Critical Mick

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Committing Oneself to Writing

One Hand Screaming author Mark Leslie chats with unruly reviewer Critical Mick about the Horror genre, Pamela Anderson, donuts, self-publishing, shooting at fish with a rifle, and much more. Email interview, Feb. '07.

Critical Mick: When was the last time you were scared shitless?

Mark Leslie: The last time that the sun went down. I'm afraid of the dark and the unknown creeps me out, so I'm scared shitless pretty much every single night. I believe in the monsters under my bed and in my closet. I'm particularly afraid of the monster that lives under the stairs -- you know, the one that reaches out between the risers of the stairs and will try to grab your ankles and trip you so you can't run away. Thank goodness for artificial light.

ML con't: I'm basically a giant ‘fraidy-cat. But in all seriousness here's something that scares the piss out of me: Something bad happening to my 2 year old son, Alexander.

ML: When he's doing something in the other room and there's a strange noise like a crash, I go running to see if he's okay and my heart is usually in my throat by the time I get into the room and see that he's fine and it's just another thing that he knocked over, pushed, destroyed whatever. The intense relief that he's okay usually supersedes any thought of the value of the thing that is broken.

CM: Did you ever write about those fears?

ML: I'm actually a little afraid to now that I can understand the extreme terror involved when it comes to death or injury of a loved one. I think I now understand what King was going through when he wrote Pet Sematary which basically addressed his deepest fear at the time -- the death of his child.

ML: I do have an unfinished novel that I started many years before I could properly understand the extreme intensity of the parental fear of a father who struggles with pulling the plug on a child who is living on a machine. I've got this as one of those novels I'm eager to pick up and start working on again, now that I've got a better grasp on the emotions filling the character's head.

CM: What disappoints or annoys you about horror fiction today?

ML: That's tough to say. It's tough to generalize about such a large and diverse genre, because you have supernatural horror, fantasy horror, mystery/thriller horror and within each of those sub-genres there's so much great stuff, and, of course, so much junk.

ML: There's actually so much horror being published in so many different ways. I think what disappoints me is that there are so many good horror authors out there being published that go under the radar and have such a short shelf-life that I can't get to read them all.

CM: What's the best writing advice, bar none?

ML: I think the best thing that a writer can do is truly care about the characters and the story that he or she is currently working on. If they commit themselves to a story with complete conviction and dedication, they'll be true -- to the story, to the people in the story, and ultimately to the reader.

ML: Too philosophical?

ML: Okay, the best writing advice, the thing that moves me the most is a quote from Hugh Prather that goes: "If the desire to write is not accompanied by actual writing, then the desire is not to write." This one speaks to me. It reminds me that there's no shortage of ideas or of things to write about. What there is a shortage of is actually committing oneself to writing.

CM: What's the worst piece of advice? ML: Advice about writing that's too philosophical and perhaps only means something to the person who just offered it. Kind of what like I just did. ML: No, seriously, just like there are hundreds of great tips and advice for writers out there, and perhaps each writer will cling to their own top bits of advice, there are bits of advice that don't jive with a writer's personal style. If that's the case, then that advice would be bad for a writer. I'm going to bow out and offer the French saying: Chacon son gout. (To each his own).

Read Critical Mick's extremely unruly review of Mark Leslie's One Hand Screaming

ML: But to try to offer something concrete, I think you can take the same bit of advice that's good and turn it into something bad. Example: the old adage: "Write what you know." Like one of the ten commandments, it's so damn vague you can use it to justify writing stories only about things you personally know and nothing else. And doing that, you'd completely avoid doing research, which is often, in my opinion, critical.

ML: For example, I know something that pisses you off as a reader (and many others out there) are stories about writers. Enough's enough already. But if all writers stuck to a particular brand of "write what you know" then many of them would write about writers.

Ed. Note: Stories about writers (1) smack of wish fulfillment- "Lookat me! I'm a great wryter" and (2) call Murder, She Wrote to mind. Sorry! Celebrity Paint Drying has more excitement and color.

ML: One of my favourite authors is Robert J. Sawyer who is not only a master storyteller, but he is a brilliant researcher. When he plans on writing a science fiction novel about a subject, he'll spend several months immersing himself in the latest scientific journals, travelling and researching. I really admire that. He's not just writing what he knew, he's writing what he has learned, and he has learned it specifically to write that novel. That's taking a vague piece of advice and turning into something really worthwhile and making his stories better.

ML: Okay I'm rambling -- how about this then. There's no bad advice, just writers using advice badly?

CM: Is the music cranked up loud when you write?

ML: Yes, but only classical music. Lyrics get in my head and get in the way of my producing my own words. I'm a huge fan of Neil Peart's (Neil is the drummer and lyricist for Rush) -- in fact, his lyrics are often inspirational when it comes to writing. I've always wanted to edit an anthology of stories inspired by his lyrics. But when I'm writing, it's classical or instrumental music or I end up tripping over the lyrics.

CM: Hortons (opinions? Capacity per day?)?

ML: Tim Horton's all the way. Nevermind these fancy and over-priced coffee places. Give me a cup of black Timmy's any day.

CM: Do you hunt/fish/etc?

ML: I used to go fishing with my dad - haven't gone fishing since the early 90's. And while I've gone hunting, I've never shot a gun at an animal. I'm actually more likely to shoot a man than an animal, given the right circumstances. It's not that I'm a pacifist or anything, I just don't have it in me to kill a helpless creature -- and yes, I understand the paradox because I love eating meat. I'm just another two-faced chicken shit. I love eating meat, I just don't like killing my own meat. (I guess the only exception to that is that I have killed fish that I've eaten -- but I never shot at fish with a rifle).

ML: I used to go deer hunting with my dad and cousin, and while they went out hunting, I stayed at the cabin and wrote. Man, those were good times.

CM: Ever been arrested?

ML: Nope. Just a handful of speeding tickets.

CM: When is the last time you (physically) got in a fight?

ML: Just the other day with my son. No, just kidding, although he did clock me really well while we were wrestling.

ML: I think the last fist fight I was in was in high school. Although, when I was working as a security guard, I got into plenty of scuffles -- I just never had to punch anyone. It was mostly subduing other people who were fighting, putting them into half-nelson arm locks, that kind of thing.

CM: What's the worst you've ever been injured?

ML: I once had a seizure (epilepsy) in the middle of the night when I was a young teenager. I ended up falling out of bed and striking my head on the bedside table and knocking myself into a coma. I was only in the coma for about 45 minutes or so, but the whole experience was pretty terrifying.

ML: Other than that, when I was in my early twenties I had a hernia, but I'm not going to discuss how it happened or whose shower I was in when it occurred, because my wife would be really embarrassed by the whole thing.

Ed. Note: DUDE!!!

CM: If you could have lunch with any person, living or dead, would you run out and stiff them with the bill?

ML: No sir. It's just not in me to do that. But if I could have lunch with Stan Lee, the man who created Spider-Man, that's be really cool. He'd likely stiff me with the bill, though, because he'd likely quickly tire of my worshipping him over his smoked meat sandwich and would have no choice but to beat a hasty retreat and wonder why he ever agreed to having lunch with me in the first place.

CM: Do you carry a notebook around for new ideas?

ML: Sometimes. I mostly carry an MP3 player now and dictate thoughts and ideas into it. And most of the time I have my laptop with me, so usually crack it open and type whatever strikes me. I'm much faster at speaking or typing than writing by hand, so that works better for me.

CM: Tell me about a story that you will never write (a notion, character, situation etc from your discard pile).

ML: That's tough to say because as soon as I start going through the dozens of files with scraps of ideas or thoughts looking for something I'll never write, I might be inspired to give it a whirl.

CM: Who does it right? Whose (horror and other) writing do you admire?

ML: Stephen King does it right. Richard Laymon also did it right. Bentley Little does it right. Michael Connelly, Denis Hamill, Robert J. Sawyer. These are just a few of the writers who have never ever truly disappointed me. Ever.

CM: What's the last film/album/book you could have gotten free from pirate copy/local library/etc that you bought anyway?

ML: The last one? Hmm, let's see. That would be Michael Connelly's Echo Park. I can borrow virtually any book from the bookstore I work at. But I just have to own books I love.

CM: Did ya buy Pamela Anderson's latest novel?

ML: No, I'm afraid not.

CM: Why not?

ML: No reason. I'm sure she's a great writer (or her ghost writer is a great writer, whatever the case might be), but her last book -- It was called Star or something like that wasn't it? -- just didn't interest me.

CM: You don't believe in supporting your fellow Canadian talent, eh? &: )

ML: LOL. Not at all. I've watched her TV series "Stacked" and it's actually not a bad show. I just prefer to support Canadian writers rather than actors turned writer.

CM: Do you regularly buy or subscribe to any magazines?

ML: I used to subscribe to a popular men's magazine that featured Pamela Anderson from time to time. And yes, I did enjoy the articles. Yes, the pretty naked women were also enjoyed, but the articles are actually good too.

ML: Latest subscriptions were to Men's Health. I used to also subscribe to Writer's Digest. Lately though, I'll just pick up an issue or two of whatever strikes my fancy, or maybe a magazine that features a short story from a writer that I admire.

CM: Anything good on TV these days?

ML: Yeah. I really enjoy "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" -- I enjoy the humour and the fact that it focuses on the behind the scenes of putting on a television show (which is kind of like Saturday Night Live) -- it reminds me of my old theatre days in many ways.

ML: I'm also really enjoying another new show: Heroes -- great plot twists, interesting characters, lots of fun.

ML: A show I really enjoy for the dose of "reality" that it brings in its writing is "Medium" -- the relationship between the main character Allison and her husband and their family make it a unique show that's not all about her being a psychic who solves crimes. The reality of her family life is as much a part of the show as the crime-fighting. I like that.

CM: What's your opinion on the new technologies like Internet communities, podcasting, blogging, webzines, Printing on Demand?

ML: I like the fact that it makes so much more accessible to so many more people. And I think it's great that there are so many ways that so many people can share their creativity with the rest of the world.

ML: On the flip side, I'm a bit leery that the ease of these things takes away some of the traditional "crap filters" that creative communities used to have. I know that makes me sound like a snob, but I honestly think that there's some value to me as a reader in knowing that a piece of creative work was at least considered good by one other person (such as an editor) other than the one creating it before it gets launched out there.

ML: I'll use myself as an example. I self-published my book One Hand Screaming using print on demand technology. It was a great experience. But most of the book contained previously published stories that had appeared in various magazines over the years. So I was at least confident in the fact that the stories were considered "good enough" by at least one editor out there before I decided to put them together and launch them into the abyss.

ML: I have plenty of other things that I'd like to self-publish, but for me personally, I know that my writing needs to have an editorial influence, needs to be checked and critiqued before I put it out there. I think that type of thing makes me a much better writer and I enjoy that process.

ML: Even with my experimental online story: "I, Death" (http:this-mortal-coil.blogspot.com) -- I tested a shorter version of it on a few readers before doing the grand launch of this serialized online novella -- just to ensure that it was ready for prime time.

CM: What project are you working on now?

ML: Working on the novel A Canadian Werewolf in New York -- working on editing North of Infinity III (a science fiction anthology) -- working on finding the proper home for my novel Morning Son -- working on finding a proper home for my kids book "A Horse Named Cow" -- working on finding a proper home and format for my children's play "The Show Must Go On" -- as well as various other short fiction projects.

CM: What's on your nightstand at the moment?

ML: A few different books.

ML: One is called The Pig That Wants To Be Eaten: And Ninety-Nine Other Thought Experiments by Julian Baggini from Granta Books. It's great. Came out with in the last year.

ML: The other is an older one I'm re-reading. Orson Scott Card's Writer's Digest book in the Elements of Fiction Writing series called Characters and Viewpoint.

CM: Anything I have not mentioned that you would like to bring up?

ML: Not really. I'd just like to say that I've enjoyed this interview and the interesting and peculiar questions that you've thrown at me. Mick Halpin, you're good people.

Read Mark Leslie's blog at http://markleslie.blogspot.com, or visit his website at www.markleslie.ca. Perk up your pointy ears for his reality show, Getting Published with Mark Leslie at writingshow.com

Yo! This interview transcript and all content on the DFA Guide site are copyright 2007 Mick Halpin. All links to other sites and documents are copyright to whatever source wrote something cool enough for Mick to give it a referral. Try to claim them as your own work and bad karma will catch up with you, baby. Believe it.

Irate, huh? Managed to piss off another one? Direct your hatemail to mick @ mickhalpin dot com.

This Page Was Last Updated On 13 March, 2007.