Today I have the pleasure of interviewing, CL Stegall, the author of The Weight of Night.
First off, I want to thank you, CL, for taking the time to talk with me
today.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? Well, I’m originally from North Carolina,
but I lived in Southern California, San Diego, for longer than anywhere else. I
left for the military two days after graduating high school and never looked
back! I’ve held many jobs, with my current day job/career being a techie
for a Fortune 500 company. But, my passion has always been for writing. I wrote
my first short story for Spanish class as a freshman in high school, got an A+
and a note from the teacher saying I needed to continue my storytelling. Well,
needless to say, that is advice I took to heart! I’ve written innumerable short
stories, some of which have won various awards; and I wrote my first
full-length novel, The Weight of Night,
in 2010, published in 2011. I am the C.E.O. and co-founder of Dark Red Press, LLC., an independent
publishing company. We’ve been busy in the last year, releasing five novels, a
free Halloween-themed short story collection, and a DRP sci-fi post-apocalyptic
novella collection.
What is your favorite quality
about yourself? I guess it would have to be that I am pretty
even-keeled. It’s very difficult to get
me angry. (If you’ve seen my photo, you’ll realize that this is a good thing,
indeed.) Heh-heh. I just prefer to be happy, I suppose.
What made you want to be a writer? Honestly, I never really thought about that question very seriously until just now. What I’ve come up with is: my grandfather. That man could spin a yarn! He grew up in the Depression era. So, telling stories was a favored form of entertainment. I guess I really get that from him.
How long have you been writing? I wrote my first short story at the age of fourteen. I haven’t stopped writing since!
Why did you choose to write this
particular book? Oh, this is a tale, indeed. Let me shorten it a bit,
though. Don’t want to bore your fine readers now! You see, back in 2003, I was
part of an online writing community (then called Arcane Artistry, now called
Legend Fire). Once in a while I would enter one of their contests. Once I
entered a predetermined title contest, meaning we were given a title and had to
write a story to fit it. The story that came from that was Darkness In Avenhale. Amazingly, I took top prize! The greatest
(and most) feedback I received was that folks wanted more of the tale. So, I
set out to write a novel. Let me tell you, that is NOT an easy task. What began
as a 3k-word short became an 80k word novel over the course of six-plus years.
How did you come up with the title? As I mentioned above, the original title wasn’t The Weight of Night. However, after I wrote the novel, having
experienced Alexis’ fears and powers and tragedies, the title just seemed to
fit.
What do you do when you are not writing? I’ve been known to dabble in music; painting; web design and
development; and, I am a professional photographer, as well. This is not to mention my duties as head of Dark Red Press and my “day job.”
I tend to stay busy!
Can you share a little of your
current work with us? I am currently working on two separate pieces: the
sequel to The Weight of Night being the
main WIP. It was originally supposed to be titled Red Tome; however, the more I
write, the more the title pops up as “Hearts
In Aether.” In addition, I am working on an urban fantasy thriller—the
first in my Valence Of Infinity
series—The Blood of Others. I’ve come
up with a serious twist on the old-hat vampire tales. This one ain’t for the
kiddies, folks! You can keep up with Paris and Garrett and others from the
novel at their Facebook and Twitter sites:
1 comment:
I have to tell you, CL has the looks and the books that are made for success. Cheesy enough for you? But I think it's true.
Renee just finished The Weight of Night, and she says it captured her attention until she was done, and she's a memoir reader, not fiction.
So yeah, I think it's time for someone with influence to come along and talk to Mr. Dark Red Press. Not sure if there's a better platform out there.
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