JOHN EVERSON
1. When
did you start writing horror?
Probably the first
“horror” thing that I wrote was a little vignette about a guy who comes home
from work and hangs himself… a nice, uplifting
little tale which was published in my high school newspaper literary page. Then
I wrote a few horror stories for Creative Writing classes in college (one
professor graded me “down” and told me to quit wasting my time writing stuff
like that Stephen King fellow.) I had
been out of college a couple years when I really started regularly writing
fiction and submitting to magazines. 2014 marked my 20th anniversary
as a published fiction writer (not counting that high school foray).
2. Have you
written in any other genre?
I grew up reading
science fiction, so a lot of my earlier stories, in particular, have some
sci-fi to them. And I’ve written urban fantasy on occasion. I even have a short
collection out that is strictly Christmas fantasy tales. And I have a short fantasy story out there
for young beginning readers, which I originally wrote for my son. Most of the
story ideas I come up with have dark twists at the end, but every now and then
a ray of light shows through!
3. What
makes you uncomfortable?
Loss. I worry about
the things you can’t guard against. The things that come into your life from
left field and steal everything you have – whether those things are human
villains or cancer or a car gone out of control and crossing three lanes of
traffic right at you.
4. Does your
family read your work?
Not too much. My
wife and sister-in-law have read some of my books. My dad read one of my novels
once and decided they weren’t for him. I’m okay with that. I don’t really want
to have to try to explain why I write the stories that I do!
5. Does your
writing make you uneasy?
Only when it’s
taking me too long to finish a project!
6. Who would
you say you write like?
Me. There are a lot
of authors I like and admire. I wouldn’t presume to think I write like or could
be considered comparable to any of them, though I wish I did.
7.
Who are your favourite authors?
I like a lot of authors for different things, but the ones
I come back to again and again include Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Richard
Matheson, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Clive Barker, Anne Rice, Edward Lee. Growing up, I had a whole different list of
science fiction authors, who still hold a big bunch of real estate on my bookshelves.
But Isaac Asimov, Clifford Simak, Hal Clement, Charles Eric Maine, J.T.
McIntosh, C.J. Cherryh, Eric Frank Russell, Keith Laumer and Robert Heinlein
don’t have much bearing for a horror crowd!
8. Who
influences you as a writer?
Everyone I’ve ever
read! Especially those listed in Question 7!
9. Do you remember what your first horror book was
that you read?
I read all sorts of
ghost stories and classics like Poe as a kid. But probably the first “adult”
horror novel I read was Carrie, when
I was a freshman in high school. That really opened my eyes to what you could
do with character development and inner narrative. That novel blew me away.
10. How old
were you?
14. It was my first
semester of Freshman year.
11. Is there
any subject you will not touch as an author?
That’s a hard one.
I believe you can write about anything… but I won’t touch things that I am not
interested in reading about. Why would I want to spend my time? Typically, I have no interest in reading
about serial killers, or child abusers.
That said, in Sacrifice,
Ariana qualifies as a serial killer, even though she’s doing it as an occult
ritual. And in The 13th,
there are unborn babies who are sacrificed along with their mothers. So it’s
partially about context. I personally
wouldn’t have any interest chronicling the life of a real serial killer like
John Wayne Gacy for example. There are people fascinated with the reality of
that horror… but I’m fascinated by the kind of horror that is not of this
tabloid-driven earth.
12. What was
the best advice you were given as a writer?
Write a lot, and
always write for yourself – don’t chase a trend, you’ll always be on the run. Read
your dialogue aloud. Read to yourself in the mirror, if that’s the only
audience you’ve got. Listen to what your characters are saying. Would anybody
REALLY talk like that? Storytelling began as an oral tradition and the best,
most get-under-your-skin stories are typically those that can be read aloud.
13. If you
had to start all over again, what would you do different?
I think I’d learn
how to write Romance.
14. How many
books do you read a year?
That number, sadly,
gets less and less every year. The last time I read more than 10 books in a
year was 2007 (I used to keep
lists). The past couple years
I’ve barely gotten through a handful of books a year. I miss the days that I used to lie around the
house and read for hours – just for pleasure, not because I was editing or
blurbing something (which seems to be the only way I read at all anymore!)
15. Do you
write every day?
I do every day that
I’m writing ;-)
I’m a sprint
writer, not a marathon writer. What does that mean? I can sit down sometimes
and knock out thousands of words over a weekend when I can immerse myself and
dedicate myself to it. But unless I’m under a real date-oriented deadline, I might then go for a couple weeks or a month
without writing a word. I’ve written over 10,000 words in a 24-hour period
before. I’m good at periodic long hard sprints like
that. I’m not so good at religiously sitting down day-after-day and knocking
out 1,000 words in a regular rhythm.
That said… when I’m really actively working on a novel, I do force
myself into a daily schedule so that I guarantee that I’ll hit 6-7,000 words a
week. I can usually only keep that pace
up for a couple months, but that’s enough to get a good chunk of a novel down
on paper.
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