I have a good friend of mine, novelist Alec Houze, here on the blog with me today talking about his contribution to Empirical's first short fiction anthology, A Torn Page, and his writing process. Let's get started.
Tell us about your current release in the anthology.
Threshold is a piece of a much larger puzzle that I am still putting together. A picture of a world that I am l only beginning to glimpse.
What books are you reading now?
Right now I am reading Neil Gaiman's "Anansi Boys," as well as some assorted philosophical essays, and Miles Klee's "Ivyland."
What music inspires you to write?
Trent Reznor, Daft Punk, Wagner, Tchaikovsky, The Cure, Interpol, Maynard James Keenan's numerous projects, Portishead, Saint-Saens, Boards of Canada, Sigur Ros. Many, many more.
Favorite authors?
Neil Gaiman, Neal Stephenson, Dan O'Brien, Ayn Rand, Alan Moore, Ernest Hemingway, Friedrich Nietzsche. I have a problem with finding a new "inspiring" author every month so I'm leaving out quite a few...
Favorite books?
Neverwhere, Atlas Shrugged, The Will To Power, Snow Crash, Cerulean Dreams, The Sun Also Rises, The Spy Who Came In From the Cold, Enigma, 1984, A Brave New World.
At what point in your life did you realize you wanted to be a writer?
I have known that I wanted to be a writer ever since I was a very small boy reading C.S. Lewis and Lloyd Alexander for the first time. I realized that I wanted to fill the snowy expanse of a blank page with stories that took me away to new and fabulous worlds inside my mind.
Tell us about your writing process.
Writing for me starts with a leather-bound journal and a good black ink pen. I hand-write everything before I type it up. A good cup of coffee and music in my ears. Scotch occasionally makes an appearance. After the sun goes down and my kids are in bed, that is when I write.
Are the names of the characters in your novels important? How and why?
Names are always important. More than simply place holders and/or numbers, names are one of the easiest ways to help readers identify with the characters. The way a name sounds, the connotations it brings to mind can immediately give the reader a subconscious nudge as to how to feel about a new character. Even if it's just to blow it up later.
Wonderful Interview :)
ReplyDelete