What inspires your writing?
Lots of things. In terms of inspiring my writing, I’m gonna answer this as both what informs my ideas and what gets me excited.
I tend to turn to a mixture of things for inspiration regarding ideas. History (especially ancient history), folklore, other media (like film and music), and real-life crimes and social issues tend to cause sparks to fly.
Some examples:
Sweet Sixteen Killer was born out of listening to “sweet sixteen” songs of the 1950s as an adult and realizing how gross they were,
my current work is a gothic horror piece set in Victorian era England that germinated as an homage to Universal monster and Hammer Horror films,
I have an upcoming Mercedes novel that’s inspired by an FBI report published during the Bush administration about white nationalists infiltrating the police to recruit members,
Jonah of Olympic has a subplot about an old dying Hollywood actress who has remained a closeted lesbian her whole life (for this I researched a number of Hollywood actresses from classic Hollywood who were closeted lesbian or bisexual — Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, Katherine Hepburn, etc.),
and many of my works have hints to ancient or obscure folklore — two upcoming Mercedes Masterson stories, Aibell and The Book of Jude, delve into Irish folklore.
But also, movies and music. Movies inspire me a lot when it comes to writing. Some of you may not know, but I did a lot of indie film work in my early 20s. I love movies — especially horror (all kinds), action, noir, and some sci-fi. I think what I love most about films is how you can get sucked into a world for a very short amount of time and just be absorbed by its aesthetic and mood. Often times I’ll watch a collection of movies that have the vibe I want right before starting the first draft of writing. I’m a very visual person, so being able to absorb a lot of visuals before the writing process begins is important. I do this with Pinterest as well. I use Pinterest to create a mood board before I start writing. And then, there’s music. I can’t overstate its influence in my writing. I build playlists for my novels. My longest one to date is for Jonah of Olympic, which is over 10 hours long. I explore music I know, but also discover a lot of new music. I can often sit with a song on repeat while my mind creates a scene or character. It’s a very meditative process.
