The 7Q Interview: Tim Meyer
AUTHOR BIO
Tim Meyer dwells in a dark cave near the Jersey Shore. He's an author, husband, father, podcast host, blogger, coffee connoisseur, beer enthusiast, and explorer of worlds. He writes horror, mysteries, science fiction, and thrillers, although he prefers to blur genres and let the stories fall where they may.
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. Oh, man. So many. One of the biggest, one book that is directly responsible for getting me to get serious about writing, was Brian Keene's The Rising. After reading it, it inspired me to get my ass in the chair and crank out some words. I think it was the straight forward and wholly-effective narrative that did it. It taught me that I didn't need to use big words or be overly descriptive to deliver a powerful, emotional connection to the reader. It taught me that voice is everything. I still read Keene and he's one of my favorite working authors today.
#2. How do you feel about the use of sub-genres in the industry? How do you describe your work overall?
#2. I love sub-genres! In fact, one of my favorite things to do is to take various sub-genres and smash them together. I regularly mix it up. I think it keeps things interesting for me as a writer, and my readers seem to enjoy it as well. Everything can fall under the “horror” genre, but sometimes I throw in a mix of comedy or science fiction. I've done creature features and slashers. It's all fun for me. I think, overall, it'd be very hard to put my work in one sub-genre. As my bio above states, I like to “blur genres”, and for me, that's one of my favorite things about writing.
#3. What about your writing process do you think is unique or quirky? What’s the worst writing advice you’ve ever received?
#3. My process consists of multiple drafts and revisions. I usually do 2-3 full drafts and between 3-6 rounds of revisions. One of those revisions includes me dumping the entire manuscript into a voice reading software and letting the computer read the thing back to me. I'm sure I'm not the only writer to do this, but I've yet to come across one. I think hearing someone—even if it's the computer—read the work out loud, you pick up on a lot of things you wouldn't normally while reading inside your head. Worst writing advice? Not sure, but I always hear a lot of people preaching to never use passive voice unless absolutely necessary and I kinda say eff that. Write however you want, as long as your sentences and paragraphs have rhythm and there's no awkward, clunky sentences that make a reader go whaaaaaat?
#4. How does music and media factor into your writing? Do you feel it plays as much an inspirational role as literature?
#4. Music is a huge factor in my writing. I have to listen to music while I write. It takes me places. Mostly, I listen to death metal or something called chillstep. I can't listen to music I haven't heard before or rap/hip-hop (which I love), because the lyrics get in the way. But I listen to music all the time when I'm writing. Like, right now, I'm listening to Lana Del Ray. My tastes are all over the place. And yeah, I think music serves as an inspiration, just as much as literature, if not more so.
#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. I'm all over social media. Both for my own entertainment and the marketing and networking aspect of the writing world. I'm pretty active on Twitter and Instagram. I've pulled back a lot from Facebook, and I hardly keep up with my author page. The shitty algorithms and pay-me mentality of Facebook has kinda left a sour taste in my mouth. Twitter is where it's at. And I love Instagram for all the #bookstagram folk on there. They're amazing and I love their creative pictures.
#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 think we're in a “Golden Age” of the genre. Horror has kinda gone mainstream, especially at the movies and with all the streaming services available. There's so much content out there. Good content, too. It's almost impossible to keep up with it all. I think horror fiction is climbing the ladder. Hollywood is starting to realize the marketability of the genre and sooner or later, they're gonna start buying rights to everything they can get their hands on. I believe you're gonna see indie authors selling options to major studios, which, in turn, is gonna sell a lot of books. The future is definitely promising. I think we're in a pretty good place right now and I wouldn't really change anything.
#7. What can you tell us about any forthcoming projects? What titles would you like to promote now?
#7. 2019 has been a crazy, busy year for me, release-wise. It's only April and I've already had a few things come out. Limbs: A Love Story came out back in February through Grindhouse Press, my new short story collection, Black Star Constellations, came out last month, and Severed Press just dropped my collaborative novel with Patrick Lacey, Lords of the Deep, a few weeks ago. I have another novel with Severed, Primal Terra, due out later this year, and a short novel titled, 69, coming out in the second half of 2019. Pretty excited about the latter. It's about a trio of CDC workers investigating a mysterious disease that causes select people in an assisted living facility, all of them sixty-nine years old, to become mysteriously catatonic. It's with my editor now, and I'm eyeing an October release.
AUTHOR PIC
