I’ll admit, today’s guest is one I was really looking forward to seeing what his answers were. Bracken MacLeod has put out some truly phenomenal and fascinating books, so I was keen to discover what his process was!

Please give a hearty welcome to Bracken!

Steve: What does your writing time look like? Do you try to write at the same time each day? Do you have a word count you attempt to hit?

Bracken: My writing time is basically the school day. I’m a stay at home dad, so if our kid is at school, I am trying to work on a book. I say, “trying” because, you know, life and all that. Also, during the summer, everything gets up-ended. Between day camps and weeks off and family vacation, it’s pretty piecemeal. Schedules are good, but the time I have to write is the time that presents itself. I wrote my first published novel during nap times when our son was an infant. Embrace the chaos!

As for word counts, Covid has kicked the hell out of that! In the Before Times a really good day for me was around 2,000 to 2,500 words. These days, I want to crack some bubbly when I get 1,000. It’s hard to be creative (especially as a horror/thriller writer) during the constant stress and anxiety of these times. But, like schedules, you get the work done however it needs to. Get up at four a.m. and pound out 500 words before work? Good enough! Try to write a few lines during a kid’s nap or after your spouse has gone to bed, and eventually you’ll have something. Perseverance is the watchword.

Steve: If you could write a story for another author’s fictional world/series, which would it be and why?

Bracken: I don’t read a lot of series, so in terms of established worlds it’s a hard call. I’d love to write a sequel to a novella Jack Ketchum did called The Passenger. At the end of that, he introduced a horrific members’ only club called “The Hole in the Wall.” I have a character I’d love to introduce to that place and maybe see what’s happened to the main character, the lawyer, Janet, in the intervening years. It’s probably something I could’ve pitched to Dallas (Ketchum’s real first name) over a glass (or three) of scotch, but I never had the guts. Too late now.

Steve: Tell me about your newest release (novel/story/poem/novella) and why someone should read it!

Bracken: My latest book is called, CLOSING COSTS. It’s a home invasion novel set outside of Boston. A young couple who suddenly come into some money are taken hostage in their house. Things spiral out of control even more when their own past comes back to haunt them in the middle of it. I can’t say much more without spoilers, but the thrust of the book was me wanting to write a thriller in the spirit of The Siege of Trencher’s Farm (a.k.a. Straw Dogs) or In Cold Blood. Something real intimate and harrowing that takes place in only one or two rooms for most of the story.

FUN FACT: I set the book in my own home and based the main characters on me and my wife. That seemed like a good idea at the time! Until you spent all day every day in a thought experiment role playing the worst possible thing you can imagine happening. Write what you know is NOT always the best advice.

Steve: Bonus Question! Do you have a cherished book?

Bracken: Absolutely. It’s no secret that Cormac McCarthy’s The Road is my favorite novel. A lot of folks find it unrelentingly bleak, but I feel like it’s filled with a powerful optimism. The man and the boy (the character’s only given names) are working hard to preserve “the fire” of goodness in a world that has no place for it anymore. I think it’s an amazing study of revolt against complacency in the face of death and evil. A perfect metaphor for the Trump era (though, like the Handmaid’s Tale, it precedes the world it imagines). A lot of people hate on McCarthy because he doesn’t like commas. But whatever.

Thank you so much, Bracken for doing this!

Definitely check the links for more work from Bracken!

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrackenMacLeod

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Bracken-MacLeod/e/B0095ZKR5Y/