Horror Aficionados discussion

This month's Guest Author Invite read is WHERE DARKNESS DWELLS, a mindblowing novel of Depression Era small town terror.
We will be joined by the author, Glen Krisch, a true gentleman and all around nice guy who will answer our questions, and share news of what's next from one of the best authors currently working in dark fiction!

Read will officially start December 1st.

Thanks to Glen for joining and to the mods for setting it up. Looking forward to this.

Yes, thanks Jon and Glen!

Ooooh, I remember this one from a couple of years ago. Really good.

ohhhh thankyou jon and glen very very much excited about this!!

Niiiiice! This was a very good read. I think I'll lurk for this one and maybe ask a question or two :)

Thanks for inviting me over! I look forward to chatting with everyone about this dark little tale of mine. If you have any questions along the way, don't hesitate to ask!

I have a question!

Glen, what made you chose the Depression Era as the time period to set Where Darkness Dwells in?

Hi Glen, thanks for joining. A general process question, with this book did you start with a basic plot in mind or was it a particular character that you built the story around?

I like the idea behind this mining folklore story, is that an actual tall tale from the era/mining community or your own idea?

Hey Jon, should I be using spoiler tags for specific story details with future posts?

Jon Recluse wrote: "I have a question!

Glen, what made you chose the Depression Era as the time period to set Where Darkness Dwells in?"

Hi Jon!
I'm a history buff (two classes short of a degree in European History), and when I was wrapping up my first novel, THE NIGHTMARE WITHIN, I was reading a lot about the Great Depression. My grandfather, who'd been born in 1917, had just passed away. While helping to clear out his house, I came across organized little bits of stuff my grandparents couldn't part with. Odd lengths of string. A coffee can full of buttons. A box full of old zippers. You get the idea. The Great Depression had left its mark on them, and I wanted to explore that time period.

I have a crazy wide range of interests, so when my reading patterns change, it usually changes the dynamic of what I'm writing.

Ctgt wrote: "Hi Glen, thanks for joining. A general process question, with this book did you start with a basic plot in mind or was it a particular character that you built the story around?

Hi Ctgt!
I didn't outline this book. I mean, at all. I didn't know how it was going to end until I was typing the words onto my computer.

At first I thought I was going to write a novel about this hobo named Cooper (he didn't even have a first name yet) who traveled the rails during the Great Depression. It wasn't going to be a horror novel, and it wasn't going to have any hint of the supernatural.

The first scene I wrote involved Cooper walking along the railroad tracks. He sees a striking flash of something red off in the distance and he leaves the tracks behind to investigate. I didn't know what the flash of red was (it turned out to be a water pump). Cooper never returned to the rails. Instead, he found a haunted house, and an equally haunted town full of horrible secrets.

Ctgt wrote: "Hi Glen, thanks for joining. A general process question, with this book did you start with a basic plot in mind or was it a particular character that you built the story around?

I like the idea be..."

I think that would be a good idea, Ctgt.

Glen wrote: "Jon Recluse wrote: "I have a question!

Glen, what made you chose the Depression Era as the time period to set Where Darkness Dwells in?"

Hi Jon!
I'm a history buff (two classes short of a degree ..."

Thanks, Glen!

My fiction reading sparked my interest in history, among other things.

Glen wrote: "Hi Ctgt!
I didn't outline this book. I mean, at all. I didn't know how it was going to end until I was typing the words onto my computer."

Is that how you write all your books? I love the fact that you didn't even know about that flash of red until you got into the story.

I should have split up my questions into seperate posts, sorry.

The mining folklore thread that runs through the story, is that based on real life miner superstitions?

(This seems pretty general so I'm not going to tag it as a spoiler)

Ctgt wrote: "Glen wrote: "Hi Ctgt!
I didn't outline this book. I mean, at all. I didn't know how it was going to end until I was typing the words onto my computer."

Is that how you write all your books? I love..."

I experimented with the writing of Where Darkness Dwells, but I found it difficult at times. I've refined my process with subsequent books. Now I try to know the beginning and ending, as well as some major plot points in between before I even begin writing. It's not really an outline, more of a compass pointing me toward some pretty rough terrain. It doesn't always work out to plan, but I've learned to let the story go off on tangents if that's where it wants to go.

Ctgt wrote: "I should have split up my questions into seperate posts, sorry.

The mining folklore thread that runs through the story, is that based on real life miner superstitions?

(This seems pretty general ..."

I basically made the folklore up out of whole cloth. By the time I went back to work on the second draft, I'd essentially forgotten about writing those passages. I remember thinking, "Where did that come from?"

I guess that's what happens when you write most of draft beginning at 4am.

For all you Krisch fans (Krischnas?), here are the links so you can check out Glen's latest works:



.

I'm looking forward to reading Arkadium Rising very soon. :)

Glen, I have a question. When Jimmy first awakes in the Underground, how does he know Harold's name (and Harold know his), when Harold's family has been in the Underground for 83 years?

Jimmy and Harold meet off stage before their first shared scene.

Thanks, Glen; I thought I'd missed something.

I had to make some tough decisions during writing this book. The way the story was unfolding, if I put every interaction on the page, it would've been about 500 pages. lol. As it is, I cut this novel the most of any of my novels during the drafting process. If I remember right, it was over 50 pages.

As far as the editing process goes, Glen, how hard is it to "cut" scenes and/or character development threads. I imagine it would be very difficult to pick and choose. Do you have pre-readers or editors help or do you do it yourself?

Most of what I did to cut Where Darkness Dwells was to prune a lot of extraneous verbiage. I didn't cut back too much on character development. It was more setting detail and atmosphere. I hired an editor after I initially released the book to tighten up the grammar. My final drafts (before I work with an editor) are fairly clean, so that step is pretty much just a fine tuning.

My wife is my only pre-reader. It's kind of funny, but the more she dislikes a story, the more successful it is for me. BTW, she hated Where Darkness Dwells. lol

Thanks, Glen. It is super funny about your wife. Mine is the same way. The more she thinks a book or movie looks horrible, generally, the more I end up liking it :)

Glen wrote: "My wife is my only pre-reader. It's kind of funny, but the more she dislikes a story, the more successful it is for me."

I love that!

In terms of your writing, who are your biggest influences?

In terms of your writing, who are your biggest i..."

Stephen King, Robert McCammon, Dan Simmons, Tim Lebbon, Clive Barker, Joe Lansdale, John Connolly, and plenty of others. I tend to like all-around authors. Authors who have a strong narrative voice, and who are solid at establishing setting, pacing, and dialog.

There is a contemporary author who is well-loved at the moment (and, no, I won't mention his name. lol). He's won a ton of awards and is still fairly young. I've tried to read his work a number of times, but I just can't get into it. He has a wild imagination, but his characters are flat, two-dimensional. It's all window dressing.

Glen, what are your go-to genres for pleasure reading?

Horror, thriller, history, essays, sociology (and social commentary), anthropology--a little of everything. I can rarely get in the mental state for "pleasure reading." I read slowly, and I tend to dissect everything I read (even the backs of cereal boxes), to figure out what works and what doesn't.

I'm the opposite, I guess.
Reading is an escape, therapy, stress reliever.
I've never really been able to dissect a work, or felt a need to poke around the gears.
I do approach non-fiction differently from fiction. I can't put it into better words than my mind uses a different track when I read it. My subconscious strip mines it.
Probably strip mines fiction, too. Just differently. I can't access that part of my mind. It contacts me when I need an answer.

I've found the last few years that I tend to enjoy nonfiction more than fiction. Perhaps if I wrote nonfiction it would be a different story.

I don't know about "more than fiction" in a general sense, but I do enjoy non-fiction more than I did when I was younger. If the spark of interest is there, I'm perfectly happy feeding the fire.

I guess I'm more likely to only read a nonfiction book that's guaranteed to blow my hair back. If it's not a subject I'm excited about, I won't read it. For fiction, it's more a guessing game. A description might sound like my kind of read, and the reviews might reinforce this belief, but that combination doesn't equal a guaranteed good read.

I find books by instinct. I've always been a cautious hunter, avoiding the stuff that people are clamoring for, and prowling the back of the bookstore. I spend hours finding books, selecting the ones I will read. It works for me. I've never been swayed by reviews. Only recs from trusted sources, which are precious and few.

After hearing that you didn't really plot this book out, it might explain the multiple threads that ran through the narrative. I remember thinking, there is a lot of stuff going on here but it all came together nicely in the end. Did you struggle with tying things up because of the lack of a basic outline?

I've finished the book so this is a spoiler for the whole story.

I really enjoyed the (view spoiler)[ Underground and how you took something that had a past filled with hope and salvation and turned it on its head. How did that come about? (hide spoiler)]

Ctgt wrote: "After hearing that you didn't really plot this book out, it might explain the multiple threads that ran through the narrative. I remember thinking, there is a lot of stuff going on here but it all ..."

All I knew was that all the major characters needed to eventually wind up in the Underground. It was such a relief when all those moving parts were finally in place. Once they were all there, I had no idea who would survive. That said, the extended epilogue is probably my favorite ending I've written.

Ctgt wrote: "I've finished the book so this is a spoiler for the whole story.

I really enjoyed the [spoilers removed]"

I like mixing the literal with the figurative in my work, and that's kind of what I was trying to do as far as the Underground is concerned.

I also try to come up with original concepts. There is a lot of lazy plotting in horror fiction. If I told you I was going to write a story about a horror author returning to his home town, you would probably know how that story would unfold. It's almost like there's a checklist of horror plots that a majority of authors refer to before they begin a new story. On the one hand, there's a comfort in that familiarity, but I think readers deserve more. I don't know if I'm successful in that regard, but I try, even if at times it works against me and limits my readership.

Sorry about the tangent. I guess that's how some of my plotting might seem. lol

When I start becoming "comfortable" with a concept in horror, I move on.

Personally, I find your writing to be a breath of fresh air, Glen. I've always said that I'm sick to death of post-apocalyptic stories.....and then you write something like Arkadium Rising, and I'm hooked.

Thanks, Jon! I try to keep things original. If I were to write the same ol' thing, I would probably get bored and never finish.

On a side note, if anyone reading this likes post-apocalyptic stories and would like a copy of Arkadium Rising for review, I'd be happy to pass one along. Just let me know.

Thanks for the offer, Glen. I would like a copy. I'll send you a message.

Glen, other than the authors that you listed as influences above, who are some of your go to authors? One that you turn to, because you know you can depend on them to not only write well but also to entertain you?

Besides the authors I've already listed... Kurt Vonnegut. He was so witty. I saw him speak in Chicago a long time ago. It was like seeing a movie star.

Also, I tend to dip into Ken Follett's work when I need some inspiration. He is a master at moving characters through a plot.

Ctgt wrote: "Thanks for the offer, Glen. I would like a copy. I'll send you a message."

Sure, just send me a message with your email address.

Glen wrote: "That said, the extended epilogue is probably my favorite ending I've written."

I loved that as well. I also found the moments just prior to the epilogue very powerful

(view spoiler)[Harold/Edwina walking down the road hand in hand and Jimmy/Louise lying together next to the grave are scenes that moved me. (hide spoiler)]

Do you pattern characters after people you meet or know in real life or do they form more organically as the narrative proceeds?

Glen, I could have sworn that I already asked you this question, but if I did, I can't find it. (view spoiler)[In the epilogue, Cooper escorts Harold and Edwina out through the Blankenship house. The next thing we are told is that "[e]veryone counted Cooper as one of the victims of the mine disaster" and that he returned to Jane 11 years later. Why didn't he go to her right away? What was he doing for those 11 years? (hide spoiler)]

Hi, Glen! I am currently reading Arkadium Rising and I'm wondering about the brothers in the book. Do you have brothers of your own?

No, I don't have any brothers. In The Nightmare Within, Kevin ended up with an adopted brother. In Where Darkness Dwells, I wrote about two brothers who were really close (Jimmy and Jacob). In Arkadium Rising, I wrote about the love/hate relationship between two brothers.

I guess I've written about the dynamic between brothers more than once because I always wanted one. Sometimes authors write about what they know, sometimes they write about yearning.

Glen, nice to have you back. Have you answered my question from December 11 already? If so, can you direct me to that answer?