L.T. Suzuki, click
here to update your pages on AuthorsDen.
Blogs by L.T. Suzuki
John Gregory Hancock Interview 1/19/2013 9:24:47 PM
Artist & author John Gregory Hancock discusses his new anthology and the writing life! LTS: In my three or four years on Twitter, I’ve had the opportunity to follow some of my Twitter friends as they made that transition from aspiring author to a published author. In this case, my latest author feature is about an incredibly talented artist flexing his creative muscles to publish an anthology that is truly an entertaining read!
Meet John Gregory Hancock! I’d like to begin by having you share a little information about yourself with our readers, John. What do you enjoy doing when you are not writing (or painting/drawing)?
JGH: I really, really treasure my time with my family more than anything. That can take several forms. Playing video games with my son, watching a movie with my wife. I am a truly blessed man. But I don’t hang glide or hike or anything strenuous. I’m a lot like the flabby accountant in “Cerberus”.
LTS: You’re writing now, but you are better known for your artistic skills at this time. Why this jump to the written words and was becoming a published author a lifelong dream for you?
JGH: I’ve been an artist professionally since college. I worked in newspapers for nearly 30 years as an information graphics specialist and illustrator.
I took a creative writing course in college, but that dream lay fallow because I could make a living with my visual art. I still wrote. I once got a personal rejection letter from Asimov magazine for “Pepe the club footed elephant”, telling me they couldn’t use its genre, but to keep writing. It was eventually published in the e-zine Bewildering Stories. And it appears in “A Plague of Dreams”.
LTS: I had a chance to read one of the stories from your anthology, A Plague of Dreams and I must say, I was thoroughly entertained and even had a good chuckle with the character’s worst nightmare come true! Where did you find the inspiration for these short stories?
JGH: My inspiration comes from several sources.
“Cerberus” and “Pepe” springs irreverently from my own twisted humor (I imagine one of those made you chuckle).
Also, I dream. I dream a lot. In color, and in complete story plots. I was surprised to learn most people don’t. My dreams are my escape, even the scary ones.
Three of the stories in this collection borrow directly from my dreams:
- The funeral scene in “The Veil” is a complete dream fragment, and the feeling of betrayal that arises is the same intensity I felt when I woke up from it, sweating.
- The image of holding my hand against a spaceship viewport while watching the debris of a destroyed planet drift by was the dreamt source for “Amber”.
- Discovering a secret hidden room in my newly purchased home became the seed for “Panic Tower”.
My second inspiration comes from being an occasional insomniac. In order to relax myself enough to sleep, I would spin stories in my mind, puzzle out plots, and visualize the scenes until the sandman took me.
LTS: Without giving away too much, can you reveal what’s in store for the readers when they crack open A Plague of Dreams?
JGH: It’s a collection of ten stories, of varying lengths, genres and styles. They vary from fantasy, to science fiction, to crime thriller, to paranormal adventure. And of course humor. You’ll find things like…
- A dragon with an identity crisis
- An accountant that runs into a three-headed dog, (or maybe the dog runs into him)
- A refugee spaceship that might not be enough to save mankind
- A lottery winner that finds his life turning into a nightmare when he finds a hidden room
- A TV psychic that is drawn against his will into demonic evil
Five of the stories have my illustrations. So that’s added value right there!
LTS: The road to publication is difficult at the best of times. What made you decide to take the indie route and self-publish this anthology?
JGH: I’m pursuing my dream, so I couldn’t imagine waiting a year while I tirelessly (and possibly fruitlessly) sought an agent, a year or more to finally secure a publisher (IF I could), and then a year after that to see it in print. Hey, I’m an old fart. I’m cranky. I don’t have time for all that.
Self-publishing requires only as much time as it takes to write, edit, and format the book.
LTS: What was the best and worst part of self-publishing?
JGH: CONTROL over what I write, and how I write. If it ends up being a mistake to transcend genre, then at least that’s MY mistake. But I’m pretty sure it’s not.
The downside, I’m discovering, is that there are no publicists or marketers to actually sell my creation. I haven’t the foggiest how to get from where I am now, to the point of doing a book signing. I’m learning as I go.
Although, I understand even established publishing houses are downsizing marketing support they provide to their authors.
LTS: What is the most important lesson you’ve learned on the road to publication?
JGH: Once you decide to do it, its surprisingly easy. It’s the deciding to do it that’s the hard part. That’s the key, you know. The WILL to make your dream come true. The mechanics of how you do it isn’t important.
LTS: On the subject of writing styles, are you a plotter or pantser? The readers would like to know if you tend to plot out your story line in great detail or if your writing is more organic with the characters and events unfolding as you write.
JGH: Oh, god no, I don’t plot out in detail. I might have a general mental plot in mind, but once I start writing, it can change drastically. I don’t impede new directions. My voice is very organic, and the timbre of it will also nudge the rudder of the story.
Here is my process: I write. After a certain point, I upload it to my kindle. Then, at night in bed, I read it as if reading another person’s book. I use the highlight function to flag portions of story that need work, or typos. I sleep. I allow my unconscious mind to tug at the story. Then, the next day I make those highlighted changes in the document. And, I might have come up with something extra while sleeping. I go back and forth this way, honing down the story until I feel it is where it needs to be. At some point, it just feels right.
LTS: Some authors meditate, others need to fuel up on coffee or listen to music. Do you have any rituals, ones that can be shared with the readers, that you must do before you hunker down for a writing session?
JGH: No rituals. I write in the same environment I use to draw celebrities — I hang out with my family in the living room. I sit in my comfy recliner, a drawing tablet or laptop on my lap, and watch TV. I talk with my family while I’m working. Sometimes I’ll write after they go to bed, or before they get up. But I always have something going in the background, a movie or TV show. I don’t work as well with ONLY music. The secondary focus is what helps me detach. Growing up, I did homework in front of the TV.
I don’t recommend it for everyone, but it works for me. I’m not a person that demands seclusion or absolute quiet to work.
LTS: At one time or another, most writers hit the wall and their work stalls because of the dreaded writer’s block. What do you do to get around or over this mental wall to resume writing?
JGH: I sleep on it. Haha. No, actually. Either literally or figuratively. The distance of time, or the distance of detachment allows me to be more objective about what needs to come next, what does or doesn’t work. If I force it, it won’t happen. But, if I listen to the story, it will tell me where it wants to go.
LTS: Who is your favourite author and how has he/she inspired you to write or influenced your writing style or choice of genre?
JGH: My tastes are eclectic. And I read voraciously, so the list would be enormous. Narrowing it down to two, I would say Madeline L’Engel’s “A Wrinkle in Time” woke me up at a very young age to the magical door of fantasy. More recently, I read Vonnegut’s “Cat’s Cradle”. He did not obey traditional writing conventions. But oh my god, his style was like heavenly music. I realized that my style had a place, that it could make its own music. I decided I wanted to write for me, to write stories that I would like to read, whether it fit current trends or not.
LTS: What do you foresee in your future over the next five years and do you hope to branch out into other genres or tackle a full-length novel?
JGH: I have enough story ideas for more Dreamwood Tales volumes. I enjoy the short story format, more than I thought I would. I will keep on writing those. Although “Panic Tower” and “The Veil” kept getting longer and longer until they were approaching novella size!
I plan to do a Fantasy trilogy. The first book “River of Fate”, is already begun. It has interesting and quirky characters that I think anyone will enjoy: An old fart magical healer, an imp in a bottle, a young slip of a girl who worked in a brothel but wants to learn magic, and a vow of bloody revenge. Oh, and did I mention a serial killer? Ok, there’s a serial killer.
LTS: Thank you so much for taking the time from your busy schedule to share in your writing and your writerly wisdom, John! Catch you on Twitter!
