Meet Bert Edens

Next up in the meet the author series is Bert Edens who is not only here to talk about his horror writing but he’s taken on the mantle of editor too and chats about how he approaches that and how it influences his own work. Bert has masterminded a charity anthology called Dismember the Coop, based on Alice Cooper songs and is available here. He tells us all about it’s creation…

Tell us a bit about yourself and your writing journey to date.

I’ve always loved writing. As a kid, I was always creating imaginary worlds in my head. In high school is where I first started to write what I see now as my wheelhouse. In my junior year, I wrote a story about a guy who literally ripped his own heart out after a breakup. I still feel sorry for the random fellow student who drew that one to read out loud. 😊 And in my senior year, I wrote a whole “screenplay” (as much as I knew how at the time) that was humorous horror called “Friday the 13^th Part XXXIV: Jason Goes to Washington, D.C.”, wherein Jason Voorhees went to the capital and wreaked havoc on everyone there. 😊 As a young adult on the burgeoning internet (read as: early nineties), I wrote several stories that were published on webzines that no longer exist. Wish I had copies of those, but the print and digital versions have been lost in time. When my older son was getting ready to go into kindergarten, I had a story about him and his preemie journey published in a collection of stories meant to give hope to parents of preemies. Then life just gets in the way, raising our two boys, my first wife dying suddenly, and getting into adulthood. Eventually, I got back to writing and have had several stories, some horror but not all, published in anthologies. Plus my new collection of dark short fiction, a horror word search book, and the charity anthology.

You have recently masterminded a charity anthology called ‘Dismember The Coop’, where did the idea for that come from?

I’ve been an Alice Cooper fan since I was a tween. I’ve always loved his ability to mix horror and shocking elements into his songs. Plus, he’s long been a fan of horror movies and regularly mentions some of his favorites, which has led me to discover many amazing films. At some point, I thought it would be interesting to write some stories based on his music, and eventually that grew into the passion project that is “Dismember The Coop”. And as a way of saying thanks to Alice for all the years of music and inspiration, it’s a charity anthology with proceeds going to Alice and Sheryl Cooper’s Solid Rock Teen Centers in the Phoenix, Arizona, area.

The anthology is a horror themed anthology but what kind of range of stories can we expect to find? Did you find people had very different takes on the horror genre?

When I put out the submission call for the anthology, I had no idea how many stories I would receive. But I ended up with over 50 submitted, and since I only needed about 15 of them, I definitely had some choices. But they weren’t easy. I had intentionally said that I didn’t want stories to essentially be a prose retelling of a song, although I got some that were. Naturally, those were discarded. The best stories in the anthology take just a germ of an idea or a character in a song, or several songs, and crafted a whole backstory, history, personality, etc., from that. The stories range from extreme-ish horror to taboo topics to humorous to creepy to horror noir. I wanted a wide range for the anthology, and the authors certainly came through.

How did you find being on the other side of the table, receiving submissions and having to make the selection choices?

It was exciting but also scary in some ways. I worried that the stories I picked wouldn’t be ones other people liked. Fortunately, I have quite the varied taste in what I read, and not just with horror, so that helped me see the benefit in stories that took different tacks, rather than everything being similar. Plus, this was going to be the first thing I published, other than some short stories on Kindle or Godless, that had my name prominently on the cover. I’m not sure if those nerves ever go away, but as with children, you have to eventually just metaphorically kick them out of the nest and see how they do. The hardest part was sending rejections to friends. I worried how they would take it, but at the end of the day, we all have to be professionals, whether you’re the author or editor.

Did you enjoy the editing process, and how did you approach editing other people’s work?

I’ve always enjoyed editing and helping others polish their works into the best version of what they want it to be. So that much was easy. What made this different was there were 15 different voices in the anthology, where a novel I edit should have a single voice. I decided early on to just roll with the differences in writing styles, spelling, etc., since I had submissions from four different countries. So if an author used “recognise” instead of “recognize” because they were from the UK, I left that in there. I wanted to keep it in their style and voice.

Has editing impacted your own writing at all?

Oh absolutely. I’ve been a martial arts instructor for over 20 years, and I’ve long said that being a teacher helped me become a better student, because I learned to pay attention to details I might not have before, or, through correcting others, saw flaws in what I was doing. The same applies to editing. It’s made me more conscientious of what I write, and though I certainly make mistakes that need to be fixed, I have found there are fewer of them than in the past, and my own editing loop is abbreviated.

How would you describe the relationship between editor and writer?

It has to be a relationship of trust, going both ways. A writer must trust that the editor wants the story to be the best it can, and any critiques are meant in a positive way. As a writer, you need a thick skin, not just for reviews, but for the editing process. You need to learn to take the suggestions or corrections and honestly evaluate if they need to be applied. As an editor, you have to remember that the story is the author’s, first and foremost. Their vision of the story is what matters. So if you suggest a change, and they say they want to ignore it for a specific reason, then leave it be. In that way, the editor has to trust the writer. But at the same time, if all your suggestions are being rejected, you may at some point just need to bow out and suggest they find someone else to edit their work. Ditto for a writer not feeling comfortable with the editor and their suggestions.

Was editing the anthology different to editing work by a solo author? And do you find any common pitfalls?

As mentioned elsewhere, the biggest difference is the variety in styles and voice. I really had to do a mental reset between stories and would often step away between them so I could refocus on the next one. I couldn’t have in my head that a writer was from the UK and apply those grammar and spelling rules to a story written by an American author. Also, one of the stories in “Dismember The Coop” is done in an epistolary style, namely as diary entries. So I had to back off a lot of grammar rules that would normally apply to fiction prose, as nobody would write in their diary that way. It had to be much more casual and relaxed.

I love the idea of music inspiring writing. You have a story in the anthology, how did you go about it, did you have a song you wanted and found a story to fit, or did a story jump at you?

I intentionally waited until I had sent out acceptance letters before writing my story, so I could pick a song that nobody else had written a story for. I didn’t want someone thinking their story was rejected by me because I wanted to write a piece based on the same song. Probably my favorite Alice Cooper song is “Dead Babies” from his “Killer” album, and I set about writing a story around it. But everything I came up with felt just like a retelling of the song with only slight variances, and I didn’t want that, especially since I had rejected stories that did just that. Then while just listening to a bunch of Alice Cooper songs for inspiration, during “Billion Dollar Babies”, a song about excess by the super-rich, I heard the lyrics: “We go dancing nightly in the attic / While the moon is rising in the sky / If I’m too rough tell me / I’m so scared your little head / Will come off in my hands”. And it got me to thinking, what if that were literal, the head coming off? And what if the one they were dancing with was their daughter? And the story just took off from there.

You are well known for your horror writing, what draws you to the horror genre?

Most genres have specific rules they need to follow so they are accepted as realistic or part of the genre, such as sci-fi, romance, even epic fantasy. If those aren’t followed, readers in general won’t like it. A romance novel without a Happy Ever After? How dare you! 😊 But with horror, you can be so totally out there and create worlds or monsters or events that push the boundaries of believability. As long as it’s a well-written story, chances are folks will like it. But that can also be a double-edged sword, because there are gatekeepers who will dub something as “not really horror” because they weren’t horrified by it. In one of my short stories “Sting of Hope”, I had a reviewer say it wasn’t really horror because it didn’t scare them. Yet, the story is about a father trying to do all he can to save his terminally-ill son, and things go sideways. So to parents, yes, it’s absolutely horror. Plus, one of the things I love about horror is that no matter how graphic, violent, depraved, shocking, or painful a story may be, when it’s done, you just close the book or leave the theatre, and all is right in the world. You know everything will be OK when it’s all over, so you are willing to let yourself be totally absorbed by the story. Of course, the best horror stories stay with you long after you close the book. 😊

What is your approach to writing, or your method?

In the plotter vs. pantster world, I’m firmly in the pantser realm. Not to say I don’t do research and thinking things through. Most stories bounce around my head for a while before I ever sit down at a keyboard. But when I write, it’s a scene at a time in no particular order, as things occur to me, if it’s a longer work. And in shorter works, I believe in just writing and getting the story down, then I can go back and tweak and edit it. I mean, even in school, I would write the essay first, then the outline that went with it. 😊 I also almost always have heavy metal blaring when I’m writing. To some folks it’s distracting because of the lyrics or because it’s too fast and heavy. But I feel the manic style of music fits my writing style, and I always write more prolifically and efficiently when I have something loud and heavy playing.

When did you first start writing?

If you listen to my mom, I was always telling stories as a kid and usually ended up with my nose in a corner. 😉 But the earliest thing I can remember? Hmmmm. In the fifties and sixties, they had several songs that were like an interview or news story, where the narrator would say something, and the response would be a snippet from a song. I remember, as a child in the seventies, writing some of those.

Where is your favourite place/time to write?

Honestly, anywhere and anytime. But I do tend to write when I’m alone or everyone’s asleep. I think that’s mostly a product of wanting to spend time with family while they’re around. And I always write on a laptop. My handwriting is so atrocious, I wouldn’t be able to figure out half of it later. I’ve also tried voice-to-text as a way to just get the story down, but my Southern drawl, which not really heavy, does mess up the recognition, and I have to re-do it all rather than just polishing it. So laptop it is. 😊

Who is your favourite author?

That’s hard to say because I like so many different authors for various reasons. But my first favorite, and still in my top two or three, is Edgar Allan Poe. Interestingly enough, it wasn’t his horror that first hooked me, but the poem “Annabel Lee”. I loved the imagery and sadness it provoked. Plus, he’s so versatile, not just with horror poetry and prose, but he’s often credited with creating the first detective story with “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”. It’s a versatility I still strive for.

What character have you read, that you wish you had written?

Probably Sherlock Holmes, or if I had to pick something in horror, Dracula. I love Holmes for his intelligence and logic and problem-solving, yet he’s also very flawed, which comes back to bite him on occasion. Dracula, while based on Vlad Tepes and taking bits of pieces from various legends and myths, has arguably been the most recognizable figure in horror and possibly in cinema, thanks to Bela Lugosi.

What authors do you think most influence your work?

As with my favorite author, that’s hard to say, because I feel like I’m influenced in many different ways by authors in various genres. If I had to pick one, it would be Stephen King. I remember sitting down in a public library when I was eight and reading “Carrie”. Yes, eight. It explains a lot. 😊 Anyway, I loved the way he could evoke shock, horror, dread, hatred, and other emotions in the reader. That was my first foray into modern horror, and more than anything else, it made me want to write horror too. Honorable mentions go to Piers Anthony for all the puns in his Xanth series, Poe of course, and H.G. Wells for his worldbuilding. The fact that I share a birthday with King and Wells is a fact I didn’t learn until long after they’d become favorites. 😊

I think I know the answer to this, but who is your biggest support/fan?

There’s a reason my first two books are dedicated to Carrie, a.k.a, My Gorgeous Bride. She’s incredibly supportive, not just in positive ways but in kick-to-the-backside ways when I need it. And considering she’s also my alpha reader and the first to see my demented writings, it’s even more amazing. She sees my passion and feeds it, and what more could you ask for from a life partner?

What story (published or otherwise) of yours are you most proud of?

I’m proud of all my stories for various reasons, but “Blood, Mud, and Retribution,” which was included in the horror western anthology “Six Guns Straight From Hell 3,” was the first acceptance I got where I didn’t know the publisher, editor, anything, not even as Facebook friends. All my previous acceptances were by people I knew in some regard. While I know they wouldn’t put their name on anything that included crap, there was still a niggle in the back of my head that told me, “Yeah, but they know you.” So “Six Guns…” was the first time I could really tell myself that a story was accepted entirely on its merits, without any “yeah but” thoughts.

Where can we find out the most up to date news from you?

My website is woefully out-of-date because I suck at marketing. I’m still working on it. 😊 So the best place to find what I have available is at:

https://linktr.ee/bertedens

Is there anything else you want your readers/other readers to know?

If you want to write, just write. It doesn’t matter if it’s only 100 words at a time. Baby steps are still steps forward. Keep plugging away, and you’ll reach that goal. Also, don’t believe you’re too old to get started on writing and publishing. I just published my first three books at 56 years old. And if you ever want a sounding board or feedback on anything you write or just want to discuss the craft, drop me a note at bert@bert-edens.com.