Please be sure to check this page every Thursday as I will be interviewing a fellow author from the dark side and finding out just what makes them tick, updates on their current projects, and anything I can force them to divulge! I will be hosting established authors, new authors and best selling authors on this very page over the coming months. Don't miss it!
Au - Thursday
© Author of Horror, Darkness and the Macabre All rights reserved
Interview: 05/09/13
A.R. Wise
Name or Pen Name: A.R. Wise
Email: aaron@arwisebooks.com
Biography: A former corporate salesman that finally broke away from that life and achieved his dream of being a full time Writer. A.R. Wise now lives in beautiful Colorado with his wife and two daughters, and is constantly trying to think of new ways to scare readers.
Social Media Links:
Twitter = @arwisebooks
Facebook Fan Page =
https://www.facebook.com/pages/AR-Wise/136771799776460
•When did you first realise you wanted to be an author?
I’ve wanted to be an author since I was 6 years old. I remember writing stories for my mother at that age, and her positive response propelled me down this path. I assumed that I would end up living the majority of my life as a salesman, and then end up writing after retiring, but I was lucky enough to take advantage of the self-publishing craze and to have success doing it.
•Do you have any interesting quirks that only occur when writing?
I’ve found that I don’t do well when trying to adhere to a specific structure for a book. Many authors create an outline, and stick closely to it, while others just sit down and let the story come as they write. I find it best to come up with an ending, and a basic idea of how to get there, and then start writing in an attempt to eventually find my way where I hope to get. It hardly ever turns out exactly as expected, but the process works for me.
•Where do you get your ideas for your books?
My Deadlocked series came from my desire to take a popular current trend and try to write the best version of it that I could. 314, however, came from an urban legend that I’d been fascinated with, which turned into the germ of an idea that blossomed into what the series has since become.
•Out of all of the books you have written, do you have a favourite? If so, why?
That’s like picking a favourite child. I love them all for various reasons. I think 314 probably best encapsulates what I hope to achieve in my career. It’s very different from any other horror story I’ve ever read, and I love it for that reason. I want to be an author that produces work that readers are certain will be like nothing else they’ve ever encountered.
•What do you think makes a good story?
Characters play a big part, for sure. However, I personally feel that the most important thing is that the reader feels like they can trust the author. I’ve read a lot of books that are exciting, but then suddenly the author cheats by throwing in a Deus Ex Machina, or allowing their characters to do things that belie their personality, just to serve the storyline. I despise that, and try my best not to let that happen in my own books.
•Who are your favourite authors?
John Steinbeck and Harper Lee take my top spots. Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath was a book that changed my view of writing, and especially endings. And To Kill a Mocking Bird is my favourite novel of all time. It’s as close to perfection as books can get.
•If you could pick one actor to play a character in your book, who would it be?
Hate to be a bummer here, but I really don’t know. The characters in my books are their own people, so to try and think of some other person pretending to be them is really hard to do. That’s the challenge for great actors, though. They have to do everything they can to leave their own personalities out of their role, and that’s not an easy thing to do. I’d almost have to sit in an audition room and watch actors attempt to portray one of the characters before I’d ever get a sense of whether or not they’d be good at it.
•If you had one piece of advice for an aspiring author, what would it be?
Write, write, write, and then edit, edit, edit. It’s an exciting time to be an author, because of the self-publishing revolution that we’re experiencing. But it could also be a very traumatic time to be a new, young author as well. I’ve been writing regularly for over twenty years, and I’d be aghast if any of my early novels ever got into the hands of a reader. Those books were ghastly. I think it takes an awful long time for an author to get a grip on how to tell a good story, and a lot of young authors are charging in and self-publishing before they’re ready. That’s going to lead to an awful lot of potentially great authors being chagrined by a very, Very, VERY unforgiving public.
•Please can you tell us about your latest book and what it is about?
I’m in the process of finishing a book called Daughter of Bathory. It’s about a cult that reveres a parasite, and enjoy the benefits the creature imparts upon them. To say anything more would be a spoiler, but I’ll say this: Daughter of Bathory is wholly unique, and will shock anyone that isn’t prepared for the depths of depravity to which it sinks.
•Is there anything else you would like to share with your readers?
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