Author Tim Waggoner interview
Learn more about this prolific horror author with my Tim Waggoner interview
An oceanic blob manipulates sharks into gathering its food. A backward-walking man seeks to undo reality. A zombie story told from the virus’s point of view. Welcome to the twisted mind of author Tim Waggoner. Since his debut in 2001, Waggoner’s prolific fingers have cranked out over 50 novels and a whopping number of short stories in the horror and fantasy genres. He’s probably best known for novelizations of films like Halloween Kills and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, as well as Writing in the Dark, a nonfiction book about the craft of writing that won him a Bram Stoker Award in 2020.
To sink your teeth into a Tim Waggoner story is like wandering through a nightmarish version of your own neighborhood. His stories are full of ordinary people dealing with the onset of unspeakable horrors that have taken over their worlds. But rather than all-out bloodbaths, his stories embrace surreal situations, often punctuated by comedic moments to lighten things up — although gore lovers will find a fair share of blood in his work. “I like to think of these emotions like painter’s palette,” Waggoner says. “Hopefully it’s a fun ride for readers, and not too scary.”
Waggoner also teaches creative writing at a community college in Dayton, Ohio. Which means he’s busy, like all the time. You’d think being in-demand like that would get to his head? Nope. He's probably one of the friendliest, most approachable people working in horror today. Well, next to Richard Thomas, whose book Spontaneous Human Combustion I reviewed earlier this year. Alright guys, whatever it is you’re smoking, y’all need to share already! :)
In Waggoner’s latest novel, We Will Rise, a murderous horde of spirits set about bringing a ghost apocalypse to the quiet town of Echo Falls. It just dropped in July, and you can buy it here. Ready to get to know this dude? Then sit down, relax and enjoy my Tim Waggoner interview.
Read the novelization of Halloween Kills by Tim Waggoner
Interview
What inspired your latest novel We Will Rise?
A few years ago I drove past a street called Resurrection Road. It got me thinking: “What if there was a haunting, not just of a house, but a whole street?” So that gave me the idea of a ghost apocalypse — of the haunting of an entire world. Part of it was me wondering why ghosts even bother? Because if they kill you, they just turn you into a ghost. They’re already proof of life after death so you know you're sort of going to be okay. I wanted to explore the question of why your deceased friends and loved ones would turn into a force of evil that tries to hurt you if they came back from the dead.
What’s it like working with established properties in your film novelizations — like Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger, Resident Evil and Alien?
It’s a lot of fun, but it’s also very intimidating. Some of those properties have been around a long time. And everybody has their own kind of canon in their heads about movies, TV shows and comics like this. Even if people do like what you do, everybody would probably do it differently on their own. So it's a weird line to try to walk — to try to please fans while simultaneously not being too conscious of them. Because if you do, you'll end up being paralyzed and unable to write.
Have you ever used your fiction to work out a grievance against somebody from real life? (God knows I have.)
In my Freddy Krueger book, there are three or four bullies. I gave them first names after bullies from high school. They all die in the book (laughs). Most of the time I don’t do it. That’s the one time I did, just for fun.
Writing is hard work. It’s also very lonely and filled with rejections. What about the craft brings you joy?
The making of it. All my life I loved to play pretend in one way or another. Whether it’s taking my action figures and playing out stories with them or coming up with stories in the playground with my friends to act out. It’s a great joy to be in touch with the imagination like that. Writing can be frustrating, trying to work through your ideas. But I love it when they start to work when you make connections between things. I love when it surprises me, like when I’ve outlined a story but suddenly come up with something better.
You’ve made it public that you struggle with depression, probably like many writers do. How do you balance that when you’re writing horror, which is pretty bleak by design?
Writing seems like it carries away some of darkness for me. It’s cathartic to get it all out. Even when current events are happening that seem horrible in the real world, you wonder “How can I write my silly little stories about make believe right now?” The bleakness tends to go away after a little bit. It’s also a way for me to have a conversation with myself about darkness. A lot of themes of my work are that we all know we're going to die, and we don't know if there's any meaning to it. So what do we do with that? How do we get through? How do we face it, or not? It’s almost like self-therapy in a way. I think a lot of art is.
You almost drowned as a child. Can you talk about how that event shaped your work?
I’ve always loved water, but I’ve never learned to swim well — which was why I almost drowned at the age of nine. And then after that, the movie Jaws came out. Water is a great place to hide. You can’t see under there or how deep it is. It’s a great metaphor for horror. What we see on the surface is thin, it’s almost like a membrane between our world and the unseen world. The more I wrote about it, the more these things occurred to me. At that same age, my first close relative died, so it was like an existential crisis for a nine-year-old to go through. That year changed how I looked at horror. Because monsters left behind survivors, like I must have felt at the time. That’s why I started focusing more on the people than the monsters.
Writing in the Dark
If you’re a horror writer, I can’t recommend Writing in the Dark enough to you. In these hallowed pages, Waggoner drops lessons on his years in the business that will help newer writers along on their journeys. With chapters on how to create memorable characters and monsters, avoiding cliches and tropes, and the physiology of fear, it’s a book that’s been indispensable in my own work. While you’re at it, you probably also need the Writing in the Dark Workbook, which just came out this year.
Tim Waggoner’s Writing in the Dark gives helpful advice on the craft of horror fiction
Tim Waggoner books
Blood Island — A sentient blob utilizes the ocean’s deadliest predators, sharks, to terrorize a film crew off the coast of Bridgewater, Texas.
Nekropolis — A zombie private investigator befriends a half-vampire to defend the city of Nekropolis from the forces of evil.
The Way of All Flesh — David is trapped in a nightmarish version of his hometown, pursued by both demons and flesh-eating zombies, with no idea how he got there.
Bram Stoker Awards
Writing in the Dark — Non-fiction, 2020
“Speaking of Horror” – Short non-fiction, 2020
Mentor of the Year — 2016
The Winter Box — Long fiction, 2016
Tim Waggoner on the web
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