Q & A with horror author Steve Feasey
Posted by groupthing on 19 May 2009
groupthing caught up with horror author Steve Feasey to ask him about his novel Changeling.What do you love about horror?
The heightened sense of emotion that it can evoke when it's done well. I like the way that a few well formed sentences can really make you feel uneasy and excited at the same time, and the way that, when it's done really well, it can leave you not wanting to turn the light off at night.
Do you scare easily?
Yes, but not as much as I used to. I think having children changes the things that scare you. But I am still capable of reducing myself to a quivering wreck if I'm left in the house on my own all night. The mind has an amazing ability to imagine the worst in even the most benign of circumstances, and very often it takes the simplest of things to trigger it off: the creaking floorboard at night, a lightbulb blowing in the bathroom when you are in the bath - that kind of thing. That's why horror fiction works, for me at least, much better than cinema: your imagination fills in the gaps and heightens your anxiety in a way that can only be hinted at with lighting and scary music.
Changeling has very classic elements of a horror story set in a contemporary Britain, how did you merge the modern and the traditional?
That was one of the most fun things, and one of the things that makes modern horror work so well. Setting your horror stories in dark, gothic castles is all very atmospheric, but it adds a layer of unreality between the reader and the story that I'm not interested in exploring. Having vampires and demons living among us means that the reader can relate more to them. The flipside of that is that classic horror tropes, like vampires and werewolves, are very familiar to us, and we expect them to display certain characteristics and abilities. My research helped me to work out which elements of the legends that I wanted to keep, and which I felt happy to play fast-and-loose with.
What are the challenges you face when writing horror?
Writing three-dimensional characters that readers care about and empathise with. Many people believe that horror is plot-driven, which is understandable when you consider the incredible situations and scenarios that you can create. But for me, the way that your characters react to these situations is what defines good horror writing.
Trey is a very easy character to relate to, despite his extraordinary circumstances, why do you think this is?
I think that comes down to what I just said about character. It's how he reacts to the extraordinary circumstances - hopefully that's in a way that is both intelligent and realistic, and rings true to how the reader would react in the same circumstances. That's horror in a nut-shell: ordinary people reacting to the most extraordinary of circumstances. That's why it rings the alarm bells within us. That's why it makes us reluctant to turn the bedside light out at night.
What do you have planned for Trey next?
Book two - Changeling: Dark Moon - is out in August, and continues from the point that book one finishes. It's a bit darker, and has some new characters, a deliciously despicable new demon, and an ending that should knock readers' socks off. It was even more fun to write than the first one, and I'm extremely happy with how it's turned out.
Can you recommend your top five horror stories to groupthing readers?
The Scarecrows by Robert Westall - I read this book when I was about eleven, I still get the shivers when I think about it.
I am Legend by Richard Matheson - a modern vampire classic in which the entire population of Earth is turned in to monsters.
The Stand by Stephen King - an epic horror novel with a host of great characters that you really care about.
Fallen Angel by William Hjortsberg - an eerie and atmospheric story that combines horror and mystery genres. A shocking ending that sticks with you for a long time.
Off Season by Jack Ketchum - The gore and violence in Ketchum's books are SO over-the-top and revolting that they are almost comedic. This one is a great cannibal yarn.
Changeling is published in paperback by Macmillan, £5.99. Check out your local bookshop or library to get hold of a copy. Visit Steve's website here.Steve's profile:
I am reading The Bad Place by Dean Koontz
I am listening to Only by the Night by Kings of Leon
I am watching The Sopranos (series four box set)
I am playing Resident Evil 4 (Wii edition)
I am thinking about my forthcoming holiday in Cornwall
Read groupthing's horror blog here.
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