1. When did you start writing?

Hi! First and foremost, thank you for taking the time to interview me about my work.

I have always had an inherent need and desire to write. I can even vividly recall penning my first attempts at poetry and tales around the time I was in first grade.

I started writing nearly every day around eighth grade.

With each passing year, it seemed like the volume of written material I would produce in that time would become greater.

This, I always believed, was because the older you get the more you have to say.

Not to mention, the older you get the more confident you are in what you have to say.

2. What was your journey towards becoming an author like?

My journey towards becoming an author started by being inspired by the works of Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, Michael Crichton, Arthur C. Clarke, and John Grisham at a young age.

Early on in my writing, I would find myself evaluating why I enjoyed the works of these masters so much. I would then try to utilize the elements that I believed made the compositions of these authors so impactful to me in my own material.

For example, King’s work resonates with me, as well as so many other people, because of how every one of his stories puts his characters first. It is also because of how he so engagingly incorporates both classic and modern subject matter. His tales are also memorable and powerful because of how he often builds the terror in his tomes from everyday situations.

Crichton uses science and intellectual discourse to craft science fiction that is as believable and up to date as possible.

Grisham uses his knowledge of the legal system to give his readers a riveting insight into what goes on both inside and outside of the courtroom. His writing, like that of King and Crichton, is also incredibly human, thematically powerful, and character-driven.

Since the character-oriented nature, simultaneously timely and timeless themes, and believability of these authors seems to be the prevailing factor with authors, it is also something I tried to put first and foremost in my own writing.

Having discovered that it was these traits that I admired most in these authors, I have always strived to inject these qualities as much as possible in my writing.

Therefore, much of my journey towards becoming an author focused on utilizing what I know to make my own stories as credible, conceptually enduring and contemporary as possible while frequently creating characters and situations that are believable and accurate based on my own personal experiences.

Even after being actively published for around two decades, I still feel like I have a lot to learn in this arena.

Maybe all authors feel this way.

The journey to becoming an author was also filled with many other types of trial and error. Much of this comes from learning to know how much editing is necessary before submitting a piece for publication and also from finding out which publishers and types of publishers are the best fit for your work.

This takes many years, sometimes much longer, to master and sometimes the rejection from it is too much for one person to handle.

Needless to say, this rejection over the years has made me more analytical of my own work, more willing to accept and grow from critiques of my writing, and more patient with editing and developing my poetry and prose before sending it to a publisher. This has definitely helped my acceptance rate from publishers as well as the occasional bouts of success I’ve had on my writer’s journey.

I also learned to stop comparing my literary triumphs at certain ages to the successes that the authors that inspired me had at similar ages because everyone is on a different trajectory. Things happen to people at different times and in different phases of life.

This is a hard lesson, but it’s an important one.

Still, the key bit of wisdom I’ve learned on my journey to becoming an author is to keep learning, keep challenging myself, and to keep creating.

Everything else will come in time.

3. What can you tell me about your latest book? (Feel free to include an excerpt.)

My latest book is Enduring the Sickness: Four Works Concerning Isolation, Society, and Surviving the Ailments that Have Been Cast Upon Us, which was released on October 14th, 2025 through Requiem Press.

The work is a collection of short stories and experimental essays, most of which combine poetry and prose together in the same piece, that presents a brutally honest, at least from my own eyes, picture of how isolated many of us feel and how society has changed since the Covid-19 pandemic.

The idea for the book came immediately after watching Ari Aster’s latest masterpiece, Eddington, which deals directly with how Covid-19, and many of its associated issues like mask wearing, affected society. More specifically, how it affected how we, as a people, treat each other. It’s a type of behavior that still greatly impacts mankind to this day.

I have addressed how the Covid pandemic has altered the way society behaves in general terms in my writing beforehand, but after seeing Eddington I knew that it was time to really dig deep and get as detailed and as honest as possible about my observations and thoughts on the subject.

Here is a brief excerpt from page 38 of Enduring the Sickness. It is from a piece called “A Related Intermission: We Need to Talk, But We Won’t”. I have chosen this section of this work because it reiterates the thesis statement of the project.

“we need to talk

about COVID, the

Current state of America,

all the chaos, unforeseeable

craziness

that is going on

but we won’t

because it is too painful

and too uncomfortable

and the American way

is designed to ignore

speaking honestly,

openly about anything”

4. What sort of methods do you use for book promotion?

I usually use social media, primarily Facebook and Twitter (X), to promote my books.

I also occasionally use my review site, AWordofDreams.com, as another way of getting the word out about my recent publications.

I’ve also been recently getting into the habit of submitting my books to book contests in hopes that this method might also help get more eyes on my work.

Also, if I get a good review of my work or notice that one of my books is doing well on the Amazon charts, I am always happy to share that information on social media as well in hopes that it, too, might provoke some individuals to actively seek out my work.

5. Where do you get your ideas for stories?

Lately, I find that the ideas for my stories either come to me fully or partially formed and beg to be written, as I believe is the case with many authors, or they spring from a need to say something or from challenging myself to use elements from various genres, settings, or types of characters that I haven’t used before in order to create a greater variety in my work.

6. What are you working on right now?

I have just finished putting together my latest book of short stories, Irrational Illusions: Thirteen Tales of Drama, Comedy, and Terror.

It will be published by Alien Buddha Press. The publication date isn’t yet known.

Right now, I am in the early stages of putting together another book of stories and another volume of verse. Neither one has a title.

7. Any advice for other authors?

Yes, I just want to reiterate: keep learning, keep challenging yourself, and keep creating.

Everything else will come in time.

These words have inspired me to keep on the literary path I’m on many times throughout the years — especially when I wanted to give up, which has happened more often than I care to admit.

Also, read everything and anything. Read from as wide a variety of authors and genres as possible. It will open your mind up to concepts and ways of thinking that will make your work evermore thoughtful, entertaining, and unique.

I also think it is imperative to read authors whose perspectives you don’t agree with personally.

This helps make your work more empathetic and understanding. This is something that the world could always use more of — especially nowadays.

ABOUT ANDREW:

Andrew Buckner is a multi-award-winning poet, filmmaker, and screenwriter from Ohio. His short dark comedy/horror script Dead Air! won Best Original Screenwriter at the fourth edition of The Hitchcock Awards.

His recent volume of verse The Burden of All the Beautiful Things was a finalist in the Poetry - General section of the 2024 American Writing Awards.

Buckner also received second place in the Literary - Coming of Age category of the Spring 2025 Bookfest Book Awards Competition for his novella Exitus Marquee.

He is also a two-time semifinalist in the Alien Buddha Press’ annual Horror Showdown.

Also a noted critic, author, actor, and experimental musician, Buckner runs and writes for the review site AWordofDreams.com.