Friday 24 May 2013

Guest Author Interview - Kit Tinsley

It's a lovely wet Friday out there, in today's guest author interview we welcome Kit Tinsley, whose new book 'Dark County' is released today. Details of the book and the interview are below:

 


The author of BENEATH takes you one a Journey into the dark heart of rural England
 
Lincolnshire, a place of beauty and peace, but also a place of bleakness and violence. In this collection of short stories, Amazon bestselling horror writer, Kit Tinsley explores the darkness at the
centre of the countryside. The ten tales within cover many aspects of the horror genre, from the supernatural to all too human evil.

Included stories:

A DRIVE IN THE COUNTRY - A troubled, married couple seek a pleasant day out, but it goes very wrong when they have an accident on the isolated, country road.

TRACKS - A young, deaf boy tries to prove his bravery by exploring a ghostly local legend, but will he survive the tracks?

THE HOUSE BY THE MARSH - A group of childhood friends find their whole lives haunted by a chance encounter with a derelict old house.

THE CROWS - A career criminal takes on one last job too many.

FEAR AND LOATHING IN SKEG VEGAS - A young man with a gambling addiction owes money to a very dangerous man. Will a meeting with a strange old man save him, or damn him?

These stories and more will open you eyes to what is hidden under the surface of the DARK COUNTY.


Buy now from Amazon (US) | Buy now from Amazon (UK)



Please introduce yourself, who are you and what do you do?
Hi everyone, I’m Kit Tinsley, and I am an English, horror author, screenwriter, actor, and musician.

What first inspired you to start writing?
The thing that first inspired me to start writing was having an overactive imagination. Even in childhood I would make up my own characters and stories with my toys. Throughout school I loved creative writing. When I was 17 I attempted to write my first novel, and failed miserably due to lack of knowledge and skill. Later on I started writing screenplays, a few of which were made into indie movies that have never seen the light of day. A few years ago I decided I was going to try writing a novel again, after several false starts, the result was my debut novel ‘Beneath.’

And what attracted you to writing horror stories?
All my life I have been an obsessive fan of the horror genre, I even studied it at university. Partly it is down to the whole overactive imagination thing again, it is as much a curse as a gift, I always magine the worst case scenario, whenever the phone rings in the dead of night I automatically assume the worst. Also I believe that the horror genre, in both film and literature, is the modern form of one of the oldest things in human communication, the stories told around the campfire since time immemorial. These stories have always had an important place in all cultures as a way of facing, and processing our fears in safety.

Who is your favourite author and why?
There are many, but if I had to choose one it would have to be Stephen King. His output over the decades has been phenomenal, and I think he has had a huge impact on the genre, both in terms of style and popularity.

If you could spend a day with anyone from history, who would it be?
That is a tough one, it’s not as much a person as a place, I would love to spend a day in the court of Henry VIII, as that is a period of history that I find particularly interesting. Likewise, Victorian
London, maybe spend the day with Jack the Ripper, just to find out who he was.

What is your favourite word?
Are we talking the words I used most in everyday conversation? If so then I can’t possibly say them here. I overuse the words ‘Well’ and ‘So’ at the start of dialogue in every first draft I write so you would think I have a fondness for them. In terms of the sounds of words I have always liked the word ‘Mugwump’ coined by William Burroughs in ‘Naked Lunch’ I believe. There is something about saying that word that makes me smile. It is easier to say the word I hate which is ‘Rhythm’ as I can
never spell it (it took me four attempts just now)

What advice would you give new and aspiring authors?
 Patience is a virtue. I say this only as it is the advice I most  needed when starting out. I would rush for the finish line all guns blazing, and wear myself out quite quickly. I learned also, as a self published author, that you should not be in too much of a rush to release your work. I was, and the first edition of my ‘Beneath’ was littered with grammatical and spelling errors. I now have a wonderful editor, and a second issue of the book has been released, but all of the negative review about those mistakes are still hanging around my neck.

What are you working on at the moment?
I am currently working on my second novel, it is called ‘The Wilds’ and is a change of pace from the supernatural horror of ‘Beneath’. This book is based on the stories of big cats roaming the English
countryside, there is a lot more to it than that, but that is all I am giving away for now.

Tell us about your latest work and how we can find out more.
My latest release is ‘Dark County’ and it is a collection of ten tales of rural terror. I live in Lincolnshire, it is a very beautiful and nice place, but it also bleak and isolated. I wanted to write a collection of stories that encapsulated my feelings about the place I live. The stories themselves cover many aspects of the horror genre, from ghosts to serial killers, and sea monsters to madness, but they are all set in Lincolnshire.

The book is available on amazon, as is ‘Beneath’. For all the latest information on my work, and my random thoughts on other things as well, I would advise people to visit my website http://www.kit-tinsley.com

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