An interview with Jason McIntyre

Today, I have a guest of honor: Jason McIntyre, indie author of suspense novels On The Gathering Storm and Thalo Blue, plus the novella Shed and several short stories.

They have received very favorable reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. I'm currently reading Thalo Blue myself.

Jason is already hard at work on his next novel and a collection of short stories.

You can check out his work here.

Some weeks ago, he had some interview questions to me, which he posted in his blog TheFarthestReaches here.

He also does video interviews and video blog posts, which you can see here.

His questions were fun and original, and I wanted to know Jason's side of the story. Here's his answers:


Why I write
- an interview with Jason McIntyre

Turnabout is fair play and since I asked Berit to contribute to my blog at The FarthestReaches, she turned around and said she'd like me to have a go at her site. I said yes in a heartbeat. The idea is that I would follow the same writing prompts I provided to her. I'll pretend it was her curiosity only that made her to try this ploy.

I joke because I know Berit will enjoy it. And because I believe you can joke with
genuinely honest people. Is Berit honest? Forthcoming? Just check out her
appearance on my website and form your own opinion.

It's a wonderful treat to be invited on Berit's website but, in truth, it's a little daunting. I
said turnabout is fair play but the prompts I gave her are darn hard. Let's see if I can try
to provide some insight into how I write what I write, where I do it and, just how much
Orange Crush I need to get the job done.

To start with, I may or may not be Jason McIntyre. I am according to you, if you've
read my books or visited my website. Im still figuring out who I am but having a blast
in the process. Not knowing all the answers means I can make tons of mistakes and
no one can look down their noses at me when I fail miserably at something. I am Jason
McIntyre. I'm certain of it.



Current and forthcoming work

At present, I've released two full-length novels, one called ON THE GATHERING
STORM and the other THALO BLUE. You may have read a popular novella of mine
called SHED, about two little boys on a spooky island. Or perhaps one of a couple of
novelettes called THE NIGHT WALK MEN and ROAD MARKERS.

I'm currently finishing some short stories and new novellas that will be included in an
anthology released later this year called BLACK LIGHT OF DAY. I'm also partway
through a dramatic and disturbing full-length follow-up to THE NIGHT WALK MEN
which will pick up the saga of the mythical figures that story first introduced. They have
some work to do involving a character we've seen before in my universe plus another
who's had his whole life shattered and is now trying to reassemble the pieces the only
way he knows how. The resulting showdown promises to be explosive.

In telling these new stories my hope is to have enough of a familiar flavour to entice
past readers back into my world while still expanding things large enough to keep
myself interested. One of my goals as an author is to never write the same thing again.
THE NIGHT WALK MEN Book One will be expansive of the universe but it will have
enough of the chills and questions about the world around us readers have told me they
liked about my other books.


My writing style

I believe one of the aspects of my writing that appeals to readers I've spoken with is a
kind of unflinching honesty. I strive to take readers on a journey, not just tell them what
happened but really make them believe it.

How do I do it? I'm not entirely certain if I know all the steps but I'm fairly certain it starts with me buying into it myself, as though I was standing on a street corner and hearing an old, trusted friend tell it to me straight. If I can fall into the whole of a story that I'm conjuring, my bet is that a certain kind of reader will come down the road with me a ways too.

Now certainly, my style of writing, the subject matter I tackle, is not for every reader.
Some have said. "Hey, I just don't get this." or "I don't like what you're selling." I'd like
to have as many readers as possible but I get that my small corner of the world is
not for everyone. In some cases, I need to say "Caution: enter at your own risk." In those instances, I can only shrug my shoulders and take a swig of something sugary
and sweet, then keep working on the next book.


My writing space

My writing space is usually my new-ish studio built in the basement of my home.
We live in a quiet suburb of the city and, once the kids are in bed, it can get deathly still.
Around me are concert posters, a framed sketch of John Lennon, some of my own acrylic paintings and a large window that faces east toward the brilliant morning sunshine on weekends. I used to work with loud music, usually something that inspired a mood or thought process, but now I do a lot of writing in the glassy silence.

My biggest goal is to keep the tots at bay so no one needs a drink or screams for a bottle. If they do, of course, I drop the thread of the story and dash, but its preferable to keep the interruptions to a minimum. Bottom line: no loud music these days.

I write at a computer. No long hand for me. I type much faster than I can write. And the
words flow better the faster I go. I draft for two reasons: sanity and clarity. The clarity
takes a back seat to sanity. If I can get the ideas and essence of a story out of my head
it releases some heaving mental pressure. Not because I'm a genius at coming up with
the next great line but because the next part of the story sticks in my head and haunts
me until I can get in out in a satisfactory way. If I can't I fear I might go crazy. The drive
to turn out a story is in part to tell a good one and in part, to self-preserve.

I haven't been driven mad in a Poe-like way by having a story crawling around in my
brain, but I know it will happen one day. It has to.


Writing length

When I'm cooking on a story, I try to do two thousand words a day, usually in one
stretch before I give myself permission to leave the writing. These days, it's almost
never an uninterrupted stretch and it might take me a span of eighteen hours to kill
those two thousand words. Sometimes they come out like a warm, steady dribble and I
reach them in an hour or two. That's rare though.

I edit yesterday's two thousand before I start on today's, usually re-reading it a number
of times to get the rhythm and voice of it back into my noggin so I don't need to rework
the heck out of what I write today. Now this isn't a finished edit, not by any means. But
it's usually flattened into some kind of order that a third party might understand what in
blazes is going on.

I'm fussy about who would read anything at this stage. More likely, I'll wait until another
lengthy edit and polish plus a read-through before other eyes see it.


My tribe

My family is mostly of the attitude that if I'm not hurting anyone, then I can tap away
at the keys as I see fit. I'm allowed the space but time is a precious commodity these
days. I'm far from the two thousand words a day I could conjure in days gone by and,
of course, the kiddos don't understand why Pop is always at the infernal keyboard. I try
to find active ways to manage household tasks and being with the kids while still getting
a few decent paragraphs down in a file. Inevitably, I go to reread yesterday's, only to
discover I didn't save it or, more likely, it doesn't make a lick of sense.

I love talking with readers and other writers, whether they've read something of
mine or couldn't give a hoot about my work. Connect with me at the hub TheFarthestReaches.com where you can bounce off to my Facebook, Twitter and
other spots on the digital landscape. You can also learn more about me, watch some
fun (and hopefully interesting) videos and catch up on some interviews I've done.

Thanks so much to Berit for hosting me today. Isn't she a gem?

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Thank you so much for the interesting answers to the interview questions! :) I'm sure a lot of writers recognize much of what you have said, in particular how busy it must be to combine writing with family life, and how one must trust one's own voice.

Thank you also for visiting me here in my blog, Jason. :)