Horror Aficionados discussion

Every Friday on my blog five authors working in the fields of horror, sci-fi, fantasy, and speculative fiction, answer the same question.

This week I'm featuring Alice Sobo, Dave Wimset, A.M. Harte, Justin Boote, and Pete Mesling.

https://richardschiver.com/2021/03/05...

If you'd like to participate answer the following five questions and provide me with a link to you author profile. I'll take care of the rest.

1.) When did you first consider yourself a writer?

2.) What is the hardest part of writing?

3.) How did you feel upon publication of your first completed project?

4.) In addition to writing, what else are you passionate about?

5.) If you could ask any author, living or dead, one question, what would it be?

1. I guess in 2012.

2. Avoiding procrastinating. Persevering through difficulties and doubts in general of being a writer.

3. Not published—yet! I will self publish my fiction series when it is done though. No one can stop me! Only myself, ha.

4. Business, personal finance, personal health.

5. I would talk to Stephen King and ask if they thought my book was good enough or not so far.

https://ptsphiltellsstories.home.blog...

Sure, I'll give it a go!

1. I wrote a short story in third grade that was eerily similar to the first act of the movie Madagascar before Madagascar was a thing. And I continued to dabble with writing in high school and college. I was a dabbler then. I probably didn't consider myself a real writer until I copyrighted my first post college script. Oh, and I focused on screenplay writing for a long time before adapting sideways into novels.

2. The hardest part of writing for me is interruptions. Especially during the pandemic while in close quarters with family. People see you staring at a screen, fingers paused, and they think you’re not doing anything. Then they speak, and the thought is gone. You can’t explain this without offending someone. Nicholson had it right in The Shining.

3. I was nervous with my first publication. I’m sure everyone is. I’m not good at self promotion, and it was a self published book, so there’s a little bit of a stigma with that. Imposter syndrome is real! But I was also excited to get that first book out there, to have something finished and in my hands.

4. I have a passion for movies. As I said, my writing focus began with screenplays. I'm a big fan of the TV series Supernatural, no longer in production. I even wrote a few spec scripts that did well in competition—the Austin Film Festival, for one. But the underlying theme of that horror series was about family. I have two boys, and I wish the best for them everywhere and always.

5. I might ask Stephen King why he disliked Kubrick's adaptation of The Shining so much (also written by Diane Johnson, who isn’t me). I loved King's book and I loved the movie. His answer might give some insight on how to handle book to screen adaptations. Because movies are a different thing, and book readers often expect movies to be exact replicas of the book. Having started as a screenwriter, I think it’s important to understand why that doesn’t often happen.

Here's my website where I occasionally write a blog:

https://dj-screenwriter.blogspot.com/

Thanks for asking!

Thank you Phil and Diane, I'll add your answers to the rotation. Keep an eye on this space I'll post every week when Fridays 5 goes live.

Richard wrote: "Thank you Phil and Diane, I'll add your answers to the rotation. Keep an eye on this space I'll post every week when Fridays 5 goes live."

Sweet! Thanks.

Cool! I really appreciate it. Hope your writing endeavors go well.

OK, thank you for the invitation and you may have more than you need but here we go my name is Stephen STEPHEN glick s Lee glicKpen name Sleeclick. My website is sleeglick .com I consider myself a writer February 1 of last year when my second book my first novel came to print the first book is a series of short stories and yeah I would consider many mistakes in it and around it and everything I did not pay for any editing and that kind of covers that the sentences run on the storyline could be better the second book in the fall the testament I consider quite good minus I could’ve done better on the cover maybe even the name so a learning process right I enjoy riding and really enjoy reading but I’m afraid I stick to the big two or three Stephen King Mark Edwards out of the UK ending koontz and I know it gives me a little bit of a limited basis but I guess I’m going to see

This week Pete Mesling, Diane Johnson, David A Simpson, Dave Wimset, and SJ Krandall answer the question. “In addition to writing, what else are you passionate about?”

https://richardschiver.com/2021/03/12...

I'm still looking for participants, If you write horror, sci-fi, fantasy. Anything that falls under the speculative fiction umbrella.

Answer the 5 questions from the original post and include a link to your author website, or amazon author page. I would really appreciate a link to your author photo and a bio of less than one hundred words. Respond in this thread or send the info to [email protected] and I’ll get your answers into the rotation.

Thanks.

1.) When did you first consider yourself a writer?
When I wrote my first rock lyrics in junior high.

2.) What is the hardest part of writing?
Promotion. I do not enjoy it. I'd rather be writing.

3.) How did you feel upon publication of your first completed project?
I was bouncing off the ceiling. It was a short story called 'Adventures in Greaseland', published by Karamu, which was published by Eastern Illinois University.

4.) In addition to writing, what else are you passionate about?
Hiking. I love a good hike in the wilderness.

5.) If you could ask any author, living or dead, one question, what would it be?
His or her opinion on my writing.

https://mikesherer.org

1.) When did you first consider yourself a writer? - That is a tough one. Consider because I got paid? or because I wrote something? I think most writers consider themselves a writer after writing something but for me, even though I'd been writing since a child, I never thought about considering myself a writer until I started getting positive feedback from readers. My mind changed from - I like writing to Wow! people like what I write -

2.) What is the hardest part of writing? The editing for me. I could never END a story. I would edit, edit, edit, edit and every edit I would change things in the story. It was so frustrating not letting GO...But now I try to edit no more than three times.

3.) How did you feel upon publication of your first completed project? - That is a tough one also - It's hard to get excited for me when a publisher wants to publish my work. I think I had three publishers who took on my first novel. The first one ended up to be a waste of time. A wannabe publisher that was just a bunch of self-published authors with a TITLE to get attention. It was the same for the others. They wanted 70% to just advertise my novel on their website. No marketing of my work. I can do more than what they did being a self-published author and get the 70%...

4.) In addition to writing, what else are you passionate about? - I still try to play some sport, mostly tennis. Also, I play my piano badly, sing like a nutter, & draw like a blind ferret.

5.) If you could ask any author, living or dead, one question, what would it be? - What keeps them going in the writing world?

Honored that Graham Masterton has agreed to participate in Fridays 5.

Today I ask:

How did you feel upon publication of your first completed project?

Stop by to see how Graham, Pete Mesling, Justin Boote, Diane Johnson, and Alice Sobo replied.

https://richardschiver.com/2021/03/19...

Mike and Lee, thanks, I'll get you into the rotation.

S. wrote: "OK, thank you for the invitation and you may have more than you need but here we go my name is Stephen STEPHEN glick s Lee glicKpen name Sleeclick. My website is sleeglick .com I consider myself a ..."

Hi S, thanks for your response, but would you please insert a break between your answers, I can't figure out where one answer ends and another begins.

This week David A Simpson, Graham Masterton, Eric A Shelman, Dave Winset, and Thomas F Montelone answer the question.

“What is the hardest part of writing?”

Stop by to see what they said.

https://richardschiver.com/2021/03/26...

This week on Fridays 5 I ask Eric A Shelman, Phil Yang, Lee Taylor, Mike Sherer, and Thomas F Montelone.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

Stop by to see their answers.

https://richardschiver.com/2021/04/02...

Richard wrote: "This week on Fridays 5 I ask Eric A Shelman, Phil Yang, Lee Taylor, Mike Sherer, and Thomas F Montelone.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

Stop by to see their answers.

https://ri..."

Thanks for the blog post!

Sorry for the break in posts. I recently started a new job in RL and wasn't able to post for a few weeks. But I'm back now.

This week I ask Phil Yang, Mike Sherer, Lee Andrew Taylor, David A Simpson, and Dave Wimset

If you could ask any author, living or dead, one question, who would you ask what?

Stop by to see their answers.

https://richardschiver.com/2021/04/30...

If you write horror, sci-fi, fantasy. Anything that falls under the speculative fiction umbrella and would like to participate. Follow this link: https://richardschiver.com/fridays-5/

Real life has been intrusive as of late but I'm getting a handle on it.

This week I ask Thomas F Monteleone, Eric A Shelman, A.M. Harte, Lee Taylor, and Alice Sobo

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

Check out their responses.

https://richardschiver.com/2021/07/02...

If you write horror, sci-fi, fantasy. Anything that falls under the speculative fiction umbrella and would like to participate. Follow this link: https://richardschiver.com/fridays-5/

This week on Fridays five Diane Johnson, William F Nolan, Scott Nicholson, Craig Saunders, and David A Simpson answer the question.

If you could ask any author, living or dead, one question, who would you ask? And what would you ask them?

Stop by to see their answers.

https://richardschiver.com/2021/07/09...

If you write horror, sci-fi, or fantasy, and would like to participate, follow this link.

https://richardschiver.com/fridays-5/

This week's Fridays 5 is dedicated to William F Nolan who passed away on July 15, 2021.

https://richardschiver.com/2021/07/23...

This week I ask Wednesday Lee Friday, Justin Boote, Rick Hatuala, SJ Krandall, and Thad White.

How did you feel upon publication of your first completed project?

Stop by to see what they had to say.

https://richardschiver.com/2021/08/27...

If you write horror, sci-fi, fantasy. Anything that falls under the speculative fiction umbrella and would like to participate. Follow this link:

https://richardschiver.com/fridays-5/

This week I ask Lee Andrew Taylor, Scott Nicholson, Craig Saunders, Alice Sobo, and Diane Johnson.

What is the hardest part of writing? Stop by to see their answers.

https://richardschiver.com/2021/09/10...

If you write horror, sci-fi, fantasy. Anything that falls under the speculative fiction umbrella and would like to participate. Follow this link: https://richardschiver.com/fridays-5/

This week I ask Eric A Shelman, Thomas F Monteleone, Graham Masterton, Phil Yang, and Diane Johnson.

What is the hardest part of writing?

Stop by to check out their answers.

https://richardschiver.com/2022/01/14...

If you write horror, sci-fi, fantasy. Anything that falls under the speculative fiction umbrella and would like to participate. Follow this link:

https://richardschiver.com/fridays-5/

This week on Fridays 5 I ask Justin Boote, Dave Wimset, Alice Sobo, Pete Mesling, and A.M. Harte.
How did you feel upon publication of your first completed project?
Stop by to see how they responded.

https://richardschiver.com/2022/01/21...

If you write horror, sci-fi, fantasy. Anything that falls under the speculative fiction umbrella and would like to participate follow the Fridays 5 link on the left menu.

This week on Fridays 5 I ask Wednesday Lee Friday, S.J. Krandall, Thad White, David A Simpson, and J.A., Russell: In addition to writing, what else are you passionate about? Check out their answers here.

https://richardschiver.com/2022/01/28...

If you write horror, sci-fi, fantasy. Anything that falls under the speculative fiction umbrella and would like to participate follow the Fridays 5 link on the left menu.

This week’s Friday 5 features Craig Saunders, Scott Nicholson, Rick Hatuala, William F Nolan, and Peter Servido answering the question.

“If you could ask any author, living or dead, one question, who would you ask? And what would you ask them?”

See their answers at: https://richardschiver.com/2022/02/04...

If you write horror, sci-fi, fantasy. Anything that falls under the speculative fiction umbrella and would like to participate follow the Fridays 5 link on the left menu at the above page.

This week’s Fridays 5 features Lisa Marie Wood, Marc Todd, Lee Andrew Taylor, Mike Sherer, and Eric A Shelman answering the question: What is the hardest part of writing?
Stop by to see their answers.

https://richardschiver.com/2022/02/11...

If you write horror, sci-fi, fantasy. Anything that falls under the speculative fiction umbrella and would like to participate follow the Fridays 5 link on the left menu at the above page.

This week I ask Thomas F Monteleone, Graham Masterton, Phil Yang, Diane Johnson, and Justim Boote.

How did you feel upon publication of your first completed project?

Stop by to see their answers.

https://richardschiver.com/2022/02/18...

If you write horror, sci-fi, fantasy. Anything that falls under the speculative fiction umbrella and would like to participate follow the Fridays 5 link on the left menu at the above page.

This week I ask Dave Wimset, Alice Sobo, Pete Mesling, A.M. Harte, and Wednesday Lee Friday. “When did you first consider yourself a writer?”

Stop by to see their answers.

https://richardschiver.com/2022/02/25...

If you write horror, sci-fi, fantasy. Anything that falls under the speculative fiction umbrella and would like to participate follow the Fridays 5 link on the left menu at the above page.

This week I ask SJ Krandall, Thad White, David A Simpson, JA Russell, and Craig Saunders.

What is the hardest part of writing?

Stop by to see their answers.

https://richardschiver.com/2022/03/04...

If you write horror, sci-fi, fantasy. Anything that falls under the speculative fiction umbrella and would like to participate follow the Fridays 5 link on the left menu at the above page.

I don't seem to be generating the interest I once did so I'm shutting down Fridays 5. Sorry.