Post by Michael West on Dec 14, 2007 16:19:26 GMT -5
When did you first decide that you wanted to be an author?
I don't think I ever really made a conscious decision. I've been writing as long as I can remember. Growing up, I would write stories and screenplays for movies I would make with my friends and my parents' video camera. In college, I took classes in creative writing. I was still focused on becoming the next Steven Spielberg or James Cameron at the time, but I also had stories that I could not tell with my camera, with the limited equipment and resources I had access to at the time. I turned to writing prose as a way to get these stories out.
Is horror all you write?
I like to say that everything I write is a love story--a bloody, horrific, terrifying love story.
Do You Always know a Story's Ending When You Begin Writing?
Yes. That's not to say that the ending doesn't change along the way. It will depend on the characters. I had an ending in mind for The Wide Game, then realized that the characters, as I had written them, would not do what they were originally supposed to do, so the ending changed. But I have to have something in mind, otherwise, for me, what's the point?
What's your favorite horror movie?
The Exorcist.
Why do you think there are so few great horror movies?
In fiction, it's all about character. Characters are established. We grow to like them and we sympathize with their plights. Then, along comes the "big bad". We are worried about how the "big bad" will affect our characters. In movies, however, it's all about the "big bad". Characters are secondary.
I don't think I ever really made a conscious decision. I've been writing as long as I can remember. Growing up, I would write stories and screenplays for movies I would make with my friends and my parents' video camera. In college, I took classes in creative writing. I was still focused on becoming the next Steven Spielberg or James Cameron at the time, but I also had stories that I could not tell with my camera, with the limited equipment and resources I had access to at the time. I turned to writing prose as a way to get these stories out.
Is horror all you write?
I like to say that everything I write is a love story--a bloody, horrific, terrifying love story.
Do You Always know a Story's Ending When You Begin Writing?
Yes. That's not to say that the ending doesn't change along the way. It will depend on the characters. I had an ending in mind for The Wide Game, then realized that the characters, as I had written them, would not do what they were originally supposed to do, so the ending changed. But I have to have something in mind, otherwise, for me, what's the point?
What's your favorite horror movie?
The Exorcist.
Why do you think there are so few great horror movies?
In fiction, it's all about character. Characters are established. We grow to like them and we sympathize with their plights. Then, along comes the "big bad". We are worried about how the "big bad" will affect our characters. In movies, however, it's all about the "big bad". Characters are secondary.