Cold Flesh: Ask John Everson, Nov 7–12

[hugonian]

Session: John Everson, Nov 7–12

Instructions: Post a question for the author and wait for a reply. From Monday to Saturday, the author will peek in periodically to answer questions. If the author cannot answer your question before time expires, feel free to PM the author with your question.

This week’s author: John Everson “Camille Smiled” is the author of the Bram Stoker award-winning horror novel Covenant (Delirium Books), as well as the author of two horror and dark fantasy short story collections--Vigilantes of Love (Twilight Tales, 2003) and Cage of Bones & Other Deadly Obsessions (Delirium Books, 2000). He is also the co-editor and designer of the Spooks! ghost story anthology (Twilight Tales, 2004). His fiction has appeared in magazines like Space and Time, Red Scream, Black October and Grue, and in the anthologies Damned: An Anthology of the Lost, Small Bites, Peepshow, Decadence 2, Tourniquet Heart, The Dead Inn and the CD-ROM anthology Bloodtype, which includes an Everson-composed techno theme song.

For more info and a complete short story bibliography, visit John Everson: Dark Arts at www.johneverson.com.

Q&A Schedule: See when other authors will be available--schedule of authors

Cold Flesh info: For more info regarding Cold Flesh, such as reviews and updates, please visit the official thread or the official website.

'Camille Smiled'. Wonderfully creepy, man.

[hugonian]

John, tell us how you came up with the idea behind your Cold Flesh story, “Camille Smiled.” What experience spurred the premise? In general, how do you generate story ideas?

Thanks JMEG! Glad you liked it.

D.L. - As far as how I came up with the idea for "Camille Smiled," I have to say, I can't put a finger on the exact inspiration. I remember when editor Paul Fry announced the anthology, I wanted to do something for it, because he had previously published my story "Star on the Beach" in the PEEPSHOW VOL. 1 anthology. I had recently written a story called "Vigilantes of Love," which is the title story of my short fiction collection of the same name (see the Shocklines John Everson Bookstore) which had to deal with vengeful zombies and a voodoo curse against adulterers. So I decided to set my COLD FLESH entry in the same "world," and the voodoo charm that brings Camille to life is provided by a character from "Vigilantes of Love."

I think the original genesis of the story came in the stark poetry of the opening words, "Camille smiled."

"What could be creepier than a man's dead child, lying there smiling?" I thought. The story just grew from there.

That's as good an explanation as any about how my stories grow. Usually it's a phrase, or an image that sticks in my head, whether it hits me while driving down the expressway, reading the paper or overhearing out-of-context conversation. Anything, really, can trigger a twisted tale in my head!

[hugonian]

Recently, you won a Stoker for your novel, Covenant. In what ways did you promote your work for the award? Also, how has your membership with the HWA advanced your writing career?

I've always been reticient to heavily promote any of my work. Some people in HWA will send their book or chapbook to the entire membership, which to me...leaves me with a bad taste. I offered PDF reading copies to some friends, but I didn't go out to the whole HWA membership. To promote, I try to get out there and do readings at the conventions, and via Chicago's Twilight Tales group, so people can be exposed -- with no risk -- to my fiction. If they like it, I hope they'll go further and check out one of my books. I've created a John Everson Yahoo Group that serves as my mailing list which now has more than a thousand people on it. And I've tried to create a web site with lots of info, some free fiction and even some music, so people surfing it will find things of interest. But I don't personally like it when people hype a lot, so I've refrained from doing that (though I've certainly announced it when a good review comes out!).

I think I promoted COVENANT mostly by being out there for a long time. I've been publishing short fiction since 1993, and have been attending conventions since 1996. A lot of people have gotten to at least be familiar with my name in all that time, I think, so that might make them more likely to look at my work, in a sea of unfamiliar names. I also post fairly regularly to the Shocklines message board which helps spread the word about what's going on with my fiction.

I've been a member of HWA for several years now. I think the fellowship of being part of a group of like-minded writers has a supportive value, and I've certainly made use of the group's membership roster and agent/bookstore list resources to find people over the years. I think that supporting a group that supports and promotes horror as a genre is important.

Between fighting off some kind of bug and too much work lately I've fallen far behind on my weekly reviews. I just wanted to say, in case I don't get to the review this week either, that I really enjoyed Camille Smiled. Top notch story.

Now on to a question. You mentioned that you have some free stories at your site. What's your opinion on authors offering complete books online, for free as PDFs as Cory Doctorow has done, or as an online serial novel like David Wellington has done with his three "Monster" books? Do you feel that they are losing more in potential sales than they are gaining in fans and readers? Or is it a worthwhile strategy?

Hey Collin-

Sorry you've been sick! I've been looking forward to your review of "Camille Smiled" ... was hoping you liked it. But you're going to keep me in suspense for the full review longer, eh? Damn!

As for giving away fiction -- I won't do it if it's previously unpublished. I've been paid for writing most of my life -- my career is journalism so writing has always been part of how I support myself (not that fiction has contributed much to the bottom line, but there's a principle at stake here). So writing to me, no matter how creative, is ultimately a commodity as much as it is art. The short fiction posted on my site and in my Yahoo Group was all previously published work that came out some time ago...and most of it has actually been collected subsequent to its initial printing in a book form as well.

I should never say never, but my philosophy on fiction, the same as for the nonfiction I write, is if I spent the time and hours and sweat to write a piece, then someone should pay me for that effort. Writing is a business, after all, as much as it is a creative expression. Once I've been paid, I have no issue with using that work as a teaser to show new readers what I can do. But I wouldn't give away something I hadn't already been paid for. And I can't IMAGINE doing that with a novel! Now, if it was a previously published novel that was out-of-print, with little hope of being reissued, I can see the logic in making it available for free download online. I'm not familiar with the writers you mentioned, so I'm not sure what their situation is in that regard.

Ah, sorry about that. Yes, the review will be delayed. I'm going to try to catch up all three that I missed this weekend as it's gotten to be too much for me to manage at lunch during work.

The first book that Cory Doctorow did this with was "Down & Out In The Magic Kingdom". If you follow this link and then scroll down to the second post you should still be able to download the PDF of the book. Cory is also one of the co-contributors on boingboing.net.

David Wellington's zombie series can be found here. He serialized three novels so far and has received a book deal as a result. So far I've only read the first book online, but it was quite good.

EDIT: Actually, rather than scroll all the way down on the site for Cory's book, you can just click the link in the top banner that says "Download for free". I must have missed that in my fevered, phlegm infused state.

[hugonian]

John, what is your best advice for beginning writers?

My best piece of advice?

Read your stuff aloud. There's nothing that will help you find the flaws and clunky parts of a story as much as reading it out loud, either to yourself in the mirror, or to friends or family or a writers group. The key is hearing your words spoken. Sometimes that's how you find needless repetition that you wouldn't otherwise notice, or plot problems, or just plain dreary language that needs tweaking.

I first started doing that when I attended some Twilight Tales shows in Chicago -- made me realize the value of speaking your prose.

[hugonian]

Great suggestion. I tutor writing at Pacific University, and I always ask students to read their essays to me. They catch a lot that way. Sometimes I read to them so they can hear words or sections where readers may trip or lose comprehension. They learn a lot. Again, great advice.

I've read a new story, "The Pumpkin Man," at a handful of readings that I scheduled at libraries and bookstores etc. over the past few weeks in prep for Halloween (my last one was at a local library last night). Each time I've read it, I've noted words to trim, or plot points to tighten. It's a great way of woodshedding. And it's also fun -- the whole point of writing is telling a story...and storytelling is, at its core, a verbal art -- the art of stringing words together in a way that moves your listeners/readers. I think if you read your fiction aloud you'll become more attuned to the art of catching listeners'/readers' interest. A good story is "heard" in the reader's head just as if you were telling it to them around the campfire somewhere.

[hugonian]

What books would you suggest to the aspiring horror writer, or to writers in general? You can include books on craft and style.

I can't really suggest any, because I've never read any. I've always been a learn by doing, rather than learn by being taught kind of person. That's not to say there aren't great guides out there, I know there are - I just couldn't recommend, having no experience with them.

I've really always just focused on watching the marketplace and learning where to send manuscripts based on what the markets are looking for. www.ralan.com is the best spot for that these days. I also subscribe to Hellnotes.

And next year, there should be an update of the Writers Digest/HWA book "Writing Horror" which I'm sure will be a great tool for beginning writers. I just turned in a chapter for it about "The Small Press."