I am excited to announce a Halloween-in-May-themed giveaway to celebrate the book birthday of “Halloween Night and Other Poems” and Halloween in May. Together with authors Lee Allen, Lee Call, and Adam Searle, we are offering our readers a chance to win a spooktacular prize box.
The contest began on May 22, 2023, and will run until May 31, with the winner being announced on June 1, 2023.
You may recall my interviews with a couple of these guys. Click their names in the previous paragraph to check those out.
There’s still an opportunity for you to join the contest! Simply click on the link below to review the rules. Moreover, it would be greatly appreciated if you could share the contest with your friends who take delight in eerie things. Wishing you the very best of luck!
This contest is for U.S. readers only, but we hope to have a giveaway for our U.K. readers soon, so stay tuned!
Last month I had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of a fellow author from across the big pond, Lee Allen. I saw a post featuring his children’s book, The Ghost Train, and immediately added it to my TBR. I reached out to him to see if he was interested in an interview, and as luck would have it, he was. 🙂
The Ghost Train is a short story about a man who lost his wife many years ago as she went in search of the legendary Ghost Train, rumored to be the home of a wicked old (very old) witch. He loves his wife very much and is quite lonesome without her. His grandchildren come to stay with him and cheer him up. They’ve heard stories about the ghost train. It doesn’t take them long to resolve to find the Ghost Train and learn the truth for themselves.
The Ghost Train by Lee Allen
I won’t give spoilers, but I did enjoy the read. Lee does a great job creating a spooky atmosphere for the children’s adventure. I like the relationship built between the characters. If your kids are like mine and used to scary stories, they’ll love it. If your kids scare easily, they may not want to read this until they’re a bit older, but if you read it aloud to them, you could skip the more scary or disturbing parts. Fans of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and Ray Bradbury will likely enjoy this book.
Below is the interview. Happy Reading!
Trista: Tell us a little about yourself and your published books. Which one is your favorite?
Lee: I’ve always been an introvert. I’ve spent huge chunks of my life as a loner, often feeling like the weirdo or the outsider. Imagination was my constant companion and books my closest friends.
My stories contain elements of the gothic, the macabre and the criminal, in the genres of horror, mystery and thriller, with the occasional shades of romance and erotica. I’ve published six books so far, five for adults and one for children, plus some additional short stories.
I wrote my first full-length crime thriller while still in school, later publishing it as my debut novel “Those Crimes of Passion”, now over a decade ago. My forays into gothic fiction followed with “Alone”, the first in my “Jack O’Lantern” series, “The Jack O’Lantern Men”, and my short story collection “Whispers from the Dead of Night”. I then released erotic horror thriller “Bitten” and two short stories in the “Jack O’Lantern” series. My first children’s book, “The Ghost Train”, was released last year.
I’m not sure I have a favourite really – I’m proud of each book for different elements and probably change my mind frequently as to which I’m most happy with. Perhaps if I were to pick the most personal, I would say the “Whispers from the Dead of Night” collection. I worked so hard on it for eighteen months. There were some difficult times during that period and writing kept me going. There were also many times I felt that I might never get it to where I wanted it to be. But I kept going and I’m very happy with the end result.
Trista: How long have you been writing? What inspired you to start?
Lee: It may sound like a cliche, but I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember.
I’ve always loved books and stories – I love to read and have done since I was a child. I was also very creative, so I think those two things must have come together and I developed a passion for writing ever since I was able to pick up a pen and form words on a page. Add to that the escapism of both reading and writing, of being in your own world, and it’s just the perfect mix. So, I’ve always known I wanted to be a writer.
Mysteries, mythology and the supernatural have always fascinated me. By the age of ten, I had discovered both classic gothic horror fiction – in the form of “Dracula”, “Frankenstein” and the Mummy – and classic detective fiction – in the form of Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple and Sherlock Holmes – and my love of the horror and thriller genres developed from there, while I also became fascinated with true crime and psychology. There was probably never a question as to which genres I would write in.
Trista: Are any of your stories based on local folklore?
Lee: I like to weave folklore throughout many of my stories, though sometimes it is purely fictional. I’ve not used any local folklore in stories to date, though at times folklore from other parts of the world has inspired the folklore I apply in the fiction. I also like to weave in history, religion, and mythology to create these elements of folklore. You’ll find elements of that, especially in my adult supernatural fiction – such as in exploring vampire folklore in ‘Bitten’.
Trista: Do you recommend any writing blogs?
Lee: Most of the ‘blogs’ I follow are actually fellow authors’ Bookstagram and Facebook pages, rather than subscribing to traditional blogs. I find the bite-sized pieces of advice and motivation – or simply a post about other writers’ experiences and updates – are more helpful and inspiring than lengthy blog posts.
I occasionally dip into writers’ memoirs and guide books, as well as subscribing to writing magazines. I’ll often subscribe to newsletters when the option is there to do so. I’m also the member of several Facebook groups. I enjoy being able to connect with fellow writers and readers and social media is a fantastic medium to enable this.
So I suppose my recommendation is actually to connect to fellow writers in whatever way works best for you.
Trista: How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have?
Lee: As we’ve all done, I wrote multiple ‘books’ and stories as a child, but I don’t really count any of those – they were just sketches and doodles.
I have several plots and scenes for multiple books floating around at any given time, all of which I intend to return to. As for books I’ve already started, there are two older ones that are currently unfinished. They’ve not been abandoned, just postponed.
“Bitten” was one such half-finished book when I chose to concentrate on “Whispers from the Dead of Night” in September 2018. Following its release, I returned to “Bitten” and completed it, which I think is the ultimate goal for everything I’ve ever started – even if something may end up looking completely different to how it was first envisioned.
As for completed books, nothing at this stage!
Trista: How did publishing your first book change your process of writing?
Lee: Through publishing my first book, I learnt a lot about the publishing process, formatting, marketing, etc. I’m not sure it necessarily changed my writing process as much as it was one component in the evolution of that process. It certainly energised me to return to writing again, after having written little for several years. It was also the first step in me becoming a better editor too. But I was at school when I wrote my first book, and now juggling writing alongside working full time was something entirely new.
When I published my second book two years later, I was far more comfortable with the process as I was now familiar with it. Every release has brought a learning curve though; in recent years, online marketing and social media have become much bigger elements of my process. It’s simply not enough to drop your book and then walk away. You need to find ways to make yourself seen and heard – and that is probably the most challenging part of it all.
But, as for working on the early stages – planning a story and writing the first draft – that remains largely unchanged to how I’ve always done it. I pick up a pen and get lost in the story.
Trista: Does writing energize or exhaust you?
Lee: Both, undoubtedly! Sometimes simultaneously. I love writing and researching and building my plots and characters. I can sometimes spend hours drafting scenes and writing notes. There are other times when I can barely manage the next sentence – though I believe this is often due to external factors or on days when I’ve allowed doubts and anxieties to creep in, or when I’m being overwhelmed or burnt out in general. Overall, I feel happiest when I’m writing and getting into the next scene always makes me feel happy and relaxed.
Trista: What kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book?
Lee: I tend to do quite a bit of research into and surrounding the subjects and themes I want to include in my stories. This could be through non-fiction books, online research, or visits to historic locations or just somewhere similar to the setting for an upcoming scene.
I usually research the next book’s themes in detail before I start, while I then continue to research throughout writing, finally often double-checking details during redrafting. A lot of that research may have no direct impact on the plot or characters, or some research may only influence a small section – perhaps just a sentence. But I think context and authenticity are both very important to a story. Plus it gives me an excuse to order another stack of books for my non-fiction and reference library!
Trista: What’s the best time of day for you to write?
Lee: I try to make notes anywhere at any time. Whether that be on paper or on a computer or smartphone, I try to make a note of whatever has been going around in my head as quickly as possible, as I’m always afraid I’m going to forget. Though considering how many years some ideas have kept coming back to me, I probably shouldn’t worry too much.
When it comes to dedicating time to sit down to write, it’s most often in the evening or later at night. Though if inspiration grabs hold of me for particular scenes, I may need to start writing it wherever I am at whatever time of day it occurs.
Trista: How many hours a day do you write?
Lee: Not nearly as many as I’d like to! Sometimes I’ll only be able to squeeze in half an hour, but sometimes I can manage much longer (though I may suffer for that late night the following morning). I’ve written several books now by writing in these consistent smaller chunks, so it seems to be the best way for it to work for me whenever I’m juggling it with other priorities. Which for most people, is always the case.
Trista: What’s your favorite book?
Lee: I’m not sure about favourites, but there are certainly significant books. Just trying to think of them, the list keeps growing, so I’ll try my best to keep it concise.
“The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” was probably one of the earliest full novels I remember reading independently, or at least what’s stuck in my mind.
I discovered “Dracula” during my childhood years, firstly in abridged child-friendly versions, then through the “Horror of Dracula” film adaptation starring Christopher Lee before reading the full-length novel. A classic of gothic and horror fiction.
I first fell in love with Agatha Christie’s work when watching the “Poirot” TV adaptation starring David Suchet. I was so excited when I discovered a new book collection and snapped up the first issue. “Murder on the Orient Express” became the first crime novel I read and I’ve not looked back since.
Finally, a book series and another entwined with the screen with Lynda La Plante’s “Trial & Retribution”. I read all six novelisations after seeing the sixth series on TV. The way it blended police procedural, forensic science and legal drama, plus a dash of the core characters’ personal lives, felt like getting the best of everything in one mix.
While there are so many more I could mention, these four examples are perhaps the starting points for the various strands of my genres of choice for both reading and writing (and viewing) in the years between then and now.
Trista: What would you say is your most interesting writing quirk?
Lee: Perhaps this isn’t necessarily a quirk, but I like to write all my first drafts by hand. There seems something more traditional and fulfilling about putting pen to paper, working in new notebooks for each project.
It also has its practical uses – I spend all day using a computer for my day job, so it’s far healthier and relaxing to be using pen and paper rather than being back on the computer late in the evening. Typing up what I’ve written I’ve found helps when redrafting, being able to simultaneously review and almost be writing it afresh again.
Trista: Can you share a bit of your current work?
Lee: I’m actually working on two books at the moment – a new gothic horror novel for adults and the second in my “Ghost Legends” series for children.
I’m about halfway through the first draft of my new novel, so won’t say much about that at this stage, other than to say I’m revisiting a character some readers will have already met.
As for “Ghost Legends II”, readers will be catching up with Chloe and Lewis in the next chapter as their lives become tangled with another piece of local legend and dark folklore. I’ll be sharing more details on this one very soon!
Trista: How exciting! I’m looking forward to that. Thank you so much for taking the time for this interview. It’s been nice chatting with you. Is there anything else you’d like to say to your readers?
Lee: I just wish to say a huge thank you to all my readers – thank you for taking a chance on an unknown and indie author, and thank you for all you’ve done to support me. I hope I can continue to keep you entertained with my stories.
And thank you, Trista, for inviting me to appear on your blog for this interview and sharing your thoughts on “The Ghost Train” – it’s very much appreciated!
Well, Dear Readers, I hope you enjoyed the interview! Help me support indie authors by liking, sharing, and commenting.
Don’t forget to check out Lee’s Amazon page where you can grab copies of all his titles.
Books by Trista 