Tag Archives: Q+A

Q+A with horror writer Grady Hendrix

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This story was originally published at mountainx.com.

Grady Hendrix, author of Horrorstör (set in a haunted IKEA-type big-box store), returns with the 1980s-themed My Best Friend’s Exorcism. Of a recent author event he said, “I’m going to be talking about the Satanic Panic in the ’80s when everyone thought heavy metal music and backwards masking were sending kids straight to hell, Dungeons and Dragons was a doorway to evil, and Saturday morning cartoons were indoctrinating children into the occult.”

9781594748622The book — part humor and part horror — borrows a big from Hendrix’s own high school experience (as he explains below, in a Q&A with Xpress). Hendrix is also the author of Occupy Space and Satan Loves You, the co-author of the YA series The Magnolia League and the graphic cookbook Dirt Candy, co-founder of the New York Asian Film Festival, and a contributor to Slate, Village Voice and Variety, among others.

Alli Marshall: I suspect most people think their high school experience was, at least in part, a horror story. What was the idea for you that initially led to My Best Friend’s Exorcism?

Grady Hendrix: The title popped into my head first. Then I figured best friendships were most intense in high school, and my high school experience was in 1988, so that’s when it would be set. Then I wrote a first draft and showed it to my wife because I was feeling pretty studly … and she told me it was a dumpster fire of secondhand ideas and stolen characters. And she was right. I was just recycling John Hughes movies and other people’s ideas about high school. So I sat down with all my letters and diaries from high school (and all her letters and diaries from high school) and read them for about three weeks. And somewhere in there, I had a genuine, authentic memory about what it felt like to be in high school in the ’80s, then another, and then another, and then I was off and writing.

I love the high school yearbook design of My Best Friend’s Exorcism — are those photos from your yearbook by any chance?
My author photo is my senior portrait and I thought that was horrifying enough. The rest are from the staff at [boutique publisher Quirk Books], so there’s a heavy New Jersey/Philadelphia vibe to them. One thing I’d like to point out is that even though I wrote all the yearbook inscriptions on the inside covers, our designer, Tim O’Donnell, farmed out the actual handwriting of them to about 32 different teenaged girls, like a yearbook-signing sweatshop. Continue reading →

NaNoWriMo Q+A with author Deanna Dee

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Deanna Dee, photo courtesy of the author

Deanna Dee, photo courtesy of the author

Romance author Deanna Dee celebrates the launch of her latest book, Finish Him, on Tuesday, Nov. 17. But while that project is keeping her busy this year, Deanna is no stranger to National Novel Writing Month. Here, she shares her experiences and some very helpful tips.

When did you last participate in NaNoWriMo and what did you set out to write?

Deanna Dee: I last participated in 2013, and I set out to write the rough draft of my first novel, Critical Hit-On, a college gamer romance.

What sort of word count did you set for yourself, and how much time each day did you dedicate to the project?

I aimed for the full 50,000. In terms of time per day, I didn’t really keep track by hours. More important was word count. I packed heavy writing into the beginning of the month so I’d be ahead of the curve. I’d say it’s best to aim for 2,000 words a day the first week, however long it takes each day.

At the end of the month did you have a completed novel? How did you feel about the work you’d done?

I had a nearly completed novel. It turned out the book needed another 5,000 or so words, but that was easy to finish up. How did I feel? Empowered, awesome, like I’d done something.

Finish+Him+ebookWould you do Nano again?

Probably, if the timing worked out. I’m not doing it this year because I’m releasing my third book this month, and something had to give. For me, Nano is a great way to get motivated. I’m very competitive, and if I’m not where the site says I should be, I have to catch up.

What advice would you offer to someone participating in Nano this year?

Keep writing! Any amount of words is more than zero. Also, if you’ve been staying on target up until now and then suddenly have a day where you can’t write, don’t panic. And don’t try to put in double the words the next day. You’ll intimidate yourself out of writing anything. Recalculate. Figure out how many words you need to write to get back on task and shoot for that. It’s a lot less daunting.

What are you currently working on, and where can we learn more about your writing?

I’m currently working on a Christmas short story to go along with my published series. To find out more about me and what I write, you can check out my website/blog.

Follow Deanna on Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads, and find her books online here.