Interview With Author KJ Heier
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
As the first full-length collection I’ve written and actually published, you could call it a literary miracle. If you know anything about authors and aspiring writers, you know that ninety percent of our work never sees the light of day. I have an entire graveyard of wishful thinking and would-be best sellers collecting dust, pleading with me to end their miserable existence. Most of them deserve their fate, unless the world suddenly craves an apocalyptic robot-meets-outer-space love saga.
And I’m guessing they’re not.
This makes The Nightmare Gazette my official debut as an author as well as a horror fiction writer, and I’m thrilled about the pressure that this brings. There’s nothing like having readers expect great things and then dashing those hopes to keep a writer on their toes. The collective disappointment of producing nothing is the type of motivation that makes us type furiously away instead of eating another bonbon.
Not that I know anyone under the age of eighty who eats bonbons, by the way.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My most recent and, currently, my only book, is “The Nightmare Gazette”, a collection of short horror stories that are more in the realm of flash fiction and are written in the second-person narrative. This places the reader as the protagonist or, in many cases, the victim, as they unwittingly dive into one terrifying, life-threatening scenario after the next.
All in good fun, of course, but heads will roll.
At last, I found a niche in short stories because I have an attention span of a chihuahua and it appears they are just short enough that I’m able to come up with a captivating beginning, middle, and end before I get bored of my own ramblings. As to why I chose horror, your guess is as good as mine. I must have an affinity for the macabre, or at least enough of an ego to think I do. I also enjoy Halloween, and I studied European History at my university, which just screams “darkness and terror”, does it not?
I would not consider myself an expert on horror, although it is one of my favorite genres to read. I appreciate the unsettled, open-endedness to the stories, which in many ways imitates life. In reality, no one’s story, up until death, has a definitive, happy ending. It goes on after the curtain comes down and the final theme plays. Life goes on, and sometimes Act 1’s lovebirds end up bludgeoning each other with sledgehammers.
In other words, horror is much less one-note than I believe other genres lend themselves to be, and the challenge of trying to find each individual reader’s “tingle” – those specific frights and scenarios that terrify them the most – is delightful.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I find myself writing at my best when Mars is in retrograde, the clock has just struck midnight, and the ghosts in my attic decide to throw a dance party. Their vibrations inspire me and I howl at the moon like a crazed writer, obsessed. The words spark and flow from my fingertips, turning into pure literary gold.
No, actually, I’m very boring as far as writers go, and I simply need an extremely quiet place to write devoid of interruptions, and a few hours to myself. It’s my magical formula for getting into the writing zone, as long as my writing session is not cut short. It’s generally awful as a writer to feel inspired and not be able to put those thoughts on paper when the inspiration calls. If I can’t get to it until later, my writing often falls flat.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I’ve actually been inspired by the “Choose Your Own Adventure” series when it comes to the writing style of my novel. Writing in second-person is an unusual choice, but I do feel it creates greater immersion for the reader and can, when done correctly, increase the intensity of horror by putting the reader into the story themselves.
My writing isn’t particularly similar to many of the contemporary horror novels today, nor would I want to name a specific well known author and embarrass myself by comparing my stories to them. But, given the nature of short stories, The Nightmare Gazette does have similarities to the television classic “The Twilight Zone”, a wildly successful series that has transcended decades and still manages to frighten modern viewers. I would love to be able to one day say my stories were timelessly unnerving in the same way.
What are you working on now?
I believe this is every writer’s favorite question if they have a novel on the horizon they’re itching to promote, and their most dreaded if they’re standing before you empty-handed. I have to admit that I’m in the latter category, although I have many ideas swirling about, each one circling the drain. I assume whichever idea manages to hold out the longest will win, but do expect to see another book from me in the next year or two. Now that I have a taste for it, it’s hard to let it go.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m more of a “throw everything against the wall and see what sticks” kind of a person. Not remotely effective, but I tend to think it’s in true writer fashion. Because this is my first published story collection, I unfortunately don’t have any sagely marketing advice to offer fellow writers, but I will say in a world that is just as virtual now as it is tangible, it’s probably a very good idea to develop a social media presence and personal brand. My suggestion definitely falls within the realm of “do as I say and not as I do”, but doesn’t all the best advice?
The other tip I can offer is to build a community. Start local, if you can. Attend farmer’s markets in the summer and book fairs in the winter. Establish a home base right where you live, with the people around you whom you instantly have something in common with just by being in the same space. They may become your biggest supporters and can help provide free publicity by spreading the news of your book online to their family and friends.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Do. Not. Over. Edit. Your Book.
Editing is extremely important. It’s possible this cannot be emphasized enough, but your sanity as a writer and ability to actually publish the book you’ve poured months, and perhaps even years of your life into cultivating is equally as important. If you have the common writer’s trait of perfectionism, re-reading and re-writing the same parts of your novel ten times is not effective, and it will lead to frustration and, eventually, your resignation.
Allow others, despite how difficult, to provide you with constructive criticism, and put your focus onto the actual writing of the novel. Often, the way you view your story is with a much more critical eye than the way other people see it, and your book may never see the light of day if you don’t push past the editing phase. Rather than editing each section after you write it, move on until the book is finished, and then dedicate time to the editing process.
My other piece of advice regards book reviews. If you’re a sensitive introvert, bad reviews can be crushing. They can even prevent you from writing in the future. If you’re on this extreme end of the spectrum, find someone you can trust who can balance honesty with support to read the initial reviews for you and pass on the criticisms that are actually constructive, and toss the rest. Even if you write a best-seller, there will always be critics. There is not an author dead or alive that is beloved by everyone. Ask a little-known poet named William Shakespeare.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Some of the best advice I have ever heard isn’t specific to writing, although it is relevant. The advice is this: Never stop learning.
That’s it. Never stop learning and growing as a person because this will cause you, much like water, to stagnate. You’ll actually regress over time, and life is all about progression. Continued learning, though difficult at times, is healthy. It prolongs life, reduces prejudice, and opens the world to you. Learning is one of the keys to happiness and contributes to the happiness of others when you share it.
But I want to add to this. Never allow what you’ve learned to blind you to what you don’t know. No one is all knowing. No one has all the answers, and the moment we begin to believe that we do is when we stop learning and moving forward. Be wise, but be humble.
What are you reading now?
I’m actually listening to a lot of horror podcasts right now, which is auditory reading. Some of my favorite miniseries are found on Spotify and include “The Call of the Void” by Acorn Arts & Entertainment, “Halfmoon Chronicles” by Bad Address Media, “The Elmwood Strain” from Violent Hour Media, and “Restart” produced by BBC Radio 4.
As for traditional reading, I’ve been immersed in Brandon Sanderon’s “The Stormlight Archive” epic fantasy series, which is incredibly detailed and his power of world-building is masterful. It’s not unusual for me to indulge in the more guilty pleasures as well of young-adult reading and the many emotionally-charged love triangles the genre always produces.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Ideally, I would like to increase my readership base and continue to provide stories, be they horror or otherwise, for people to indulge in. Like any writer, writing is a compulsion rather than a choice, so if I am to go on writing, I may as well publish what I do. Writing is not only therapeutic, but when I don’t write for a long time, it feels like going without water. My hope is to publish a full-length novel in the near future and/or produce Kindle Vellas on Amazon publishing, which is a format similar in my mind to a podcast miniseries. Having already dabbled in writing and producing a season of my own horror podcast, called “Poltergeist Scary Stories”, I think it would be familiar territory.
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?
Considering that Robinson Crusoe would probably strike a little close to home (and I’ve never read it), I’ll leave it off this list. However, it would be remiss of me as a self-described nerd not to include the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien, or “Harry Potter” by J.K. Rowling. In addition to these classics, I find myself repeatedly returning to the tearjerker that is “The Five People You Meet in Heaven” by Mitch Albom. For my horror choice, it would likely have to be “Interview with a Vampire” or another book in the series by Anne Rice, which deserves all the recognition and fame it’s received.
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