Tell us a bit about your latest work.
My latest novel, BLOOD STEW, is the third in The Windshine Chronicles, an ongoing fantasy series that takes place in an imagined version of South Korea called South Hanguk. ‘Hanguk’ is simply the Korean word for ‘Korea’.
In BLOOD STEW, a young man with scoliosis, a malformed curvature of the spine, wants to go on a quest alongside mighty warriors and prove his worth to the people of his country by becoming a hero.
The novel’s release date is October 1st, 2021.
What happened in your life that prompted you to become a writer?
It was probably a combination of external and internal factors. I was born with a severe speech impediment and spoke very little throughout childhood. As a result, I lived in my head more than in the real world.
Externally, my mother is a reader and had a closet full of books. The shelves in our home were filled with books that she’d brought me and my five brothers and sisters, and we often went to the library to get new books.
And then, my father is a natural orator. Every night my family would sit down at the table for dinner, and my father would tell us about his day. Mostly they were funny stories, as people can be strange in their daily behavior, and my father would regale us with the tales of everyday people he encountered at his job as a stockbroker.
These 3 factors probably created the writer in me—thoughtfulness from my speech impediment, a love of reading from my mother, and an ability to weave events into a compelling narrative from my father.
What inspires you to write?
I think really I write because I’m good at it. At an early age, I got praise for my writing. I got praise for other things too, but writing was highlighted more than anything else, and so it became a lifelong pursuit.
At 43 years old, I write mainly because it’s a habit. Plus, I’ve basically trained my mind to view the world as narrative. With people, I see characters; in conversations, I hear dialogue; with life, I see plots. I would suspect that the part of the brain that deals with communication and words is probably shaped a bit differently in me than others simply because I’ve been diligently using that portion of the brain over my lifetime.
What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work?
Some of my usual themes are characters trying to achieve something greater than themselves, and fighting against the odds. My characters are usually more realistic, despite the fact that I write genre fiction. I don’t like to be dishonest with myself, and so I create characters and situations that reflect how life actually is, not how I want to paint the world to be.
This is probably why my writing is darker, and why there are often horror elements in it. I try to write about humans as they are, not as they present themselves to be through their public personas.
What would be your dream project?
I’m not sure I have a dream project, as that implies something that I’m waiting to happen. I have goals, not dreams.
What writers have influenced your style and technique?
There are too many to name, but Herman Hesse, Anne Rice, and Octavia Butler are big influences. Really, though, the writers from a summer writing camp I did in my late teens and early 20s had a massive impact on my construction of narratives. That was with the National Book Foundation between 1997-2002. We were instructed by many established authors, and they’re the ones that taught me that life is narrative.
The best lesson I learned from the NBF was that there is no such thing as writer’s block. Every moment of your life is fuel for writing.
If you have any former project to do over to make it better, which one would it be, and what would you do?
Nothing, really. Taking what you learned from the past so that you can optimize your future is key.
Where would you rank writing on the "Is it an art or it is a science continuum?" Why?
Interesting question. I’m not sure how science is being defined here, but I’ll still say, ‘art’.
Writing is an exploration and discovery of reality from a personal, subjective viewpoint. Whether or not a story “works” is decided upon by readers. The greater number of readers who agree that the writing is good, the better the writing is perceived to be.
Science, in my view, doesn’t work that way. The distance between the Earth and the Sun isn’t agreed upon. It’s measured, and someone from America and someone from China should get the same measurement. Whether or not you can breathe in space isn’t agreed upon. There’s a reason why humans can’t breathe in space, and the specifics of that reason are derived from science.
What is the most difficult part of your artistic process?
Lack of money derived from writing.
Though narrative is everywhere, having time to pull it together and write it down are essential. And making more money from writing, which would allow that extreme luxury—time—would be helpful.
How do your writer friends help you become a better writer? Or do they not?
I’ve always belonged to writer workshops. They’re all online now, though I’ve done writing camps and writing groups that fizzled out in a few months.
People reading my writing and giving me feedback, and me reading other people’s writing and giving them feedback, is essential to optimizing wordcraft.
What does literary success look like to you?
That’s changed over time as I’ve learned more about the industry of publishing. At this period in my life, literary success is book sales and reader reviews. There’s a bit too much politics involved with the publishing industry to define literary success any other way.
Any other upcoming projects you would like to plug?
I’m working on a web series and a play series with some creative folks in Taiwan. I’m also hoping to get a web series and play series started here in South Korea, where I currently live.
For more information, visit:
I have a YouTube Channel where I interview publishing writers. Please support by subscribing: https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UCcSYSQpTpiyJknWjg2AkC8A
Also, check out Books 1 & 2 from The Windshine Chronicles, published by Mocha Memoirs Press: http://mybook.to/WindshineChronicles
And those who are into vampire fiction, check out my extreme horror book series, published my Nightmare Press: http://mybook.to/VampireSeries
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