The spotlight shines on Michael West

Michael West is one of my favorite people on the planet. The man has an unbridled passion for all things horror,infused with a child-like enthusiasm that is insanely contagious. And he’s one hell of an author. With a cinematic approach to his storytelling, Michael West creates characters that you know all too well. They’re your neighbor… your best friend… your lover… and just when you’re feeling comfortable, the terror begins.

With a short story collection coming soon from Graveside Tales (to which I supplied the cover art), I thought it was high time that the Occult Detective Spotlight shined on one of my favorite authors… So without further ado…

What inspired you to start writing?

I’ve always loved telling a good story.   Before I could write, I drew pictures to illustrate the tales that were spinning inside my head.  As I got older, I wrote screenplays and made films with my parents’ video camera.  And, when the stories that I wanted to tell outgrew my meager budgets, I turned them into short stories and novels.

Has there been one author more than any other that has been a major influence on your writing?

Wow…I’ve had so many influences over the years—everyone from Clive Barker to Richard Matheson to Rod Serling—but, growing up in the eighties as I did, I’d have to say Stephen King was…well…king.   I just loved the way he could take a normal, everyday, real-life place or situation and make it into something horrific.  Going to the grocery store?  Well, you’re going to run into a monster.  Oh, and that quiet little town you live in?   Overrun by vampires.   The hotel you’re staying in and the car you’re driving right now?  Haunted.   That’s something I try to do in my fiction as well, making the real fantastic and vice versa.

Do you have any rituals you go through when writing?

I’ve got a coffee mug covered in artwork from my short story “Jiki.”  I usually fill that up and turn on music, either film soundtracks or 80s music, I can’t work when it’s totally quiet.  I also like the room to be as dark as possible, so I will turn off lights or close blinds before I start.  Then, when I finish a novel or short story, I will go to my favorite restaurant and order my favorite thing on the menu to celebrate.  And then I start the whole thing over again.

How much of you goes into your work?

Quite a bit, actually.   They say write what you know, but that doesn’t mean that, if you sell cars in Fresno, that’s all you should try to write.   You can take elements and experiences in your life and fictionalize them to add depth to your characters and give your situations a shot of reality.  Because you know how you felt when something happened to you, you can convey that through the eyes and emotions of your characters and make the entire narrative more believable and authentic.

What, in your opinion, are the most important elements of good writing?

I think the most important element of writing is creating good, believable characters.  You can have the most original plot in the world, an amazing monster or villain, but, if the reader doesn’t care about the people in your story, they’re not going to read it.   That’s why a lot of movies made from horror novels fail.  The filmmakers concentrate on the Big Bad—the vampire, demon, what-have-you—and the characters get short shrift.  When you really care about the people in a story, you get lost in the narrative and you feel things on a very visceral level.  That’s the type of connection I strive for in my own writing.

Is there any part of the writing process you find difficult?

I hate writing that first draft.  For me, that’s the most difficult thing in the world, just getting all the words out onto the page and giving the story a beginning, middle, and end.  But once it’s out there, once I get into the editing process and the re-writes, that’s when I’m most happy.  I’ve spoken to writers who feel just the opposite, they love getting it all out there and hate doing edits, but I view it the way a sculptor views a huge block of marble; it’s a pain, getting that stone into the studio, but, when you start to chip away at it, when it starts to look like what you envisioned, or, in some cases, better than what you envisioned…there’s no greater feeling in the world than that.

Being a horror author, do your family and friends ever wonder about you?

Over the years, my friends have been very supportive.  Many of them act as my first readers, even though they don’t necessarily like horror.   I think it’s important for writers to have readers who aren’t fans of their particular genre.  Someone who likes horror is far more forgiving of the conventions of horror, where as someone who doesn’t read or watch the genre will take you to task on aspects of plot and character that don’t ring true.

My wife doesn’t read my stuff at all, but my oldest son has read my first novel and some of my short stories.  One morning, after reading something I’d written the night before, he looked at me, shook his head, and said, “How do you sleep at night?”

Tell us about your past work.

All of my stories so far seem to have centered around relationships of one kind or another.   My first novel, The Wide Game, was about first love, and my story “Goodnight” was about the love of a great-grandfather for his great-grandson.   Most relationships are complicated, but, in my stories, some of those complications are supernatural.

It seems like it’s near impossible to survive in this day and age without a presence on the Internet. Where can we find you?

Where can you find me?  I  have a website, a messageboard, a MySpace page, and I’m on Facebook, or you can just email me at Michael@bymichaelwest.com .  I always look forward to hearing from new and faithful readers.

Thank you for joining us here on the Occult Detective, Michael. It has been a pleasure, as always. As we part, why don’t you share with us what we can look forward to on the near horizon from Michael West.

My short story, “Flowers in Winter,” will appear in Legends of the Mountain State 3, due out in October from Michael Knost and Woodland Press, and my first short fiction collection, Skull Full of Kisses, is due out in January, 2010 from Graveside Tales.