Ask the Author: John Huber
Answered Questions (6)
John Huber
"The Big Red Devil" is a long time in the making--8 years. I've been telling John Harker's story in one medium or another for longer than I've known my wife. As I grew up and learned how to write in an acceptable manner, I always knew it would become a book.
The way it turned out, though, with the devils and demons--the ones you know and the ones you don't--came through life experiences. Those lessons came hard, sharp. I learned a lot about the darkness at the heart of the human condition from an early age. It's always fascinated me to write about it in a personal way, to drag others through it, rather than be destroyed by it. I love the idea of grabbing a reader by the throat and pulling them through my own shadows kicking and screaming--whether they want to or not. So, I keep my writing personal, the shadows as dark as I remember . . . the horror as I lived it and remember it.
That's a tangent. Back to the topic.
I played a variety of online RPGs where you create a character and walk audiences through their life. John Harker was shaped over time through those RPGs and as I became a bigger fan of horror, John Harker and his story took shape.
I love Halloween (1978) and Rob Zombie's remake. I sort of fused those two, what I saw happening to the character's in my head--their personal thoughts. I tried to put the personal thoughts of those types of characters in that kind of story into a very personal, tragic story.
I wanted suffering on the pages the way I'd seen and heard it on screen. I wanted horror in the most primal and animalistic sense. So, the story became a very tragic pull and swirl of those characters being eaten alive by the shadows they'd always known.
What's darker than the things that have always darkened you?
I tried to make that come alive and I hope I succeeded.
The way it turned out, though, with the devils and demons--the ones you know and the ones you don't--came through life experiences. Those lessons came hard, sharp. I learned a lot about the darkness at the heart of the human condition from an early age. It's always fascinated me to write about it in a personal way, to drag others through it, rather than be destroyed by it. I love the idea of grabbing a reader by the throat and pulling them through my own shadows kicking and screaming--whether they want to or not. So, I keep my writing personal, the shadows as dark as I remember . . . the horror as I lived it and remember it.
That's a tangent. Back to the topic.
I played a variety of online RPGs where you create a character and walk audiences through their life. John Harker was shaped over time through those RPGs and as I became a bigger fan of horror, John Harker and his story took shape.
I love Halloween (1978) and Rob Zombie's remake. I sort of fused those two, what I saw happening to the character's in my head--their personal thoughts. I tried to put the personal thoughts of those types of characters in that kind of story into a very personal, tragic story.
I wanted suffering on the pages the way I'd seen and heard it on screen. I wanted horror in the most primal and animalistic sense. So, the story became a very tragic pull and swirl of those characters being eaten alive by the shadows they'd always known.
What's darker than the things that have always darkened you?
I tried to make that come alive and I hope I succeeded.
John Huber
It's gonna sound like a side-step, but I just . . . sort of . . . do. I always want to write. I always want to create, tell stories. I never wake up and want to step away from it.
I'm addicted to it. I can't explain it any better than that.
I'm addicted to it. I can't explain it any better than that.
John Huber
I've just started on a novel to sell. I've contacted a few publishers about it and had a little interest depending on some things. We'll see how it shakes out--fingers crossed.
I don't have an official title and the working title would give everything away. So, suffice to say, it's an urban legend story. It's like a mix of The Thing, The Exorcist and Night of the Living Dead. I know how that sounds. Trust me?
Check it out in October.
I don't have an official title and the working title would give everything away. So, suffice to say, it's an urban legend story. It's like a mix of The Thing, The Exorcist and Night of the Living Dead. I know how that sounds. Trust me?
Check it out in October.
John Huber
Do it.
For God's sake, just do it. Never talk yourself out of it or let anyone else tell you different. If you feel like you want to do it, then you were always meant to in some capacity. The biggest crime you could ever commit unto yourself it to keep it inside. You were touched with something and it's supposed to get out. If it wasn't meant to get there, you wouldn't want to put it to paper.
For God's sake, just do it. Never talk yourself out of it or let anyone else tell you different. If you feel like you want to do it, then you were always meant to in some capacity. The biggest crime you could ever commit unto yourself it to keep it inside. You were touched with something and it's supposed to get out. If it wasn't meant to get there, you wouldn't want to put it to paper.
John Huber
Freedom.
Complete freedom.
Complete freedom.
John Huber
I write and I write and I write. I assault the blockade. The key, to me, is to not let it cool. The longer the block sits there, the more firm it becomes--at least with that project. Just because you're writing doesn't mean you have to keep everything you write to get past it. In the middle of all that mess, if it is a mess, I usually find the one or two sentences that unlock everything.
If that doesn't work . . . I have a good long smoke. I just sit . . . and think. I talk it out. I'll assault it that way. I'll watch classic horror. I'll intake anything and everything.
Don't let it cool.
If that doesn't work . . . I have a good long smoke. I just sit . . . and think. I talk it out. I'll assault it that way. I'll watch classic horror. I'll intake anything and everything.
Don't let it cool.
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