What would you say is your most interesting writing quirk?

I want my writing to compel the reader on. From there, you’ve got the characterisation and tone to flesh out the riffs and flourishes. I want the plot to be racing forward like a good drum-beat and bass-line. In a way, and this sounds pretty wanky, I try to recreate the feeling of a good heavy metal song. I like action and movement, and I try to create that in my fiction. Something I can whiz through without putting down.

Really, for me as a reader, I want a fun read. What do you strive for when you write a story? It might be haunted, but it’ll have a bed, and I can sleep through anything, hahaha. I’m going to go with haunted house, though. Would you rather spend the night in the graveyard from your story or in a haunted house? Those things are such a big part of human existence that they’re really helpful when creating a mood. I use them as a reference point whenever I can in creating setting. My wife and I travel as much as possible, and it doesn’t take long for us to start missing those sounds. It’s scaled back when compared to Cicadas, but the sounds of Australian wildlife are so central to what makes this country what it is. But, yes, “The Hound in the Cemetery” is full of the sounds of fruit-bats. Is “The Hound in the Cemetery” also imbued with Australian life?įirst, thank you so much for reading that. It’s full of Australian sounds and smells and flora. I recently read your novella When the Cicadas Stop Singing. They’re really quite interesting because you might think there’s no one around, but the town may have been a satellite community on a regional route from back in the day. They’re usually quite tiny, existing on a single block of land. My wife and I have visited some of the more beautiful cemeteries while travelling, but the graveyard in my story is one of the typical country-town ones you see in rural and regional Australia. Is there a particular graveyard that inspired this story? Using three words, Zachary, describe your story in Among the Headstones. But now, let’s chat with Australian-based author Zachary Ashford. Welcome to the third and final day of my interview trilogy for the upcoming Gothic anthology, Among the Headstones: Creepy Tales from the Graveyard, edited by Gothic author Rayne Hall.įull details about the haunting anthology are provided at the end of the interview.

Sole Survivor II by Zachary Ashford