Guest Author Interview - Jonathan Mitchell

Welcome to the start of a new week. To celebrate (or at least disguise the sad fact it is Monday) let's meet Jonathan Mitchell in the latest guest author interview.

Please introduce yourself, who are you and what do you do?
My name is Jonathan Mitchell, and I published my first novel "The Agent" as an e-book in October 2012. I have also written several short stories.

What first inspired you to start writing?
The first time I was inspired to put pencil to paper was in second grade--I would have been seven or eight years old. The teacher was reading to us from a book that didn't particularly interest me until she got to a passage with a very elaborate description of an old vagrant sewing up a hole in his coat. It was so vivid and that fascinated me. I could see the man's gnarled fingers, the needle and the thread, and as soon as the reading was finished I took out a piece of paper and tried to reproduce the scene in my own words. From that point on, I was crazy about describing things--I loved descriptive writing and still do. I also wrote descriptions of scenes in my favorite movies. It took me a few years to come up with plots of my own, though.

And what was your first story?
It was called 'Crossroads', sort of a Lovecraftian thing about a reanimated corpse. Not bad for a kid but pretty awful by any other standard, ha ha.

If you could work with any author who would it be?
Peter Straub is my favorite author. I think that working with him would be unbelievably intimidating but, given the chance to collaborate with one of your heroes, how could you possibly say no?

What do you enjoy most about writing?
The initial inspiration is wonderful. I guess that's probably every writer's favorite part of the process.

And the least?
Outlining and editing can be tedious, though I'm a big believer in meticulous editing! It's something that has to be done and you'll never regret it, even if it feels like a chore at the time.

What advice would you give new and aspiring authors?
Have lots of patience, lots of discipline and be prepared to risk rejection.

What are you working on at the moment?
I have a little collection of stories that's ready to go, but it'll be another few months before I lift the curtain on that.

Tell us about your latest work and how we can find out more.
My novel is called "The Agent". It's a horror tale about an emotionally adrift man in his late twenties who, through supernatural means, learns of a series of gruesome murders which were committed when he was a child. Eventually he becomes obsessed with the case, and is tasked with bringing the killer to justice--all while wrestling with the allure of evil and the effects of loneliness and depression on his values.

"The Agent" is available at Amazon.com's Kindle Store:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B009QS4AVC/

Thanks to Jonathan for sharing his thoughts with us, on Wednesday Jenelle Schmidt joins us in the hot seat.