Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
My name is Corey, most people call me Croft. I’m from the badlands of Surrey BC and live in Vancouver.
I have written four books up to this point with a number of short stories and I am currently wrapping up a novella. I wrote a lot before contemplating publishing and decided to lead the initiative with COWARD, which is the first release on Fly Pelican Press, my independent publishing company. All the books are very different in tone and subject, so going indie made the most sense.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
This book is called COWARD: A Novel. I guess it was inspired by some less than bright times in my life and feeling against the wall, trying to play nice in a world that has two-faces. It is about holding in things like anger, resentment and depression. In many ways it mirrors the mental state I had while writing it, needing a release and needing an outlet to avoid exploding.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Many. I tend to spend days at a time and forgetting to eat while boiling pot after pot of strong coffee and tossing empty decks of pall malls into my sadness corner. I work a few job to keep the objective of writing as a career tenable, so I have to use my time wisely. I have several processes of creating a story and inspiration comes from all angles like the noises outside of my ever-open windows – the smoke has to go somewhere.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
The biggest authors in my life have Been Dostoevsky, Kafka and Marvel comics. There have been way too many to list individually beyond those three influences, but I can attest that structure and character development has been informed by them. I am constantly having my outlook reshaped by new books that I read. There is such a diversity of material and methods of telling stories that I feel like a snowball composed of everything that I have ever read.
What are you working on now?
I am working on a story about the 1998 World Cup Final between Brazil and France. It’s an existential piece influenced by Sartre and Camus, among others. It is a very dark and emotional story that loosely hinges around the sporting match. Afterwards I am set to begin on a series of smaller, intensely psychological books; the working title is the February Papers.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I have a website and all the adjunct social media things. I am working with some awesome people who are helping me to sculpt the vision my timid ass is too shy to push forward. I am not a fan of the marketing aspect, as many aren’t I’m sure. It’s a a necessary evil. That said, I thirst for the opportunity to make readers and conversations about the things I have written and look forward to engaging fans and haters alike.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Put your back in to it. Sleepers get nothing but a lullaby. You really do have to start from the most bottom, sub-dirt level of creation and work to even crack the topsoil. The hardest part is splashing that pen against the pad and getting started, then keeping yourself in a routine to carry out. You have to find your passion and let it devour you from the inside, become you, and take your life over.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Be yourself. It’s corny and shit but unless you are totally committed to the cat in the mirror, there is no point trying to push forward in any venture if you don’t know where you’re going. You can smash your head forever in trying to do something unnatural or something that you are fooling yourself in to thinking that you love.
What are you reading now?
Sirens of Titan by my homie Kurt Vonnegut. I am a big fan of his dark humour and satire. This one seems to hold the shape rather nicely.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I am working on editing the other novels and continuing to create every other moment. I still have to slog at my jobs, side gigs as I now refer to them, but I use every pocket of open time to plot new stories or twist up new ones. I have several shorts for my website www.flypelicanpress.com that will be coming out in the bit, as well as blogs and other goodies. I love writing shorts as I love untangling the thread of a long form narrative. Each gives the author so much to work with.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Let’s see… Don Quixote the unabridged version. Brothers Karamazov. Marvel Civil War (the first one, not the second). And… Master and Margarita.
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