Author Interview with Robert P. Ottone
1. When did you start writing?
I started writing when I was a kid, mostly putting together superhero stories and other weird things that popped in my dome. I remember specifically struggling with the artistic side of drawing comic books, so it frustrated me to no end that the comic I was picturing in my little brain wasn’t being reproduced on the page before me. So I stopped when I got to junior high, more or less, and turned to straight-up fiction.
2. What was your journey towards becoming an author like?
I think I just wanted to explore some of the strange emotions I had centered around my dad passing away, and the rise of self-publishing and ease of doing it that made me want to start writing and become an author. Really all you need is time and a little bit of money to make it all happen, and thankfully, I had both in the wake of my dad’s passing. My first collection, wrongfully titled an “anthology” by my dumb self was the first thing I ever wrote and all the stories have an emotional touchstone to them that somehow correlates to how I was working through my emotions after my dad died.
3. What can you tell me about your latest book? (Feel free to include an excerpt.)
My latest book is The Vile Thing We Created and it’s about a young couple who decide to take the next step in their relationship and have a child. What they don’t realize is the torrent of emotion and physical turmoil swirling around them will potentially change their lives for the worse. Or maybe it doesn’t. You’ll just have to read and find out.
It’s sincerely about my fears of possibly being a father. It’s about the loneliness and isolation I felt when my friends started excluding me from their “couple’s nights” and whatnot, which then turned into “play dates” with our other friends who had kids. It’s a weird, transitional time that really sucks to go through, so I put all that in the novel. And then some.
4. What sort of methods do you use for book promotion?
Everything I can, really. I find the best form of book promotion is talking to potential readers personally. Going to events as often as possible. Launching a cover, doing a video interview, doing a written one, podcasts, etc. Putting a personal touch on promotion and giving access to yourself I think is the best.
5. Where do you get your ideas for stories?
I like to look at normal things and go “what if this was actually this” and stuff like that. The average is fun to turn on its ear.
6. What are you working on right now?
I just turned in the first draft of a novel called Curse of the Cobb Man to Weird House Press, and I’ve started working on a middle grade novel called Horseman of the Hollow for that same publisher. Two very different autumnal horrors, one for adults, the other for middle graders.
7. Any advice for other authors?
Ignore the nonsense on Twitter and just write the book. Stop with the coffee, cat and inconsequential selfies and write the book. Stop taking workshops and write the book. Stop trying to market your stuff to agents and the big publishers and write the book.
Just write. The damn. Book.
ABOUT ROBERT:
Robert P. Ottone is the Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of THE TRIANGLE. His other works include HER INFERNAL NAME & OTHER NIGHTMARES (an honorable mention in THE BEST HORROR OF THE YEAR VOLUME 13) as well as the suburban folk horror novel, THE VILE THING WE CREATED.
His short stories have appeared in various anthologies as well as online. He’s also the publisher and owner of Spooky House Press.
He can be found online at SpookyHousePress.com or on Twitter/IG: @RobertOttone
He delights in the creepy and views bagels solely as a cream cheese delivery device.
