Note: this interview is freely available to be used, referenced, reposted or reprinted on any website or newsletter.

Back to librarians and booksellers page

Q: Where do your ideas begin?

My stories sprout from a single image or situation in my mind, some circumstance that has arisen and places a person in a difficult or strange place. With my very first attempt at a novel, I had a sudden vivid image that woke me in the middle of the night. I was asleep in my childhood home in the Maine woods, and I sat up in complete darkness, with the wind howling and thrashing outside, and I had this picture in my head of a man searching the snow-covered woods in the moonlight, looking for a dead body. Everything that came after–every plot twist, every character, every idea–came from that initial, compelling image. Who was this man? Was he alone? Who was he searching for? What happens to him? And what happened to the missing person?

Q: Do your stories always end up the way you expected?

Never. For me, writing the novel is as much a journey of discovery as it is (I hope) for the reader. That first idea sparks a firestorm of “what ifs” and “what thens,” and I usually start jotting down notes like crazy. I’ll have ideas for character quirks and plot twists at all hours of the day, in any location; I’ve taken shorthand on the back of a grocery receipt, on a junk mail envelope, a napkin. Sometimes an idea comes out in more or less finished chunks, bits of dialogue or description that will find their way into the novel sooner or later.

Even if I do get some sort of foggy idea of the way a story will go early on, it almost always throws me for a loop later. With my upcoming novel Bloodstone, for example, I had no idea that my main character would end up where he did, and so the ending was as much a shock to me as it will be to readers. In fact, at the beginning I didn’t even know if he would be my main character at all, because there were several interesting people clamoring for attention. But as soon as I realized where the ending was going, I knew that it was the right thing for the story.

Q: Your first published novel, Bloodstone, comes out in hardcover in January 2006 from Thomson Gale’s Five Star line. Tell us how the idea began for this one, and how it developed after that initial spark.

I wanted to work with a man and woman thrown together in some sort of stressful way–she was being held against her will, and they were on the run from something. I loved the tension that this sort of scene created–it really grabbed the reader by the throat, and gave them an immediate reason to root for the characters, to feel emotionally involved.

But this was a fairly common plot. We see this all the time in suspense fiction: the disturbed, dangerous man who hears voices in his head and ends up kidnapping a woman. What really got me excited was the idea of turning this kind of convention on its head. What would happen if it turned out that those voices were real? Who (or what) would be speaking to him, and why? How would you deal with the problem of making an initially distasteful character interesting and sympathetic to a reader?

Everything that comes after—the town of White Falls, Jeboriah Taylor and Harry Stowe and Frederick Thomas, and the murders and terrible secrets that are uncovered—all that story grew out of the initial idea of these two people who are thrown together by something unknown and powerful, and forced to work together to remain alive.

Q: Summarize the story for us.

I often describe Bloodstone as a cross between ‘Salems Lot and The Exorcist, which are two of my favorite books. Billy Smith is an ex-con struggling with some inner demons—and eventually some pretty nasty outside forces too. Smith is driven by the visions and voices in his head to kidnap a Miami prostitute named Angel, and he takes her up the coast to a tiny Maine town called White Falls. Turns out Angel is having similar visions. The two of them work together to discover who (or what) has brought them to this town–and for what purpose.

Q: When and why did you start writing horror?

I’ve always been reading and writing stories. I remember devouring Hardy Boys mysteries at seven years old, and realizing that this was what I wanted to do—I wanted to write that stuff. A year later I found an old typewriter and churned out “The White Horse,” a godawful, 25-page booklet that my mother photocopied for me. I sold it to relatives for a quarter. I still have a copy buried somewhere in the attic (and no, you can’t read it).

Two pretty traumatic things happened in my early years: my father’s death from a car accident when I was eight, and my mother’s death from cancer when I was thirteen. My life became pretty complicated then, and I had to deal with a lot of serious emotions at a very early age. I think these experiences made me tend to look inward a bit more than usual, and made me see the dark side of things much earlier than most kids do.

I read my first Stephen King novel when I was about twelve years old, and it just blew me away. This guy was unbelievably talented, and he lived about an hour from me. Up to that point most of my reading had been juvenile fiction, or mysteries, but this was something completely different. And it spoke to me. After that I read anything I could find by him, and I started reading other adult books like King Rat and Shogun. And my writing turned darker too. Some might say it was all downhill from there. But I never set out to write horror; in fact most of my writing would be considered more dark suspense, with an emphasis on dark. Whatever I write does tend to get scary in some way, even if there aren’t monsters, ghouls or ghosts wandering around.

Q: Do you have tips for beginning writers?

The single most important piece of advice I can give is, write as much and as often as you can. Then write some more. A lot of writers say this, but I’m amazed at how many aspiring novelists I meet who aren’t writing anything. Write something every single day.

The other thing is that I believe you have to read a lot, both within your own genre and beyond. Some writers won’t read a thing while they’re writing, and that’s their choice. But for me, it’s essential. Learning to write is like learning how to fix a sink. You wouldn’t just start ripping out pipe, you’d study how everything works, watch a few master plumbers do their thing, and practice with them until you got the hang it. So pick some of the best writers you can find, and study how they do it. Break down sentence and plot structure to learn how a good book works.

This is a tough business—a lot tougher than most people understand. 90% of the published writers out there are struggling just to get by, working a day job on top of writing fiction. Most of the published writers I know have desks full of rejection slips, and the only way to break through is to keep on sending your stuff back out, again and again. If you get constructive criticism, use it. See if they’ll look at it again. If not, find someplace else.

Treat your writing like a business. You’re offering a product for sale, and once the writing’s done it’s your job to market that product. Keep good records and a consistent schedule, network anywhere and everywhere you can, be persistent but always polite and professional. Make sure to go to writer’s conferences–you’ll meet more people and do more for your career at a good conference than you can with a year’s worth of slushpile submissions.

Q: When and where can readers find Bloodstone?

The official release date for Bloodstone is January 11, 2006. People can preorder the book now through Shocklines, Amazon, Barnes and Noble or any other bookstore, or request it from their library.

I will be touring beginning in February and through the spring. My signings and readings will be located mainly in the New England area, but I’m planning on a few locations across the country as well. As soon as I have the dates and places firmed up, I’ll be posting them to my website. I’d like to invite readers to check out the rest of my website (www.natekenyon.com). I have a great flash trailer, and free fiction too!