With our Kickstarter already underway and almost fully funded, we are just thrilled to announce another talented author that will be taking part in the anthology "The Earth Bleeds at Night".
Introducing a great friend, publisher, author and overall decent human being, David-Jack Fletcher.
David-Jack, tell us about yourself.
I’m an Aussie author/editor/publisher with a great fondness for Farscape and Doctor Who. My pug is my best (non-human) friend. I think my friend’s would describe me as a little bit of a weirdo, which I am totally fine with. I’m a proud gay—everything I write has gay characters and queer elements. It’s important to me that we continue to create visibility, because there is still such a huge amount of phobia toward the LGBTQ+ communities.
of phobia toward the LGBTQ+ communities.
How and why did you pick up the pen and start writing? Have you always been drawn to the creative arts or is this something that started later in life?
I don’t think I have written with a pen in a long time, but I started writing because the absolute drivel of academia was depressing me! I teach at university and can honestly say it is the worst. Writing became my way of coping with an industry that fails students and staff at every turn.
Writing is something I have always done, and the reason I went to university was to study Creative Writing. At some point, I lost sight of what I was aiming for, but I eventually found my way back, and now I’ve got a few books under my belt!
- How do you deal with the emotional impact of writing scary scenes or situations?
Sometimes there are moments where I pull away from the keyboard and think, “What the fuck is wrong with me??”, because it takes a lot of myself to write really dark scenes. There’s one scene in my short thriller, PL8ES, that makes me really uncomfortable to read, because the protagonist is beating an old man to death. It was hard to write and hard to read, but it’s also super important for the story and for the character’s motivations.
I guess I deal with the emotional impact that way—by understanding that there is a purpose to what I’m doing. I also know it’s complete fiction, so I tend to be able to forget about it soon afterward and move on with my day. But in the moment, I sometimes have to remind myself that it is fake and that there is a reason for what I’m doing.
- What are some of the influences for your horror stories?
I would say most of my influences are based on my day-to-day interactions and observations. For example, our electrician fell through our ceiling (loooong story), and as soon as I saw the hole, the entire plot for my current WIP, Wires in the Gut, was born.
There is always something happening around me, and when I tune in to have a look and a listen, I find the inspiration everywhere.
- How do you cope with criticism or feedback from readers or editors who may have different expectations or preferences for horror stories?
This is a hard one, because I want to say that criticism rolls off my back, but in all honesty, it can really hurt. I think readers can sometimes underestimate how much work goes into a novel, and how much time we agonise over every plot point and character detail. Hearing that our work is shit or just didn’t match a reader expectation is really disheartening.
At the end of the day, though, we put our work out there to be consumed, and we can’t control what people think of it. So, I’ve learned to cope with this in two ways: I’ve stopped reading reviews, and I try to understand that I can only do stand that I can only do my best, and that really is good enough for me. When people enjoy my work, all the better.
- If you were in a horror movie, which character would you be: the final girl, the comic relief, the first victim, or the killer?
I like to think I’d be the final boy, but in a shocking twist I turn out to also be the comic relief and the killer. There’s something about secretly being the killer that makes me giggle, but I also really want to survive to the end of the film and entertain people a lot!
Tell us about your recent works and where we can find you!
The most recent work is Raven’s Creek, which can be found everywhere books are sold. It’s my first full-length novel, described as the bastard love child of Cabin in the Woods and The Island of Doctor Moreau with gay bears and a lot of twists. It’s on Godless for 99c, so that’s the cheapest you’ll find it. Find me on socials:
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