Sci-Fi, Horror, Fantasy Author Vale Zalecki #Interview
Vale Zalecki Interview
1. Congratulations on the release of These Are Not The Trinity Papers! It sounds like an incredible story filled with intrigue, mystery and corpses. What inspired this manuscript?
Author Vale Zalecki
Funnily enough, the characters were inspired by an actual dream where I briefly inhabited the body and the emotional inner landscape of being my protagonist. It was a very disorienting experience. The themes and the plot were inspired by my own struggle with mental illness and the way some people romanticize the dangerous idea of good art stemming from craziness. All of this is taken to its own crazy extremes in my book, of course.
2. Are you a pantser or a plotter?
I’m absolutely a plotter for novels, I need to have the roadmap out in front of me or I’m too intimidated to even begin my journey. I can pants it better for short stories.
3. How autobiographical is your work? Do you draw off real events?
Not very much at all, despite drawing emotionally and thematically from my experiences. I find it easier to write if there’s a veneer of separation between me and my characters.
4. We all know that authors have, um, unusual search histories. If the FBI were to search through your history, what would that find that is totally, complete for “research?”
“How to kidnap [insert name of famous billionaire tech visionary] here,” possibly. I promise it was for the most innocent reason though it probably sounds pretty incriminating.
5. What tips would you give newbie writers looking to break into the industry?
I don’t feel like I’m qualified to be doling out advice, I write to niche and my writing is usually very weird and hardly marketable. What I have discovered though, is that so much of writing is the physical act of writing; you gotta sit down and plonk down one word after the other no matter what you gotta do to make yourself do it. That’s somehow always the hardest part for a lot of writers (including myself), I think.
6. What book(s) are you reading right now?
Universal Harvester: A Novel, by John Darnielle. I’d been meaning to get around to it for a while and I’m glad I’ve finally found the time. I also just finished The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander and I think that was one of the greatest books I’ve ever had the fortune to read.
7. If you could co-author a book with any author, living or dead, who would it be and why?
Mark Z. Danielewski. House of Leaves was one of my most formative books, and I feel like messing around with form would be really fun to do with someone that skilled at it.
8. What is next for you? Anything in the works?
I’m working on a dark fantasy New Adult series about a guy who dies and then discovers the system of death works by nepotism. I’m in the drafting process and I can’t wait to be able to share it with you.
9. Where can people find you online?
You can find me on twitter and my website . I also make video games and draw things, and you can find those at HERE
10. Thank you so much! This is your chance to say anything that wasn’t asked. Closing thoughts?
I hope everyone who reads this gets to pet a cat today. Or if they’re allergic, some other cool animal of their choosing. Thanks!
BUY THESE ARE NOT THE TRINITY PAPERS HERE
