THE NEXT BIG THING SELF-INTERVIEW

This meme has been going around for some time, and the illustrious personages of John Sakkis and Andy Peterson have both tagged me as invitation to contribute my own self-interview based of this set of questions. 

1. What is the title of your book (or story)?

A PATH IN THE WOODS

2. Where did the idea come from for the book?

I was reading J.G. Ballard's CRYSTAL WORLD, which took place in and around a forest that was crystallizing and somehow trapping both time and light as well as anyone that stayed in it too long. In that book, as in most of his books, he took a seemingly small idea and was able to inflate it into a whole novel of weirdness and intrigue. Not having written a novel before, it inspired me to just go for it and let my own imagination run wild, no matter how elaborate or simple the initial idea. And, basically, the initial idea was that I just wanted to have a neat story take place in a creepy forest (and it became something far more complicated all on its own from there).

3. What genre does your book fall under?

Fiction, first and foremost. However, genre is a problem for me as I don't feel it falls directly under one, exactly. For now, I'll say it's dark fantasy/ horror/ psychological thriller.

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Shit if I know. How about I get to play the lead and either Jessica Chastain, Deborah Ann Woll, or Karen Gillan play the main female role.

5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Ambiguously crazy man goes into a wicked forest and crazy super fucked up shit happens.

6. Is your book self-published or represented by an agency?

It's not yet published. I just finished it and it's still awaiting some fine-tuning. I'm hoping to have it published by a classy but small genre publisher that knows the difference between good and bad prose. If you know of any, I'm all ears.

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

Nine and a half weeks.

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

While Crystal World, by JG Ballard, was the inspiration, I cannot think of any comparable stories to my own.

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?

This was answered in #2. But ever since I read LESS THAN ZERO, by Bret Easton Ellis, about 2.5 years ago, I knew I wanted to write fiction, primarily novels.
 
10. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

There's at least four sex scenes in it, each of varying levels of disturbing. 

WHO I TAG TO DO THIS NOW

Steve Orth, Nicholas Buzanski, JG Ballard, Bret Easton Ellis, Cormac McCarthy, and Karen Gillan.