Rob Bliss
What lead you to write?
Extreme boredom as a child, and many deaths in the family. I escaped into books more than into anything else, so it was natural for me to eventually want to write books of my own.
Was there a particular person that influenced you to pursue writing?
No one I knew. Authors I liked inspired me to be like them, and the more books I read the more I wanted to write books.
What is your preferred genre to write?
Horror. But I like to mix in fantasy, science-fiction, bizarro, and whatever else in with the horror.
What is your favorite genre to read?
Depends on my mood. I literally read everything. Every form of genre fiction, including romance and westerns, plus I grew up reading poetry, plays, essays, etc., from the Ancient Greeks to the modern era.
What are your favorite activities or hobbies outside of work/writing?
Going for long drives in the car, thinking strange thoughts, planning for a future that will never come. I also enjoy optimism.
Who is your favorite author and what do you enjoy about their writing style?
You wouldn’t believe me, given what and how I write. Marcel Proust. Granted, he wrote a ton of the same thing, but, man, did he know how to put words together. It’s harder than it looks.
What is one major struggle you have with writing?
Not having enough time to do all the writing I want. Still waiting to win a lottery. I could easily be a monk whose only job is to write, and I wouldn’t get bored. As long as I had a good supply of brandy, I guess.
Out of all of your stories, which one did you most enjoy writing?
I have to give the standard writer answer: the one I’m working on. Once a story is done, it’s a chore to revise and edit, etc. Whatever story I’m working on at the time is the best one because it’s not done, which means it can go anywhere, and I actually get excited to get back to it. I rarely get writer’s block.
What projects are you currently working on?
Tons. I have manuscripts currently out at various publishers, I have other manuscripts that are typed but not revised, still others that are written but not typed, and I have 2 or 3 notebooks filled with tons of ideas that I may never get to.
What has been one of your strongest inspirations for a story?
Everything. Books and movies and paintings and people and places and ants on the ground.
Do you place any of your life experiences into your stories?
Hell yes! I think every story I’ve written, or will write, has or will have at least one biographical tidbit in it. But I ain’t telling what those bits are.
If your story could be made into a play or movie, what actor/actress do you think would be the perfect fit to play your mc?
Unfortunately, Don Knotts is dead. But if he could be resurrected, bingo! Oh, and Harvey Korman and Madeline Kahn would be incredible in anything! Can they be brought back from the dead, too?
If you had enough money to travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
You name it, as long as it wasn’t one of those countries that like to kill people a lot. Somewhere warm would be nice, especially when it’s winter wherever I am.
What is the best advice you’ve ever received?
May you find peace.
What is your dream car?
I am very much non-car. If I could live in a place where cars would never be needed, I’m there. Also, I hate pants. And shoes. And socks. And telephones. And television. Maybe I should find a nice cozy cave somewhere.
What part of your writing is the most complimented?
I guess if it moves quickly and keeps the reader interested, then people like that. But people usually don’t tell me that; they either say they liked it, or they had problems with it but it was well-written, or they don’t say anything and just give me a polite, civil smile.
What part of your writing, do you feel, needs strengthening?
Continuity. I get caught up in having a story go in a thousand different directions, just to keep things interesting, but then I screw up little details that don’t mesh up. Editing gets harder when I have to find the colors of character’s eyes and why they may change for no reason during a story.
What is your favorite mixed drink?
I haven’t had it yet, but I like good scotch. I put scotch in my stories frequently – there, that’s a biographical detail.
What is one of your most cherished items in your writing space?
The curtains. They block out the light and any distractions.
What is one thing in anything you’ve read that stood out to you? (Could be meaning or even just sentence structure.)
Edgar Allan Poe’s story, ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’, I finally realized, may be the first modern story, making Poe the first modern writer. It’s told entirely through a deranged, and thus unreliable, narrator. When subjectivity took over and made objectivity antiquated, you get modernism. Poe was a modernist, yet he’s not taken seriously by the literature professors because he’s passed off as strictly a genre writer.
What advice would you give to someone trying to start building their platform and market their work?
Until your name becomes a brand, you gotta fight and push it and get the eye of the tiger! Become a wrecking machine! Shove your name into people’s heads until they love you or hate you, but can’t ignore you.
What is your favorite food?
BBQ anything, except for sushi.
What is your favorite show/movie?
I have three favorite movies, not in any particular order: Caddyshack, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Casablanca. With The Road Warrior as a close fourth.
Website: http://robbliss.flazio.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rob.bliss.779
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BlissRob
About The Author
Aaron D Brinker
I'm an Author who loves multiple genres. Growing up in a military home I have learned to love different cultures and climates. I am 39 and married to a beautiful and wonderful wife. We make our home in the Ozarks of Eureka Springs, Arkansas. My love of multiple genres is present in my stories. I love to write Fiction in the genres of Horror, Fantasy, Christian Fiction, and Thriller.