Ask the Author: Justin Tate
Answered Questions (8)
Justin Tate
All the mega classics, plus these more unusual ones:
-Ann Radcliffe - The Romance of the Forest (1791)
-Charlotte Dacre - Zofloya (1806)
-Peter Tuesday Hughes - Gay Nights at Maldelangue (1969)
-Marvin Werlin - Shadow Play (1976)
-Shirley Jackson - We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962)
-Michael McDowell - The Elementals (1981)
-Edgar Allan Poe - The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym (1838)
-Edwina Noone - The Craghold Legacy (1972)
-Elizabeth Engstrom - When Darkness Loves Us (1985)
-Ann Radcliffe - The Romance of the Forest (1791)
-Charlotte Dacre - Zofloya (1806)
-Peter Tuesday Hughes - Gay Nights at Maldelangue (1969)
-Marvin Werlin - Shadow Play (1976)
-Shirley Jackson - We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962)
-Michael McDowell - The Elementals (1981)
-Edgar Allan Poe - The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym (1838)
-Edwina Noone - The Craghold Legacy (1972)
-Elizabeth Engstrom - When Darkness Loves Us (1985)
Justin Tate
Isn't 'The Ruins' great? I loved not knowing exactly what the monster was until it was too late. So creepy! I had a similar experience with 'The Elementals' by Michael McDowell. If you haven't picked that one up yet, it's a must-read for sure.
Justin Tate
Hi Beverly! Glad you enjoy following my reviews. Wish I had more time to read. It's tough to see stacks of unread books and know that I'll only get through a fraction of them. My goal is to not just read as much as I can, but to review everything I read so I can have a record of how each book impacted me, for better or for worse. The secret, I think, is to just make it a part of your daily routine :)
Justin Tate
Join a writers group! If there's not one in your area, start one. If you don't know how, send me a private message and I can help. Since joining a feedback/critique group, I've felt significantly more connected to the written arts and have learned a ton by surrounding myself with talented people. All the common advice you hear is good too, such as you need to read and write every day, but what they never tell you is that you don't have to do this all alone.
Justin Tate
Love this question! It's hard for me to predict every twist and turn before I actually start writing, but I do tend to outline one section at a time. Outlining the entire project in advance isn't as helpful because spontaneity changes the plan constantly.
As for keeping the darkness away, most of my "horror" stories are campy and not something to take too seriously. That said, I did write one story--"Before the Clock Strikes Six"--which still haunts me. It's about spousal abuse and the pressure to make bad relationships work. I think about those characters a lot and how family/society pushes us to do all kinds of things which are terrible for our physical and mental health.
As for keeping the darkness away, most of my "horror" stories are campy and not something to take too seriously. That said, I did write one story--"Before the Clock Strikes Six"--which still haunts me. It's about spousal abuse and the pressure to make bad relationships work. I think about those characters a lot and how family/society pushes us to do all kinds of things which are terrible for our physical and mental health.
Justin Tate
Hi Arianna,
Thanks for the question! First, I love that you consider me "young" - since I'm days away from 30 it feels good to know I still belong to that demographic LOL. That said, I've been an old soul all my life and find inspiration from yesteryear as much as today. I thought a lot about the 1950s when I wrote my short story Before the Clock Strikes Six. It's about a kitchen-confined housewife in an abusive relationship. I never mention a specific time period in the story, however, because her emotions relate to today's society as well.
I'm also a fan of lyrical prose. That's probably why I read a lot of classics, but Michael Cunningham and Ian McEwan are current writers who are masters at this. Among many others. I've also found beauty in the economical, tight writing of pop writers like Gillian Flynn and Dan Brown. The style of my work tends to shift depending on character and plot. "Before the Clock Strikes Six" is written much more lyrically because I wanted to use language to create a dreamy atmosphere. The novel I'm working on now is much more gritty and simplistic.
Thanks again for connecting with me! See you around Goodreads :)
-Justin
Thanks for the question! First, I love that you consider me "young" - since I'm days away from 30 it feels good to know I still belong to that demographic LOL. That said, I've been an old soul all my life and find inspiration from yesteryear as much as today. I thought a lot about the 1950s when I wrote my short story Before the Clock Strikes Six. It's about a kitchen-confined housewife in an abusive relationship. I never mention a specific time period in the story, however, because her emotions relate to today's society as well.
I'm also a fan of lyrical prose. That's probably why I read a lot of classics, but Michael Cunningham and Ian McEwan are current writers who are masters at this. Among many others. I've also found beauty in the economical, tight writing of pop writers like Gillian Flynn and Dan Brown. The style of my work tends to shift depending on character and plot. "Before the Clock Strikes Six" is written much more lyrically because I wanted to use language to create a dreamy atmosphere. The novel I'm working on now is much more gritty and simplistic.
Thanks again for connecting with me! See you around Goodreads :)
-Justin
Justin Tate
No full-length books yet, though I've co-written a festival-winning short film, published several poems, a few short stories, and too many academic pieces to count. Gothic Studies, a peer-reviewed journal by Edinburgh University Press, recently published one of my essays. I'm extra proud of that one since it combines my passion for Gothic literature and queer history. Currently I am deep into research for another non-fiction project. This one will likely end up being several hundred pages.
Writing is tough, but there's so much power in a good story (whether fiction or non) that it's worth the effort. Also, my literary/historical interests are so obscure I fear if I don't write what I want to read, no one else will.
Writing is tough, but there's so much power in a good story (whether fiction or non) that it's worth the effort. Also, my literary/historical interests are so obscure I fear if I don't write what I want to read, no one else will.
Justin Tate
Hi Michael! Before the Clock Strikes Six is my personal favorite so far.
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