Author Interview with Carl Bluesy
1. When did you start writing?
Roughly about 10 years ago. I wanted to give writing a go after reading, Stephen King’s The Shining. I wrote a novelette ghost story that heavily featured the winter elements.
That was just for fun.
In 2020, when I had a lot more free time because of Covid, I decided to get serious about my writing. I wrote a lot of short stories that year, and started working on my first novel, The Desire in the Damned.
2. What was your journey towards becoming an author like?
A lot of weird ideas came out of those first four years. That was play time where I was discovering what I wanted to write about.
Then from 2020 to the release of The Desire in the Damned last year, it was about working hard on figuring out how to write well.
I focused on the craft and trying to master all the necessary skills, from showing effectively, notes on dialogue, how to keep the prose tight and direct, and so, so much more.
After I published my first book, I found out about the other steps of being an author. Marketing and talking with readers.
While I’m still trying to figure out the marketing part, the talking to readers part turned out to be far more enjoyable than I ever would’ve expected! It gave me inspiration to get better and give the readers more to talk about!
3. What can you tell me about your latest book? (Feel free to include an excerpt.)
My novel The Skin Room just came out at the start of May!
It’s a story I wanted to write for a long time. I was inspired from taking to people who worked at a homeless shelter talk about their experiences on the job.
I like the idea of my book starting conversations about some important social issues and people from different walks of life.
Of course, I added some extra gore and splatterpunk elements to it. Fictional elements can create great metaphors for real parts of life.
Book blurb:
Kenneth had it all: a life of luxury, fancy cars, rotating women. Now he has lost everything.
At first, he only wanted his home back, but that all changed when he connected with his community. Now he wants to make sure everyone can live without fear of the madman hiding in the shadows.
Once he is captured by the serial killer, he will have to make the hard choice of what he is willing to sacrifice in order to survive, but what do you give when you have nothing left but the skin on your back?
Come peel away the bloody pages of Kenneth’s struggle between what is right and what is needed to survive.
Warning: this story contains graphic scenes and is intended for mature readers only.
4. What sort of methods do you use for book promotion?
Right now, it’s just being present on social media. Talking to readers does wonders and being a part of indie author book events are so much fun!
Once I get a few more books out, I’ll start looking into doing more traditional advertisement and throwing money at the marketing side of things
5. Where do you get your ideas for stories?
Often from questions I want answered or environments I want to explore. For example, with my latest book, The Skin Room, after talking to the workers at a shelter, it became painfully obvious how little I knew about the un-housed and it felt important to learn about it. Then the question came about of what would happen if someone from the top of society was thrown into the bottom.
Writing the book was a way for me to learn answers to these questions. If you have read the book, I think it’s worth noting that part one tackles things in a more literal sense, where part two is heavily metaphoric.
6. What are you working on right now?
My first book The Desire in the Damned is part of a trilogy. Book two is now in the writing stages and I am working heavily on the edits. The soul is there, now it’s just making it good and presentable.
7. Any advice for other authors?
Don’t rush. It’s better to take your time and put something out that you will still be proud of even after you become a more skillful writer, than to write something that you will later cringe at.
ABOUT CARL:
Carl Bluesy has been obsessed with reading and writing horror for as long as he can remember. He finds nothing more enjoyable than reading pages full of good scares.
Carl Bluesy is the author of the novel The Desire in The Damned, The Skin Room, and several short stories. He is constantly writing and has a number of short stories and novels that will be released in the near future!
He lives in Ontario, Canada, with his wife and growing family, where he spends many hours crafting creepy and spine-tingling tales in the cellar.
For more from Carl Bluesy, including other short stories, updates on upcoming books, and more, check out his official website and join his newsletter for updates on his upcoming work.
