Interview with Rick R. Reed – “the Stephen King of gay horror”

Rick R. Reed

Rick R. Reed has been described as “the Stephen King of gay horror” (Unzipped magazine, October 2006) and his dark, suspenseful fiction has been called, “a harrowing ride through cutting-edge psychological horror” (Douglas Clegg, author of The Attraction) and having a “knack for presenting the gruesome lower depths of a soul” (New City).

His most recent novels include Bashed, about a horrific hate crime and its aftermath, Dead End Street, a young adult horror novel; Orientation, an EPPIE award-winning novel about lost love, reincarnation, and sexual orientation; a sexy thriller called High Risk about a bored housewife who chooses a very handsome–and very psychotic–stranger to come on to; Deadly Vision, a paranormal page-turner about a psychic reluctantly caught up in the murders of two teenage girls in her small western Pennsylvania town; In the Blood, a tragic vampire love story, and IM, a thriller about a serial killer preying on gay men using online gay hookup sites.

Past writing credits include A Face Without a Heart, a modern-day, Chicago-set version of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray; Penance; and Obsessed. Both Penance and Obsessed were published in Dell’s lauded horror line, Abyss and, together sold more than 80,000 copies. Both books were reissued in 2006. His horror short story collection, Twisted: Tales of Obsession and Terror, was published in 2006. His short fiction has appeared in more than twenty anthologies including Swing! Adventures in Swinging by Today’s Top Erotica Writers, edited by Jolie du Pre.

He lives in Seattle, WA with his partner.

Where to find Rick:

Website: http://www.rickrreed.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/RickRReed
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/rickrreed
Facebook: Search for Rick R. Reed
Blog: http://rickrreedreality.blogspot.com/

Who is your toughest critic?

The little man who sits on my shoulder as I write, watching over everything. He has a wizened, old face, wisps of gray hair, pince nez glasses and is a horrible curmudgeon. He asks me what business I have calling myself a writer and who in their right mind would sit around all day making up stories. I write to prove him wrong.

Do you preview your work to reader groups or fans?

Oh hell no. I seldom show my work to anyone until it is complete and as polished as I can get it. There’s just something that doesn’t work for me sharing my work with people before it’s ready. It’s like a premature ejaculation for me, if that makes any sense. It takes away a lot of the momentum and some of the desire inherent to telling the story the best way I know how.

What is one of the nicest things a critic or fan has said about your work?

One man told me a while back that when he was making a cross country move, one of the very few things he didn’t allow the movers to take and that he moved himself was his copy of my gay erotic vampire novel, In the Blood, which he said was his favorite book. I was just floored that something I’d written could be so special to someone.

What makes your writing different from your peers? What kind of reading experience can you give your audience?

I like to think I write what I want to read. And what I want to read are strong characters and stories that grip me. I like stories that make me forget I’m reading a writer stringing together words, sentences, and paragraphs and just be transported into their world. This is what I also attempt to do with my own books and stories. I don’t want readers to see the little man behind the curtain; I want them to exist in my character’s world…and I want them to be almost overwhelmingly compelled to keep turning the pages.

Does your writing turn you on?

I’m too jaded for the sexual parts to turn me on. I’m much more likely to laugh or cry when I’m writing something and that shows me I’m doing something right, because I getting down to an emotional level.

How do you create your “world?”

First, I do a million things to avoid writing, but then, when I can procrastinate no longer, I begin reading usually what I’ve written the day before (or if it’s brand new, the notes I have for a project) and that starts getting me in the mood. By getting in the mood, I mean “going under” because I really believe that when I’m truly in my writing zone, it’s a kind of self-hypnosis (and this has actually been verified by a professional hypnotist). So going into my world is almost like a state of active dreaming.

How do you overcome writer’s block? Any suggestions?

I no more believe in writer’s block than I believe in Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. Writer’s Block to me is a cop-out and just another way to put off writing. And if I don’t believe in it, it doesn’t exist. And yes, this line of thought works for me. I have way more ideas than I can put to paper and sometimes, even keep up with.

Generally speaking, what do you develop first? Plot or characters?

The characters have to come first because they tell me the story. If I can make them real in my mind’s eye, their interactions, actions, and conversations flow almost effortlessly; I am just the reporting conduit for them.