My Abigail
March 30, 2016
Mr. Kummer,
Thank you for taking your time for me.
Who are your
influences?
I am mainly influenced by a trio of authors. My dialogue has
been heavily impacted by J. K. Rowling because -let’s face it- Harry Potter has some of the best
character interaction.
Mark Edwards has most recently influenced my writing. While
reading his books (which are fantastic), I came up with multiple ideas for
stories and novels. Besides that, his books are so fun to read.
Lastly, there is a short story author that you probably haven’t
heard of. His name is Billy Wells, and while his stories aren’t the best I’ve
read they were my first real example of published short stories.
When did you begin
writing?
I’ve been telling stories since I was really young, about 5
or 6. I used to play with LEGO people and write out some of the things that
happened. My handwriting wasn’t always legible (it isn’t now either), but I was
telling stories.
My first published work was in 2015 with As Trees Turned Away. Next, I released
my first full-length novel She: A Horror
Novel and plan two or three more works for this year.
How do you come up
with your stories, characters, character names, POV, etc.?
Most of my stories and the events in my stories come from
things I see in real life. For instance, I saw a large, stone bridge and
thought “what if…” such and such happened. (I can’t tell you exactly, because
it’s part of a big twist in She.)
Characters, on the other hand, generally develop from myself
or people I read. Recently, many of my characters have been similar in a lot of
ways. Sometimes this is a problem, but other times it just shows the truth in
our world. You can two very similar people with two very similar stories and
yet what happens to them is incredibly different.
(For instance, there is Caleb in My Abigail and another teenage boy in my work in progress who have
similar attributes and a few scenes are very similar. However, the ending to
their stories couldn’t be more different.)
On the topic of POV, I generally like first person because
it feels more real and emotional for me writing it. In my current work in
progress, I have both first and third person and it’s difficult switching back
and forth in the editing stages.
If you could actually
meet one of your characters, who would it be?
Why?
Probably Ayva from My
Abigail because she’s so weird and awesome.
(I’ve been waiting ages for someone to ask me this question,
and yet I don’t have much to say. Oh well.)
Do you work from an
outline?
I do make an outline, but I’ve completely abandoned it
midway through the story almost every time. I normally go back and redo the
last half, or I’ll just press through. It seems to turn out okay.
Tell me about your
favorite scene in your novel(s).
My favorite scenes are the ones that are hardest to write.
The really emotional ones that impact me as I write them and that I won’t
forget. Those scenes always leave an impact and at times I just pour out my own
emotions into them. The harder they are to write, the better they turn out
generally.
Can you tell us a
little about your writing philosophy?
My writing philosophy: Entertain and befriend.
Firstly, I want to entertain people and let them have fun
when they read what I write. Besides that, I want every one of my interactions
with them to leave the readers with a smile on their face.
Also, I want to be friends with anyone who reads my book,
and for it to be than just a “you buy book?” “I buy book” type of thing.
Friendship, yo.
Have you ever tried
writing in any other genres?
As a matter of fact, my work in progress is a Literary
Fiction novel, a far step outside of Horror and Thrillers, which is my home
genre. It’s been interesting so far, but very enjoyable.
Do you have any
interesting writing-related anecdotes to share?
Well, on that age old topic of writer’s block I’d say just
keep typing. Eventually, you break through. Also, taking a break from it and
listening to music can help. And if all else fails, go watch an episode of
Psych. That’ll cure it, guaranteed.
Do you listen to
music as you write?
Occasionally, but normally I don’t. I will listen to it as I
edit or as I work on promoting my books, but not when I’m actually,
nose-to-the-grindstone writing.
✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒
Again, thank
you for taking your time for me. Would
you care to add anything David?
My
Abigail was originally supposed to be a short story associated with a whole
different genre. Eventually, I decided it could be a horror short story. Soon
enough, I had planned out a full-fledged novella and was filling out a
character spreadsheet.
Everything is from Caleb’s point of
view. He’s a teenage boy just going into highschool, so about my own age. I
like to put pieces of myself into the characters. I’d noticed that teenagers
tend to change the most over summer, when we’re hanging out with friends and
being delinquents. We also long to be socially accepted, and when our number of
real friends start to dwindle it can be a bit depressing. I wanted to show all
of these traits in him, and oh boy does he change from the beginning of the
book to the end.
This book is emotional, and
extremely sad at times. There are parts of it -especially one chapter- that
brought me to tears when I was writing. It was dreadful to tell the story, but
I kept telling myself it was one that had to be told. In the end, the chapter
could have been a lot worse and a lot more depressing. I edited out a few parts
and toned it down so that it was easier to read, but editing it still hurt.
Overall, I’m incredibly sad to
leave these characters behind, especially when I know the chances for a sequel
are slim to none. It’s hard to leave any characters, but the ones in My Abigail were special to me, and I
hope they will be just as friendly and memorable to you.
 |
| David Kummer |
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