Story Profile: Infestation

Infestation came from a real experience I had. I woke up one morning to the realization there was a rat chewing the baseboard a few inches from my head. After nearly two weeks of freaking out about the rat that was clearly in the roof crawl space, I was thoroughly exhausted from lack of sleep. One sleepless midnight, I sat down and wrote the story. During a two hour writing session, every dark fear I didn't realize I had inside of me over a little rat came pouring out. When I had written the last word, I was actually more afraid of the rat than before!

     Right next to her head, but on the opposite side of the wall, Gia could hear the rat gnawing. She gave a quiet bang. The noise stopped, then started again with more urgency.
     Gia banged on the wall several more times, waking Wes up.
     "What's going on?" he asked, clearly on edge about the noise.
     "The rat," Gia said without apology. "It's right on the other side of the wall!"
     Wes listened, but to Gia's dismay the rat didn't make a sound.
     "Go to sleep." Wes rolled over, turning away from Gia. "You're probably imagining it. I swear you're so paranoid by this rat that you're probably just hearing things."
     "I am hearing things," Gia agreed. "I'm hearing a rat in the wall gnawing to get at my head."

Author Interview: Tasha Gray

WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO BECOME A WRITER?
     My father used to come home from work each night and let me pick a book. I kept bringing him the same book so he decided to make up stories to alleviate his boredom. He figured it would make me creative or confuse me. I think it did both but it instilled in me a love of reading that I still have. One day I realized OMG REAL PEOPLE WROTE THOSE STORIES. From then on I decided I was going to be one of those people. After all, I had stories in my head no one had gotten around to writing yet.
     At this point, I'm not sure I could stop being a writer. I've tried a few times but after a month or so I decide I really need to sleep so I write to shut the voices up. (I'm only writer-crazy, so I'm fairly safe.)

DO YOU GET YOUR INSPIRATION FROM A PARTICULAR SOURCE?
Not really. I'm blessed/cursed with the 'what if' gene and I never know when or where it's going to strike. Sometimes I write what I dream, fictionalized versions of real life events, things I overhear or mishear, things from television/news articles or random thoughts that buzz in my head. I once had an idea for a piece when I was in the middle of a sci-fi convention. I think I screamed out before I went frantically digging for one the many notebooks and pens I keep on my person for such emergencies.

TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR FIRST POCKET NOVEL.

That is one that came from a real life scenario. Unfortunately I have a great imagination and tend to over-dramatize things. A rat gets into the house and I freak out and write a story.

EVER ARGUE WITH YOUR CHARACTERS?
Of course! They rarely do what I want them to. I've argued out loud while typing to try to convince the characters NOT to do what they were doing. I was staying with relatives at the time and I think that made them worry more about me.

WHAT'S THE MOST DIFFICULT PART OF THE WRITING PROCESS?
Going from the starting idea to the end of the piece. I don't always get 'the beginning' first. I also don't always know how it's going to end until I get there. I mostly hate when the voices in my head don't want to talk to me.

WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE PART OF THE WRITING PROCESS?
Getting to 'the end'. Well, that and I do love the rush I get whenever I get an idea I'm excited about. When I'm in the middle of those writing times when it doesn't feel like I'm even involved. The words flow through me with such ease that I have to go back just to see what the story was about. I wish those writing times happened more often than they do.

IS WRITING POCKET NOVEL LENGTH STORIES EASIER THAN WRITING SHORTER OR LONGER FICTION?
Umm...for me that's two questions. I find short stories easier than novels for the simple fact that novels tend to give me more time to go into a writerly meltdown and get stuck. When I was first approached to write a story long enough for Pocket Novels, I had to completely rework the way I wrote short stories. My short stories tend to fall under the Pocket Novel length requirements, so to write one, I have to look at the piece and see what I can elaborate on without just adding words.

ANY PARTICULAR GENRES YOU LIKE WRITING MORE THAN OTHERS?

Mostly horror and detective/murder fiction since that's what I read. Give me ANY idea and I'll probably kill someone in it. That sounds morbid, doesn't it? It's still true. I was told to write a dragon story...guess what? People die in the story and it can't even be considered a fantasy. Yep, that's right. I got a dragon into a story and somehow it's not a fantasy at all.

DO YOU HAVE ANY INTERESTING WRITING QUIRKS?
     Ooooh, there are so many of those. Of course, I am a strange person to begin with.
     First off, I'm a horizontal writer. Most writers sit in desks or at coffee shop tables. I need to be cozy on a couch or at least be able to lean back to get the words out. You can say I do it so I can take a nap when I get stuck and you'd be half right. The second half of that is so when I stay up until three am writing a story, I can put the notebook or computer down and fall asleep where I am.
     Speaking of three am, I tend to be a night writer. Despite numerous admonitions that I should get my brain used to writing early in the morning, I find the words flow better later in the evening.
     I do have a computer and that's where I do the majority of my writing, but I have notebooks, folders, and notes jotted on scraps on paper EVERYWHERE. I can't think on a computer so when I brainstorm I need a pencil and paper to do my odd flowcharts.

     Last I'll mention is that I'm also a temperamental artist, much to the horror of my loved ones. I get into moods where I feel I'll never write again and never had talent to begin with. I wail to the heavens and whimper under blankets until I eventually get over myself for a while and write again.

WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE PIECE THAT YOU'VE WRITTEN?

That's hard for me. I tend to be my own worst critic, but I've gotten good feedback on an unpublished novel Daré.

HOW DID IT COME ABOUT?

Honesty, I have no clue. I know I like vampire novels and probably just had a 'what if' moment. To be honest, I can't pinpoint the mental birth of the majority of my finished pieces.

ANYTHING YOU WANT TO ADD? ADVICE? WARNINGS? ANYTHING?
Be careful what you wish for. When I was younger, I wanted to be a writer. No one warned me it comes with all sorts of strange quirks, internal and external dialogue with voices in your head and being woken up at odd hours b/c something just popped into your head and you MUST get it down. Even though I try to produce new pieces as often as I can, I keep getting new ideas. Being a writer may never lead to publication for most people, but it is a lifelong...Habit? Struggle? Disorder?

Writers read. It's that simple. I don't believe you can be a real writer without a love of reading. You also need to read to see what the competition is up to. I find reading relights my writing fire and, since I bring a writer's view into my reading, I can see what works or doesn't work for me in someone's story and that sometimes helps me in my own writing. I read just about anything I can get my hands on these days and am even delving into genres I had previously shied away from.