Interview with DONA FOX!! - I know if I’m writing it, it’s going to get creepy

Interview with Dona Fox

[bctt tweet=”Interview with DONA FOX!! – I know if I’m writing it, it’s going to get creepy. @_DonaFox #horror #horrorauthor #authorinterview #interview #writincommunity” username=”theboldmom”]

Can you tell us “Who is Dona Fox” in a couple of lines?

Dona Fox writes short stories and poetry – horror and dark fantasy, infused with bits of science fiction. Coming from the Pacific Northwest, spectres from the Northwest’s forests, Portland’s bridges & Seattle’s streets, often creep into her dark tales.

Did you have a favourite book as a kid?

One book, or at least one story (and I can’t say it was a necessarily a favourite) but that I remember quite clearly, is from Uncle Arthur’s Bedtime Stories. I found especially terrifying the story about a young man in a hospital bed who couldn’t move but merely had to hold his hand in the air for the angels to know he was ready to die. The story may have even been titled “The Man Who Couldn’t Move” and the other children’s good deed was propping his hand up for him. In the morning he was dead. I slept with my hands under my pillow for years so that they wouldn’t inadvertently stick up in the air and give the angels the wrong idea.

When did you decide/realised you wanted to become a writer?

I can’t remember a time when I didn’t want to be a writer.

Which was the first piece you wrote?

I was fairly young. My Aunt who also wrote, got hold of it somehow and saved it then my sister saved it, and it was just returned to me. Now I’ve put it somewhere, if I can find it, I might actually send it out, it’s as good as some of the writing I’ve published.

Do you have a “must have” book or author?

Brian Lumley. I almost always pick up his books when I see them because they seem to disappear off my shelves.

How is your writing process?

A bit of dialogue or a scene will pop into my head and will not go away. The bit of dialogue will keep repeating, I’ll find myself actually saying it out loud. “Let’s play the game.”

For instance. The scene will build, grow itself, I’ll find myself adding onto it (oh, right, she’s dead) when I’m trying to go to sleep, making notes about it at odd moments. When I sit down, I just method write as the protagonist. I like first person for that reason, it’s much harder to write if I’m not in the main character’s head, if I’m not the main character experiencing the action directly.

[bctt tweet=”‘I like first person for that reason, it’s much harder to write if I’m not in the main character’s head, if I’m not the main character experiencing the action directly.’ – Interview with @_DonaFox #horrorauthor” username=”theboldmom”]

How long does it take to put together a short story?

I’ve come to believe that writing a story is like getting to know a cat in that stories are inherently all the same thing but they will surprise you with the variety of their diverse personalities. You can write one story and it might just flow and be beautiful, but another comes hard and it doesn’t feel right, then you start messing with it, or listening to other people, and you can get all tangled up in it until you never finish.

Where do you write?

I very fortunate to have a little room of my own with one eastern facing window where I have a desk that’s made for writing while standing, then I have a small rolltop desk against one wall. Most of the wall space is covered with bookshelves and the room is filled with inspirational items that seem to drift through, there’s also a lot of framed pictures, so many they’re leaning against the bookshelves here and there on the floor now. The room has a door but the cat won’t allow me to shut it so that’s a problem.

Do you listen to music while you write?

Sometimes I turn on music but when it stops, I don’t notice. If I turn on music, let’s see – I’m currently playing: Hilary Hahn plays Bach is excellent writing music; Ella Fitzgerald Sings Cole Porter; Evanescence; Amy Winehouse; Beyoncé & Shakira (only then I have to get up and join them); Santana; Elton John; Jim Croce; James Taylor; Janis Joplin; The Moody Blues; Neil Young; Nirvana; Traci Chapman; Fiona Apple; Pink Floyd; to name a few.

My anthem is I Am A Rock by Simon & Garfunkel.

What inspires you?

I am inspired by the worst and the best of human nature, by the man who sneaks into your house to murder you in the night (happened twice in my neighbourhood), and by the husband who calculates they will probably both die yet still swims farther out to help his drowning wife (also a true story).

A book you hate?

There was one, but I was oh, so wrong. I was so invested in the main character that when they suddenly turned out not to be the person I thought they were I threw the book across the room then into the garbage. I later realized my reaction meant the writing was actually very good so I repurchased the book and finished it. I will never tell you what book that was. I’m very ashamed of myself for throwing away a book.

What would be your advice to new authors?

Be kind to each other and believe in yourself. Let the only other voices you heed be the ones whispering in your head, the ones telling you your stories. Don’t compare yourself to others, keep your own goals in mind.

I’ve made a board where, on the front, I paste awards and good things that editors say about my work (even if it’s a near miss – I mean if someone at Apex believes your story deserves a closer look, even if you don’t end up being accepted, that’s a win to me). This board isn’t meant to be shared with anyone else but sometimes I need it to remind myself that I might be the real thing.

Whereas there are only so many awards to give out and editors tend to speak their minds, readers tend to be kind, so on the back of the board I paste my favorite readers’ reviews to read when I need a friend.

[bctt tweet=”‘Be kind to each other and believe in yourself. Let the only other voices you heed be the ones whispering in your head, the ones telling you your stories. Don’t compare yourself to others, keep your own goals in mind.’ @_DonaFox” username=”theboldmom”]

Any mistake you would now avoid, looking back in time?

If you have to look something up be sure to save your source. Print out the page, write down the address, whatever you need to do so that you can find it again. A fact I used was in a scholarly work online – but it was in the book’s “sneak peek” so it didn’t come up in an internet search when I was being fact checked.

Chocolate, cheese or strawberries?

Coffee, please. Maybe we can talk about chocolate covered strawberries?

Favourite movie?

The beginning of Full Metal Jacket and to balance that out the Memory of Stand by Me though watching it again doesn’t live up to the memory I’ll still hold the memory as a favourite.

Favourite tea?

Once found tea bags labelled simply “British tea” (it doesn’t even have to be fancy) I’ve found it hard to go back to anything else, even Earl Grey.

When you start a story, do you already have it all structured in your mind or does the thread evolve as it goes?

No matter how structured I have the story, the thread is sure to change. If the story I’ve mapped out doesn’t seem to be a horror story I don’t worry, I know if I’m writing it, it’s going to get creepy.

Then there’s the other kind of story that just throws itself on the page while I watch. I love those stories, and usually editors do too, I can tell by the speed at which they accept them. Yes, the same editor will accept one story immediately and another after several weeks and you know which of your stories was better. (wink wink.)

[bctt tweet=”‘No matter how structured I have the story, the thread is sure to change. If the story I’ve mapped out doesn’t seem to be a horror story I don’t worry, I know if I’m writing it, it’s going to get creepy.’ @_DonaFox” username=”theboldmom”]

Do you write at night?

In my dreams, and often in that misty time just before I wake.

Do you have a favourite quote?

“The only thing that is real is the being in you that is going to die.” ~ Carlos Castaneda

“The Edge … there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.” ~ Hunter S. Thompson

Favourite classic movie?

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. Again, that’s the memory, I’m sure if I watch it again, it may lose it’s standing as my favorite.

A memory that changed your life?

It’s too horrific to say flat out here and let you know that it was real. But it will appear again and again in my work in different forms. I will slip it into this story or that in a slightly altered manner.

Where can readers find you?

Thank you to The Readers for looking for me! Try these spots:

Website and Dona’s Darkness blog: http://donafox.com

Dark Tales Page: https://www.facebook.com/DarkTalesByFox

Twitter: https://twitter.com/_DonaFox @_DonaFox

Author page: https://facebook.com/donafoxAP

Facebook page: https://facebook.com/donafoxsturgess

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7352292.Dona_Fox

You can also find me on Audible, just search for Dona Fox.

What’s the story or novella you enjoyed writing the most?

I definitely had the most fun writing Mama’s Jewels and Daddy’s Eggs which is the second entry in Surreal Nightmares published by James Ward Kirk, edited by Sebastian Crow and James Ward Kirk. That story has more literary devices tucked into it than even I realized at the time. As the words poured out of my fingers I was possessed. Literally possessed.

How would you describe your style?

Apparently, my writing is sparse. I don’t waste words. Sometimes that’s good; sometimes it may be a fault. If you mean “style” in an alternate sense of the word, in a number of Audible reviews I have been referred to as creepy.

What are you working on at the moment?

I’m polishing up my three-part serialization for Roma Gray’s Night Sky Book Services Rotating Stories which begins on Halloween with books from Roma Gray, Essel Pratt, Kevin Candela, and me. Each part will be novella sized. As I said, my stories are serialized and I hope you will be eager for more at the end of each instalment.

Thank you for interviewing me, Mar!