Peggy Christie is a member and founder of The Great Lakes Association of Horror Writers and occasionally reviews horror movies for Cinema Head Cheese (fantastic name by the way!). She’s been writing horror fiction since 1999 and has been included in several websites, magazines, and anthologies.
Peggy loves to experiment with various ways to remove skin from the human body and was kind enough to pause the experiments to answer some questions for me! It only took a little convincing, but you don’t need all of your skin, surely….right?
Q: Who has been your biggest supporter(s) throughout your writing career?
A: My husband has been my biggest cheerleader. Even when I have imposter syndrome, or if I accomplish something as small as getting one page written on a project, he always tells me how well I’m doing!
Q: Where do you draw inspiration from in your work?
A: Everywhere! There’s inspiration to be had everywhere you look. I’ve overheard bits of conversations at a diner that inspired me to write a short story; folklore or customs from other cultures definitely get my mind working; dreams, news articles, random innocuous facts. There’s always something to inspire me if I’m paying close enough attention.
Q: What does it mean to you to be an author?
A: I think at its core, an author is someone who can tell a story that takes the reader or listener somewhere outside of themselves. Whether that be through fantastical worlds, horrifying situations, dramatic sweeping epics. Anyone who can do that simply by stringing together a bunch of random words in just the right order is an author.
Q: What is your writing process like? Do you listen to certain music, snack, make loads of phone notes when inspiration randomly strikes?
A: I’m not sure I have a process, per se. Sometimes I write at my computer, or in a notebook sitting on the couch (I’ve actually written a few drabbles while having the show “Dirty Jobs” on in the background). I’ve even gotten quite a bit of work done during downtime while working at a convention. So I don’t need absolute quiet, and I can snack and drink. Just depends on my mood at that particular moment.
Music, though, is for sure the one thing I can’t have playing while trying to write. I get too swept up in it to concentrate! I’ve played piano since I was seven and I love to dance so I’m wither making up dance routines in my head or picking out the harmonies and melodies of the music.
Q: Is there a genre or subgenre that you want to explore that you haven’t yet? Conversely, are there any that you’ll never write?
A: I think I’d like to try more fantasy or sci-fi within horror, or I guess a blending of the elements. i’ve written a couple fantasy pieces, but they are definitely more horror than anything else.
The only thing I will never write is killing or hurting animals. i’ve never liked it in stories or movies or TV, but as I’ve gotten older, I feel I’m less tolerant of it. To the point where I’ll shut off a movie as soon as the dog dies! I’m not opposed to gore or explicit sex, but animal death is where I draw the line.
Q: What has been the hardest part of your career as an author so far?
A: I think just getting people to take a chance on me and my writing, even though my name isn’t Stephen King or HP Lovecraft. I don’t mean that in the misogynistic sense, though I’m sure there’s been that, too. But as far as my experiences go, it hasn’t been overt. With the breakdown of traditional publishing, I think consumers are a bit leery of indie authors and the plethora of self-published works out there. It can also be overwhelming to dig through every offering available to find something new that you might like. So I can understand the hesitation, as frustrating as it can be for us authors.
Q: What do you consider to be your greatest strength and weakness as an author?
A: I like that I’m open to writing about pretty much anything. I’ll give any topic or style a shot, except for the aforementioned animal stuff. I kind of like the challenge to see if I can create a story about something new to me or even something that’s been around for ages, but I’ve never tackled it before.
My biggest weakness is my ability to be easily distracted or falling into a lazy rut where I do anything else EXCEPT write. I get that mental block that tells me what a slog it’s going to be to work on that next book chapter, so I just…don’t. It’s terrible and I’m still working on how to break the habit!
Q: Who is on your radar as someone you’d love to work with?
A: If you mean like collaborating, I’m not sure I have anyone in mind. I’ve done it a couple times with a good friend and fellow writer, but in general, I like working solo.
Q: At some point in our lives, we’ve all heard the negative comments: “You’re not good enough.” “You’ll never make it.” “This is the worst thing I’ve ever seen.” “You don’t belong.” How do you move forward when faced with negativity?
A: I seem to have the ability to compartmentalize stuff like this. Sure, getting that kind of negative “feedback” sucks and it can minimalize your confidence. But every creative endeavor comes head to head with that, even from within our own heads. And it’s okay to recognize that we will get bogged down by it from time to time. We’re only human.
I have to remind myself that I’m not writing to be the next Stephen King; I’m not writing to please anyone else. I write because it’s what I want and need to do. So all that crap gets locked into a musty trunk in the lower left lobe of my brain and shoved in a dark closet back there. And I press on.
Q: What advice would you give to women who are wanting to write, especially if it’s something others might perceive as “outside of the norm”?
A: It makes me laugh when I hear people quote statistics or just a bunch of bullshit that says women aren’t fans of horror or that this is something not normal for a woman to like or get involved with. So if any woman told me she wanted to write horror, I’d shout, “DO IT!” Prove to the uninformed and the willfully ignorant that we are deeply embedded in this genre and can impact it with every step we take on our writing journeys. Find your voice and just start writing!
Peggy recently read An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good by Helene Tursten. She had this to say, “It’s an absolute hilarious anthology about Maud, a woman in her eighties, who seems innocuous but will kill anyone who pisses her off. I totally bought it on a whim last summer and it’s so much fun!” This sounds like an absolute ride and that cover is absolutely precious; I’m off to add this to my list myself!
Peggy is planning to start publishing single-story mini books and has one in the works now. She is hoping to release a couple of those each year, and is also currently going over some edits for a reprint of a novella published a few years ago about being afraid of the dark. If you want to keep up with Peggy’s book news, check out her website and follow her on Facebook and Instagram!
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