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Post by ian on Jul 4, 2009 16:39:42 GMT
Hey Steve. Before Jimbo pops in, I'll get this ball rolling by asking you... Tell us a little bit about yourself and perhaps provide a couple a links so we can get to know you better? Oh and PLEASE pop into the welcome section and say hi too.
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Post by stevevernon on Jul 4, 2009 23:08:23 GMT
Hi Ian. For those who don't know me, I am a writer who has lived the last 35 years in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I have been writing horror since the mid-80's - with stories sold to The Horror Show, Cemetery Dance, Night Slivers, Flesh & Blood, Karl Edward Wagner's Years Best Horror, Hot Blood, Horror Garage, Shivers V and many other markets and magazines. I have also sold over 100 poems - actually, I've lost count - and an equal abundance of book reviews. Lately I have been concentrating on the regional market with three ghost story collections, (from Nimbus Press), and in the fall I will be releasing my first children's picture book - a field guide to the sea serpents and wood beasts of the Maritime provinces. You can find out a bit more about me at my website. users.eastlink.ca/~stevevernon/
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Post by Jim on Jul 5, 2009 6:15:17 GMT
Sorry Steve Iwas up the hills all day yesterday. Many thanks for agreeing to do this
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Post by Jim on Jul 5, 2009 6:17:35 GMT
I'll start of with the basic get to know you questions
When did you start writing, and do you think you have reached a stage where you are comfortable in calling yourself a writer?
What inspired you to start writing?
Can you tell us about your past work, and any future projects you have lined up?
Has there been one author more than any other that has been a major influence on your writing?
is there any part of he writing process you find difficult.
How do you go about writing, do you have a plot rundown, character synopsis all developed first or do you go with the flow
Do you have any rituals you go through when writing?
How much of you goes into your work?
Should an author write for himself or the fans? You hear so many stores of fans outrage when an author refuses to write another story based on one of there characters or set in one of their worlds.
If you could use any character from any other author in one of your novels who would it be and who would you pit them up against?
What, in your opinion, are the most important elements of good writing?
You don't have to answer this one if you don't want to.
Have you ever based a character who die a horrible death, or who is just a total jerk, on someone you really didn't like? if so did they ever figure it out?
Being a horror author, do your family and friends ever wonder about you? What has their reaction been after reading your work?
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Post by Jim on Jul 5, 2009 6:22:06 GMT
A field guide to sea serpents, please tell me there are amphibious sharks in there.
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Post by stevevernon on Jul 5, 2009 17:20:31 GMT
Wow!
Let's start with question #1.
#1 - When did you start writing and do you think you have reached a stage where you are comfortable in calling yourself a writer?
I started writing shortly after I learned to print. I sent my first story submission in to Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine when I was about 11 or 12 years old and recieved a hand-written rejection note.
In the early 80's during my first marriage, I foujnd myself in need of money. I had read the back cover of a self-help volume that my first wife had purchased. What it said, basically, was that if a person was to find themselves having difficulty making ends meet - then they just needed to find longer ends. In other words, to find a second job or an extra income. So I decided that because I loved to write stories that I could earn a bit of money sending out stories.
I decided to write for Harlequin Romances - because I had heard that you could get rich wriing romances. So I wrote an entire novel, freehand because I couldn't afford a typewriter. About three hundred pages, hand written - five drafts. I called it LUNENBURG LOVE.
The novel sucked. Sucked big time. Sucked like the flush of all of the toilets in the world flushed simultaneously. Still, I learned enough in the writing of that horrible novel to feel confident in exploring the small press. I began writing horror because I loved to read horror. I sold stories to such small press magazines as The Horror Show, Cemetery Dance, Night Slivers, Edge Detector, Black Sun, Scavenger's Newsletter's Killer Frog anthology and the like. I sold a story to a motorcycle magazine entitled Outlaw Biker. Sold a story to Horror Show and another to Cemetery Dance. When the Cemetery Dance story was picked up by Karl Edward Wagner for his Year's Best anthology I thought I was rolling in clover.
Now, so many years later I have only begun to feel as if I am finally making it here in the writing world. My regional writing has blossomed and I have sold nearly seven thousand copies of my first ghost story collection and am hoping for better days.
...more to come...
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Post by stevevernon on Jul 5, 2009 19:38:17 GMT
#3/ Can you tell us about your past work and any future projects you have lined up? Folks who want to know more about my past work can check the library section of my website. I will mention a few choice picks. I am very proud of my novellette, "The Forever Long Snake of Olan Walker" - a chain gang voodoo epic yarn that appeared in Cemetery Dance's SHIVERS V www.cemeterydance.com/page/CDP/PROD/chizmar14The story received critical notice from several reviewers and Publishers Weekly called it "lyrical". I have a historical-horror novel coming out this October from Delirium Press - in hardcover and trade paperback - entitled DEVIL TREE. Cracking into Delirium has been a real pleasure for me. Shane and Greg want to see another novel from me and I have one that is slow-cooking. I also have my first children's picture book coming out this fall. It is entitled MARITIME MONSTERS and is a field guide to the stories behind 16 of the sea serpents and wood beasts of the Atlantic Provinces, (Nimbus). No land-sharks, I'm afraid.
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Post by stevevernon on Jul 5, 2009 19:47:41 GMT
Well, I have been busy making a huge pot of chili and my wife just got home from her dance workshop. I have time for one more entry and then I'll have to step out for awhile.
#4) Past influences?
I draw from any number of influences. The writing of Hemingway and Lansdale, Bukowski and Jack London, Whitman and James Lee Burke, Stephen Hunter and G.G. Gilman, Robert E. Howard and Brian Keene, Garth Ennis and F. Paul Wilson to name a few.
#5) Is there any part of the writing process you find difficult?
I love a deadline. That brings out the tiger in my blood. I have difficulty focusing, occasionally, with several on-going projects underway. I occasionally have trouble selling the darned stuff, but I am working on that.;
#6) How do I go about writing?
I always tell people that a story or a novel is a little like a journey. I need to know where I am starting from and where I want to end up - the opening scene and the final chapter. Everything else is just a matter of getting from here to there.
#7) Any writing rituals?
I generally open my eyes and begin to write. It is a tradition with me. For a time I tried to write with my eyes closed. The result was brilliant but absolutely unreadable...
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Post by stevevernon on Jul 6, 2009 1:15:41 GMT
#9) How much of you goes into your work?
What else does a writer draw from, if not his insides?
#10) Myself or my fans?
Well, I figure I owe my fans a fascinating story. What it's on is strictly up to me. Actually, I feel I owe my editor and publisher nearly as much as I owe my readers.
#11) Using another author's character?
Truthfully, I have always had a love for the old school pulp heroes, such as The Shadow or The Spider. I've also loved the gunfighters and the swashbucklers of Dumas and the like. I've often felt I would make a pretty good "writer-for-hire".
#12) The most important elements of good writing? Characters you care for. Conflict and a strong plotline. Writing that makes you want to read.
#13) Nope, I have never indulged in literary revenge. Not sure why.
#14) My family wonders about me. My Mom thinks I'm cool. My cat loves it when I feed her. And my wife thinks I'm the cat's pyjamas.
Speaking of pyjamas, it's time for bed.
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Post by stevevernon on Jul 13, 2009 9:15:14 GMT
Seeings as this is a message board for British Horror Novels I feel I should mention that my UK publication HARD ROADS, (Gray Friar), will be officially out of print by the end of July. Gary, at Gray Friar has a few hardcover editions that he is hoping to sell off, and a few more paperbacks but after that it will be O.O.P. So if anyone is interested in getting their hands on a pair of crackerjack horror novellas, this would be the chance. www.grayfriarpress.com/catalogue/hardroads.html
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