Keith Ferrario on his new horror monster, Part II

Dear Readers,

Welcome back Keith Ferrario for Part II of his interview about his horror book Monster, newly re-released with Gabriel's Horn Publishing.  See Part I HERE.

5. Monster has two parts, each with a very different feel to them. Was this your intention?

Absolutely! Monster turned out exactly as I hoped and planned. It was my view of the creature and how it interacted with the other characters that drove the feel of each part.

In part one, the creature is like a small child. It doesn’t understand much more than its own hunger. It doesn’t mean to harm others—it just does what it has to to survive. Basically, it’s frightened, hungry, and confused. It reacts to its surroundings on a more instinctual level as a child would. The creature comes in conflict with the human characters and it is this conflict that gives part one a more action feel.

Part two was designed to be more of a thriller with elements of mystery rather than action. It’s twelve years later and the creature has matured—it no longer sees the world as a child would—it has learned and gained knowledge. It still does what it has to to survive, but it makes some definite choices. Being forced into certain actions, it even reaches out for help.

Without giving spoilers, I can say that the two parts are connected by several key elements, but those connections are hidden until the end when all is revealed. However, I added clues throughout the story. In part one, the clues foreshadow people and events in part two. The clues in part two tie directly back to part one. So far, I know some readers definitely picked up on a few of the clues, while other readers did not. It was important to me that I play fair with the reader—the clues are there. I didn’t reveal a twist without setting it up first.

And in both parts, there’s an underlying theme. The creature isn’t the worst monster in the story. It’s not motivated by greed, ambition, or power—it’s just simply trying to survive.

6. Tell us a little about your writing schedule and habits.  Do you have a schedule, hours per day, words per day, method?

I don’t have a defined writing schedule, but I do find I write more in the morning.

When developing a story, I’ll stub something out to make sure that there’s enough to the idea to make a novel. It’s not really an outline, but more of a proof of concept. When I’m convinced I’m on to something, I’ll move onto the “draft” phase and set goals for myself.

During the first draft, I turn off the editor in my head and just write. I don’t worry about word choice, grammar (to a certain extent), or descriptions. I write to get the story out. The one rule I have is to write at least 1000 words a day. When the first draft is completed, I like to put it aside for a time and return to a previously written draft of another story or come up with a new idea to work on.

During the second draft, since words are being added, removed, or replaced, the word count method doesn’t work so well. Instead, I determine the date when I want the second draft to be completed, then divide the current page count by the number of days, and then that number of pages becomes my daily goal.

During the third draft and beyond, all bets are off. I just try to write every day and go from there. During this phase I can be bouncing around the story—cleaning things up—making sure the foreshadowing is correct—making sure clues I want to have are there, but hidden. It’s hard to judge progress, but I enjoy this part the most.

7. What parts of Monster are things you knew little about and had to research?

I did need to do a bit of research on Antarctica. For things like McMurdo Station, air transports, length of daylight, even a bit on building codes. Nothing super critical—I just wanted to make sure I had the details right.

Thank you, Keith!  Stay tuned for Part III in the next day or two!

As of December 16, Monster is available at amazon in either print or e-book.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Keith Ferrario grew up in Duluth, Minnesota where he developed his love of horror, which goes back as far as he can remember. Watching Shock Theater and Creature Features on late Friday nights, he became a fan of Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr, and Vincent Price. Shows like Dark Shadows, The Outer Limits, and Kolchak: The Night Stalker and comics like Tales from the Crypt and The Vault of Horror pushed him farther down this dark path. After receiving his BA Degree in Computer Science from the University of Minnesota, Duluth, he moved down to the Twin Cities of Minnesota and began his career as a computer programmer. Now as a horror novelist, he gets to craft his own stories of monsters and things that go bump in the night.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Adam Hayes pilots a small team to a remote Antarctic research station. Their mission: to investigate the loss of communications. Once there, the group of five find the station deserted, the radio smashed, and several strange piles of empty clothing. Forced to stay the night by a blinding snowstorm, they set out to solve the mystery of the missing crew. Eventually they will learn the horrifying truth—the station is not empty after all, and something unimaginable, dug up from the deep ice, roams the complex. Now they must fight for their lives against a cunning, thinking monster—and those who would unleash this terror on the rest of the world.

You can stay up to date with Keith's upcoming books via his page at Gabriel's Horn: Keith Ferrario

When is The Battle is O'er coming out?  READ HERE.

If you are interested in having Scotland through the Eyes of the Author presented to your group, please contact me at editors@gabrielshornpress.com 

~ ~ ~

Interested in writing?  Would you like to take some classes?
~ ~ ~

If you like an author's blog posts, please consider liking and sharing.

It helps us continue to do what we do.

If you liked this post you might also like:
What Edward Heard
Shawn Brink Releases Hell on Earth!
Beethoven in Love

or other posts under the AUTHORS and IN THE NEWS labels.

For more on my books, click the images below: