1. First off, what is your favorite animal in the world?
The dachshund! I grew up with dachshunds as pets, and I have two dachshunds myself. The dachshund is the pinnacle of evolution on Earth, and no other lifeform will ever approach its magnificence. After that, it would the shark, because sharks are cool as hell.
2. How has the current pandemic (COVID-19) affected you as a writer?
For years, I would go to a Starbucks and write my stories and novels by hand in a notebook, then I’d come home and type the text into my computer, editing as I went. I liked writing in coffee shops because there would be some activity and noise around me. They seemed to occupy one portion of my mind so another could write. But COVID changed that. For the last year and a half I’ve written at home, typing text directly into the computer. It’s sped up my process since I don’t have to write the text twice – once in a notebook then again in Word – but other than that, I don’t know if this change in method has had any impact on the quality of my writing. Editors keep buying my stuff, so I must still be doing something right.
3. Congratulations on writing the sequel of Halloween (2018) titled Halloween Kills, what was the most surprising thing you learned when writing it?
That it was easier to write from the Shape’s point of view than I expected. I’ve written several creature-feature type books, the most recent of which was Alien: Prototype, and with them I learned how to write from the point of view of a non-sentient creature. When I employed this technique for Halloween Kills, those scenes from the Shape’s viewpoint went smoothly. Michael may not be non-sentient exactly, but he’s internal workings and motivations are forever a mystery, which in some ways makes him like a non-thinking creature.
4. What is your writing process like for Halloween Kills?
When I write a novelization, the first thing I do is read the script I’m sent. I want to get a feel for the story as well as come up with ideas for how to expand it. Scripts are usually only ninety to a hundred pages long. You need to expand them to book length, which means that you’re going to have to add some scenes of your own. I then type the dialogue into a Word document since I know I have to include it all. Studios never send you any reference material, so I look for any info on the production that may be online, especially photos that will show me what people/places/things look like. All four movies I’ve written novelizations four have been sequels to films that I saw in the theater when they came out, and I owned them all too. I watch the first movie several times, reminding myself of the way the actors portrayed the characters and making notes about any settings that may show up again in the sequel. I then open my dialogue-only file and start writing the novel around the dialogue. I adapt some descriptions the writers included in the script so their voices can come through in the novel as well. Writing a novelization is like collaborating with other writers you will probably never meet. I do my best to imagine what the final movie might be like and I try to create that experience on the page for readers.
5. Did you ever listen to music while writing Halloween Kills?
I don’t usually listen to music when I write, but this time I did! I listened to the original Halloween and Halloween II soundtracks, the soundtrack to Rob Zombie’s Halloween, the soundtrack to the 2018 Halloween, and John Carpenter’s Lost Themes.
6. What were the challenges (literary, research, etc.) in writing Halloween Kills?
As I said earlier, studios don’t give you any material to work with, and you certainly don’t get to see a rough-cut of the movie ahead of time. So I scoured the Internet searching for any information that might be useful – especially production images. I read John Passarella’s novelization of the previous movie so I could make my book a sequel to his as much as possible. I read Dennis Etchison’s novelization of Halloween II (written as Jack Martin.) Etchison is one of my writing heroes, and I wanted to see how he handled the Shape’s point of view. Sometimes it was difficult to work with the dialogue from the script. A script can have a line of dialogue where a character says, “No, no, no!” Words are repeated, and an actor can invest each word with a different emotion. It’s almost impossible to replicate this on the printed page. I’ve been a Halloween fan since I saw the original film in the theater, and I’ve seen and own all the movies, so in a sense, I’d done research for this book for decades.
7. What was your favorite chapter (or scene) to write in Halloween Kills?
I can’t tell you. I signed an NDA. I can say that I enjoyed writing scenes from Michael and Laurie’s point of views. It was a delight to get inside the heads of those two iconic characters.
8. How do you compare writing a villain like Michael Myers to other villains that you have written for media tie-ins novels?
Michael is an implacable force of nature – cold, merciless, and utterly alien. This makes him one of the greatest monsters in horror movie history, but since he can’t interact with other characters, it’s more difficult to show him having any connection or relationship to them. I wrote about Freddy Krueger in a tie-novel called A Nightmare on Elm Street: Protégé a number of years ago, and while Freddy is also a force of nature, at least he can talk to people!
9. On Your book “Your Turn to Suffer”, what was the genesis of the story?
My original novels usually come from several different ideas that I combine into one story. I write ideas on my phone using a notepad app, and when it’s time for me to work on a short story or novel, I go through those ideas and select several that spark my imagination. Your Turn to Suffer was a phrase I’d written down, but I have no idea where I first heard it or what inspired it. I thought it sounded like it would make a cool title. I’d also written down an idea about a novel dealing with a character plagued by a cult, and the word Cabal as the name for a sinister organization of some sort. I put them together, and then I asked myself, “What would the Cabal harass a character about?” My story was off and running from there!
10. Do you ever get writer's block when you wrote Your Turn to Suffer? What do you do to get back on track?
I don’t usually get writer’s block. Sometimes I have trouble getting into a novel when I first begin it. The writing goes slow as I’m getting a feel for the characters and their world. But once I do, the writing picks up speed and goes more smoothly, and by the time I reach the last third of a book, I’m writing at a furious pace. Sometimes other work interrupts a novel. I may need to write a short story for an anthology, so I have to work on that for a while. I’m a college professor, so there are times when my grading load is heavier than others, and I need to take a short break from a book to grade papers. But once I’ve gotten underway on a project, I usually don’t have any trouble getting back into it.
11. If you could pick a day to relive over and over again, what day would it be and why?
My daughters’ births, of course, but along with those, I’d choose the day I first set eyes on my wife. We recognized each other the moment our eyes meant. It was like being struck by lightning, but in a good way!
12. Do you have any unique or quirky writing habits?
I like to drink coffee when I write, usually in one of my horror-related mugs. I have a Halloween mug on which the movie logo and an image of Michael appear when you pour hot liquid into it. I drank from it exclusively while working on Halloween Kills. I like to have physical objects like action figures around me for inspiration when I write, so I had several Michael Myers’ figures of different types surrounding my computer as I wrote.
13. What book do you like to read over and over again?
I don’t normally reread books. I read Lawrence Block’s columns and books on writing when I was first starting out. I dedicated my how-to-write horror book Writing in the Dark to him, and sometimes I do go back to his books on writing and reread sections. I reread short stories from Thomas Ligotti and Dennis Etchison from time to time. I find both writers highly inspirational.
14. Could you share a quote or two that inspire or motivate you in life?
I don’t really collect inspirational quotes – I have a hard time even remembering them once I’ve read them. But I do have a sticky note near my computer with two sentences I wrote to motivate me when I’m writing: “Writing is a choice. Writing is a commitment.” Not everybody has the time or the good health to allow them to write, of course, but those two sentences remind me to keep my nose to the grindstone, even (especially) when I don’t feel it.
15. Which book (besides yours) have you read that made you laugh a lot?
Brian Keene’s wonderful memoir of his career as a horror writer, On the Road, caused me to laugh in recognition a number of times, since I’ve experienced a lot of the same things in my career as he has, and Jeff Strand’s The Writing Life did for the same reason – and because Jeff is a hell of a funny guy.
16. What television show do you think doesn’t get its due?
Kolchak the Night Stalker! I loved that show when I was a kid, and it was influential on a lot of writers from my generation. People acknowledge Twin Peaks as classic show these days, but I don’t know if people realize what a profound change it made in how stories were told in movies and TV, and how hugely influential it was to so many artists – including me.
17. What was the last book you gave to someone as a gift?
What Color is Your Parachute? I gave it to my youngest daughter who’s still trying to figure out career stuff. Before that, it was Vesper Flights by Helen Macdonald. My wife’s a falconer, and she loves Macdonald’s writing about raptors, so I gave it to her. I usually don’t give people fiction because reading tastes are so subjective, and it’s almost impossible to guess what kind of novel or short story collection someone else would like (at least it is for me).
18. Last question, in one word how would you sum up your experience with Halloween Kills?
Highlight, because it was one of the true highlights of my career, a real bucket-list it.
Thank you once again Mr. Waggoner for stopping by Novelpro junkie to do this interview. You guys should definitely get the novelization of Halloween Kills especially if you are fans of Halloween films. Get to know more about the author and his other works by visiting his website as well. Thank you readers for reading this interview and I hope you all have a wonderful day.