The 7Q Interview: Jeremy Hepler
AUTHOR BIO
Native to the Texas Panhandle, Jeremy Hepler is a Bram Stoker Award—nominated author who now lives in the heart of Texas with his wife Tricia and son Noah. He's a member of the Horror Writer’s Association (HWA), and over the past eight years has had twenty-four short stories and five non-fiction articles published in various periodicals, anthologies, and online. He also received the Texas Panhandle Professional Writer’s Short Story Award in 2014 and spent two years working as a submissions editor and book reviewer for Dark Discoveries Magazine. His debut novel, The Boulevard Monster, was published by Bloodshot Books in April 2017 and was a Bram Stoker Award nominee in the Superior Achievement in a First Novel category.
QUESTIONS
#1. Looking back, what’s one fiction book that you feel truly made an impact on your writing? Do you still gravitate towards that author?
#1. So many books and authors have impacted my writing style. Works by Ray Bradbury (The Illustrated Man) and Stephen King (Carrie), Jack Ketchum (The Girl Next Door) and Sarah Langan (The Missing), John Hart (The Last Child) and Lauren Buekes (The Shining Girls), if forced to name a few. But for me, the most impactful work wasn't a book. It was a short story. The Lottery by Shirley Jackson. It was the story that set me on the path to writing.
Since no one was a reader in my home, I grew up with limited access to reading materials other than ones provided by the public school system. When I was in the sixth grade, my reading teacher Mrs. Close had us read The Lottery by Shirley Jackson as our first assignment for the year. I had never heard of Shirley Jackson or the story and had no idea what was coming. I remember the moment I realized they were about to stone Tessie Hutchinson like it was yesterday. I was blindsided. Shocked. Intrigued. Excited. I had never read a story with such a traumatic, unsettling ending. Up until then a majority of the stories I'd read in school were happy-ending, good-prevails, cookie cutter stories, stories I found most of which didn't relate enough to my world, to the chaos and tension that was my home life. Personal experience had taught me that sometimes situations in life end badly. Sometimes you get the short end of the stick whether or not you deserve it. Sometimes the world seems to want to hurt you. Sometimes people want to scare you. Sometimes the bad guy wins. The Lottery connected with me on those darker, visceral levels. It was the first story I read where I felt like the characters lived in the same world I did—a twisted, troubled world—and I wanted more. Needless to say, I've been a Shirley Jackson fan ever since and have read all her works.
#2. How do you feel about the use of sub-genres in the industry? How do you describe your work overall?
#2. I believe the use of sub-genres is a double-edged sword. As a reader I understand the purpose behind sub-genres, the way they help readers navigate the seemingly endless number of titles out there, but as a writer who writes with blurred genre lines, I sometimes feel pigeonholed by the labels. On more than one occasion, I've been asked by publishers to alter a story—add more of this, change the protagonist or antagonist to more of that, take out some of the elements of (insert genre)—in order to squeeze it into one specific sub-genre for marketing purposes. Do I think sub-genres are necessary for readers and the book market at large? Yes. Do I always like them? No.
#3. What about your writing process do you think is unique or quirky? What’s the worst writing advice you’ve ever received?
#3. I don't know if it's unique or quirky, but I write at a desktop computer shoved up against a gray wall in a room with no furniture other than bookshelves. I always set my notes, and cell phone, and the book I'm currently reading, and my coffee or tea, in the same place on the desk, and I always light a candle or turn on a lava lamp. Since I have the luxury of having the house to myself most mornings, I've also grown accustomed to pacing around the house and talking to myself when I need to work through plot problems, character development issues, etc.
The worst writing advice I've ever gotten was to write what you know. If every author adhered to that advice, the book world would be a very bland world.
#4. How does music and media factor into your writing? Do you feel it plays as much an inspirational role as literature?
#4. I think most forms of art have inspired my writing in one way or another. I've found inspiration in books, short stories, movies, music, art, articles in Discover Magazine, documentaries, woodwork, Pinterest, you name it, and I've probably been inspired by it. With music in particular, I usually listen to heavier bands like Metallica, Tool, and Alice in Chains while I write, but sometimes, depending upon my mood and the story, I'll listen to bands like Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac, or Collective Soul instead. Other times, I simply turn on the radio. And other times, I prefer silence. I've written many short stories based on a lyric or phrase from a song that caught me and wouldn't let go.
#5. As an author, how much do you engage in social media? Do you feel it is more for your own entertainment, or for marketing and networking?
#5. Like many authors, I'm a fairly solitary person, but I know that I have to have an online presence as an author in today's world. It has its pros and cons, but I believe it can be more beneficial than detrimental if you don't get too absorbed in it.
I tend to use social media more for information gathering, networking, and marketing than entertainment. It's the place I learn about all the latest submission calls and publishing news, and of course, it's the platform I use for self-promotion. But more importantly, it provides an avenue for me to engage with readers who have questions about my stories or writing process, and an avenue for me develop relationships with other like-minded authors who I never would've had the opportunity to meet. Likewise, it's allowed me to meet so many other enthusiastic, like-minded readers and publishers and promoters who've encouraged me and introduced me to authors and books and knowledge I never would've heard of.
#6. Where do you see the future of horror fiction heading? In turn, what changes would you love to see, either socially or technologically?
#6. I believe horror fiction will prosper as long as it continues to become more diverse and inclusive. There are always ebbs and flows in the horror market, changes based on social upheaval, current events, new technologies, new presidents, etc., but at its core horror is a universal emotion that has the power to resonate with readers worldwide. Whether looking to draw strength from someone else going through a harrowing situation, or to connect with someone who shares their fears or experiences, or to feel a sense of hope given a seemingly insurmountable situation, or to simply escape the grind and grit of daily life for a moment, I believe readers from all over, of all kinds, of all ages, will always be drawn to horror fiction as long as a diverse enough group of authors are given the platform to share their voices.
#7. What can you tell us about any forthcoming projects? What titles would you like to promote now?
#7. I'm currently shopping my second novel (tentatively titled Cricket Hunters) to agents and am working on a third (tentatively titled Gardens of Sunray). Both involve elements of mystery and horror, loss and love, unrestrained desires and unwanted consequences. Hopefully someday soon one or both will be available. That's the goal, anyway. I'll keep you updated.
My debut novel published by Bloodshot Books in 2017, The Boulevard Monster, was a Bram Stoker Nominee for Superior Achievement in a First Novel, and is available in digital and print here: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00VSI7KRE
AUTHOR PHOTO
