(Books) Interview: Author Chad Hoffman talks to The Carnage Report

What got you into writing?

I have been writing since I was a boy and it was always something I just felt drawn to. Life wasn't always the easiest for me (not that it is any easier for anyone else), and when it got hard I used to like sneaking away into books. Once I figured out I could control the tales if I made them myself, play God, I was hooked.

Do you have any writers who influenced your work?

I have a ton of writers who have influenced my work. Without each and every single author who has ever written a book I've read, who knows what kind of words I would be putting on paper.

If there was room on Mount Rushmore for a writer, who would you put up there?

This question caught me off guard and it took me a little thinking to come to a conclusion, and first I would put myself up there, no doubt. But for the more traditional answer, I think F. Scott Fitzgerald would belong among those faces.

What influenced you to write Sci Fi and Horror stories?

I honestly don't know. When I was a boy I loved wizards. Harry Potter was home boy, but I was afraid of my own shadow at times. Once I started writing though, it was easy to write scary things; I have re-read some of my stories before and wondered where it came from. A friend once told me it's because I am actually afraid of the things I write about. But who can really say?

On your blog you said that, “if you want all thumbs ups and smiles, you have found the wrong author,” how much of your difficult childhood played into how you write stories?

Everything and nothing. It is something that happened (and in retrospect wasn't the most difficult on the block) but, NOW, is all we have. And when you keep that in mind, your past means nothing, and you can just create.

Everyone can name their favourite book; can you name your least favourite?

Pretty much anything with a romantic, sparkly, quiverrish vampire. Vampires don't love humans, they drink their life essence through a straw known as the jugular.

Tell us about your second and your latest release, The Bird Room?

It's a collection of stories I have written over the last five years or so and carried with me all around the U.S. I used to look at these stories (while they distracted me from writing new things) and think, “I'm going to publish a short story book one day.” Well here it is. Oh... and I think it's pretty cool.

What inspired you write the bird room?

I just needed to move on. I would sit down and start writing something and my mind would wander to one of these stories. I would start thinking about all these things I was going to do with them; then I finally decided to just do it.

The Bird Room is made up of seventeen short stories, which ones are your favourites?

They change all the time. Right now The Park is my favorite, but I have also always loved Gold and MJOP420.

Much has been said about the self-publishing phenomenon, what’s your take?

When I decided to self-publish instead of pursuing a traditional publisher I knew it would be hard. I am continuously learning new things everyday, but it's exciting. And in my mind and life I have always been a hard worker. With the internet what it is today anyone can basically teach themselves anything they want; so why wouldn't you cut out the middleman?

Being a self-published author, how much of your time is devoted to marketing your work?

Most of it unfortunately. It's not that I don't enjoy the marketing process, the opposite, I find it incredibly interesting; but it is so time consuming. I will always wish I could just listen to music, and write stories all day long while my work markets itself. 

What’s the best and worst thing about being self-published?

I think it's kind of one of those, “to each his own” things. For me I love it, doing everything myself and learning a hands on trade that's not just writing the manuscript, it's awesome. It's tough though because sometimes being self-published makes it hard to be taken seriously.

What’s the best and worst advice you’ve ever got about writing?

Best: Never Give Up

Worst: Writing won't pay your bills, get a real job.

And finally are you working on anything right now or have anything in the works?

I am re-working my young adult fiction book Helena, which will be published with a new cover (reveal coming soon) in paperback and ebook format. And I have a new book coming out next year about a robot. Stay tuned.

Connect with Chad on Twitter @Chad1234 or visit Chad's site at Chadhofmann.com