Author Q&A with R.F. Blackstone
Author Q&A with R.F. Blackstone
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R.F. Blackstone has been writing for over 15 years starting in the hallowed world of scripting. After many would-be deals with the Devil, R.F. decided to say “Screw it” then picked up the mantle of novelist and he has never looked back. His published works include Big Smoke and Kaiju World for Severed Press and Flicker and The Book of Spite.
1. Tells us about your writing/ published book(s)
I’ve been writing and telling stories for as long as I can remember, so there is a lot haha! Originally I started writing movie scripts, features and shorts, but all have been unproduced. Around the same time as I was becoming disillusioned with the industry I began playing around with the idea of writing a novella. It sucked. But from that I was able to write my first published novel, Big Smoke. It was a regular soy thriller, just set in Cuba, that nobody wanted to publish. That was my goal, to get traditionally published. After getting the rejections, I re-read it and tied to see what could be improved. Boy, they were right. Then for some reason I decided to add the beginnings of a zombie apocalypse and that’s how I started writing Horror. It’s so much fun to write scary stuff. After that I wrote and submitted plenty of terrible sophomore efforts that were all summarily rejected. That was when I decided to start self-publishing. I wrote Cabins based on an idea I had for a movie with the only thing changing was adding elements of Cosmic Horror. Flicker, my first self-published novel, was just my attempt at going full on extreme horror and pushing myself to the limit. But from that I needed a change of pace and wrote my homage to Jurassic Park, Kaiju World. Both Big Smoke and Kaiju World were published by Severed Press and I am so grateful to them for giving me a chance.
I continued mixing Extreme and Cosmic Horror together with my next three short stories, The Outback, White Dress and probably my favourite short story I’ve written, Metalpocalypse. While writing these stories something strange happened. I began to include a theme and certain elements that would become Ch’ait, and my own fucked-up mythology was born. I released the collected edition of the four stories as The Book of Spite, and I do plan on writing and releasing more tales within this world.
2. How do you approach starting a new book?
It comes from either a character, title or even a scene. Once I have that I’ll start to flesh out the story, seeing if it has enough bones to be a novel, novella or short story. I firmly believe that a story’s length will be as long as it has to be, no more no less. There is no way that I’ll pad out a story to reach a specific word count. After I’ve figured out what it’ll be, I’ll outline. Usually I’ll outline by writing up one or two paragraphs per chapter or scene (if it’s a short story). Then once that’s done and I’m happy with it, then and only then I’ll start writing properly.
3. Have you always wanted to write?
My dad was an actor and magician, so he is naturally a story-teller. I’ve come from a long line of story-tellers and writing has been my way of telling stories. This question always reminds me of that line from the classic movie The Red Shoes, where a dancer is asked why she wants to dance and her reply is to ask them “Why do you want to live?” The answer to her question is, “I don’t know…but I must.” To which she says, “That’s my answer too.”
For me, I have to write. I have to tell stories which means that ever since I was a child, I’ve always wanted to write and tell stories.
4. Do write under a pen name? If so, tell us about how you chose it
Yes I do. The reason I write under the name R.F. Blackstone is mainly because for some fucked-up reason, most people across the world have trouble spelling my real last name. I’ve heard about eleven variations on the spelling, so when I was writing Big Smoke, I needed a different name. R.F. comes from my own initials and Blackstone is from Harry Blackstone Sr. and Jr. who happen to be my and my father’s favourite stage illusionists. It was obvious it was a good choice when I was mentioned on The Mando Method podcast, Armand Rosamilia and Chuck Buda answered a question and both commented on how the name was badass and that it sounded like the name of a gunslinger.
5. What advice would you give to someone wanting to write their first book?
Ignore the rules that say “write to market” and “write what you know”. If you have a story to tell, then write the fucker and do whatever you can to et eyeballs on it. Also, make sure you are having fun writing it, audiences can tell when you’re not enjoying what you’re creating (just look at Nic Cage. He always looks as if he’s having a blast). The only other two pieces of advice I can give are: don’t be afraid to go big or go home (they say bigger is better haha) and do not be afraid of ‘stealing’ or ‘making references’. Everything you write will be filtered through your own voice and if you own what you write, nobody can take it or take you task for it.
6. How do you fit writing into your everyday life?
It isn’t easy but I try. I usually write as much as I can when I can in between the day job (I teach English to adults in Mexico City) and then for the weekend it’ll be no writing but maybe some marketing and editing.
7. How do you handle criticism
I use to take it personally. The very first review for Big Smoke (a one star) called me a condescending writer. Which I still have no idea what they meant haha. But now, all criticism is taken as being constructive and I always use it to better myself. That and if it comes across as being just a personal attack I then ignore it. Reading reviews usually leads to tears, unless they are glowing hehe.
8. Tell me about your current work
Right now I’m working on a novel for Severed Press. The Valley of Bicho is my take on military horror but set in the jungles of Mexico with some truly nasty beasties. This ahs been the longest novel for me to outline with 9 outlines! But now I’m happy with it and the words are flowing. It’s going to be a mixture of creature feature + extreme horror (lots of blood and guts) + hints of cosmic horror.
9. Would you want your book made into a film?
Yes please! Do you know anyone who can put me in contact with Eli Roth or Blumhouse?
Where can you find R.F. Blackstone?
http://rfblackstone.wordpress.com
https://twitter.com/RF_Blackstone
https://www.facebook.com/Blackstone.RF
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