Questions and Answers Scott Nicholson is a fiction writer living in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina. His first novel The Red Church will be published by Pinnacle Books in June 2002. Other books include the novella Transparent Lovers and the story collection Thank You For The Flowers. He's sold over 30 stories in seven countries, including work to Canadian Fiction Magazine, The Book Of All Flesh, Chizine, and Aboriginal SF. He studied creative writing at the University of North Carolina and Appalachian State University What are you currently working on? Right now, I'm in the midst of a novel with the working title of "Deadscape," which I call my "Dean Koontz book," because it combines elements of science, supernatural, conspiracy, and romance. Of course, it won't sell like Koontz, but I feel like I'm slowly getting a little better and broader as a writer. I'm also working on my second screenplay "Creep," which is an adaptation of the suspense novel my agent is currently shopping. I like the limitations imposed by seeing over thinking, and I'll probably end up adapting most of my novels. And, though I haven't got any of it yet, Hollywood money spends a lot better than New York money. I've got a list of short story ideas waiting, though I've not done as many recently. My inventory's getting low, though, so I need to crank some out soon. And I'm taking notes for my next novel-and-screenplay, "Dying Is A Fulltime Job," which will be your basic twisted contemporary suspense. I also have some notes for an original screenplay that probably won't be a novel unless it sells as a movie. Who (Fact or Fiction) would you most like to meet, and what would you ask them? There are two writers I would most like to meet: Ray Bradbury and William Goldman. I've been lucky enough to meet many great authors, and hopefully I' ll meet a lot more in the years to come. But these two are the masters, to my mind. Bradbury has a gift for language, and Goldman has a gift for story. If I could aspire to anything, it would be a cross of these guys. Two other "writers" I would love to have dinner with are Robert Smith and Robyn Hitchcock. I've actually copped a few of Robyn's titles for story titles, though the subject matter is dissimilar enough that he won't have to sue me. I also listen to a lot of The Cure when I'm writing, and that darkly romantic mood is something I want to carry into my fiction. Robert Smith just appeals to me because I feel like we've been to the some of the same emotional spaces. What was your first professional sale? How did it feel when you received the acceptance? I never get tired of telling this story. I received a phone call from Dave Wolverton in January, 1998. At that time, he was the coordinating judge of the international Writers of the Future contest. Though I had been a contest finalist and they usually only publish the prizewinners, Dave told me he wanted to include my story "Metabolism" in the annual anthology. After our conversation, I went upstairs to the room where I was doing my writing at the time. I took down the rejection slips from the board where I had faithfully pinned them, sat on the bed, and counted the slips. One hundred and five. I was on my way. If you could give one piece of advice to a would-be author, what would it be? Author Ray Garton has the best piece of advice: "Do anything else. Save yourself-run for your life." But if you're compelled regardless of the consequences, then Orson Scott Card says it best: "Just tell your stories." That means looking in your own heart and divining the truth as you see it, then being true to that truth. Don't cop out in order to sell something. Don't flinch if something gets a little personal. Don't be scared that you'll never get published. Don't worry about the stream of rejection slips. My own advice is not to seek approval from outsiders. I've met too many writers crippled by wondering what their former English teacher will think, which editor is going to praise them, and which prestigious publisher is going to give them a contract. Some people care more about pleasing their writing group than telling the story the way it's supposed to be told. Call me an old-fashioned capitalist, but I see nothing at all offensive about wanting to be a commercial writer, because that means you'll reach a broad audience. But the story comes first, last, and always. Tell it right. When did you first decide that you wanted to be an author? I think I always liked the attention and the warm feeling I got from creating things. In the fifth grade, I won a patriotic essay contest and was given some real money. In the sixth grade, I remember passing my "Super Peanut" comic strips out in class in the hopes of winning Joanne Briscoe's heart. If you're out there, Joanne, I hope you married well. I wrote a ton of stuff in high school, usually when I should have been paying attention in class. I continued in college, then got sidetracked into music for a decade. When I started seriously again in 1996, I decided to write daily or at least feel guilty if I didn't. Even starting out, I was interested in the whole business, the publishers and agents and story markets. But I also knew that I had a whole lot of work to do in order to reach where I wanted to be. I've still got a long way to go, but I'm like a farmer planting a garden. I'm in it for the long season, and hopefully there's a fruitful harvest at the end. Now I'm so addicted to telling stories that I can't imagine not doing it. Some of the darkest times in my life were when I wasn't doing anything creative. Writing is a lot cheaper than psychotherapy, and inflicts a whole lot less damage. Are you for or against e-books? I'm for anything that promotes reading, free thought, and exchange of ideas. I've been in a couple of e-anthologies. I'm going to have paper books as long as I'm alive, but I think e-books will always be another reader choice. Why do you like SF/F/H? I'm drawn to the unorthodox. Not the dangerous unorthodoxy of self-abuse, addiction, and hate, which is far too common to be considered unorthodox. I like different ways of looking at reality. It's not a straight line or a rigid structure. Other people have sometimes classified me as "weird," though I feel perfectly normal, and still do. Even now, some of my acquaintances think I must be creepy because I write horror and thriller fiction. But I can easily separate fact from fiction. I can watch a serial killer movie and not go out and kill people. I can laugh at zombies. I have no problem with alien visitations. I dig the heck out of ghosts, even though I don't believe in them. To me, the supernatural or fantastic is just another storytelling tool. The underlying human truths are the same, no matter if your main characters are flesh and blood. You don't necessarily have to be evil just because you're dead. No matter the genre label, I feel like I'm writing love stories. Love is all that matters in the end. I'm an optimist. What book are you reading at the moment? I usually read several at a time and I'm a slow reader. Right now, "War of the Worlds" by H.G. Wells, "Savage Season" by Joe R. Lansdale, "Flight of the Falcon" by Daphne Du Maurier, and a couple of screenwriting books. Most of the novels I read were published at least twenty years ago. Is there something you are particularly proud of? Sometimes I'm a decent human being. The jury's still out on that. Plug away - what do you have coming out? My first novel "The Red Church" will be out from Pinnacle Books in June 2002. I'm also looking for a publisher to do a limited edition hardcover as well as shopping for the ever-elusive foreign translations. My novel "Creep" will hopefully get purchased this year and scheduled for release. I have a stand-alone novella, I guess what they call a deluxe chapbook in most places, coming from England's Barley Books in the winter of 2001-2002. It's a ghost detective love story called "Transparent Lovers." Of my stories, "Scarecrow Boy" will be at Chizine.com through June 2002, "Tellers" will be at Speculon.com until October 2002, "The Night The Wind Died" will be in Flesh & Blood #10 in the spring of 2002, "Murdermouth" will appear in The Book of All Flesh in October 2001, "Homecoming" will be at Electricwine.com in October 2001, "Beggar's Velvet" will appear in the anthology Screams and Shadows in Autumn 2001, and "The Shaping" will appear in the anthology When Darkness Answers in 2001. I'm waiting to hear on some other stuff. Many Thanks, Scott Relevant Links Scott Nicholson Main Bibliography Scott Nicholson Short Story Guide Scott Nicholson's Web Site