Interview with Patrick D’Orazio
Here is an interview with the wonderful Patrick D’Orazio.
What inspired you to write your first book?
I actually wrote my first book back in high school, when I got my first typewriter (yep, before the days of PCs) and started writing fantasy stories based on my exposure to Dungeons & Dragons, Lord of the Rings, Thomas Covenant, and the Shannara series. It was a classic case of ripoff syndrome, where I wrote the most stereotypical, and predictable fantasy tales ever. Since then, I’ve actually gotten better about writing stuff that pushes the envelope a bit and introduces characters that aren’t cookie cutter, or at least I hope.
My motivation to write my first novel that I had the urge to publish was inspired by my fears of darkness and the unknown. More specifically, when the renaissance of zombie movies came along in the last decade, I was more fascinated with them than I was as a teenager watching them back in the eighties. I was married with kids, and felt that zombies represented the vague and compelling fears I felt as a husband and father-the world around us was dangerous, scary, and made me feel helpless, and zombies personified all of that. I felt compelled to craft stories that zeroed in on those fears. Since then, I’ve expanded beyond that, but that was the at the heart of my motivation for writing Comes The Dark
How did you come up with the title?
Comes The Dark came to me while taking a shower one day and trying my hardest to come up with a title for the book-it is as simple as that. It came out of mind with nothing that had influenced I to show up. I was sure I’d heard that turn of phrase before, and it turns out it came from the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner. “…at one stride comes the dark.” Looking over the entire poem again, I think my mind was telling me something, because it made sense given the subject matter. With some minor struggles, Into The Dark and Beyond The Dark became the natural and logical names of the sequels and spoke of the journey of the characters in the three books.
Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
I’m not quite sure I could craft a particular message, because I firmly believe that once you write something and it is shared with others, it is no longer your story, but their story to absorb and interpret as they see fit. So whatever messages I tried to instill in my work came about because I felt a certain way about the material, but I am far more interested in seeing how someone else looks at it and what they take away. I’ve always believed that the messages taken from a story are a personal thing and are different for everyone who reads it.
How much of the book is realistic?
I try to create characters that react in a realistic fashion in unrealistic circumstances. The dead coming back to life is not realistic, but I am interested in how someone in our world would react if transplanted in such a world, and I think that plays out in most of my stories I’ve written, regardless of the environment I put the characters in. I can craft an alien universe and surround someone with it, but as long as the characters are identifiable and feel real on some level, it hopefully allows the audience to embrace the fantastical elements of the story.
Are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your own life?
Most of my characters are an amalgamation of people I know…at least when I craft them. But they tend to take on a life of their own as the story progresses. They grow and mature through the words I write for them, and then edit and change because I realize that something I tried to make them do didn’t make sense based on their newfound personalities. So while Jeff, the main character of my first book shared traits with several people I knew in the beginning, by the time I had gotten to the end of the trilogy he was ‘his own man’ as it were. His experiences had changed him, shaped him enough that he no longer was someone you could dissect and say that this aspect of him came from this person and that aspect from this other person in my real life. He had made the transition into a unique entity…or so I hoped. The same applies with the rest of my characters. If they are to become something beyond a flat, one-dimensional list of descriptive words, they need to grow and morph because of what they experience and the relationships they have within the pages of the stories I write.
What books have most influenced your life most?
There have been a few select books that are more memorable than others, but I would still stick with big categories that I love, such as horror, science fiction, and fantasy. The idea of creating a world that is different than our own and pushing the limits as much as you can with that, and yet still telling a story that a reader can identify with in their normal every day lives is remarkable to me.
If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?
Stephen King has been my mentor in many ways, since he’s written On Writing and openly shared his views on so many different topics with the introductions to a lot of his books, interviews, and elsewhere. I wouldn’t say I strive to emulate his writing style, but his work ethic and approach to writing are definitely things I admire about him.
What book are you reading now?
The Undead Situation by Eloise Knapp
Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest?
I tend to read a lot of zombie fiction, because I wanted to immerse myself in it before I chose to write my own novel with the undead in it and I am still fascinated by different takes on that subgenre. I have read a great many books over the past six years, and there are authors who reside in it whose talent will continue to capture attention beyond the genre boundaries as they challenge themselves in other realms, as it were. Writers such as David Dunwoody, Peter Clines, Carol Lanham, and Bryan Hall are authors I’ve read most recently, but the list is pretty substantial and filled with authors that I think will continue to raise eyebrows-perhaps just in the small press realm, but just as likely in the bigger, wider world if they continue to push the limits of what they’re doing.
What are your current projects?
I have been working on various short stories and am diving into my fourth and fifth novels at the same time, since the plan is to make the tale a duology, and I want to write the completed story all at once and then figure out where part one ends and part two begins, after the fact.
Name one entity that you feel supported you outside of family members.
The horror community in general. I made the effort to get involved, and so many writers have been supportive of my writing, and I in turn have done my best to be supportive of as many of them as possible too. I am a firm believer in networking and interacting with as many folks as possible. It is amazing how generous people can be with their time and energy if they believe in you and you also believe in them.
Do you see writing as a career?
I do. I joke along with everyone else about how grand the world would be if I could write full time. But the beauty of not writing to pay the bills is that I am not writing to appease any one in particular. I am writing the stuff I want to write and if I don’t sell a single copy of something I come up with it would stink, but it wouldn’t stop me from writing the same type of stuff or even going in an entirely different direction simply because my muse wants me too. I’m not saying that I wouldn’t do the same if I was counting on a paycheck from my writing to carry me through, but I am sure there would be some compromises made to insure that at least some of my work was commercially viable. But I’m probably totally wrong on that account. It wouldn’t be the first time that’s happened.
If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?
Not with the story itself. I did work on getting feedback from trusted advisors during the writing process and what I will mainly change is the mechanics of the story-how it is laid out and often how things are described, but the story itself-at least the primary parts of it, remains at the foundation of what I’m writing and doesn’t change after the final draft is completed. I have no regrets with how it turned out. I hope that remains the case with future works-I don’t mind having doubts during the process, because changes are inevitable and embraced, but I try not to spend any time second guessing myself after the fact.
Do you recall how your interest in writing originated?
Having a mom who loved to read and encouraged me to read a lot and also encouraged my writing when she realized I had a penchant for it was a big part of the foundation of my love for writing. I was always someone with a big imagination and I loved envisioning new ways to tell old tales, plus crafting totally new stories that had never existed before when I was a little kid. Drawing was a part of that too. When I drew, I drew stories, not just pictures. I would craft a haunted house and lay out every room with the monsters in it, I would tell war stories with pictures…I spent a lot of time imagining different worlds and different places. There were and still are scenes that run through my head at times-scripts I write that make the world a different place than it is, or allows me to escape to a different world. My closet was a space ship, I was in the jungle in my family room with strange, dark beasts roaming the couches…it all translated into a need to tell a tale, create an adventure.
Can you share a little of your current work with us?
My current project expands upon my dark trilogy in that it tells the tale of the wider world, as it were, carrying on with the remaining characters and broadening things through a duo of books that will bring the story of the ‘Dark World’ to a conclusion. I originally envisioned the two stories before ever writing my first novel in this realm, and so writing these two books seems as natural to me as writing the first three novels were. Other than that, I think I would rather not divulge more at this time-it is a story that has a skeleton so it keeps its shape, but the meat on the bones is not solidified as of yet. A lot will change over the course of the writing of this tale…so I think I know what will happen, but I am sure the characters are going to surprise the hell out of me along the way.
Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
Getting started with a new story is the biggest thing for me. Once I start writing, I get on track, but often, it is diving in and facing all that self-doubt that clouds the horizon for me. Even with short stories it often seems a daunting task to get things rolling. I just have to force myself to plunge in, and yet it is almost a phobia at first for me. The fear of failure comes early in the process for me. Fortunately, writing is the cure for it. It is sort of like taking that first step out of the airplane when you’re skydiving. The rest just naturally follows-you have to finish the job then, but as long as you’re still sitting in that airplane, there is always the feeling that you could turn back. Sometimes it’s just best not to think too much about it and jump.
Who is your favorite author and what is it that really strikes you about their work?
Stephen King seems like an obvious choice, but I also love so many other authors as well, for various reasons. King creates such indelible images in my mind. His characters are tremendously well drawn and have a realness to them that I admire with my meager writing talents. Even when the people he creates do things that might seem insane, by that point in the story I’m usually just nodding my head, accepting whatever he is feeding me, because it all makes sense in the intricate world he’s crafted. Again, there are tons of other authors that really amaze me time after time, but Stephen King has stuck with me since I was around 10-11 years old. Reading his stuff is like going home.
Do you have to travel much concerning your book(s)?
My books have taken place around the area where I live, while my short stories have sent me across the galaxy (well, many of them have been a lot closer to home, mind you). I haven’t traveled more than 30 miles from my house for my books thus far, but I do travel, take pictures, and try to extract things from what I see so that I can translate that into the written word. I will be traveling further for my present projects, but a lot of what I write has me using elements of things I’ve seen in lots of different places. I have traveled for my work quite extensively, so I am familiar with a great many places in the United States. I would love to travel abroad, which might allow me to expand my writing beyond the boundaries I’ve had thus far, at least in a geographic sense. I wrote a story about the Vatican, and while I’ve never been there, I tried to be painstaking in my research of it, because the story was about the Vatican and its residents-it wasn’t just a location, the place was essentially a character in the story. I would love to have an excuse to travel there, and to Bethlehem, where another of my stories take place, and somehow write it off as a business expense, but I don’t see that happening any time soon. So thank God for the Internet and knowing people who have traveled and have experiences with different parts of the world that I can grill mercilessly for a story.
Who designed the covers?
The covers for my trilogy were done by Philip Rogers, who took my idea for the first book and made it much more than I could have ever hoped for. He did the same for the second and third book. He took the time to ask a lot of questions and get a sense of what I wanted and then shared his visions, which were spot on with what I wanted to reveal in the covers.
What was the hardest part of writing your book?
Well, with the trilogy, it was taming my urge to go off on tangents…tangents that often made the books far too cumbersome. The story tended to diverge far too often from the track they needed to remain on. But in many ways, that was a good thing too, because it helped me shape the world I had created, and even if much of that original content didn’t make the books, it helped give the characters and environments I was working with more depth. It slowed me down, but in the end, I think it was all worth it.
Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it?
I’ve learned countless lessons not only from writing, but sharing my writing with others. And the reverse is true-I’ve learned a lot by reading other’s works in progress and critiquing them. I would like to believe I am a more efficient writer that can move past a lot of the ‘freshman’ mistakes with my writing, though I know I continue to make them. I just catch a lot of them more quickly now.
Do you have any advice for other writers?
Outside of the actual writing (read a lot, write a lot!) I would say network with writers, publishers, and fans of the genre you are writing in. Get to know them and let them get to know you. Share stories, ask for advice, find out what they’re doing and the path they’ve taken with their writing and getting published. Writing is a solitary task, but everything that surrounds it are social tasks that involve other folks-your editor, publisher, formatter, artist, beta readers, and so on. Getting to know the people I have has made all the difference in the world for my writing. Sharing experiences has allowed me to understand a great deal in a much more rapid fashion than I would have had I remained fairly isolated.
What genre do you consider your book(s)?
My books are horror, sub-genre zombie/apocalyptic. But then again, I’ve only written three books up to this point that I would care to claim, so I would dare say there will be other genres to explore, which I have done with my short stories thus far.
Do you ever experience writer’s block?
If I wanted to get technical, I wouldn’t call what I suffer from writer’s block, because it is not about sitting there and trying to let the words pour forth and not being able to it, it is about getting started, as I alluded to previously. Once I get rolling, I am usually moving at a good clip, but it is the starting on a new project that makes me stumble more often than not.
Do you write an outline before every book you write?
I do, which is something I have found to not be the norm for a lot of writers. More power to anyone who can craft a story without an outline, but as I mentioned with my first book, tangents are a big issue with me, and I go off on them a lot. Without an outline, I would be meandering for days and months, crafting all sorts of side stories and maps and histories and all sorts of stuff rather than writing the actual story. I need to know the destination…even if it changes, I need to have a rough idea where I’m going, or I tend to go on walkabout.
Have you ever hated something you wrote?
Plenty of my early stuff that I wrote as a kid and a young adult. But I think a part of my mental makeup at this point in my life would not allow me to finish a story if I hated it, or even disliked it. Writing is about passion to me. If I don’t feel passionate about a story, it would be hard for me to write it. I have tried to force myself to write about a certain topic for a submission call, and could never get past the first page, because it didn’t resonate for me. So I guess if I finish a story, I would find it hard to hate it…whether it is accepted or rejected by someone else.
What is your favorite theme/genre to write about?
Well, while I write horror, I think science fiction and fantasy, which were a big part of my childhood and growth into adulthood, are areas that I would love to tackle. I think the beauty of writing horror is that it can be an overlay with so many other genres. Horror doesn’t have to be fantastical; it can be pedestrian, every day. It can all be inside the mind, rather than crafted into some bogey or demon that is hiding behind the door. I think horror will stick with me no matter what I write in the future.
