Interview with Horror Author Yolanda Sfetsos
Interview with Yolanda Sfetsos, author of Suffer the Darkness
1. What was the inspiration behind your new book?
The idea for this story started with a simple premise: what if a mother’s desperate need to find her missing daughter becomes a nightmare capable of destroying her family? And then morphed into: what would happen if the girl who came back wasn’t the same as the one who disappeared? Sometimes, what you wish for the most can turn out to be a total nightmare. I wanted to explore the darkest paths of these two scenarios.
2. You described your novella as 'a small-town tale about a desperate mother's attempt to protect her family from her apathetic eldest daughter', can you expand on that?
Molly is a teenager who goes missing in the woods and when she comes back, her mother, Kae, slowly starts to realise that something isn’t quite right. But having her back home is everything she wanted... until it’s not. And actually becomes a dark descent into the monstrous unknown connected to an old urban legend about the woods in their town.
3. If you were only allowed three adjectives to describe your book, what would they be?
I’d definitely have to say: tragic, distressing and unforseen.
4. What came first Molly, the grieving mother, or the creepy woods?
For me, it always starts with the creepy woods. Then Molly turned up, and I wanted to tell her story. Until I actually started writing and discovered that this was going to be her mother’s dark tale. One that pushes her love to the limits.
5. If your book was made into a movie, who would play the leads?
Author Yolanda Sfetsos
Oh, wow. You know, I didn’t think about this until you asked. But I think Rachel McAdams would make a great Kae, Paul Rudd could definitely be Roy, and Kiernan Shipka would make a terrific Molly.
6. Are you a plotter, a pantser, or a combination of both?
I’m definitely a pantser, but I take a LOT of notes. Sometimes, when I start writing I only know the beginning, other times I know exactly where everything is going. Writing a story is always such an exciting, daunting, and magical experience. I love every minute of it and always look forward to that moment when everything clicks into place.
7. Authors always have the best (and most disturbing!) Google search histories. What kind of research, if any, did you do for this book?
I did quite a bit of research about the myths and folklore surrounding creatures/demons that live in the woods. It’s quite the rabbit hole and the more I read, the more my own myth started to come together. I also had to look up the dates for 2014 and 2015 that I was using, as well as the weather. A lot of boring details that were essential for me to know/double check.
8. How much research do you do for your stories?
I actually do quite a bit of research before I even sit down to start writing. And then, I usually have to do another round of research during the revision because other things come up. Or new things pop up that need to be checked. I’ve definitely looked up some pretty strange and even questionable things in the past. But hey, I write horror so that’s expected, right? 😬
You can visit Yolanda’s website at www.yolandasfetsos.com to find out the latest news or catch up on her blog posts. You can also find her on Twitter https://twitter.com/yolandasfetsos/.
Suffer the Darkness will be released by DarkLit Press on June 18, 2023.
