Scott Nicholson Interview by Emmanuel Paige

Biographical introduction "Who Scott Thinks He Is" and promotional material all gratefully borrowed, with permission,  from Scott Nicholson's Web site: www.hauntedcomputer.com

Who Scott Thinks He Is

Boone, NC, author Scott Nicholson has published novels, short stories, poetry, and non-fiction magazine articles, and has written five screenplays. As a newspaper reporter, he's won three North Carolina Press Association awards. He's had the usual collection of odd jobs: dishwasher, carpenter, painter, musician, baseball card dealer, and radio announcer. Now he haphazardly trades words for beans and uses "haphazardly" as often as possible.

Nicholson’s first novel “The Red Church,” inspired by legends surrounding a haunted Appalachian church near his home, was a Stoker Award finalist and an alternate selection of the Mystery Guild. “The Harvest” is an alien infection tale that’s an allegory for the development of the mountains. “The Manor” is set at a haunted artists’ retreat in the Appalachian Mountains and has been optioned for film development. “The Home” was inspired by the death of a child at a nearby group home for troubled children, informed by Nicholson's own forgettable childhood. "The Farm" is based on the little farm community where he moved in 2004 and became a serious organic gardener and libertarian. "They Hunger"--well, let's just say it contains three sex scenes, pseudo-vampires, and the phrase "You got a purty mouth."

Nicholson has published about 60 stories in six different countries, including the collection “Thank You For The Flowers.” Nicholson won the grand prize in the international Writers of the Future contest in 1999. That same year, he was first runner-up for the Darrell Award. He studied Creative Writing at Appalachian State University and UNC-Chapel Hill. He recently finished a term as Secretary for the southeastern chapter of the Mystery Writers of America and is vice-president of the Horror Writers Association and is a member of Mystery Writers of America and International Thriller Writers...

Unfortunately, they never taught him to write: he had 105 rejections before his first story sale and over 400 before he sold a novel. He hasn't learned much from his mistakes but thinks he'll probably improve with practice. If nothing else, he's become a better liar.

Nicholson has published numerous articles on writing and his publishing experiences, and he operates a freelance editing business. His website www.hauntedcomputer.com features author interviews, articles, and fiction excerpts. Bad relationship advice. Humor. Gardening tips. Subliminal tricks to sell his books. That sort of thing.

Macabre Cadaver: What inspired you to start writing?

Scott Nicholson: I used to make comic books as a kid, fold up the paper and make the panels and drawings. I was always creative and enjoyed that type of escape into my imagination. I guess I just never grew up.

MC: How did you learn the craft of writing?

SN: I'm still learning. This is a job that takes a lifetime commitment. There are some geniuses who get it right on the first try, but most of us mortals must plod along and go through growing pains. Reading and writing a lot is the only way to do it. You can't follow anyone else's path through the jungle. You have to hack out your own.

MC: Do you write full-time? What is your writing schedule?

SN: I work as a reporter so a lot of my day is spent at the keyboard. With a laptop, my schedule has evolved so that I write whenever I get 15 spare minutes. I used to write in the mornings and have a fixed routine, but as a parent that's not as workable anymore, so now I just make time where I can. My main goal in my writing is to someday work on it full time, but it's also something I can do in my old age to augment the Social Security. If fame and fortune arrive, that's groovy, but that's beyond my control so I don't worry about it. I am open to the universe and what it brings.

MC: Which authors (past and present) are your favorite or have influenced you the most?

SN: Influences are probably different than "favorites," because I saw definite mimicking of Kurt Vonnegut, Ernest Hemingway, Dr. Seuss, Richard Brautigan, and then later, Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, Elmore Leonard, and William Goldman. Just dump it all in the hopper and hopefully they all grind together into something approaching originality. If you write enough, you can't help sounding like your true self.

MC: Why did you choose to write within the horror genre?

SN: I think it chose me rather than the other way around. Early on, I read this creepy book called "The Sentinel" and then "The Exorcist," back when religious horror was cool, and so those influences stuck with me, along with Appalachian storytelling that drew on ghosts, witches, and weird creatures. So there was a mix of the primal and the philosophical that I can see in my work today, especially as I often explore mountain myths and faith issues.

MC: Horror and terror produce such an exciting effect and sensation when they are executed properly in literature, but it is fiction and we know that the ghosts and bogeymen are not real. What about reality? What scares you in reality?

SN: Bad things happening to good people. Unconscionable brutality and hate. Genocide. Bloody tribalism. Small-mindedness. Casual cruelty. In short, human nature scares me a lot more than nature, or supernature, does.

MC: Have you ever had an idea(s) that was too dreadful or horrible to even consider writing about?

SN: Not really. There are some taboos around, like child abuse and underage sex and killing pets, but I've used those in stories, at least fleetingly. In the case of "The Hounds of Love" that appears in my collection Scattered Ashes, I used all three. And "creepy pregnancy" is one of my subgenres. Basically it's in the treatment of the subject matter. I am not too interested in gore, though sometimes my work gets gruesome. But I hope my work always has a point, a thematic reason instead of simple prurience and vileness, because ultimately I want to deliver a positive message.

MC: Do you think that horror is a true artistic form?

SN: No. I think horror is a spice or element, a way of eliciting a response, and not the form itself. That's why horror has had such a terrible history as a fiction classification. It's simpler in movies--horror is a marketable genre with a reliable audience. That's not true in books, aside from the the small audience of collectors who trade limited editions. People who read Stephen King aren't buying pulp horror paperbacks, or there would be a lot of rich writers around.

One problem with categorization is that vampires or werewolves are considered "horror," yet most of the books containing them are actually romances, and those audiences don't really overlap. Romance novels make up over half the market while books with "horror" on the spine are as dead as the Western and Mack Bolan adventure books. Part of it is because women do most of the book buying, and the young male audience member with disposable income is likely sitting at a videogame system instead of reading a book. I believe publishers see this male reading audience is gone and extend it to "Horror is dead," dismissing horror as juvenile, slimy, and trashy.

MC: I was at a bookstore recently and I noticed that the Horror genre/category section is diminishing and dwindling down to just a few books. Is the Horror genre dead or dying? Are “horror” writers now trying to publish primarily in the “mainstream” and eschewing the “H” word moniker?

SN: If you're smart, you don't want "horror" anywhere on your book. I believe horror readers will find it anyway. Look at Scott Smith and "The Ruins," or Joe Hill's "Heart-Shaped Box." They weren't marketed as horror, though of course everyone soon knew Hill was Stephen King's son and made the inference. But writers never have a say in the marketing, anyway. That's all publisher perception, and the more you get paid, the less likely they will want to publish you in any category at all. Categories are simply shorthand for books the publisher doesn't want to bother differentiating and promoting, which is most of them.

MC: The science fiction categories seem to be expanding as horror is dwindling. Is this a sign of future publishing trends?

SN: I haven't really noticed that myself, and writers seem to feel science fiction is actually shrinking, too. It's difficult to say, because most of that section in the store is taken up with Star Wars, Star Trek, or other franchise books. Serialization works much better there than in horror, because in horror it's difficult to sustain suspense over many books. We know the main character isn't going to die because then the series would stop, so there's not much you can do with it aside from the Kolchak or X-Files idea of supernatural investigation. I don't watch TV but the horror shows don't seem to last long, either.

MC: Are vanity press and/or “Print on Demand” publishers viable options for new writers, or are they a sham? Is it better to submit to “traditional” publishers and go through the rejection/acceptance process, get an agent, etc., than to pay to have a book printed and/or published?

SN: If you want to be serious and make a living, you need to try New York. If you self publish, there are just too many obstacles, the biggest one being that you may not be writing publishable work but don't know it yet. If you just want to stroke your ego and dump a book out there, it's easy, but it's also damaging the entire infrastructure and crappy books dumb down the public. However, if you are willing to create a cottage industry, or have a small and easily targeted audience, then it can make sense to self publish. But realize you'll have to do everything yourself, and be smart at business and promotion as well as editing, proofreading, graphic design, and distribution.

MC: Are people buying and reading less books and hardcopy printed material now that the computer (with the Internet, blogs, video games, and other distractions) is a common household appliance?

SN: I remember about a decade ago when everybody was saying e-books were going to change publishing. Agents and writers were fiercely protecting those rights. And they turned out to be worthless, in most cases. You can't even give those damned things away. Nobody's stealing e-files and chuckling at how they pulled a fast one on the writer while they read 400 pages off a screen. The only e-books that got attention were back when the medium itself was news, such as King's "Riding The Bullet," or the ill-fated "The Plant," and Douglas Clegg's brilliant experiments. Maybe the technology will evolve, but it's hard to beat a book, and paper is still the only format that I'd trust in a time capsule.

MC: Do you think electronic publishing will have the same effect on printed books and magazines as CD-ROMs had on cassette tapes, making them obsolete or antiquities?

SN: It will keep evolving, and writers had better evolve with it. Videogames have replaced movies as the biggest moneymaker, and mass market paperbacks have plummeted in market share since the 1970s. Comic books are hot right now, though it may be that readers are lazy and can flip through one in five minutes. I do it myself, and they're easy and fun to read online as well. The cost of raw materials and shipping have a big impact on the book business, and maybe people will eventually be choosing free online entertainment over $30 books. But printed books have outlasted every other form of recorded communication. The good news for writers is they will always have a job, but it might not be in writing novels.

MC: Have you ever read fiction that is published online, or in ebook format? If so, did you like it, love it, or hate it?

SN: This is interesting, but I think people have a definite idea of how much time they will spend on online content. YouTube videos that last over 10 minutes get far fewer views than those that are two or three minutes. People are choosy with their time, and rightfully so. I think it will actually cause written communication to evolve, as we've already seen with the advent of text messages. I've read a few things online and occasionally read advance works of my friends on the screen, but it's physically less comfortable than my usual reading spots of bed or bathtub. Of course, a laptop makes that process simpler, but it's harder on the eyes any way you look at it. In general, I'm willing to read an article or short-short online but I'm reluctant to read a novel or book or lengthy article.

MC: Your latest book, “The Skull Ring”, is available in a limited edition hardback. Can you give me a few details about this most recent book?

SN: It's a Satanic cult book from Full Moon Press, using the "false memory" phenomena, with a whacked-put therapist messing with the patient's head. It was originally a secular novel, but I revised it and explored questions of faith, though it's certainly not a "God versus Devil" book. It's basically a suspense thriller but has some creeps to it, and you're never sure whether the devil is actually onstage or not. I think Satanism is making a comeback, because there's more of a sense of 'evil" in the world. Everybody's on edge, wired, depressed, fearful. It's affecting us on a quantum and physiological level.

MC: You have published seven books, five screenplays, hundreds of short stories and articles, are you planning on retiring any time soon?

SN: Well, I don't know what I'd do if I didn't write. I also play music and I'd like to paint in my old age, but for my spiritual growth and God-granted talents, writing is the best purpose here for me besides spreading some love and joy. If I found a better purpose, I'd give it a try, but I also like to work alone and basically I'm a dreamer. I want to work in dirty sweat pants, torn T-shirts, and flip flops.

MC: Do you have any advice or a few tips for aspiring writers?

SN: Write. Throw most of it out and revise it. Get some rejections. Write until you reach the end and then stop. Then write some more. It's that simple.

Editorial Note:

Scott's latest novel, "The Skull Ring", will be available in a signed/limited edition from Full Moon Press (visit www.hauntedcomputer.com for more details), and he told me that he has submitted it for publication in paperback, but he doesn't know if or when it will come out. I am finishing up his novel "The Farm" and I am enjoying it immensely. Scott is an excellent writer and a nice guy on top of that, so any of his books are, in my humble opinion, worth reading. He writes quality books, the kind that are becoming a rarity in the massive onslaught and proliferation of poorly written books on the market. He gets two thumbs up from Macabre Cadaver. In the lingo of the Internet age: "WTG Scott!" Keep up the good work.