Gary Kruse interview

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

A little introduction:

Hi, nice to meet you all. My name is Gary Kruse, I'm a writer from Harold Wood on the Essex/London borders. I've had numerous short stories and drabbles published in print and ebook anthologies, and my short story "Hope in the Dark" won the November edition of the Writers' Forum magazine short story competition. My debut novel, Badlands, is released on January 21st 2022 through Darkstroke. 

When did your love of books begin?

When I was on holiday as a kid (probably about 6 or 7 years old??) we stayed at a holiday camp in Burnham on Sea and in the shop there, they sold Enid Blyton's Secret Seven books for a pound. Every morning I'd run to the shop with my dad and sister to buy the morning papers, and I'd buy one of the books, then spend the rest of the day with my nose buried in it. I'd read it in a day, then go back the next day and buy another one. Since then I've been hooked on books. 

When did you start to have the wish to become an author?

I'd written stories as a kid, and when I was in my last year of primary school we had to write a book for a project. It had to have 3 chapters, and we had to design a cover. I wrote a Secret Seven type tale about a mystery involving a yellow travellers caravan. It was my favourite project at school, but after that I didn't write much. 

Then in 1996 I got into horror movies. I'd watched the Lost Boys, and then I went to see The Craft in the cinema. I loved both films and afterwards I started thinking about what would happen if the coven from the Craft ran into the Lost Boys. My imagination went into overdrive and I wrote a series of stories by hand in old school exercise books featuring four witches and four vampires. Eventually that became my first "novel", Blessed Be. 

How have you found the process for becoming an author?

I've loved every second of it. Aside from the odd non-fiction piece most of what I'd written was rejected and remains unpublished, but in the last twelve months, everything has kind of exploded. I've been shortlisted three times, a finalist twice and won the Writers' Forum short story competition in November 2021. I've been published in six anthologies and had my debut novel accepted. It's been a fantastic year, but the highs are even sweeter because of all the rejections I had to go through. But even when I've been rejected, I've loved working on the stories and loved the process of writing. 

What would you say to those wanting to become an author?

Write because you love writing and telling stories, because that's the only part of the whole process that you control. I used to be a Tennis Coach and one of my maxim's that I often repeated to players was "Process over Outcome", which basically means focus on developing your skills rather than whether you win or lose, and I'd apply that to writing too. Enjoy writing. Enjoy learning and figuring out how to write better. Don't worry about whether you'll get published or be successful because you can't control that. In my experience though, if you focus on the process, you'll get the outcome (publication & hopefully success!!!) you desire. 

Tell us about your book/books:

Badlands is the story of Megan "Willow" Rae. When she was sixteen, Megan ran away from home and ended up backpacking around the world. She took on the name "Willow", lost touch with her friends, had a massive argument with her sister Ellie, then ended up in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, Australia. 

Then she gets a text message from an anonymous number. She thinks it's from Ellie, and she's desperate to reach out and repair their relationship but she can't get in touch with her. Plus, the message sounds like a warning. Like Ellie is in trouble. So Willow flee's Sydney and returns to her hometown of St. Agnes, Cornwall to find her. But Ellie has gone missing after getting embroiled in a local scandal, and as Willow tries to track her down, she gets drawn into a sinister conspiracy that will stop at nothing to silence her. 

What do you love about the writing/reading community?

I love connecting with people who have a shared passion for creativity, for fiction and for books, whether they're indie writers or more traditionally published. It's like the biggest writers group and book club in the world, and I've met some amazing readers and writers through it.

If you could say anything to your readers what would it be?

Firstly and most importantly, thank you for choosing to read my work (or anyone's for that matter!). Without you, authors don't exist. 

Secondly, I hope you enjoy what you read and that you connect with the characters but whether you do or not, please leave reviews on GoodReads or Amazon or on your blogs/social media, and retweet or share any author related posts that you love. And while this is massively important for Indie or Small Press writers, it's equally important for those Trad Published authors you enjoy as they don't always have the massive marketing budget that comes with being Richard Osman or David Walliams!

And finally, once again. Thank you!

Where can people connect with you?

e-Book pre-order for Badlands is live now on amazon: http://mybook.to/badlandsdarkstroke

You can find links to the rest of my work, and catch up on my blog on my website: https://garykruse.co.uk/

I'm also on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@KruseGowerWrite;

And Instagram as www.instagram.com/@gowerkrusewrites