Interview: Joshua Scribner

Today’s interview is with author Joshua Scribner, author of Mantis Nights and the coming-soon sequel Mantis Coma, who sheds light on the birth of the series, the need to write and his future works.

LZ: How did you come up with the idea for Mantis Nights?

JS: I’ve been meditating for many years.  I’m also fond of long walks.  One day, I decided to mix the two hobbies.  Once I got used to walking with my eyes closed, it became a very soothing experience.  I did it away from major roads and other obstructions of course.

While doing what I dubbed “mediwalking,” I was able to produce very crisp images under my eyelids.  I could feel like I was floating in the clouds or riding a roller coaster.  I decided to lend the practice to a short-story character named Mantis Shed, except I made him much better at it.  He can actually enter visions and become an interactive character.  He enjoys this ability, until he finds himself trapped within an alternate world.  I got the scene for the first world one night while at a gas station.  It had one of those outside bathrooms, and I had the thought, “What if people kept going in there without coming out.”

After finishing the story, I realized I had something I could keep going with.  Ideas for other visions came from various places, including a couple of dreams friends told me about.  Halfway finished with the book, I realized I’d started a series.  I don’t know where this thing will end, but I hope Mantis is with me for a long time.

LZ: As per your Lyrical Press author page — and judging by the list of your published short stories on your site — you “publish short fiction on a near-weekly basis.” Where do you find time to be so prolific with your writing, and how does it help you as a writer?

JS: Ideas have always been the easy part of writing for me.  Delivery is what I work the hardest on.  So much of writing is done away from my laptop and without a pen in my hand.  The themes, the plot, even the words come to me while I’m doing something else, whether that’s washing dishes, working out or even riding a jet ski.  I go through these phases where I do nothing but write stories.  I’ve finished as many as thirty in a month.  Now, being more focused on editing novels from two series, I have a cache of shorter works I can take stories from here or there.

Writing short fiction gives me something I don’t have to be patient with.  I can sit down and be finished in an hour or sometimes less.  On the flipside, shorter works allow me to build up a sort of hunger for something more.  I develop a need to sit with something for days.  I guess it’s analogous to a person who dates many people for a while, because that feels right at the time, then begins to long for something longer and more stable.

LZ:  What elements do you find yourself most utilizing or avoiding in your stories?

JS: I’m usually classified as a horror, fantasy or science fiction writer, but I love mystery and suspense.  I like to keep the reader guessing right up to the end.  I try to avoid being too much like any other writer.  I love it when I read a review from an editor or reader saying my story is like nothing they’ve ever seen.

LZ: What lessons have you learned about the world of publishing/marketing? What lesson has been the most valuable to you?

JS: Always be willing to improve.  Being a published writer, you only want to hear praise, but you have to be willing to listen to editors and critics.  Pay attention to those repetitive themes in rejection letters.  My work is much better than it was ten years ago.  I hope I’ll being saying the same thing after another ten years.

LZ: What is something you want readers to understand about you and/or your writing?

JS: I write because I have to.  I’ve heard people say your job is what you do, not who you are.  I don’t feel that way at all.  Anytime I’ve gotten away from this, I’ve felt it pull me back.  Characters scream to have their stories told.  Old books I’ve tried to forget demand I come back and revise them. Writing is who I am.

LZ: What are your writing goals for 2010?

JS: I have two series out.  One is Mantis.  I’m working with an editor on the second book, Mantis Coma.  I’d like to write the third book sometime this year.

The other series is Beyond Reception.  Shadow Line Press is publishing the first book in that one.  It’s called Rogue Demon and comes out in October of 2010.  I’m currently preparing the second book, Soul Tripping, to send to the publisher.  I have three previously published novels that I’d like to get back out, but maybe not this year.  Other than that, I want to keep sending out the short pieces and writing more of them as they come to me.

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To purchase Mantis Nights from its publisher, Lyrical Press, visit www.lyricalpress.com/mantis_nights.

For details on or to contact Joshua Scribner, visit joshuascribner.com.