Christopher Ransom is the author of the international bestselling novels The Birthing House, Killing Ghost (published in the UK as The Haunting of James Hastings), The People Next Door, and The Fading. His new book, The Orphan was just published by Sphere.
Can you tell us a bit about The Orphan?
I’m happy to, thank you. The Orphan began as my take on the evil child story, but quickly evolved (as happens with all of my novels) into something else or, hopefully, more than just another wicked, bad seed tale. The story concerns a man named Darren Lynwood and his wife and daughter, who are visited and increasingly enchanted/haunted/tormented by an 11-year-old boy named Adam. Darren becomes convinced that Adam is one and the same boy he bullied and wronged when he himself was 11. So the central mystery propelling the novel is, who is this kid? Can he really be the same child Darren knew from 30 years ago? What happened to him, and who is responsible for his plight? Darren and his family must unravel this horrible series of events from his childhood, in order to save themselves from Adam and the deadly evil he brings with him.
What is it about the horror genre that is so fascinating to you?
Fear is such an immediate and powerful emotion, one that can and does tilt our perceptions of our everyday lives into new shapes and different light. So the joy of writing horror is that it provides a new lens for me to consider facets of the gemstone that is our everyday lives. When something (an accident, a big scare, a major loss or life-change, a crime, etc.) disrupts our daily routine, we are shaken and awakened. Things we have perhaps taken for granted–security, marriage, relationships, financial stability, our very notion of reality–must be re-evaluated. My novels deal with everyday horrors. The ghosts and demons and monsters or what-have-yous are merely a reflection of things like divorce, addiction, loss, identity, loneliness, and so forth. And writing in those moments when the mundane crosses over into the impossible or surreal or supernatural, that’s just plain fun.
Tell us a little bit about the cover art for your books. Who designed it?
My publishers and their marketing team handle the cover art, though I am granted some input on the concepts and design touches. It is always interesting to see the different covers for different markets, the US and those in Europe, and I enjoy learning what sorts of qualities and styles resonate more strongly over there than here and vice-versa. As most of my novels feature families or regular people under threat of some unknown, and are usually set in what we think of as tranquil domestic locations (the suburbs, home, the backyard, etc.), most of my book covers communicate the idea of the safe haven upended by a supernatural menace.
What makes you choose a particular cover?
I don’t really choose the covers, though as I mentioned, my input is usually welcome and factored into the final result. As the author, I tend to vote for the option that feels somewhat unique, that is striking without being confusing, and which feels most similar to the book that has existed in my head for the past year or longer. Sometimes it’s gut feeling, a sense of, “Yes, that’s what I meant” or “that’s what the book felt like to me.” But honestly, and probably more often than we like to admit, the cover the author likes best and the cover that readers respond to most strongly are not the same. Authors are about creating a work of literature, telling a story; book jackets are about selling that story.
Do you think the cover plays an important part in the buying process?
Absolutely. I won’t give specific names or examples, but I know of covers that were not loved or very much appreciated by the author (including one of my own) but which went on to sell boat-loads of copies. Conversely, I know that sometimes the book we and our readers think is our very best effort to date, and which had what seemed like a promising cover, does not find the audience it deserves. Now, this is not science, so we never know exactly why this or that title fails to sell as well as others, but it could be that we as a team missed the mark on the cover execution. We try to guess what will resonate, which jacket will trigger a buying response, so to speak, and we use examples from other successful books and our marketing expertise to guide us, but sometimes even when everyone thought the package was going to be a bestseller, it doesn’t become one. That’s one of the hardest realities of the publishing business.
How do you market your books?
The first and best thing I do to market my work is to write the best novel I am capable of, so that hopefully readers who take a chance on me will want more. Quality is the first step, in other words. Beyond the writing, I do the usual self-promotion for an author these days—maintaining an author site, a Facebook presence to interact with my readers, email campaigns, and in-store events whenever possible.I probably should do more online and social media marketing, but I am stubbornly clinging to the notion that writers should spend 99% of their work time writing, not marketing.
What is the hardest thing about writing?
It sounds glib, but it’s true: the most difficult thing about writing is writing. Or more specifically, writing well. Dashing off a scene, a chapter, 25 pages. . . this is relatively easy for even an amateur. But there has to be something more going on with the text, sentence by sentence, and with the themes, setting, atmosphere, and a hundred other factors that all must mesh together in a novel and beautifully satisfying way. As a reader, I know that I have read the same story (the ghost story, the crime thriller, the murder mystery, the romance, whatever) many, many times. But what makes all the difference is the author’s voice, his style, his narrative techniques, his ability to build something solid and magical using great sentences, rich characters, and also did I mention great sentences? Plot is not too difficult. Writing people in a way that never rings false can be very difficult. Zombies are easy. Characters who live and breathe and are as complex as our loved ones . . . incredibly difficult.
What are your thoughts on good/bad reviews?
Good reviews from almost any source are always nice, can’t hurt, and may be helpful to one’s sales numbers. Negative reviews are next to useless and, to me, a waste of everyone’s time. But there is a further distinction to be made. We live in an age when anyone with a keyboard can go online and become a “reviewer” of a novel or many novels. One no longer needs to have a degree in journalism or English Literature or a proven track record as a real critic in order to “review” books. And there is a huge difference between a literary critic (talk about a dying breed!) and a mere book reviewer or word of mouth forums. As a writer, you have to remember this when some wannabe author trashes your book online, and then take comfort in the fact that said “critic” hasn’t mastered basic grammar and his review is full of typos and faulty criteria, logic, or even high school-level insight. Some of my favorite authors–writers who have won international awards and who have written novels widely acknowledged as masterpieces–have seen their work trashed by online reviewers who, frankly, aren’t fit to shine shoes, let alone criticize a novel.
I’ll take all the good I can get, in other words. And the bad isn’t worth reading. If that sounds precious or hypocritical, so be it. We (authors) are entitled to feel good about the books we have labored over, the career we have spent 20 years or more building. And we are entitled to ignore the haters.
How do you define success as an author?
A novel can be a runaway bestseller and fail utterly as a piece of writing. And of course novels that sell poorly or not at all can be brilliantly successful as a work of art.We have almost zero control over how our books will fare in the marketplace, so we must take pride in the work and judge each story separate of the market. So we have to separate artistic and commercial success.
If the novel I wrote taught me something new about the craft and about myself, if the writing of that book pushed me to new frontiers of my talent, if I accomplished all or even most of what I set out to accomplish, then I was successful. If at the end of my career I can look back and still be proud of every novel and story I ever published, regardless of how many readers I reached and how much money I made, I will consider mine a successful career.
For your own reading, do you prefer ebooks or traditional paper/hard back books?
I have a collection of nearly 2000 books. I think I own perhaps 4 or 5 e-books. I think that answers the question!
What kind of books do you read, any favourite authors?
I like a bit of everything, so long as it is well written. I’ll pick up something notable or recommended by a trusted source, whether it’s romance, thriller, horror, satire, non-fiction, biography, mainstream/commercial, SF, crime/noir, historical, etc. But looking at my bookshelves, I’d have to admit that my favorites tend to be some mixture of “literary” (just plain well written) and suspense. And by suspense I mean that the premise is exciting or intriguing, even if it’s not necessarily high-concept in the Hollywood gimmick sense.
In no particular order, some of my favorite authors are Scott Spencer, John Fowles, Peter Blauner, Dan Simmons, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Philip Roth, Michael Marshall, Tom Perrotta, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Updike, Michael Chabon, Rafael Yglesias, T.C. Boyle, Colin Harrison, Scott Smith, Patricia Highsmith. Brainy folks who know how to spin some yarn.
What’s next?
I’m working on another horror-thriller about a family who have grown up and spread out through adulthood but reunite for a reunion of sorts on a vacation that was tradition when they were younger. They spend 4 or 5 days together at a big lake that once was surrounded by good childhood memories but which now feels haunted, poisoned in some way. As they contend with the problems each now faces in adulthood (divorce, addiction, job loss, etc.), they find themselves thrust into a terrifying fight for survival against . . . an entity, some form of unnatural presence . . . that has taken up residence in this lake. Call it a pairing of the family drama and survival story.
After that book, I have plans to write something in a completely different genre, a special novel that has been kicking around inside me for about seven years. I’ve truly enjoyed writing scary novels, but my favorite authors tend to work in more than one genre, so I am excited to branch out and discover what else I am capable of. If I don’t keep myself challenged and entertained, I will only wind up boring my readers, and nobody wants that, right?
