Interviews with D.L. Snell

[Snell]

A list of my interviews...

New Reads and Old Standbys: About editing

Fatally-Yours
Class-b.net
Skullring.org
ZombieFans Talk Radio
Interviewing Authors

2009 Interviews

- Hellnotes

[Stephen Blundell]

Great interview D.L. ... a very personal one at that too, good for you, mate!

[Snell]

Thanks, Stephen. The personal stuff, I thought, would make for a good interview.

[ZombieDiva]

Ahhhh, the personal stuff. Funny, I was going to ask you a question that came to mind while reading Roses that concerned addiction. Something popped up and screamed at me, something that I've wondered about and have discussed but never really compiled a study of, it's a hard subject to broach because of the extremely personal subject matter. How do I ask others? The only reason I know it is a common practice is because several people have admitted to it during interviews. It has also been confirmed to me by several corrections officer friends of mine. They too have actually witnessed this phenomena. Weird huh? What the hell am I talking about?

The masturbation. I have found it to be a very common coping strategy when addicts are going thru withdrawals, as well as when they are attempting to get clean. I'm sure it has to do with the release of endorphins and recreating a high that they are missing.

Now I'm not pointing fingers. I'm sure you have a very healthy sex life and more often than not get the real thing as opposed to uh...you know. BUT! I thought it was very interesting that you brought that into the mix, especially when you describe Ann's addictive desires for her mistress' bite. To me, who deals with the addicted on a regular basis, it leant an authenticity to the story that transcended the average reader's knowledge of what an addict deals with when attempting to get clean. Someone in the know will simply smile to themselves and say damn, he hit the nail right on the head!

[Snell]

All I can say is I never experimented with anything worse than magical mushrooms and opium. Wasn't a pill popper, never tapped the vein, never snorted anything other than the dust in Pixie Stix--stupid, I know, but that’s kids for you.  I never even dropped acid.  And the only real addiction I had was cigarettes, and that was only mental.

I wish I could say I knew about the masturbation thing because it makes me seem experienced and worldly and smart, but I added it because the detail seemed right; it seemed to add a layer and a texture and a specificity that made the experience real.  I try my best to put myself in my characters’ skin, to feel what they’re feeling, think what they’re thinking, actually experience, via the imagination, what it would be like to be those people in those particular predicaments.  It’s the best way I’ve found to make my characters as real and authentic as I can.  The little details like the masturbation--they come as a result of this empathy.

And sometimes, if I’m lucky, those details ring especially true because they are.  Those are some of the most rewarding moments for a writer, I think, gifts for opening your mind and your heart to the plights of other people.

[Permuted Press]

Yeah, that's a great interview.

Since we're revealing our drug secrets I'll drop the bombshell:  never done a bit of anything in my life (unless you count alcohol).  Shocking, I know.  But, I am totally addicted to caffeine. 

[john_sunseri]

I smoked pot ten or eleven times in high school and college, but I never liked it - it just put me to sleep.  Other than that, it's just nicotine, alcohol and caffeine.  We're a wild and crazy group of horror folk, aren't we?

[ZombieDiva]

I'm with you on the empathy thing. It's something that I too have strived to inspire with my own writing. It struck me immediately when I read those passages in Roses, it was like I stumbled upon a kindred spirit, something very rare these days!

Hey, personally I have an addiction to dark chocolate truffles, but we'll keep that our little secret...shhhh....oh and sucking on juicy plums...and zombies...and bubble baths with my "boys" (heheh, aka Permuted Press Authors.)

yeah, I definitely qualify as junkie.

[Stephen Blundell]

Okay ... here's my little addiction ... I have this habit of re-buying the same type of felt tip pen (I vary in point sizes from 0.05 to 0., but I have these buggers in the thousands.  I can't stop buying them ... every time I go past a newsagents, I think I'm past the shop then suddenly; I am like the fat pimply kid in a comic store putting his greasy fingers over the latest copy of "X-Men".

I can't explain it ... wish my addiction was a bit more like ZombieDiva's, just without the bubble bath with the "boys" ... lol

And I am with John ... nicotine and caffine!  Don't drink too often anymore ... I'd be too scared to see what my drawings would look like!

[Snell]

Added interview with Fatally-Yours.  (The titles I mention in the interview aren't formatted consistently, but I'm going to see if they can fix that.)

[Zombie Zak]

Wow, another one?  You're a busy little writer fellow, now aren't you?  Hehehehe.

Go slay 'em, brutha; slay 'em.

[Stephen Blundell]

Hey now that was a cool interview, ya edgy bastard! lol! 

And they even mentioned the cover and the art work, which is a pleasant surprise ... I vote that the "Fatally-Yours" as the best interview yet ... and it explores past the normal realm of interviews.

Great interview, DL!  And some nice answers ... especially the going to the crapper, friends and pizza bit!

lol!

[Snell]

Thanks, Stephen.  Looking back, I wish I had described the feedback process that went into making the cover.

[Stephen Blundell]

Nah DL!  I think the tale of the cover art process should be told in ******* (heheheh, you know where DL!  Planning on doing an Artist on Writer interview down the track.)

I'll be emailing you soon about a few things! Its all good baby!

[HOO-HAA]

Here's a link to my Revenant Magazine review/ interview/ feature on Roses Of Blood on Barbwire Vines:

http://www.revenantmagazine.com/BookReviews.htm