The 7Q Interview: John F.D. Taff
AUTHOR BIO
John F.D. Taff is the multi-Bram Stoker Award-Nominated author of five novels, three collections and more than 100 short stories. His novella collection The End in All Beginnings was nominated for a Stoker in 2014. Jack Ketchum called it "the best novella collection I've read in years." Taff's short story "A Winter's Tale," from his recent collection Little Black Spots, was nominated for a Stoker in 2019. His work has appeared in Cemetery Dance, Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories, Dark Visions Vol. 1, Ominous Realities, Death's Realm, Behold: Oddities, Curiosities & Undefinable Wonders, Shadows Over Main Street 2, and The Seven Deadliest. Stories will appear soon in Lullabies for Suffering and Midnight Land. His epic apocalyptic novel The Fearing will be released serially from Grey Matter Press beginning in July. Follow him on Twitter @johnfdtaff.com
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. Answer – One of my favorite authors is Stephen R. Donaldson, author of The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever. It's a series of 10 fantasy books, the first of which was published in like 1977. I read the first trilogy when I was about 15, and it opened my brain like a Pez. So much different than any genre books I'd read, especially fantasy. It also opened my mind to writing, to sentence structure, to the poetry of prose and the lush usage of words, even obscure or archaic ones. I still very much love reading Donaldson.
#2. How do you feel about the use of sub-genres in the industry? How do you describe your work overall?
#2. Answer – Doesn't matter what I think. Sub-genres within horror (or any genre, really) exist on their own, outside of anyone's particular like or dislike of them. And that's because of two things: readers read what they want and writers write what they want. This is as it should be. The fact that horror offers writers such a huge canvas to work on is terrific. Splatterpunk, body-horror, gothic, literary, whatever. It's all good.
That said, I guess I'd fall somewhere on the spectrum more toward literary, even though that sounds incredibly pretentious and douchey to say. I don't write a lot of gore, I haven't touched much on tropes like vampires, zombies, and werewolves (oh my!). My stuff tends to be grounded, character-based, emotional, and—at least I think—accessible.
#3. What about your writing process do you think is unique or quirky? What’s the worst writing advice you’ve ever received?
#3. Answer - Here's my dirty secret. I don't do draft after draft after draft at the end of a project. I find that system tedious and unuseful. I edit as I go, going through what I've written over the last few days each morning, then writing new stuff in the afternoon/evening. It accomplishes the same thing, just in a different fashion.
Look, all writing advice is meant well, and some is even vital for writers to hear. But it's all in how you use the advice that makes it good or bad. Too many writers are looking for the magic answer of HOW TO WRITE, as if there's a secret key or some alchemical formula to produce good work. There is none. Just write in whatever way seems natural and best to you. If someone gives you a piece of advice that fits your system, run with it. If it doesn't, shrug it off.
I guess the worst advice I can remember getting, and this was early on, was to write what's popular now. Bullshit. Write what's inside you, not what's outside you.
#4. How does music and media factor into your writing? Do you feel it plays as much an inspirational role as literature?
#4. Answer – I mean, I'm aware of music and media, in a way that informs what I write. But as I said above, I don't let it dictate what I'm doing in any way, shape, or form. I write to music, basically classical or soundtrack stuff, just something to block out distractions. In my stories, I use music, particularly, to help me establish a place and time, which I think grounds the story for readers.
As a writer, I think literature has had a more profound role for me. Everything I've ever read is floating around somewhere inside me, as I think it is for any writer. Ultimately, I think that fires more of my cylinders than anything else.
#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. Answer – I do engage in a limited way. I don't particularly like social media, but it's a necessity. So I chose one early on, Twitter, and concentrate on that. I loathe Facebook and therefore don't have any presence there.
That all said, I love to engage with readers and be accessible. For me, Twitter allows that. But I always seem to be just one gentle nudge away from chucking all social media out the door and be done with just a blog (which I have—johnfdtaff.com—but seldom post to. Sigh.)
#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. Answer – I see horror growing in diversity, allowing writers from every walk of life to tell their tales and scare the shit out of readers in new and interesting ways. Horror has always appealed to me because it gives the widest possible palette to paint on. Adding new voices and new perspectives can only enlarge that, and I very much look forward to being scared in absolutely new ways.
#7. What can you tell us about any forthcoming projects? What titles would you like to promote now?
#7. Answer – My serialized novel. The Fearing, is coming out from Grey Matter Press beginning July 9th with Book One: Fire & Rain. The next three volumes will be released at six-week intervals: Book Two: Water & Wind, August 20; Book Three: Air & Dust, October 1; and Book Four: Earth & Ember, November 11. It's a big, sprawling, epic apocalyptic novel, and I think Grey Matter's plans to release it serially is exciting and fun.
I'll have various other projects—short stories, novellas, etc.—in a number of different venues, some I can't talk about yet. We're getting our group project—Erik T. Johnson, J. Daniel Stone, Josh Malerman and me—ready to go out to a publisher. It's called Midnight Land, and it's four interrelated novellas. The stories are spectacular. We can't wait to unleash them on readers.
AUTHOR PIC
