Writer Interview with Holley Cornetto
1. Have you always been a writer?
No, but I have always been a reader. I grew up with a love of books and stories that eventually led me to writing.
2. When did you realize that maybe writing was actually a "thing" you could do, get published and even sell?
In my late thirties I remember reading a few books that I really didn’t like, and I thought someone published these books and some readers love these books. At that point, I thought I should try my hand at writing my own stories. I tried and failed to finish a novel, then enrolled in a writing workshop and learned how to craft a story.
3. What was your first sale as a writer and how did it feel to sell your work?
I sold a story called “Raven O’Clock” to a dark fiction anthology. I remember looking at my spouse and saying, “someone wants to give me money for my words.” It was the strangest, most surreal thing I can remember experiencing up until then.
4. How has writing helped you in other areas of life besides being something you could earn money from?
I’ve become more empathetic. I truly believe that reading and writing teaches us empathy. When you have to think of how a certain character in a story might react, or solve a problem, it gives you a chance to walk in someone else’s shoes, so to speak.
Writing is also cathartic for me. I can work out my frustrations, disappointments, and heartbreaks on the page. Writing can be a very personal and emotional experience because you, as the writer, put so much of yourself into the things you create.
5. What was your biggest accomplishment as a writer?
A publisher bought my novella, WE HAUNT THESE WOODS. It was published in 2022. Even though I’ve since had a novel published, I don’t think I would have had the courage to do that if not for the first one being published. However, I’d like to think my biggest accomplishment is yet to come.
6. Who has inspired you the most in the writing field?
There are many writers, perhaps too many to list, but I enjoy the magic and sense of wonder in the writing of Angela Carter, Kelly Link, Ray Bradbury, George Saunders, and if I’m feeling brave, the horror of Stephen King, Ronald Malfi, or Philip Fracassi.
7. What are some of the challenges you have faced as a writer and how did you overcome them?
Making time to write when you have competing priorities is difficult. I have a family and I work in a library as well as teaching creative writing online. It’s easy to put writing off to deal with more immediate concerns. Sometimes it’s hard when you see other writers constantly producing work, and you feel you are being left behind. The way I deal with this challenge is to make my writing a priority. I take a few evenings a week and go to the local coffee shop with a laptop. The kids (human and furry) aren’t there to make demands of me, and I can’t get distracted by the pile of dirty laundry or the dishes in the sink or the unswept floor. My house isn’t the cleanest on the block, and sometimes we order pizza or eat Ramen for dinner, but the tradeoff is getting to do what I love.
8. What is the best writing advice you have ever received and why do you feel it is important?
Rejections are a big part of the process. Accept them for what they are and move on.
I think newer writers specifically may not realize just how many rejections they are likely to face before they get a “yes.” It can be discouraging. Often rejections aren’t because a story or the writing wasn’t good. It’s just as likely that the rejection was due to fit, or budget, or any other of many different reasons. Sure, getting rejected can hurt, but don’t let yourself dwell on it and give up because of it. Take a few minutes to be sad about it, then get right back to submitting your work.
9. What sort of writing do you do now?
Mostly horror these days, although I occasionally dab into other genres when the mood strikes.
10. Where can we find some of your work online?
I have a few stories that are freely available to read online. Here are a few of my favorites:
“The Orchard of Dreams” at Wyld Flash
“Thoughts too Heavy to Carry” at Pyre Magazine
“Mother” Every Day Fiction
11. What advice do you have for other aspiring writers thinking of taking the leap of getting their work published?
Keep working at it. Writing is like most other things we do in that the more we practice, the better at it we become. The first thing you write is not likely to be the best thing you ever write, so keep working and improving your craft. If you can, find a writing group or a critique partner that you trust who can help evaluate your writing and improve it as much as possible before you send it out. Most of all, don’t give up. The world needs more stories.
12. What are your final thoughts about being a writer?
Writing is one of the most difficult, but most rewarding things I’ve ever done. There are times when things are frustrating, and I wonder why I bother, but when someone reads my work, it makes every frustration worth it. Knowing someone enjoyed a story I wrote is what keeps me writing.
ABOUT HOLLEY:
Holley Cornetto is a writer, librarian, professor, book reviewer, and transplanted southerner who now calls New Jersey home. She is the author of They Are Cursed Like You published in 2023 by Eerie River Publishing and We Haunt These Woods in 2022 from Bleeding Edge Books. Her short fiction has appeared in magazines such as Daily Science Fiction, Flame Tree Press Newsletter, Dark Recesses Press, and several anthologies. In 2020, she was awarded a grant from the Ladies of Horror Fiction. In addition to writing The Horror Tree’s weekly newsletter, she regularly reviews for Publisher's Weekly and The Horror Tree. She teaches creative writing in the online MFA program at Southern New Hampshire University. Find her on Twitter @HLCornetto.