Q&A With Craig DiLouie

I am so excited to be doing this Q&A with Craig DiLouie. Craig is the author of popular thriller, apocalyptic horror & sci-fi/fantasy fiction. Some of Craig’s many novels are The Infection series, Episode Thirteen, Djinn, & his recent release How To Make A Horror Movie And Survive. In a past life, Craig was a magazine editor & advertising executive! 

Q: Craig, would you please give a brief description of your recent release How To Make A Horror Movie And Survive? Where did the idea for this horror novel come from? I know I’d read it! 

A: Thanks for having me as a guest at Book Notions! How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive is about a Hollywood director who wants to make the perfect horror movie using a cursed camera—which will involve a night of very real horror for his poor cast—and the scream queen he loves, who wants to survive the night.

Thematically, it’s about movie making and why we love horror—an emotion that in real life we do our best to avoid—using one of the most iconic filmmaking eras in horror history, the 1980s slasher era.

As for the reading experience, I wanted people to relive that experience of watching their first horror movie—the thrills, gasps, and chuckles. Overall, this one isn’t as dark as some of my other horror works, going for a higher level of accessibility by offering good plain fun.

Q: What is it about thrillers, apocalyptic horror and sci-fi/fantasy that you enjoy reading and writing about? In your opinion, what makes a great thriller, apocalyptic horror & sci-fi/fantasy story that would help aspiring authors write in those genres?

A: I love writing stories where ordinary people find themselves in extraordinary situations, which shows us what they’re really made of. This might be a life-and-death battle, as in my military fiction; some type of horror, as in my horror fiction; or the end of the world, as in my apocalyptic fiction.

To say what makes a great story in these genres would take quite a bit of time and words, but if I were to pick out a critical element, it would be to always start with character. If you offer the reader people they care about, they’ll care about what happens to them, and when the fantastic element shows up, the story will feel so much more interesting and grounded.

Q: How long does it take you to write your stories? Is it fair to say that the characters and places within your novels are taken from bits and pieces of real people you know and places you’ve been?

A: Every writer writes from experience, but I personally believe it is a mistake to base a story on a particular experience with too much fidelity, unless that experience translates almost literally to become the story. This goes double for character. As an author, I’m really playing roles like an actor, getting in the characters’ heads and improving on a loose script. I don’t want the character to actually be me. As a result, I can say all of my characters in my story are based on me and none of them are based on me. Instead, my stories tend to be the product of research, characters I create that I can empathize with, and how I’d react to the story’s events if I were these particular people who want and need certain things.

Regarding how long it all takes, it varies of course, but honestly, I’ve got it down to a month or two of dreaming, planning, and researching, and then maybe two months of writing. I’ve gotten this fast because I internalize all of the big stuff—characters, theme, major plot points, fantastic elements—before I start writing, which really boosts my efficiency. I know the story before I start writing it, the rest is discovery and the joy of writing.

Q: On your Facebook cover photo I noticed that New York Times Bestselling Author Peter Clines wrote a glowing review of How To Make A Horror Movie And Survive by saying, Gory, Glorious, And Just A Little Too Believable, Craig DiLouie’s Latest Is a Slick Meta Slasher Movie In Book Form. How does it feel knowing that Peter Clines gave a great review? 

A: It feels great, of course! It’s a very happy thing to hear kind words about my work, but honestly, the best reviews are those that aren’t necessarily super positive but show that a reader read my work and really got it. If you think about it, reading and writing are like magic, and when you run across that reader who catches your exact vision, it’s super magical.

Regarding Peter’s blurb, he and I go way back and have been huge fans of each other’s work for many years. We came up through the same small press together way back when, cutting our teeth on zombie fiction.

Q: Hollywood is in desperate need of new original content again. Does Hollywood have the rights to your work? Whether they do or not, who would be your dream cast for the characters you created? 

A: Over the years, various production companies have reached out to option my work. It’s a terrific thing—there’s usually some money in it, and it makes a great brag for credibility and to show a book is hot. On the other hand, most meetings don’t amount to anything, deals fall apart at the last second, and while a producer may be very interested, they then have to put together a financial package to actually get it made, which is difficult to say the least. As horror is pretty big right now, undergoing a wonderful renaissance, I’m always hopeful that one day, one of my works will see a screen adaptation, but I don’t hold my breath over it. Basically, I treat a screen option as being like getting paid to receive a lottery ticket.

Q: What emotions do you hope readers feel after reading your books? What lessons do you hope readers learn after reading your books?

A: It’s a good question, as reading teaches us about the world, including, yes, how to survive, probably the topic of every campfire story told by cavemen going back to the dawn of humanity. In the modern day, the lessons are so much more varied, providing insight on ways to be. Every novel I write has a different theme, so these lessons vary. Back when I was first starting out, the theme was a happy accident, I’d end up discovering it when I was done writing, but these days, I plan and internalize it before writing like I do everything else, from character to plot to setting.

As for what emotions I’d like people to have, not to be cute, but the short answer is I’d like them to have emotions! These again vary, depending on what the story is trying to do. In How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive, again, I wanted to replicate that experience of watching a horror movie, complete with gasps and sudden bursts of laughter at unexpected humor.

Q: You used to be an advertising executive & a magazine editor which I find impressive! What were those experiences like?

A: I was an ad executive at a small New Jersey marketing firm and then served as editor and later publisher for a lighting design trade magazine in New York City for seven years. That was before I started my own thing and moved to Canada, where I live now. It was a wild ride, career wise, offering amazing experiences and challenges. For my fiction writing, it taught me to write every day with discipline and to consider craft, not just write with abandon whenever the muse struck like lightning. Today, I still write about the lighting industry in my other writing job, though I’m far luckier now as I get to do it in my pajamas at home.