We are here today with Author, Robert Pruneda.
Robert
has a new exciting and spine tingling book available and he has agreed to answer some questions about his craft and book today.
http://amzn.to/1rHFi6S
The follow-up book to
http://amzn.to/1qVqe0d
Now I have to be honest I’ve been privileged to read
both of these outstanding books and I found them riveting, nail biting and
truly scary. I’m sure your readers will too. But since we have you here Robert
we’d like to ask you a few questions your readers might like to know.
1.) What aspects do you think a good
story has?
A good pace is
important to me in storytelling. While I appreciate backstory to help build up
characters or settings, too much of it can turn me off and make me want to put
the book down and do something else for a while before coming back. It doesn’t
have to be action from the first page all the way to the end, but the pacing
should move the story along with enough conflict to keep me interested and
turning the pages.
2)
How did you pick the names of your characters?
I drew them out of a hat. Seriously, though, when I
choose names for characters I think about who the character is and try to pick
a name that seems real and fits the personality. For example, there is some
significance to Cody’s surname Sumner. I also jot down names (first or last)
that I like when I see or hear them for future reference. I have done quite a
bit of transcribing for a university professor through my administrative
support business and have come across some very strong and interesting names. I
now have a “character names list” for future reference.
3)
What
or who inspired you to write? And how
long have you been writing?
I’ve always been a fan of the horror genre in film
and print, and Stephen King has been my greatest influence to date. However, I
would have to say my brother was my first inspiration because of his interest
in story telling when I was a kid. He and I would spend hours playing Dungeons
& Dragons, where using your imagination is key while playing the game. He
was also a decent artist. He would create his own stories through comics and
even wrote a short-story about one of his Dungeons & Dragons characters. I
always looked up to my brother when I was a kid and began creating my own
comics, drawing them and writing the stories during summer breaks late at night
while watching cartoons, usually The
Flintstones. It wasn’t until getting laid off from a job in 2001 that I began
writing my first novel while working odd jobs until I found something that
stuck. I self-published Pursuit of a
Dream in 2004, and then began a career in the newspaper industry. My goal
at the time was to become a journalist, but ended up running the obituaries
department, which turned out to be a more interesting job than I ever thought
it would. I also gained some professional experience with writing, editing, and
page design. The job steadily turned into a sales-oriented position (no joke),
so due to some major differences in opinion and conflicts with new management,
I decided to end my newspaper career in September of 2011 to start writing the next
chapter in my life as a full-time self-employed individual.
I’m an entrepreneur at heart, always have been, and
deciding to leave the traditional workforce to pursue my own dreams was both
exciting and terrifying. A big part of that dream was writing. I did that
part-time while also operating an small business administrative support and
resume writing service from home, which I did on a part-time to full-time basis
while working on my first horror novel, which I published last year. The sequel
to Devil’s Nightmare comes out on
Tuesday.
4.)
Do you have a day job?
Yes and no. I am now self-employed working from home,
but I do work at a funeral home from time to time (perfect for a horror author,
right?). Nowadays, I’m devoting more and more of time to the business of
writing fiction as the months go by. My goal is to be able to support myself as
an author without the need of additional employment in the next five years. That’s
the plan, anyway. I need to write more novels!
5.)
What kind of books do you like to read?
My favorite genre is horror, but I also enjoy
reading fantasy, science fiction, and thrillers. I read books from both
traditionally published authors published by the big publishing houses, such as
Stephen King, Michael Crichton, and Dean Koontz; independently published
authors, such as Michael R. Hicks and Lorna Suzuki; and books published by the small
traditional publishing houses and hybrid publishers (such as Booktrope). I just
wish I could read faster. You should see my TBR list.
6.)
Some writers find they plot their novels then write them; they are known as
plotters. Others just write as the ideas come and are known as pantsers. Which
are you or are you a bit if both?
I wrote Devil’s
Nightmare completely as a pantser on the most part and found it both very
challenging and quite enjoyable. I think it worked well because as I wrote the
story I didn’t even know what to expect next. This led to what readers have
said to be a surprising ending, which is what I was shooting for. I wrote Devil’s Nightmare: Premonitions in much
the same way, although I did have a better idea of how the book was going to
progress and how it was going to end. Everything else just fell into place. The
sequel has an even more shocking conclusion than the first, so I’m really
looking forward to getting that one into the hands of readers. I’m currently
plotting another book, but I’ll probably end up writing that one as a pantser
too. It may not work for other authors, but I find it is what works best for
me.
7.)
How did you conceive the ideas for the series?
Devil’s
Nightmare is very loosely based on an experience I had when I
was somewhere between ten to twelve years old. I can’t remember exactly, but
I’ll never forget the experience. Without going into too much detail, when I
was a kid some friends of mine and I started playing with a Ouija board. I got
obsessed with it and started playing with it by myself (something which is taboo).
After playing with the board (and even making my own) I started having
nightmares and then began to hear voices in my head (okay, that still happens;
I’m an author after all). I started having anxiety attacks and then one night I
woke up and had a hard time breathing. I felt something pressing against my
chest. I tried to get up, but the unseen force kept me down. Then I saw a pair
of inhuman eyes and a silhouette appear hovering just inches above me in the
darkness. I froze there, unable to move as this demon, or whatever it was,
stared into my eyes. I’ll never forget those eyes and the amount of fear I
experienced at that moment. I finally screamed louder than I’ve ever screamed
in my life. I cried out for my parents, who soon came rushing into my bedroom.
When my mother turned on the light, the apparition disappeared. I never saw it
again and never played with a Ouija board after that night.
Maybe it was my imagination. Or maybe it was a demon
oppressing me for toying with the occult and breaking some rule of the spirit
world. Real or not, it was the most horrifying experience I have ever had. When
you read Devil’s Nightmare you will
find hints of this experience, but the story in itself goes in a completely
different direction.
8.)
As a writer do you find yourself trying to put yourself into your character’s
mind?
Yes, I do. And I’m still talking to my therapist
about it.
I wrote the first book in the Devil’s Nightmare series in first person perspective, so it was
kind of a prerequisite for writing my protagonist’s story. The second book is
in third person perspective, but it still required getting into the minds of my
characters, one of which resulted in some emotional reactions, because I had to
think like that particular character and experience some pretty horrendous
things a couple of times; this actually opened up some old wounds from my
childhood. It was well worth it, though, because it made the scene more genuine
to me, as upsetting as it was. On the most part, however, getting into the
minds of my characters is a lot of fun. The problem is my characters can be
very stubborn and always tend to win our arguments.
9.)
I understand you are a gamer. What particular games do you like to play? Did
any of those games help you visualize the situations in your books so you could
then make such epic mental pictures for the reader that they feel they are
there?
Oh, yes. Anybody who knows me personally will vouch
for my love of video and computer games. It’s my favorite pastime. I’ve been
playing video games since the days of Pong and haven’t stopped since. Hell, I
even mention the fact that I’m a gamer in my author bio. J
As far as what I enjoy playing the most, I would have to say military style
first person shooters (Call of Duty, Battlefield), real-time strategy (Command & Conquer, Total War, Age of Empires), role-playing games (Baldur’s Gate, Elder Scrolls,
Dragon Age, Fallout), and racing (Gran
Turismo, Forza Motorsport). I
also enjoy open world games like Grand
Theft Auto. My absolute favorite genre is survival horror, with the Silent Hill series (particularly the
first two) being at the top of my list.
I use video games as an outlet to relax and escape
the stresses generated from work, finances, and sometimes the inevitable family
issues that sometimes arise. Video games haven’t really influenced my writing
directly per se, but now that I think about it, the survival horror games that
I play probably have in fact had some impact. The one time I would say that
video games specifically and directly assisted me was when I wrote my first
novel Pursuit of a Dream, which was
about a kid with a dream of becoming a professional stock car racer. I played
quite a bit of NASCAR video games during that time, which did help with writing
the racing scenes.
10.)
Please tell the readers about your latest book Devil’s Nightmare Premonitions.
Devil’s
Nightmare: Premonitions is the sequel to the Amazon
bestselling horror Devil's Nightmare.
Fans of the first novel are in for another horrific thriller full of twists,
chills, and a shocking conclusion. It takes place two years after the first
novel. Aaron Sanders is retired from the Austin Police Department and he moves
his family out of the capital city to start a new life as a small town cop in
Lost Maples, Texas (which is a fictional town), where the population count is
updated more often than the murder rate. That bit of reputation is about to
change when Aaron is once again caught in the middle of a mysterious
investigation that has an eerie familiarity. This time, however, he is certain
what is responsible for the violent deaths . . . Or is he?
Evil knows no boundaries, and it is up to Aaron to
figure out how to protect the residents of his community, and his family, from
becoming its next victims.
11)
Do you have another book planned to follow up Devil’s Nightmare: Premonitions?
I do have another book planned to follow up Premonitions. I could end the story
where it is, but I have a feeling, based on feedback from my beta readers, that
readers will want me to continue the series. Devil’s Nightmare was originally supposed to be a single story, but
I received several requests for a second novel, so I wrote Devil’s Nightmare: Premonitions. While I’m on that subject, I want
to thank all of my readers for your support and for pushing me to continue
writing in the horror genre. I have several other stories brewing in this
twisted mind of mine, so be sure to follow me on Twitter, Facebook and via my
website for news on future projects.
Connect with Robert Pruneda:
Twitter: http://twitter.com/SharkbaitWrites
Facebook: http://facebook.com/AuthorRobertPruneda
Official Website: http://SharkbaitWrites.com
Thank you for visiting us today, Robert. As for you,
reader, what are you waiting for? Go read Robert’s new book and if you haven’t
read the one before that Devil’s Nightmare I highly recommend it. See review
here http://welllread.blogspot.ca/2013/03/review-devils-nightmare-by-rob-pruneda.html
and for Devil’s
Nightmare: Premonitions here http://welllread.blogspot.ca/2014/10/devils-nightmare-premonitions-review.html
