Mike's Toybox

C. S. Wilde said to try this, so I tried it.

What are you writing?

Spy fiction set in the samurai era, a humorous fantasy novel, and a sci-fi western. The first is being published professionally; I’m planning to self-publish the other two at the risk of no one taking me seriously as a writer ever again (ha-ha like they ever did in the first place).

How does your work differ from others in its genre?

It’s pulp fiction with fleshed-out characters rather than archetypes, so readers can enjoy it on multiple levels: as disposable trash fiction or as something with a bit more meat to it. I also try to come up with really unusual settings and ideas, let them loose and see where they go. Mostly it’s all to keep my own interest so I can actually finish what I start. Writing a standard western would probably bore me; writing a post-apocalyptic western with a cast of wicked, depraved women would totally keep my interest.

I suppose my horror fiction differs from other internet horror fiction in that I took a professional approach and actually proofread what I wrote. I couldn’t publish my horror stories, so I put them all on the creepypasta wiki for free.

Why do you write what you do?

Lots of reasons. I write adventure and horror because that’s what fascinated me as a child. I write character-driven plots out of my love of westerns and samurai tales. I write quirky women probably because I’m single. Mainly I write because I can’t help it.

How does your writing process work?

Like cooking ramen noodles on a busted stove. First I have to find a mix of ingredients that look appetizing and bring them all together in the pot. The soup stews for a good long time, and occasionally I stir it, until sooner or later it looks edible. Often I’ll get burnt out and put it on the backburner to work on something else for awhile: I generally have three different meals going at any given time. The downside is it takes me forever to finish a project; the upside is, I end up with several finished projects at once.

I answer questions 2-4 in more detail here. Hope it inspires you.

Do you have any artistic pursuits besides writing?

Too many. I like to draw things, with varying levels of success.

I used to do comics, but I’m focusing on writing at the moment. Comics take too much time and work for something that nobody really notices in the end, which is what happened with my last comic. I tend to work in black and white when I do comics, and I draw everything by hand. Here’s a glimpse of my page creation process for Daddy’s Girl:

I draw everything traditionally, ink it with black micron pens and red ball-point gel pens, then scan in black and white so the red becomes gray and the black stands out. I do the lettering by hand as well. Repeat for three years until well done.

I’m also a game design hobbyist, and I host a lot of board games and video games on my site. I do the graphics for all my video games, and tend toward lo-res retro graphics because it’s not as time-consuming (and I like how it looks better than 3D rendered crap).

What literary character is like you?

Charlie Brown: bad luck, girl troubles and all.

I know he’s a cartoon, but he’s a famous cartoon, and they made him into a musical play, so I say he counts.