A Conversation with James A. Moore
By Steven E. Wedel

They don't come much bigger or any nicer than James A. Moore. With his long hair and full beard, you're more likely to picture him straddling a Harley Davidson and flipping the bird to some uptight cop than using those fingers on a computer keyboard. But, over the past several years, Jim has proven to be one of the most prolific authors in the field, delivering one riveting book after another to his many publishes.

He was kind enough to sit down with Horror World and tell us a bit about himself and how he came to a career as a writer.

Horror World: How old are you?

James Moore: Forty. Thanks for the painful reminder of my mortality.

HW: My pleasure! Where did you grow up?

JM: Everywhere. My father decided to split when I was born and my mother was dealing with six kids and an ex-husband who didn't believe in the need to pay child support, court ordered or not. As a result, we moved to wherever she could find work that paid well enough to put a roof over our heads. I think it was a total of seventeen schools I attended, fifteen of them by the eighth grade. So, as I recall, we moved from Georgia to Colorado, then to California, back to Georgia, down to Louisiana, up to Maryland and finally back to Georgia.

HW: When did you begin writing?

JM: I tried my luck with actually writing a novel when I was fourteen. I spent the entire summer writing a 300-page manuscript with absolutely no semblance of a plot. I didn't try again until I was in my twenties.

HW: When did you know you wanted a career in writing?

JM: Right around the same time I discovered I couldn't get work as an illustrator for comics. I had an editor tell me exactly why I sucked as an artist and then turn around and point out that I was telling a very good story. He was the first one to suggest I try my hand at writing and I've been at it ever since.

JM: Your first publication was in Marvel comics, and came after you'd submitted a story you'd written and illustrated yourself. Do you still draw?

HW: Occasionally, but more doodles than anything else. I'll never be accused of having any talent along those lines. Mostly I draw when I'm thinking about a particular scene in a novel to help me visualize what I'm trying to put into words.

HW: Who were your early influences?

JM: Well, obviously I was heavily influenced by comics. Marv Wolfman, Len Wein, Stan Lee, etc. Later, when I discovered that books didn't have to suck, I started into fantasy novels and a few science fiction ones, as well.

Stephen King is the author that I'm most often compared to (I wish!) and he's a very obvious influence. But I read constantly and I think that almost everything you read, good or bad, will have an influence on you after a while. Aside from King one of the biggest influences has probably been John Irving. I think the man is amazing. Peter Straub, Robert McCammon, Rick Hautala, Charles L. Grant, Tom Monteleone, F. Paul Wilson, T.E.D. Klein, H.P. Lovecraft, Manly Wade Wellman, Robert Bloch, Harlan Ellison…I could probably go on for a few pages. I'm a voracious reader.

HW: Your first two books were part of White Wolf's gaming series. How did you get involved in that?

JM: Friends of mine owned and operated Comic Shop News and Game Shop News. They asked if I'd be interested in doing some ad work, selling space in the magazines. White Wolf was local, and I'd never heard of their games, but they loaded me down with a couple of armloads of books for review. Not long after I started reading them, I got hooked (Yes, I'm a game geek) and a little while after that I had an idea for a story and pitched it to the developer for Vampire: The Masquerade. They let me run with it and I started writing very regularly for them for several years. The novels sort of evolved from that.

HW: Your first novel, Under the Overtree, was released in 2000 by Meisha Merlin. What inspired that story?

JM: Well, when I was sitting down and writing one page pitches for Marvel Comics, I went at it hard and furious, sending them something like 45 proposals inside of a month. After spending that much time on small work, I started getting an image in my head that wouldn't leave me alone. I kept seeing a teenager running through the woods, being chased by several other kids who then beat him mercilessly. After a couple of weeks, I started writing the scene out just to make it go away, kind of like listening to a song that's been stuck in your head for a while. The next thing I knew, I was 8,000 words into my first novel attempt since I was fourteen.

HW: You've been published by small and independent presses, like Meisha Merlin and Earthling, and with mass market houses like Leisure and Berkley. What are the advantages and disadvantages of small and large presses?

JM: They really are very separate entities in my mind.

Small presses can do a lot for getting a writer a starting point. But even within the small presses there are major differences. Earthling does primarily limited editions; Meisha Merlin does hard covers and trade paperbacks. What they have in common is that they both wanted to make sure that every book did well, and they used their limited resources to make it happen. They sent out ARCs, normally around a hundred or less each, but they sent them to the right places and got the books noticed.

The big houses have resources too, but a lot of times they focus differently, worried more about a handful of heavy hitters than with every individual project. That's the nature of the beast. Leisure, as an example, really doesn't send out review copies. As a result, there was far less buzz about my books with them than there was for the books that had come out from Meisha Merlin and then come out as a reprint from them.

So the advantage of the small press isn't always money, but the exposure they can generate doesn't hurt. And to be fair, a lot of the smaller presses offer comparable money to the bigger houses. But the big houses have distribution network that almost guarantees a book will be seen in all the major chains. I tend to think a wise author can use the two together to get a lot further along.

HW: Your bibliography shows that you've been heavily involved in role-playing game stories for a long time. I assume you play the games. Does participating in role-playing games help exercise your creative muscles for fiction writing?

JM: I did play. I haven't in a very long time now. Several years, at least. I think the interactive scenarios of role-playing games permit you a chance to see a potential story in a very different way. They don't work out the way things do in novels in a lot of cases and I think they can help you with the proverbial "looking outside the box," as it were.

HW: You've interviewed several people for genre publications. Have you always had an interest in journalism-style writing?

JM: Honestly? No. It's fun now and again, but I've always preferred telling a story.

HW: You've been pretty active in helping new writers get established. Why is that important to you?

JM: Because I believe in giving back what I got. I met several wonderful people when I was starting out who took the time to help me with my prose, with my grammar, with just general feedback, when they didn't have to offer me a thing. I also believe, right or wrong, that good writing should not only be noticed by an occasional editor, but by as many people as possible. I think there's room for everyone who's serious about writing. I don't honestly believe that more writers equates to lower sales for me. All I have to do is look back at the help freely given to me to know that I'm not alone in that philosophy, either.

HW: Based on the bio on your Web site, I get the idea you don't outline your novels. Is that correct? Tell me how a James A. Moore novel comes to be.

JM: That's absolutely correct. In almost every case where I tried to outline a story, I think the end result was stilted and lifeless. The best example I can give you is RABID GROWTH. The book was meant to be a stand alone sequel to another novel and several people have said it couldn't stand on its own at all. Why? Because I was doing my best to work off an outline I'd written a year before and I didn't give the characters a chance to live beyond that outline. If I could go back in time, I'd completely overhaul that story and start from scratch.

I start novels with a basic idea of the story I want to tell, and I let my mind go wild. I mean, there are a few scenes that MUST happen in the story, but otherwise, it's all free form. If I need a character for a scene, I create the character on the spot. That doesn't mean I put down a name and call it done: No, I still have to know the character before I start writing. By the time I actually start typing the new character in, I'll have a damned solid idea of what the person looks like, what sort of personality I'm dealing with, and probably a few hundred other tidbits, like their hobbies and favorite color. Sometimes I'll even have a full family history in my mind, even if it never shows up in the book.

HW: Is that process any different when you're writing based on a game or TV/movie world?

JM: Completely different. I have to outline heavily with characters that already exist and belong to someone else. I'm playing in their sandbox and paying by their rules.

HW: Do you work with an agent? Why or why not?

Not currently. Why not? Because I'm a small fish in a very large pond, and most agents can't afford to invest the time I need them to invest in my career. They have other clients, a lot of times those other clients are bigger fish and will earn them more money. Just like everyone else, agents have to prioritize.

I've had two agents in the past. The first couldn't remember my name, a sure sign she wasn't pushing my books with anyone, and the second was just plain too busy to accomplish what I needed done. No harm, no foul. I just took care of it myself. If an agent comes along who can actually sell my books, we can talk. So far, that hasn't happened. Every book I've sold to date I sold on my own, though in a few cases with the help of another author, not with any assistance from an agent.

HW: Reviews of your work have generally been good, with more than one comparison to Stephen King. Do you read your reviews? What influence do they have on you?

JM: Well, first off, I'm always flattered to be compared to Stephen King. The man is a personal idol of mine, so any similarities to his work are probably unconscious imitation on my part. He's been very influential. That aside, I ain't him and don't have his talent. Second, I read every single review I can find. The favorable ones are lovely, they can potentially help me resell a book and they are fun to read when I'm feeling crappy about my writing. The negative ones have potential to show me where I'm making mistakes, and that's a major plus for me. I can't improve on what I do if I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Does that make sense?

HW: You're best known for your tales of insidious horror, but you also write in other fields. What inspires you to write and how do you know what genre it will be? Or, do you even consider the genre?

JM: The genre is the last thing I consider. I write whatever comes to mind and let the publishers decide what they want to call it. Horror, as has been said many times, is an emotion first. It's also one that fascinates me. But I've also been accused more than once of sneaking a love story into a novel, because love is an emotion, too, and equally fascinating in its implications.

HW: Do you have a day job? If so, doing what?

JM: I do indeed. I work at Starbucks as a Barista. Not exactly a job I ever expected to have, but it works for me. I have reasonable benefits, flexible hours and all the caffeine I'll ever need to keep my insane hours.

Seriously, I think any writer out there needs to be medically insured and to have life insurance if they have loved ones. Writing is not a business that keeps a steady cash flow coming in, and I don't like to take risks with certain things. Believe me when I say that with both my wife and I being diabetic, I couldn't hope to afford medial insurance without a job if I wanted to keep a roof over our heads. I believe I'd probably be working at least a part-time job just to get me out of the house, even if I didn't need the benefits. Writing is a solitary profession, and I like meeting people.

HW: How has your family reacted to the subject matter of your stories?

JM: Most of them are supportive. My sister actually developed and maintains my website. My brother has taken several of the publicity shots used on the site and as he's a professional photographer, I appreciate that a lot. My mother told me on her deathbed how very proud she was of me, and that meant a lot, believe me, but she also told me she'd never been able to finish any of my stories because they were too gruesome. There are varying levels of support.

HW: Tell me about Bonnie. What role does your wife play in your writing? Is she your first reader? Toughest critic? Cheerleader?

JM: Bonnie is my soul mate. She's beautiful, intelligent, witty, and willing to put up with me. Believe me, it's a rare combination. She reads all of my works eventually, and she was kind enough to red line the first draft of UNDER THE OVERTREE, but after killing about ten pens on that one, decided she'd wait until they were finished. She also works very well as a collector when it comes time for the editors who owe me cash to pay up.

I do have a first reader, who is as tough as nails and merciless when it comes to showing me where I'm screwing up. She's blackened the eye on my ego more than once and is one of very few people I would ever consider trusting to read something of mine that is as yet unfinished. If she tells me it's crap, it goes. If she tells me it's good, that's enough for me. That's a fairly new development, too, as in the past NO ONE got to look at anything I was writing until it was done. These days, I prefer not to call something done until she's looked it over.

HW: What are your hobbies?

JM: I love reading, always have and always will. Now and then I sculpt when I have the time, and Bonnie and I go to a local park every day to see the wild life. It's sort of my moment of Zen for the day. Other than that, I am a remarkably boring individual.

HW: What do you read for entertainment?

JM: Horror a lot of times, general fiction when it strikes my fancy. On rare occasions, science fiction and fantasy. As I've said before, I ran across a LOT of works that were just too much alike to keep my interest in a lot of speculative fiction. Horror is often the place where I see the most original works, probably because the market is so competitive.

HW: What piece of advice would you give a young author?

JM: Here are several. First, check out Storytellersunplugged.com every day. The site has essays by thirty different people a month, and all of them involve writing. Second, check out worlddomination101.com at least once a week. Brian Keene will gleefully provide reality checks that are worth their weight in gold.

Read often, read a variety of different books and authors and learn from them as you read. It'll happen, whether you want it to or not. Write every day. Set a goal, not on works but on how much time you can devote to writing and then stick to that goal. I've been called "a machine" a few times because I'm rather prolific. It's flattering and all of that, but the reality is, I make sure I write every day. If that means I have to skip out on the hottest new video game that will eat a week of my life, then I do without it.

Write it first, edit it later. The desire to edit as you go is a quicksand trap that has crushed the potential careers of a lot of writers. Finish it first, while the momentum is there. Then edit.

HW: What's coming from you in the near future?

JM: BLOODSTAINED OZ just came out from Earthling Publications. I have a short story collection called SLICES coming from Earthling in the not too distant future, with illustrations by Alan M. Clark, who is one of my all-time favorite artists. Theoretically, I have a novel coming out later this year, just in time for Halloween, but I am not at liberty to disclose the publisher or title at this time. I have two novels looking for homes right now, and some other things in the works that haven't been cemented as yet. I've got a novel tentatively entitled DEEPER that's being shopped around, as well as another novel, CHERRY HILL and a collaboration with Lee Thomas called HUNTED & TORN.

HW: Anything you'd like to add?

JM: That was fun! Thanks!