Allan Batchelder Interview Published on: 05, Aug 2022

I’m sixty; I have a lot of cherished childhood memories. Or they might be hallucinations. But I’ll go with a time my parents both seemed happy together.

Other authors have been invaluable and incredibly generous. Although there are thousands of us -- perhaps even tens or hundreds of thousands worldwide -- there is room at the table for all of us. Another author's success does not diminish my own or threaten me in any way.

Initially, I self-published, but soon drew the interest of a very small publisher. That didn't work out, so I self-published again, and attracted a much larger publisher with a proven track record. I am very happy with where I am/we are, given my sales.

My parents took my siblings and me to live theatre, opera and ballet often – but theatre most of all. I just became addicted to the stories told by each play. Eventually, I came to see that I could do that, too, and worked long and hard to become a professional actor.

I would say having confidence that you can generate laughter at will is an extremely empowering thing. And I think the more confidence you have, the better you become at writing and/or delivering your material. I have also loved the opportunity to see and work with so many other comedians. What’s better than laughing and then making others laugh?

Right now, writing is the creative endeavor in which I have the most control. If I’m auditioning, there’s no guarantee I’ll get the role. If I’m directing, so much depends upon my actors. But in writing, I have much more say in how things will develop, how they’ll turn out. How do I keep it up in such challenging times? Well, I am not one of those authors (and I know a few) who can churn out an 80 word book each month. In fact, it can take me over a year to finish a manuscript, because I rely heavily on processing and my subconscious to help me fill out my stories and characters.

I had an idea that I wanted to start my protagonist in such a bad place that readers would be forced to ask, “Where on earth can this possibly go from here? This guy is at rock bottom!”

My dad got me hooked on Shakespeare when I was twelve. So, really, I’ve been researching Shakespeare for 48 years. For a while, becoming a full-time Shakespearean actor was my greatest desire. I ended up doing a lot of his plays, but never quite making it a full-time job. Over the years, too, I have read countless biographies, etc., and so it’s something that I’ve been pondering for decades.

Like a lot of fantasy authors, I play Dungeons and Dragons and have, on and off, since its inception in 1978. I was DMing for a while and realized I enjoyed the storytelling part much more than the number-crunching stuff (as I player, I’m the opposite: I’ll happily kill monsters all session, every session). I began to imagine my lead character before the world in which he lived. Over time, I had to write the first novel, because I needed to know how the story turned out. About halfway through writing it, however, I began to see the story was bigger than one novel, and so I envisioned five.

I read a lot, take walks with my wife. It all feeds my thinking.

I prefer to do my deep thinking in catastrophic weather.

Sometimes that names come to me out of the blue. Other times, I experiment until I find one that seems right. I have indeed named characters after real people. In fact, I named two of the characters in my latest novel after two young men who passed away separately but long, long before they should have. I wanted their parents to know their sons would always exist in my stories, wherever they were read in the world. On another occasion, I auctioned the rights to appear in my books off to the highest bidder, and the proceeds went to an educational institution. Those characters became some of the most popular in Corpse Cold.

I’m not really bothered by criticism after decades in the theatre and almost ten years in stand-up comedy. But it does bug me when someone slams ANY book with a one-star review. I’m a pretty imaginative guy, and I have never seen a one-star book. But maybe that’s because I understand the work that goes into creating one.

I think, initially, you have to kill your inner critic. Get something written. Get it out there? So what if it’s not perfect. Nobody’s work is! Even Shakespeare was criticized by his peers and some of those who followed. Be yourself, and you’ll find your audience – or they’ll find you.

So far, so good! I love some of the cover mock-ups, and I’m looking forward to meeting some new folks!