CS4W: When did you start writing? What drew you to the horror genre?
GF: I started writing science fiction, fantasy, and horror way back in 1981. I enjoyed speculative fiction like Lord of the Rings, Star Trek and Star Wars and the darker works of Dean Koontz and Robert McCammon. This was a chance to create something purely imaginative. A way to ponder the “what ifs” of life but on a grand scale.
CS4W: Your debut novel, Forever Will You Suffer, published by Medallion Press was released in February 2006. Please tell us about the story and how you came up with the idea.
GF: Forever Will You Suffer started as Insert Title Here, a fiction novel I wrote in 1996. The story was about Rick Summers who discovers that his ex-girlfriend is missing, a stalker from their old band days is after the two of them and that he has a sister he never knew about.
I was out on a bike ride one cold, rainy day in February when I wondered how the story would be if I made the stalker something other than human: a demoness, a witch or something other than just a whacked out fan. The idea intrigued me and I basically had to rewrite the book to what it is now. Once I figured out what and who Abigail was, the story just came out.
I’ve always been fascinated by reincarnation and past lives. I thought if this woman had learned how to transfer her soul and not forget everything she’d learned from her last lifetime, what would she be like? And what if she remembered being jilted and swore to “get even” in every lifetime after that? Sort of a long-term revenge game.
CS4W: What type of research goes into your novels? What reference books or web sites would you suggest that would be helpful to other horror writers?
GF: In Forever Will You Suffer, I had to research the Greek Mysteries which I knew something of from the Western Civ class I had recently taken. There’s a scene where the police are interviewing several characters (Rick included) at a murder scene and I had to make sure the scene played out as it would in real life. One scene which is a past life regression, I had to make sure was accurate. There’s nothing worse than someone coming to you saying I’m a police officer and you got this interview scene completely wrong.
Doing research shows that the writer cares enough to make sure he gets his facts straight. Of course you never know who’s going to find something you missed. A friend of mine came up to me at a convention and said he loved the book and there was no such thing as the Greek Empire. I honestly couldn’t remember writing that and I knew there wasn’t a Greek Empire; it was one of those little details that snuck through during all the rewrites.
As far as sites for authors, that depends on what the story is about. Every story will need something different. My next novel, tentatively titled Institutional Memory, has to do with trans-dimensional beings and what consciousness is. That’s a whole different world of research from my last book. My advice is to be careful and make sure that whatever research you do, especially online, it is accurate and correct. There are a lot of untruths floating down the cyber highway.
CS4W: What do you think of the horror market today? Do you see any specific trends?
GF: I think a lot of great stuff is being written and published by small presses like Necessary Evil, Cemetery Dance, Borderlands and Earthling Publications which is great because those authors, like James Moore, Jeff Strand, Lee Thomas and many more, are doing amazing work. The down side is that a lot of that work never gets into book superstores so unless you know where to look (like Shocklines.com) you may never find it.
Zombies never seem to go away. Vampires have moved from being vicious monsters to more romantic types. There seems to be a market for torture fiction that I hadn’t seen before. It might have to so with the success of movies like Hostel, the Saw series, Wolf Creek and films like that which are really torture and gore and less about the supernatural.
CS4W: You’re the President of the Garden State Horror Writers. Please tell us about this organization and how you became involved.
GF: Way back in ’03 I attended my first Bram Stoker Awards weekend and banquet. This is a yearly award given out by the Horror Writers Association for “superior achievement” in the field of horror writing. I found an amazing community of writers there and wanted to know if there was an HWA chapter in New Jersey. At the time, the NJ chapter was sort of there but not so someone directed me to the Garden State Horror Writers. A few months later I joined and here I am as prez.
The name is sort of a misnomer. The GSHW is a multi-genre writers’ organization made up of people writing science fiction, fantasy, mystery, as well as horror. As far as the level of writing…there are those who’ve published novels like Jack Passarella, Jon Maberry, Eileen Watkins and myself. We have a number of members who have published short stories like Bill Mingin, Pat Lundrigan, John Platt, Mike Penncavage, Mary Sangiovanni, Brian Pedersen and a fewothers and then members who are striving toward that first publication. So we’re quite a diverse bunch of writing folk.
CS4W: Your work was included in an anthology, Dark Notes, published by the Garden State Horror Writers. What was your story about? How did you become involved in this project? Can anyone submit a story for consideration? Where can we purchase a copy?
GF: The story in Dark Notes was based on the song You Stay Here by Richard Shindell and tells the story of a man going out and getting supplies for his family in a post-apocalyptic world. On this day he decides to stop by a dilapidated old house he’s passed numerous times, this time he’s drawn to the place. The story is about what happens inside the house that changes his life.
The anthologies that the GSHW puts together is only open to members of the organization so when the call went out to submit a story based on a song written by a performer from New Jersey for Dark Notes, after much debate, I came up with Richard Shindell who’s a fantastic songwriter and chose the song I did for its haunting lyrics.
One can find Dark Notes From New Jersey at the aforementioned Shocklines.com and also B&N.com.
Speaking of anthologies, Mary Sangiovanni and I are currently co-editing the next GSHW anthology, tentatively titled State of Shock, and it will hopefully be out this spring. We plan to widen our distribution so the anthology will be available in more places. We’re also planning on having readings and signings at bookstores and libraries, so keep an ear out for that.
CS4W: Tell us about your publishing experience. Did you have an agent? Did you receive any rejections before selling?
GF: My story is a rare occasion of being in the right place at the right time. When Insert Title Here was finished, I queried a number of agents and editors who’d look at unsolicited manuscripts. No one was interested. Once I rewrote the book as supernatural suspense I pitched it at the World Horror Convention in 2005 to an agent and two publishers. The second publisher called me the following Monday and offered me a contract. So it was a bit of an odd situation.
CS4W: How does your family feel about your dark tales? What kind of comments do you receive from people when they find out you write such scary stories?
GF: Well…my father read the book and said it was good. My mother won’t read it because she doesn’t read that sort of thing. My mother-in-law is reading it and gives me odd looks and wonders out loud how someone who seems like such a nice guy can write “stuff like that”. But overall they’re all supportive of this journey I’m on.
Most people don’t quite know how to respond. Usually it’s: you mean like Stephen King? Or they liken it to movies: like Freddie and Jason? This is how the horror genre has gotten misinterpreted. There’s so much more to “horror” or “dark fiction” or supernatural thrillers” than just blood and guts. There are actual characters and a story as well. It’s the ordinary person overcoming the extraordinary.
CS4W: What is your writing schedule like? What are you working on now?
GF: My writing schedule ain’t what I’d like it to be. The Internet is a huge timesuck and it’s easy to spend way too much time there. I really want to get to at least an hour a day writing or revising. Whether that be at work on my lunch break or at home after dinner, it doesn’t matter so long as I’m writing and not surfin’ the ‘net.
I’m working on a “dark suspense” novel about what appears to be an old, haunted office building but is something completely different. It’s my take on why people who work in corporate offices are always tired. As I’ve worked in a corporate environment for too many years, it’s easy to write without needing too much research. It’s being published by the same people who published Forever Will You Suffer, Medallion Press and will be out in the Fall of 2008.
CS4W: What advice would you like to share with our readers, especially those who write in the horror genre?
GF: Read a lot and not just the usuals like King, Koontz and Straub, but those that came before like M.R. James, H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, and William Hope Hogdson. Also read those who aren’t as well known as the usuals, but write some amazing stories: Jack Ketchum, Mort Castle, Gary Braunbeck, James Moore, Tom Piccirilli, and Doug Clegg. There are many more. Just stop off at Shocklines.com to find out just how many more there are!
l also read outside the genre to see what other authors are doing.
Pick up a copy of On Writing Horror, edited by Mort Castle. This is a great reference book written by writers in the genre offering their advice on a variety of topics from characters to scaring readers to keeping it as real as possible.
Keep writing. This goes for anyone who wants to be a published writer whether in horror or romance. Writing is like weightlifting in that you need to build up your writing “muscle”, to hone your craft, to better yourself. The more you write and read, the better you get. Write no matter what’s going on. Try to find some time every day to sit down and write, even if it’s fifteen minutes.
Don’t ever give up. Perseverance is such an important part of being a writer because you never know when you’ll find success. It might take a few years, but that one sale could be the next story you submit.
Find a writing community that you love. There’s nothing more important than feedback, whether that’s on a story or discussing the writer life. Along with that it’s a good idea to attend writing conferences and conventions like World Horror Con, World Fantasy Con, Necon or any of the smaller cons that take place. Writers from all over the world go to these as do editors and agents so it’s a great place to network and meet like-minded folk.
Writers tend to be solo flyers, as writing isn’t a team sport, but the opportunity to meet other authors and learn that you’re not alone in what you experience as a writer is priceless.
Oh yeah…don’t forget to have fun!
Gary Frank is the author of Forever Will You Suffer, a supernatural, time-shifting tale of unrequited love gone horribly wrong. He is also the author of a number of short stories, including Stay Here, which received two Stoker recommendations, and was published in the 2005 Garden State Horror Writers anthology, Dark Notes From New Jersey.
His writing has been compared to Richard Laymon and early Graham Masterton.
A member of the Horror Writers Association since 2005, Gary has also been a member of the Garden State Horror Writers since 2003 where he is currently Vice President.
Forever Will You Suffer, his debut novel was published by Medallion Press and released in February of 2006. The supernatural thriller is the story of Rick Summers who discovers that he and his ex-girlfriend are being stalked by a psychotic woman who remembers a past that he’s never lived.
