After publishing The Woods at Night, we sat down to ask the author some questions. There may be spoilers ahead, so we suggest reading the tale first.

Q1. This story is part fever dream, part waking nightmare. Did you spend a lot of time on weaving that feeling through your story or did it come out naturally?  

I wrote the whole thing in one shot, and it came out without much struggle. It’s not always like that, so I got lucky. Once Henry started talking, I could barely type fast enough to keep up with him.

Q2. This tale haunts me still, and I hope I did it justice. How did you come up with the idea?

Henry came up with the best parts of the story. I guess I came up with the ending. It seemed natural once I got there.

Q3. Who are your biggest inspirations and did any of them have a hand in what you’ve accomplished here?   

This story is me trying my best to imitate the voice and style of “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” by Alvin Schwartz. I’ve always liked to read through story collections by talented authors, then sit down and try to write something while their voice is fresh in my head. I have a few Ray Bradbury imitation stories, one in the style of Richard Matheson, a few Larry Brown knock-offs, at least one Chuck Palahniuk counterfeit, and a dozen or so Stephen King replicates. At the time I wrote “Woods,” I was re-reading “Scary Stories” for the first time in a few years.

Q4. How much of your time do you spend writing short stories versus other projects?

The majority of my time goes to short stories, but I’ve spent almost as much time on the five novels I’ve written. Short stories are quicker–they don’t require months long first drafts or weeks long revisions–but they add up if you stay diligent with them. I’ve only written a few screenplays, but they tend to come out much faster than traditional prose.

Q5. What other works do you have on the go? Anything you’d like to promote?

At the moment, I have a novel I’m trying to get published, I’m doing research on a potential non-fiction project, which is unusual for me (I’d rather come up with entertaining lies than go through the trouble of getting the facts straight), and I have a Dark Fantasy novella about Florida mermaids that needs an illustrator, so I’m looking for an artist who would be passionate about working on such a thing.