Interview with Jeyn Roberts

Jeyn Roberts has written a couple of awesome YA books, which we talked about on Tuesday. Dark Inside and Rage Within are post-apocalyptic novels, which race along, drawing you into a world of dark and evil, through the eyes of a cast of young characters fighting together to make sense of this new world. They’re brilliant and I really can’t wait for more. Jeyn was kind enough to answer some questions about her writing – in particular how she writes suspense and fear.

Do you scare yourself when you’re writing?

Nah. I’m pretty tough. I very rarely get scared when it comes to fiction. Even scary dreams tend to fascinate me rather than terrify.

Can you give us two tips for making writing suspenseful?

Less is more. I think what scares us the most is not knowing what’s outside our door . Our imagination is often more deadly than the actual event. Gore is not scary. Gore is just gross. A truly good scary story doesn’t just show us dismembered body parts. It focuses on our fears and amplifies them. I think what I’m trying to say here is that the suspenseful build up is often more freaky than the pay off.

Keep it psychological. Horror needs to evoke a sense of emotional dread. Our imagination is our worse enemy. It is up to the writer to build the necessary atmosphere in which the reader can completely lose themselves.

Which books scared you when you were a kid?

I remember being completely freaked out by Skeleton Crew by Stephen King. It was a collection of short stories that included The Mist. I read that book one summer while at my grandparents cottage.

What horror writers most inspire you?

Stephen King. I think he’s brilliant. I started reading his novels when I was eleven. I also love Robert McCammon. His novel, Boy’s Life, is still one of my favourites. I also read a lot of Christopher Pike when I was a teenager and he really inspired my love of horror.

You build a strong ensemble of characters, which reminds me a bit of Stephen King in The Stand. How do you get inside all the different characters’ heads?

First off, I want to say thank you. I’m flattered. The Stand is one of my favourite novels.

I always find this question to be a difficult one. I’m not sure exactly how I do it, I just do. I think the best way to describe it is that I try my best to get inside my characters head. As the story progresses, I find myself thinking more and more like that character. For example: while writing Dark Inside, some of my characters started taking on their own personalities. Some of my original ideas had to be discarded because that particular character wouldn’t do what I first thought they would. After a while it gets easier. For example, I could put Aries and Clementine both in the same scene and know that they’d behave differently.

You can find Jeyn on Twitter and at her website.