MASTERS OF HORROR: DAVID-JACK FLETCHER

1. What first drew you to horror—and was it something you experienced, feared, or imagined?

I think I’ve always been drawn to darker things; in a weird way it made my own life feel a bit lighter. I remember feeling totally isolated and alone as a kid, and horror somehow helped me feel better. It still does—when I’m sad or upset, I flick on a horror film or read a horror book, and things start to feel more manageable.

2. How do you tap into real fear when writing—do you draw from your own nightmares, or do you create new ones?

I tend to draw on my emotions and how certain things make me feel. Applying that to different contexts is an interesting exploration and I find myself often making ways for the emotion to feel deeper. For me, it’s the way people react to the situation that makes it horror.

3. Have you ever written something that disturbed even you—a moment where the story took a darker turn than expected?

In my currently homeless novel, I wrote about twin children who’ve been abused by their parents. There’s a scene around a sacrifice that gets pretty dark, and I felt uncomfortable writing it. Re-reading it later, it is some powerful prose (if I can toot my own horn), but it’s definitely darker than I expected to go.

4. If your stories had the power to summon something into the real world... what do you think you've already unleashed?

Honestly, I have to say hope for this. It sounds weird when we’re talking about horror, but the genre is full of hope and love and whether those things will win out in the end. In my work, it often fails, but it can strengthen the resolve in the reader to experience those things for themselves... I hope 😂

5. How do you keep horror feeling fresh and terrifying when so many tropes are well-trodden?

I read about something King does that I try to do myself now. He takes two things that don’t ordinarily belong together and smashes them together. I try to do this too, but I also try to think about what things DO belong together and pick them apart. For example, in The Count, I thought about vampirism and what’s left if we take the actual physical vampire out of the equation. Without that, what remains? I feel like I did something fresh with that book as a result.

BONUS: Tell me about your latest project and where we can find it. 

I had my short story collection recently release through Lethe Press, titled Hell is Other People. It’s available everywhere. I also have my novel, Indentured, coming from Truborn in June.