Some of my favorite authors are Ursula K. Le Guin, Neil Gaiman, Susanna Clarke, and Maggie Steifvater.<\/p>\n Much of your work belongs to the gothic and\/or horror genre. When did you first become interested in horror, and do you find yourself returning to certain stories\/poems\/films for inspiration?<\/strong><\/p>\n I grew up watching The X-Files<\/em> (and am SO excited for the new season), and I read some Stephen King when I was relatively young; The Stand<\/em> is still one of my favorite books. Eventually I branched out into Richard Matheson and Ray Bradbury and other staples of the genre. Like writing in general, writing horror was never a conscious choice for me either; most of the ideas I come up with just naturally take a dark turn!<\/p>\n I re-read The Stand<\/em> often, but it isn\u2019t exactly for inspiration. I tend to seek new sources of inspiration instead of returning to old ones because I\u2019m always looking for ways to improve and expand my own writing, and I feel a good way to do that is to read new authors and stories. I do sometimes re-read the same short story collections from authors like Matheson and Bradbury because those will offer a lot of variety, which I find can plant new story ideas in my head.<\/p>\n You work in New York City. How does the omnipresent bustle of one of the world\u2019s largest metropolitan areas impact your work (if at all)?<\/strong><\/p>\n What a great question! New York City is such a large and diverse city; it\u2019s great for people watching. You can get glimpses into lives that are completely unlike your own, and also see the full range of human emotions in a very short span of time (especially during the morning and evening commutes). It\u2019s a great way to learn the nuances of human behavior. So I think being there almost every day has a more general rather than specific impact on my writing.<\/p>\n In what directions do you see the horror genre going in the next ten to twenty years?<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019d like to think it\u2019s going to become more inclusive with regard to author and character diversity. This is already happening, but I hope it continues to do so. I also think that as technology continues to advance, horror will follow that. Like the movie \u201cUnfriended\u201d that came out recently (although I haven\u2019t seen it yet). We\u2019ll see more stories that play on our fears related to social media and technology. But I think the classic staples of the genre, like supernatural creatures and psychological horror, will always be around. They feed into a more primordial fear that I don\u2019t think humanity can escape no matter how far we advance. (I should note that I am terrible at predictions.)<\/p>\n You have three works appearing in an upcoming illustrated short story book. What can you share about this project?<\/strong><\/p>\n I am so excited about this project! It\u2019s called 341; my girlfriend came up with the idea a few years ago, and we asked another of our friends to participate. It\u2019s an interesting concept: each of us wrote one main story, then we read each other\u2019s main stories and each wrote a response. So each author has three stories in the collection. Our responses had to be inspired in some way by the main story, but it was a loose requirement: we could do the same theme, or try to mimic the writing style, or repeat the imagery, etc. Then we each got an artist on board to illustrate our stories, and the artists have to do the same thing, taking inspiration from each other\u2019s artwork. It\u2019s been great fun so far. The collection should be available in October.<\/p>\n We\u2019re hoping to do similar projects in the future and expand the number of writers and artists we have involved. Our Kickstarter for this first collection was successfully funded, so we know there is a good deal of interest in the idea.<\/p>\n Hands down, it\u2019s developing characters. Most of my stories are character driven; I am so interested in how people react to events, how they grow over time, how we can damage and also heal one another. So it\u2019s no surprise that when I do write horror, it\u2019s mostly psychological.<\/p>\n Once I have the characters, the story usually follows. Sometimes I have to write character sketches, just figuring out the inner workings, before I even know what the story involving the character will be.<\/p>\n Out of your published pieces so far, do you have a personal favorite?<\/strong><\/p>\n I feel like all writers must dread this question! It\u2019s so hard to choose; they\u2019re each like a little piece of me, and they have their strengths and weaknesses. Currently, though, I think my favorite is \u201cMaking Friends,\u201d which is in Gothic Blue Book IV<\/a> <\/em>from Burial Day Books. It\u2019s just this creepy story about loneliness, and I really love how it turned out.<\/p>\n![\"Nicole](\"https:\/\/www.gwendolynkiste.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Nicole-DeGennaro.jpg\")
<\/a>To be honest, it was never a conscious decision that I made. I grew up as a voracious reader (and still am), so I\u2019ve always considered it a natural progression that I would go from reading to writing. A few years ago it occurred to me that people other than my friends and family might like to read my stories, and that\u2019s when I started submitting to anthologies and whatnot.<\/p>\n<\/a>If forced to choose, which part of the writing process is your favorite: developing characters, creating setting, or plotting the story?<\/strong><\/p>\n