of mass-market paperbacks) would be affected. I had been privately hearing rumblings about some problems brewing at Leisure since January. There was a mutual feeling that something was wrong at the publisher, but we weren’t sure exactly what.

From the announcement it was apparent that many of Leisure’s authors were taken by surprise. I wasn’t worried about the format change as much as I concerned about my friends and how it would affect them and their livelihood. According to Dorchester’s official statement on their website they are changing format to remain viable and discontinuing their mass-market paperback line and transitioning to trade paperback format and eBooks. Read the rest of this entry »

I write because I have to, I publish because I choose to.

There is a definite difference. AP Fuchs, publisher of Coscom Entertainment and writer extraordinaire, said it best in a recent interview with The Black Gove e-zine, “I’ve learned two major lessons and these were the hardest I learned, ones that I just didn’t learn overnight but over many years: publishing is just one giant crapshoot. It really is. Stuff succeeds and sometimes we know why, other times not. Same with the failures. I’ve learned good books don’t get you contracts and sometimes bad books do.”

Yeah, this is going to be one of those blogs. Writing and publishing are two different animals. Writing is solitary, just the author and the page. A book after the author hands it over to a publisher is no longer a solitary effort. Publishing should be collaborative, though that’s not always the case. Read the rest of this entry »

Apex is happy to give a signal boost to our friends Roy C. Booth and R. Thomas Riley. They are running a contest to promote their film over on Facebook.

Be sure and follow the link for more details and good luck.

Recently, I had the opportunity to pick Andor Lofthus’ brain on his experience in starring in Roy C. Booth’s THE DAY LUFBERRY WON IT ALL, the short film adaptation of my story by the same name. Andor plays the title character from the story and I must admit he really delved deep with the character and really brought my original vision to life. It was a real pleasure being on set and watching Andor work and I am very excited for everyone to see the finished film.

R. Thomas Riley: First off, thanks for taking the time to do this Andor. Tell us a little about yourself: Where were you born? Where did you grow up? Hobbies & favorite pastimes?

Andor Lofthus: I was born in Minneapolis and moved to the Bemidji area when I was 2, so I grew up in the woods; our closest neighbor was a mile away. My parents and I lived without electricity or running water and farmed with horses, needles to say it was a different way to grow up. No TV meant I read for entertainment, by the time I graduated from High School I think I read most of the library. Some of the things I do for fun include plinking on the guitar, art, and sculpture, acting in anything I can and watching movies. Gardening and my kids are a lot of fun too. 

RTR: How did you become involved with this project?

AL: Roy C. Booth and I had just finished with Out of the Hat II, and he asked if I would be interested in working on a short film he had in the works. Roy told me, “I need some one grizzled” so I let my scruff turn into a beard worthy of…. well it was “grizzly”. I jumped at the chance to do some more acting, especially film. I am relatively new to it but love the ability to get it “just right”, something that doesn’t always happen on stage. Roy and I have worked together off and on for nearly 20 years. I like the way he works, his attention to detail, but willingness to let the actor breathe life into the character, and a little hint when needed. 

RTR: Are you a fan of the sci-fi and horror genre?

AL: The majority of my reading in school was sci-fi and fantasy, though I did get into horror for a bit; Clive Barker still is one of my favorite authors. I like horror movies, but not many of them can make me jump, a few make me turn on ALL the lights on. I like movies that surprise me in some way, not a lot of them do. I guess I have seen too many and read too many books. Read the rest of this entry »

As you may have heard around these parts there’s a movie being made from one of the stories from my collection. I plan on interviewing a few people involved with the project and using this space to tell you all a little bit about the upcoming movie.

First up will be Roy C. Booth and John F. Mollard, the screenwriters of THE DAY LUFBERRY WON IT ALL.

Enjoy!

R. Thomas Riley: First off, thanks for taking the time to do this Roy. Give us a quick background on what you normally write and what genres you’ve written in?

Roy C. Booth: In a nutshell I am a published author, comedian, poet, journalist, essayist, screenwriter/doctor (w/. screenplays optioned) and an internationally award winning playwright with 660+ productions worldwide in 27 different countries. (Whew!) Genre-wise I’m all over the place, but I am more comfortable with writing speculative fiction.

RTR: How did this project come to be? A little background on what made you decide to work with me?

RCB: We’d discussed my looking at adapting some of your work at the world premiere of TERMINAL: THE PLAY by Brian Keene and myself at the Chief Theatre in Bemidji, MN in Match of 2009. At the time we were discussing play adaptations, though.

John F. Mollard: Roy sent me the short story of LUFBERRY which he asked me to turn into a skeleton form of a screenplay, which I’ve done a couple times previously for him. Had no idea what he was doing with it. Took only a couple days to do. Only met R. Thomas Riley for the first time at the book signing [at Roy’s Comic and Games] on April 24, 2010.

RTR: What’s different about the film making process that may differ from say, writing fiction or plays?

RCB: Other than the obvious formatting, there’s a lot more to consider about budgets, locations, technical limitations, and, in the case of adaptations, making sure that the original material translates well into the film medium. There is also a lot more “hurry up and wait” involved in the overall process, too.

JFM: Well, in LUFBERRY’S case, the film version takes place on Earth in lieu of an outer space space station due to budgetary reasons. I’ve never adapted anything to screenplay form or stage before, but obviously not everything can be done because of time constraints and budget concerns. My skeleton draft of LUFBERRY stuck to the original short story. I had it set in space. The only difference is I took the descriptive stuff from the first page of the short story and turned it into dialogue between a couple characters. Roy tossed all that ultimately, and did the majority of the scripting and changes himself. My involvement was very minimal.

RTR: What makes the sci-horror genre a good sell?

RCB: The exploration of themes and ideas that are not exactly as readily accessible otherwise, and I believe that is why we’re seeing so much more cross genre work out there nowadays.

JFM: Everybody likes a good scare or mystery once in a while. Young adults eat that stuff up in masses.

RTR: Since staring work on LUFBERRY is it everything you expected it to be? What were some of the surprises?

RCB: I have relatively low expectations in that sense, meaning whatever gets the final product done right is what truly matters and whatever obstacles and challenges needed to be overcome to get to that point are all part of the process, so having certain expectations would actually hinder things. It’s far, far easier to just go with the flow within the outlines created, let everyone do their jobs, reign things in when needed, and, heaven forbid, try to have a little fun as well.

JFM: My expectations were pretty low. I had no idea what Roy was going to do with the film. I’ve never seen his version of the script. The bar sequence is virtually the same as in the short story and my draft, more streamlined perhaps. It’s the opening scenes I haven’t a clue about: Roy’s talking cultists, prostitutes, etc. I’m clueless how that fits it. That’s his additions to the story. I’m not privy to any of that. The final film will be my introduction to that stuff.

Filming was interesting. It’s really no different than a big budget film shoot. I was an extra in NORTH COUNTRY. Same process. Just lower budget and fewer extras and you don’t get paid.

The cast members were perfect for the roles. The between take jokes were hilarious and oh, so dirty. All in all, it was a good experience…

RTR: What do you feel you bring to horror?

RCB: Enhanced real time presence.

JFM: Nothing much. Everything cool has already been done to death. I like writing comedy more.

RTR: Can you pinpoint a book, author or movie that triggered your desire to write?

RCB: None that I am consciously aware of–I’ve always wanted to write since I was six years old. What’s kept me going, though, has been my love for comic books. That’s what I’d love to be writing some day, [mainstream] comic books.

JFM: Kevin Smith, Quentin Tarantino, and Stephen King

RTR: Explain your process for adapting THE DAY LUFBERRY WON IT ALL from short story to screenplay?

RCB: In this case, I marked/cut up the story, sent it off to collaborator John F. Mollard to write up what I call a skeleton script based on all of that, and then I start rewriting/tweaking things to make it all work on film within whatever limitations we may have had at that moment, leaving things in the script fluid enough to adapt to budget/time/personnel/whatever changes we may encounter. I also concentrate on developing various underlying themes and the like, both contextually and visually, that not only help keep the story moving/more enjoyable, but help keep the original author’s vision (mostly) intact while also indulging in a few artistic statements of my own that help compliment that overall effect. When all is said and done, the DVD will be sent back to John to write out the official final adapted script version.

JFM: Again, I only did a skeleton draft. I eliminated a lot of the description. Changed the tense. Did the script formatting. Roy took it from there.

RTR: What’s the one dream project you’d like to tackle?

RCB: Anything to do with [mainstream] graphic novels and comics. ANYTHING.

RTR: Can you tell us anything more about your plans for THE DAY LUFBERRY WON IT ALL? Film festivals, etc?

RCB: I’ll let you tackle that one . . .

RTR: Roy and I are in the process of researching various film festivals such as The Tribeca Film Festival, The Sundance Film Festival, a Bemidji, MN screening, a Minot, Grand Forks, Fargo, ND film festivals. If you have a film festival in your local area and are interested in helping set that up and providing details please contact either Roy or myself. We’re also looking into the IFC film channel, and various other online DVD outlets, as well…more on those details when we can announce them.

RTR: What can we fans look forward to seeing from you in the future?

RCB: Oh boy. Lots of stuff: More genre-based plays such as RODRIGO GETS THE POSTMODERN BLUES (onstage kaiju!) and MARRIAGE . . . AFTER DEATH (zombie comedy!) soon to be released from Heuer Publications (www.hitplays.com); NECROTIC TISSUE Presents THREE ZOMBIES AND A DEMON from Stygian Publications (more zombie plays!); another Stygian anthology project featuring a short story set in Shane Moore’s Abyss Walker Universe; a werewolf story in a MINN-SPEC anthology coming out later this year from Sam’s Dot Publishing; some anthologized dark poetry in THE TERROR AT MISKATONIC FALLS (Shroud Publishing) and an upcoming project from Belfire Press; a brace of fantasy and horror novels that I hope to announce being published soon (Skullvines Press and others); and more. I am also presently working on the cross-genre speculative fiction novel THE FLESH OF FALLEN ANGELS with R. Thomas Riley.

JFM: I’m not a prolific writer at all like Roy or R. Thomas Riley. I’ve written four original screenplays. Had a few interested individuals, even three options, but nothing ever came of it. I’m not as into promoting my wares like I used to be.

All I can report is that I am trying to do a novel collaboration with Roy based on one of my scripts called MACGUFFIN. It’s a detective thriller set in 2005 Hollywood. A FBI trainee works with LAPD Homicide detectives to hunt down an elusive serial killer who preys on celebrities…the story pays homage to a plethora of horror movies, some obvious, some obscure. Hopefully, the book will be completed within the year. I’d like to see a publication, and whatever goes from there. I think it would even make a good movie.

RTR: Thanks gentlemen for taking the time to offer some insight and details into the filming of THE DAY LUFBERRY WON IT ALL.

For further details you can visit the film’s official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Official-The-Day-Lufberry-Won-It-All-Film-Page/410171967192) there are photos and video of some of the shooting days as well as photos of the cast and crew. For those of you who may be attending CONvergence Con in Bloomington, MN, LUFBERRY will be premiering at this convention, Krushenko’s poolside and there will be a Q & A discussion panel with myself, director and co-screenwriter Roy C. Booth, and set dresser/make up artist Cynthia Booth afterward along with a DVD signing.

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R. Thomas Riley is a horror writer living in the distant lands of North Dakota. He’s famous around these parts for his horror collection The Monster Within Idea from Apex Publications.

You can visit his web home at www.rthomasriley.com.

So, you’ve written your first short story or novel. Now what? Hopefully my story will help. I’ve been lucky and fortunate in this business, but much of this wouldn’t have happened without other established authors’ advice. This is my way of giving back and paying it forward, if you will.

When I first started off in this business, I wasn’t very aware. I’m comfortable admitting that. I’ve been a rabid reader ever since I can remember. I devoured everything I could get my hands on. When I was twelve or so, I discovered horror. I had grown up in a strict religious environment, so horror came fairly natural to me. After all, the Bible is the greatest horror story ever written if you really think about it.

The first book I remember reading was Stephen King’s It>. Up to that point, I’d only been allowed to read some classics, after those had been reviewed and sanitized by my parents, of course. I snuck It into my room and read it when I could late at night. I was blown away and my love of horror was born. I quickly devoured all of King’s work, moving from The Shining to the Bachman novels.

Looking back, my desire to write came naturally. I found myself drifting while I was reading. What if the story went this direction? What if the character did this, instead of that? I got a notebook and started jotting down alternate versions of the stories I was reading. For some reason, my versions ended up much darker. I managed to finish my first story a few weeks later. It was a blatant rip off of King’s Rage. In my version, a kid decides to go on a school rampage with the help of friend who turns out to be his alternate personality. It was a crap story. I didn’t realize that at the time. I quickly did a quick Internet search and sent off my story to the first place I happened across. The website accepted the story and I thought I was published. My hunger for publication was born.

I began writing constantly, stringing words together and sending them to that same website. They accepted everything I sent. There was no editorial input. Remember what I said at the beginning of this blog? I was clueless. I began to get feedback on my stories and they were nothing but positive comments about my work. The comments usually started out with, “Loved your story. I’m an author too. Check out my work!” Which I did, and said the same things in return. I thought I was on my way to the big time.

Eventually, every burgeoning writer realizes they’ve been lied to. Sometimes, those lies are good intentioned, sometimes they’re not. One of the worst things a new writer can do is show their work to their close friends and family. 99% of the time those people don’t want to hurt your feelings and don’t possess the capacity to offer unbiased feedback, at least not at first. I’d like to quote a friend of mine with one of the best observations I’ve heard regarding writing. K. H. Koehler said, “It’s important your sand castle is knocked down early on in your career. Only when you realize you truly suck can you take steps to unsuck.”

That point came for me when I submitted a story to an editor and she ripped the story to pieces. I was in shock. Up to that point, I’d heard nothing but good things about my stories. I was devastated. I was wounded. I took the feedback personally. I couldn’t see it for what it was at the time: a brutally honest appraisal of my work. Looking back, I’m glad I never replied to that email with what I felt at the time. I stepped back and really examined my desire to write. When I surfaced, I found I still wanted to write.

It was also around this time that I discovered the small press and some fantastic writers. Guys like Jason Brannon, Steven Lloyd, and John Grover. We were green and hungry to make it. We learned from each other. We celebrated when one of us had success, and commiserated when those rejections came rolling in. We read each other’s work and learned to be brutally honest. We discovered guys like Brian Keene, Tom Piccirilli, Ray Garton, Doug Clegg, John Skipp, and a host of others on horror message boards and learned from them…and we grew as writers.

I wouldn’t be where I’m at today in my career if it hadn’t been for those aforementioned authors taking the time to offer advice and encouragement. They remembered where they came from and the mentors they’d had, guys like Dick Laymon and others, and they reciprocated, paid it forward. On the whole, the horror author community is comparable to a tight knit family. Sure, there are always some bad apples in any group, but for the most part, everyone I’ve met wants nothing more than to help and see each other succeed. They’re not doing something so you can owe them; they’re doing it out of the goodness of their hearts.

I really buckled down and read everything I could get my hands on coming out of the small press, both the good and the bad. I learned how to craft a story from the unsung masters of this genre. A few times I was even fortunate enough to get feedback. My next step was to head to a convention. I was extremely nervous attending my first one. What would these authors be like in person? Would they accept me as one of their own?

My first convention was Hypericon 2. The con was in Nashville, TN in June of 2006. I had been good friends with Steven Lloyd, a fellow author, for a few years and was eager to meet him in person for the first time. Brian Keen was there, along with Steven Shrewsbury, Alex McVey and others. Hypericon was also where I met Mari Adkins and Jason Sizemore for the first time.

I drove from North Dakota, 1,366 miles one way, and didn’t know what to expect. I was warmly welcomed and for the first time I felt like a real writer. All those long, lonely nights of sitting in front of a computer and banging away at the keys paid off. It was an amazing experience. I was finally among people that ‘got’ me. I could be as geeky as I wanted about books, movies and games and nobody looked at me funny. I was in my natural habitat.

Meeting people I’d only known online was an interesting experience. I realized they were just like me, with the same fears and trepidations when it came to writing. The experience greatly encouraged me and made me realize I wasn’t alone. That, coupled with the fact that authors I considered the best in the business actually spoke to me as an equal really made me realize what a great family the small press horror genre actually is.

Fast forward a few years…I guess what I’m trying to get at is this: I wouldn’t be where I’m at today if it hadn’t been for a lot of hard work and a lot of luck and the generosity of many in this horror family. The opportunities are out there for the new and upcoming writers of this genre. Seek out those that are willing to help, learn from them, read their output and you will grow as an author. The majority of authors I have approached have been amicable and willing to offer advice and encouragement. Have the goods to back things up and you’ll have that much more opportunity.

Next month, I plan on blogging all about the opportunity that recently happened for me and one of the stories from The Monster Within Idea and the filming that took place in Bemidji, MN this past Sunday. In the meantime, you can view pics and videos of the happenings on the set of The Day Lufberry Won It All here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Official-The-Day-Lufberry-Won-It-All-Film-Page/410171967192

Until next time…

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R. Thomas Riley is a horror writer living in the distant lands of North Dakota. He’s famous around these parts for his horror collection The Monster Within Idea from Apex Publications.

You can visit his web home at www.rthomasriley.com.

It happens to the best of us. Sometimes for weeks on end, and in worse case scenarios, for months, sometimes years. We just don’t like talking about it. Why? If it happens to every writer, what’s the harm in talking about it? Because, it makes us frustrated, angry, and depressed to talk about it, even though we all know we’re going through it.

So what am I talking about?

The blank page.

At some point, every writer arrives at this point. What’s next for the story? We started the story all fired up and eager to explore what our characters had to say and then we hit the proverbial brick wall.

Writer’s block.

Some of us claim it doesn’t exist, while others know this feeling all too intimately.

According to Wikipedia, writer’s block is “a condition, associated with writing as a profession, in which an author loses the ability to produce new work. The condition varies widely in intensity. It can be trivial, a temporary difficulty in dealing with the task at hand. At the other extreme, some “blocked” writers have been unable to work for years on end, and some have even abandoned their careers.”

There can be many factors as to why this happens. For me, personally, after my divorce in 2006, I had a strong desire to write, but I couldn’t find the ability to write anything I didn’t end up deleting right after I wrote it. My head was full of ideas and thoughts, but I couldn’t formulate them into anything of coherence. Not writing had a physical effect on me. I couldn’t sleep because my mind was racing so much. I was depressed because of the divorce, losing my son, and a host of other factors and not being able to concentrate long enough to write frustrated me even more. I was a mess, to say the least. Yet, I still had to function, get up, go to work, and put a smile on my face when in public. I kept it hidden pretty well, but my insides were churning and my head was spinning.

I ended up not writing for almost a year. I just stopped. I knew not writing was a factor in the way I was feeling, but I couldn’t do anything about it. Eventually, I found myself in front of the computer one night and I just started writing. Everything I’d been dealing with, struggling with, came pouring out. I was scared that if I stopped, I wouldn’t be able to find this place again. So, I pressed forward and when I finished I realized I felt better on many levels. I realized at that point that writing was ingrained in me. It was no longer a hobby or a fun lark; it was something that was very dear to me. It took me losing many things in my personal life to come to this realization. Looking back, I honestly wouldn’t want anything to be different, because everything that happened has brought me to this place where writing is once again, magical, healthy, and exciting.

Sure, I still have days were I want nothing more than to not to sit in front of the computer and bang out words. Talking about writing and actually writing is what separates the wannabe from the professional. Even when I don’t feel like writing, I sit down and do the work. Sometimes, I force myself to turn off the TV, quit surfing message boards, or hanging out on FB and sit down and put words on the paper. I’ve found the first few minutes can be pretty hard, but once the words start flowing things even out. Face it, if you write for long enough, there will be days where you don’t feel ‘it’, they’re going to happen, but you can’t let it get the best of you.

What has worked for me is something called free writing. I simply sit down and write whatever pops into my head. This could be describing a location, or a conversation between a couple of characters. I save everything I write. Those bits and pieces go into a file and eventually they get used down the line. By doing this, I have files upon files of snippets to draw upon if I get stuck. I’ve even combined two different stories a few times in the past.

If everyone always wrote when they ‘felt’ like it, then not a lot of writing would get done. Watching some of my friends in the business hammering out two or three novels a year to pay the bills used to scare me. I’m a slow writer because I tend to obsess over every plot twist or word when I write. I’ve gotten better over the years of just writing and worrying about editing after a first draft, but I still catch myself editing while I’m crafting a sentence. Don’t get caught up in counting words. Write at least a little a day, whether it is only 100 words or 1,000. Words on paper are words on paper. If the words aren’t coming, take a break, do something else for a little bit, and then come back. I’m not saying this will work for everyone, but it works for me. Main thing is to keep at it no matter how frustrating it gets. Eventually the words will flow, trust me.

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R. Thomas Riley is a horror writer living in the distant lands of North Dakota. He’s famous around these parts for his horror collection The Monster Within Idea from Apex Publications.

You can visit his web home at www.rthomasriley.com.

Congratulations to R. Thomas Riley! The script adaptation (written by Roy C. Booth) of his short story “The Day Lufberry Won It All” has been sold to Frosty Moon Omnimedia. Mr. Booth has the official announcement here.

“The Day Lufberry Won It All” originally appeared on the Apex website and can be found in Riley’s Apex collection The Monster Within Idea.

There’s a couple of reasons (beyond the obvious) that this is awesome news. Riley is one of the true nice guys of the business. You always like to see good things happening to good people. I’m also delighted that this happened for The Monster Within Idea. It’s a great collection that certainly deserves more attention than it’s received.

So here’s hoping the adaptation gets filmed and distributed and that Thomas can land a cameo role.

Most writers can tell you where he or she was when they wrote their first ‘real’ story.

Most writers can tell you how they feel about writing and what it means to them.

Most writers can tell you where they were when they got their first acceptance.

Every writer can tell you about how their passion takes a toll on their friends and family.

There are a lot of milestones in a writer’s life, some bigger than others. There are many reasons why we do what we do. For some of us, me included, we write because we have to. Trust me, you don’t want be around me if I haven’t written anything in few days. I’m antsy. I’m moody. Heck, I’m downright mean if the writing is hitting the skids. But when the writing’s flowing? It’s bliss in the house; I even take out the trash without having to be asked. I give my girl kisses for no reason; I don’t kick the dogs as much (kidding about that last one).

I’ve often wondered why I have such severe mood swings. Is there something wrong with me? Should I be taking meds like all the other authors I know? When I stop to think about it, my moods are usually tied directly to my writing. It’s either good or it’s bad, there usually is no in between. I’m either a dick or I’m a teddy bear. If I’m honest, I hate the way that makes me feel, the way it affects the special people in my life and everyone else around me. Why does writing mean this much to me? It’s just making up stories in my head, right?

Why do we do this to ourselves? Spending months digging up old memories, picking at old scars, gutting our pain and putting it all on display, just so we can put it into our work. Is writing always easy? No. Will it ever be? I don’t think it should be easy or pleasant, because if it is all nicey-nice, then where’s the meat? If writing ever becomes easy, then you’re not digging deep enough to make it hurt. If it doesn’t affect YOU as the writer, then it sure as hell won’t affect the reader. That’s why I’ve been drawn to horror. To me, horror allows me the most freedom to explore dark subject matter and imprint my personal demons into the fiction. Each and every person has been betrayed by someone they love and readers seem to connect with the characters I write about. I’ve been accused of not being very nice to my characters. I tend to put them through hell. I have very few happy endings in my work, if any. And if it seems happy, there’s always a darkness lurking just around the corner for my characters. When I first started out in this business I was under the impression I needed to shock the reader with blood, gore, and violence. I wrote a few of those stories, but those stories were lacking. They had paper-thin characters that only existed to be tortured. I was very lucky to have some great mentors in this business and I learned much from them. They taught me that a story needs a soul or the reader will just move on and forget it as soon as they’ve read it. You inject that ‘soul’ into a work by using real situations that have happened in your personal life. Once I discovered this, my work changed. I realized that real life was scarier than any monster I could come up with. Sure, I still have monsters in my stories, but they are archetypes now.

The story has to speak to me, I think. There has to be reason why I’m sitting down to spend time in this world. What do I get out of it? I’ve written a lot of stuff that will never see the light of day. It was for me; it was something that I needed to deal with on a personal level. Writing is my way of coping with everything around me. Sometimes those stories end up being submitted. Some of those stories ended up in The Monster Within Idea.

What it finally comes down to is this:

When you get the email, letter or phone call and editor on the other end says they dug your story or novel and they’d love to publish it, that’s what makes it all worth it. My first time around with an acceptance was amazing. The feeling is still there with each acceptance, even after all these years. I sit back savor the accomplishment for a brief moment, and then it’s back to ripping those old wounds open again and pouring it out on the page all over again.

In the beginning, I’d hoped that feeling wouldn’t fade with each acceptance. It hasn’t. These days, I hope it doesn’t fade, cause honestly, I’m a great big teddy bear right now and I love the way it feels…

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R. Thomas Riley is a horror writer living in the distant lands of North Dakota. He’s famous around these parts for his horror collection The Monster Within Idea from Apex Publications.

You can visit his web home at www.rthomasriley.com.

Being a writer one of the first things you’re probably going to be asked when someone finds out you write is where you get your ideas. I’ve been writing seriously for publication for about eight years now, had some success here and there, and I’ve been asked this question more times than I care to count. Me? I get my ideas from weird news stories or from the interactions with my fellow humans. Sometimes it’s a combination of both. Once that hurdle is overcome, the next question is usually why do you write about the stuff you do? Why write about such dark, violent things? Horror is my first love, to put it simply. I’m not sure why, really, but it is what it is.

For the most part, any one who puts his or her work out there for public consumption desires positive response. I think, no matter the subject matter, little pieces of you, the author, bleeds off into the prose. In person, I’m a pretty uneventful, boring person and that’s why I enjoy writing so much: I write about issues and plots that interest me and thus I live vicariously through my characters. Since everything that happens to a character in a story evolves mostly from my own perceptions, the characters are facets of my thought processes. When you get right down to it, writing a story is about having a conversation with yourself and working through sub-conscious problems that affect you in the real world. Getting paid to provide yourself with therapy, that’s the bonus.

Many of your own traits and quirks end up ingrained in the characters you create, whether you as the author are willing to admit that or not. After all, these characters are you in many ways, coupled with your observations of the world and others around you. I read a lot, almost 200 books last year, and I’ve noticed this a few times. An author will have a character be this or that, just because that writer wanted to write about it, which is fine, unless that character’s “trait” becomes the main focus. An eccentric character can be interesting and fun, but you have to ground the fiction in a bit of reality. If every other character in the book or story doesn’t bat an eye at the weirdness of another character’s actions or traits, you have a problem.

You have to learn to let your characters evolve as you write. If they want to do something you didn’t plan, see what happens, sometimes you’ll be quite surprised. A character creation, I think, has a lot to do with your subconscious, though not always. There’s nothing wrong with planning your character out beforehand, but don’t make it too rigid or you’ll be writing to the character and not writing for the character.

Obviously, a reader seeing me say this and then reading my work sometimes comes to the conclusion that I am what I write. I’ve had instances where what I choose to write about has tainted people’s view of who I actually am. You write about murder, death, demons, or monsters so obviously you must want to do that. I’ve heard that more times than I care to count.

As I said earlier, I am the most non-confrontational guy you’ll ever meet and have never been violent in my life. Over the years, I’ve been forced, at times, to examine subject matter that made me question myself on many levels. How could anyone who supported my writing, turn it against me so quickly to suit his or her needs? In the past, I’ve had something I love to do held against me and it made me question myself. With no history of violence or even raising my voice, was I really capable of violence just because I wrote about it? It’s never crossed my mind to use violence as what’s depicted in my work in real life. Still, with the state of things today, with the fear running rampant, can you really blame people for being scared of writers and what they come up with?

Now, I’m not claiming that every story I set out to write is dealing with my personal issues, not at all. Sometimes I just write about something that interests me, a blast to explore. I’m drawn to the dark side of human nature in my attempt to explain why some people are compelled to do the things they do to each other. How can a man murder his entire family? What was his thought process? Is evil, however you chose to define it, in all of us? Is it genetic, or is there something out there influencing us from some dark place in the universe? That’s what fascinates me and that’s what I explore in my fiction. I’ve met a lot of bad people in my life and those people end up as loosely based characters in my work many times.

Writing for publication is a hard road for the author because you’re showing the reader a piece of your personal feelings, beliefs and psyche. Having a story rejected isn’t necessarily always a reflection on you, but it still hits the author close to home. Acceptance is a validation of what you wanted to say, on the other hand. In the end, every author, no matter what level of the business they’re currently at, cares and is interested in what the reader thinks about their story and body of work. And when a reader gets what we were going for in the story, sees the hidden subtext, so to speak, that is the best validation and acceptance an author can experience. That’s why I am very careful and mum when reading another author’s work, it’s their baby and I put myself in their shoes. Though they may not tell the story in the best manner, I get their intent and I work to point those areas out. I’m not saying that I won’t point out ways to improve and make the story the best it can be, but there is a definite difference between being nasty and being helpful with thoughtful, concise crit.

My writing has definitely changed in tone and quality over the years (at least I hope so) and that’s a direct reflection on my drive to continually improve. I have the drive to “say something” in my work now, for it to mean something on a different level than what is on the page. I attempt to approach every story this way.

Writing should be fun for the author, first and foremost. That’s the key, I think. If you’re not enjoying the story, it will translate to the reader and they will pick up on it, either intentionally or subconsciously. That first burst of idea that fuels a story is why I do what I do. I know you’ve probably heard this before from other authors, but it’s true, if I never published another story, I’d still write because it’s what I do. It means something to me and in turn, I hope it’ll mean something to whomever reads it.

You should want to improve what you do and not just in writing. Putting your work out there for consumption is difficult. We all crave recognition and approval, it’s human nature, both the good and bad responses are all taken into account and knowing which are genuine and which ones aren’t takes time and experience as an author. One of the main things to keep in mind is that any writing out there for public consumption is a part of the author and understanding that will put reading a piece into a new light. Five people can read a piece and come away with completely different ideas as to what the author was trying to say. That’s why I feel writing is much more personal experience between the reader and the author than watching a film. With a film, the director shows the viewer their vision and there is much less interaction. With the written word, the reader is afforded the chance to provide their own ideas of what a character looks like, why they choose to act the way they do, and have their own personal outlook color their perceptions of the work. That, for me, is what makes putting my work out there for public consumption the best feeling in the world to me. When I get a random email from a reader that says they enjoyed my story or it touched them on some level, that makes all the lonely hours alone writing what I see in my head all worth it.

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R. Thomas Riley is a horror writer living in the distant lands of North Dakota. He’s famous around these parts for his horror collection The Monster Within Idea from Apex Publications.

You can visit his web home at www.rthomasriley.com.