Author Interview: Stuart Tudor
Follow Stuart on social media:
Twitter: @WriterTudor
Instagram: @writertudor
Facebook: @WriterTudor
Website: writertudor.co.za
Patreon: www.patreon.com/StuartTudor
For our latest interview, here’s a little bit about South African indie horror author, Stuart Tudor.
Tell me a bit about yourself. Who are you and what do you write?
I am Stuart Tudor, an indie writer from South Africa. I normally write under the speculative fiction umbrella, but at the moment I am focusing on horror. My main project is an anthology of eight horror novellas and short stories called Eight Nightmares. I also write short stories on the side for competitions and submissions. I have been writing since I was a teenager, having fallen in love with stories and reading as a child. I became interested in horror during my teens, having to study The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and playing Bloodborne within a close time frame.
I became fascinated by the themes those two properties had with each other. Jekyll and Hyde discussion about dualism between private and public life and Bloodborne’s commentary on the corruption of institutions all fascinated me. I finally realised that there was more to horror then just blood and guts (although there is often a lot of that in horror). It was also about that time during my teens when I created my first novel set in my own fantasy world. It was bad, so I figured I needed more practice and thus Eight Nightmares was born!
What’s your favourite genre? Is it the same as the one you write in?
Ooh that is a tricky one, I love the fantastical, so I can say that Horror, Fantasy and Science Fiction are the most enjoyable genres to read. They are also the ones I write cause it’s fun to come up with something impossible, to explore the wonders of our endless imagination and use the power of metaphor. That’s why I tend to avoid nonfiction. I live in reality, reality is scary, I would much rather confront my fears over the job market or the rise of authoritarianism with monstrous metaphors. I also hope that my readers will be able to use my work to explore some of the fears and anxieties they might have about the state of the world in safe environment. After all, what is horror if not the exploration of what people fear the most?
A similar attitude comes with my fantasy and science fiction projects. I want to explore concepts, systems and philosophies that are enhanced by the genre conventions. We escape to a brave new world and hopefully examine return enlightened or at least more ready to understand the real world.
However I do know that as an artist my primary job to the consumer is to entertain, the former is the undercurrent of what should otherwise be an enjoyable/engaging story with characters that endear and stay in the memories of the reader. If I can transport readers to a cyberpunk South Africa or to a whole new fantasy world with dragons and golems, that is more than enough for me.
What do you do for inspiration?
I read and listen to music a lot, some ideas come from the songs I have listened to or have caused me to investigate further. Such examples would be Powerwolf’s song Varcolac which got me interested in the Romanian monster of the same name, which would become the basis for the Eight Nightmares entry: The Fang and the Claw. Other than that, I try to consume as much media from the good to the bad to the ugly as I can. I want to learn as much from my betters (and those much worse than me) so I can become the best writer I can be. I can also credit the creators that have inspired me in the text so that readers know where I am drawing inspiration from and what they can expect. I love seeing how inspiration grows organically as I write my stories. The Pocked Forest, for example started out with a major inspiration from The Last of Us but the more I wrote about it the more I discovered the Iron Lung influence. Inspiration doesn’t start from the beginning but often grows without you completely aware of it.
How do you approach building your worlds?
I start by taking something from the real world. This can be a religion or a culture or a moment of history and use that as a blueprint. What if instead of the Catholic church we had female-centric theocratic state around sun worship? How about instead of Nazis we have mind controlling expansionists? By the time I am done, the history inspiration has basically faded away and it becomes its own beast. No fantasy world is birthed fully-formed from nothing, it is drawn from the ongoing story of humanity and turned into something unique.
I also enjoy alternative history, I currently have two versions of South Africa that I want to write stories in. One being an alternative history where the Apartheid state accidentally releases a Zulu curse that begins to ravage the country. It is going to be interesting to consider how the national party would react to the incorporation of curses and what policies they would enact to protect themselves against becoming feral humans.
There is also a cyberpunk futuristic South Africa that explores how AI and robotics would influence culture and society. I am trying to fill what I believe to be lacking in SA books, chiefly the lack of horror and the lack of Sci-Fi/Fantasy within SA. I wanted to add my touch to the small but growing movement of SA writers and authors like Lauren Beukes or Charle Human. I want to explore the rich culture of SA through the lens of horror or Sci-Fi, and I am using history, past and current to shape these new worlds.
What comes first? Characters or plot?
Plot normally comes first followed by characters. I need a story or theme that will provide a solid backbone for the characters to work within it. Often character personality is important when it comes to the story as their needs and wants have to be related to the plot in some way. Do they embody the themes or are they the antithesis of them? Do they work with the group or outside of it and how does that affect the outcome of the plot? All of these questions have to be answered by creating characters that at the start are important when shaping the plot.
That is not to say characters can’t influence the plot as the drafts go on. Characters can run off in their own direction which is fun and causes me to revise on the plot. As annoying as that is, most of the time I map the plot and use the characters to explore that particular plot or theme. A character with nothing to do is an aimless idea, a plot with characters that aren’t involved in the plot is meandering.
What was the hardest thing you’ve ever had to write?
So far the hardest thing to write was Where Dreams are Lost. I had to rewrite the entire thing on the third draft and I spent the remaining over nine drafts ironing out little inconsistencies and smelling mistakes. I even as recently as this year, I discovered some flaws in the text which I had to scrub away.
Where Dreams are Lost has been difficult because I was inexperienced and my editor was new and we both missed a lot of mistakes. However, we ironed out slowly but surely through the help of my editor and beta readers. Eventually we made it readable, but I have been working out the little flaws still.
I should talk about why I had to rewrite Where Dreams are Lost. Basically the second draft got a lot of criticism for being too dark and gruesome. The pacing was also completely shot as well. Too much plodding before the characters got to the central location and too much running around. I will never forget how my beta readers started abandoning the second draft of Where Dreams are Lost because of these. It was hard I will not lie, but I got it out for publication.
What’s your favourite/least favourite thing about the writing process?
My least favourite thing is the editing process, I love the thrill of putting word to the page and seeing a world, a character come to life. But then you have go back to it over and over again, tweaking all the moving parts until it is fit for human consumption. It can be tiring but it is important and necessary to make it ready. My favourite however is the writing and planning stages. I love gathering the ideas I have and knitting them together into a cohesive plot and world. That is fun, that is thrilling to do and keeps me going through the editing process. The planning process is enjoyable too because you are putting the idea, the nucleus of a story into a vague shape, it is the birth of a story where it will grow up into fully grown healthy tale.
Are you able to share any short snippets from the cutting room floor?
I do in fact, this is from a dropped story called The Laughter of Hyenas a story set in South Africa, Cape Town during the early 2008s. I am planning to get it reworked into something better but I love the introduction of the main monster: The Hyena. Here, I will show you it now.
Content warning: has some rather gory violence.
A tall, hulking figure in tattered blue overalls was standing over the mangled corpse of an elderly woman. Her face was frozen in her final moments of terror. The figure, bending over his victim kept repeatedly raising and plunging a crimson-soaked panga knife into the corpse. The figure alternated between snarls, growls, and deep breathless gulps of air.
Seemingly satisfied with his handiwork, the figure giggled, the familiar high-pitched staccato laugh as he tore at the belt buckle with elated, strangled breaths.
Ivory tried to back away, trembling and on the verge of tears. Under her shoe, a stray piece of glass broke with a terrible crack; the sound ripped through the quiet like a dagger through the skin.
The figure theatrically jumped and sniffed the air with relish. He laughed the same high giggle as he turned around to face Ivory.
The man’s head was covered in a worn mask, haphazardly resembling the wild dog look of a Hyena. The skin was patchy and an unpleasant shade of green; the hair matted with blood was disturbingly authentic to the actual animal. He wrenched the bloody panga out of the corpse and slowly started walking towards Ivory, laughing all the while.
There are plenty of stories that were altered or cut completely during development. Been thinking of adding that to the Patreon as a tier exclusive.
What is your absolute favourite piece of your own writing? Could be a short scene, a bit of dialogue, a character or even the tiniest piece of worldbuilding.
Oh no, that is really difficult to decide on properly. I think it would have to be in Black Masquerade when the Uninvited Guest is on the ceiling. Here, I will show you it.
A shuddering, inhuman groan reverberated inside Barbara's brain. Dennis gasped. Don’t look up, Darlin’!
Before she could stop herself, Barbara followed the strands; she looked up.
The ceiling was covered in a writhing mass of ash, smoke, and cloth, like maggots on a corpse. The mask, the only non-moving object, gazed down with blank pitilessness.
Barbara touched Ronald’s hand briefly, feeling a moment of blind desperation to escape the thing on the ceiling.
Spooky isn’t it? I love the imagery in this scene. But it isn’t the only favourite scene I have made in my work. There are too many to really without going on for hours.
What are you promoting at the moment?
I am going to be promoting the three entries in my Eight Nightmares anthology. You can buy them separately or buy all of them and more for one dollar by subbing to my Patreon. You will find all the links in the sidebar. If you are in the mood for some existential horror involving puppets, Silent Hill shenanigans in bankrupt Detroit or Gothic horror in 1920s London, Eight Nightmares is the series to look out for.
If you’d like to be featured in an author interview, just contact me.
