An accomplished and celebrated writer and educator, Ace Antonio Hall has been awarded numerous prizes and awards for his short stories and novels in the genre which have been published in several magazines and anthologies. Now, I talk with him about his early interest in writing, the process he goes about writing his work, and some upcoming projects.
Me: Hello and thank you for taking the time to do this. First off, when did you get into horror in general?
Ace Antonio Hall: Thank you so much for having me. This is pretty cool! How did I get into horror? Fair question. I was always enamored with stories that showed people in situations where fear drove them into even more danger. A TV show I watched religiously growing up was a horror show called Creature Features. The Creature from the Black Lagoon and so many other films that came on that program shaped my warped imagination. But I think it was the combination of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho and the Twilight Zone that really got me interested in horror and speculative fiction. The first novel I read as a tween was Escape From Witch Mountain by Alexander Key. After I read that, the spell was cast and I was a card-carrying lifetime member of the horror fan club.
Me: Were you into genre films growing up? What films specifically got you into watching horror movies?
AAH: Again, watching the Creature Features program growing up was the springboard but films like Nosferatu, the King Kong and Godzilla films, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, (I just loved the way Lon Chaney Jr. portrayed Lawrence Stewart Talbot), oh and one of my favorites, Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein. However, it was Night of the Living Dead that really got me into watching horror. Not only did the film have a social commentary, much like many of the thought-provoking Twilight Zone plots, but the casting of Duane Jones in one of the leading roles for the film inspired me tremendously. Seeing someone that looked like me in a role so prominent led me to believe that I could also one day be prominent in the horror collective.
Me: Who were some of your favorite writers growing up? Do you try to take influence from their style with your own voice in your work?
AAH: For starters, Richard Matheson has to be one of the major influences in my life. His work with Rod Serling is legendary. I’d have to say Stan Lee was probably one of the biggest influences for creating that unending sense of putting fantasy and adventure in my writing. As far as trying to take their style and mind-meld it with my own, I think that’s true. The more I immersed myself into something I really felt I couldn’t live without, the more it seems possible that some sort of DNA replication happened in my body because their influence is in my bones and there’s not a thing I can do about it.
Me: What was the starting point to become a writer? Were you always into writing growing up?
AAH: The first time I knew I was a storyteller was in Mrs. Penland’s sixth grade class at George Washington Carver Elementary when I read aloud my story and everyone loved it. Heck. I started drawing monster and superhero comic books after that. However, I didn’t start learning to write novels until 2008. I made a decision to leave behind a near-six-figure salaried stable job as a director in education to work in less-demanding, less-paying jobs to hone the craft of writing. I started working as a stand-in actor in Hollywood because I needed more downtime to think, create, develop and learn how to write novels. Yeah, I earned a degree with a focus on screenwriting but writing scripts and writing novels is as different in using skillsets as being a veterinarian and being a pediatrician; similar but different like wet and water. Writing novels is a whole different beast and it took me taking writing workshops, reading a ton in my genre, and writing over a million words before I started seeing real progress.
Me: What is your writing process? How do you stay focus on writing?
AAH: I always say that I read to inhale and I write to exhale. Part of my process is reading. Once I developed the psyche that I had to write every single day, whether I wanted to or not, I was able to stay focused. I also had to get out of the house, where there were too many distractions and settle into a Starbucks with Jimi Hendrix, or some soul-soothing music in my ears and a caramel cappuccino at arm’s length. There were many times when I’d get to a coffee house when it opened at five a.m. and leave when it closed at night. It seemed like no matter how hard I tried, there were always obstacles in my life that made it difficult to stay consistent but somehow, I always found a way to be relentlessly consistent with my daily writing. What is my writing process? My process…is progress.
Me: Is there any specific type of genre you prefer writing?
AAH: I love writing horror, specifically creating folk who are undead. Working in the educational field with teens from the ages of thirteen and fourteen makes it natural for me to have teen protagonists. Two of my favorite creators, Stephen King and Steven Spielberg, continue to influence me with their works that always include children as protagonists. There’s something about the magic of wonder and the suspense in creating fear that drives me the most in writing my stories. The “Steves” are masters of that thrilling collaboration.
Me: Having contributed to various anthologies early in your career, what tools and skills do you acquire working on those that transferred to future projects?
AAH: I think one of the cool skills I’ve developed in doing anthologies was getting to the meat of the plot efficiently. Having the limitations of having less word count than that of a novel allowed me to focus on all that was important to the plot. I truly believed the time I spent writing short stories helped me to create a stronger narrative, character development and tie my plot strings together throughout the chapters. I’m always asking myself, “How can I use the least amount of words to say the same thing but more effectively.” My goal is to have tighter and tighter plots, each novel. Writing short stories helped me to get on track with doing that.
Me: What is the general process for getting involved in these projects?
AAH: It varies. There have been times when I was asked to contribute to an anthology but most of the time I’ve submitted, using the writing market resource, Duotrope, or suggestions from Eric of the Horror Writers Association when he tells us of potential markets that are open for submission. HWA is the premier organization for horror writers. After my story has been accepted, I submit it and then wait for the editor to send it back with notes or a preview of what’s to be published. I either make the necessary changes due to the editor’s suggestions or pump a fist to the heavens for allowing another one of my stories to bleed into the universe. It’s always an honor to be published side-by-side with some of the greatest writers of our time. Not only does it inspires me but it pushes me to write the scariest stories my imagination can concoct.
Me: How did you settle on the plot for your novel "Confessions of Sylvia Slasher?"
AAH: Would you believe me if I told you it started out as a story about a woman trying to overcome breast cancer? How it turned into an eighteen-year-old necromancer fighting just as many as her own personal demons as the monsters of the world, I don’t know. What I can tell you is that Sylva Slasher would never have been born had it not been for Anita Blake, nor the many stories Nancy Holder wrote with the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series. Add that with the Blade trilogy films and being in pure awe of all that is Bruce Lee and Sylva was born. I wanted to create a female teen Bruce Lee with a twist of horror and that’s who I came up with. The first novel I ever read was Escape to Witch Mountain by Alexander Key that featured a female protagonist. That has never gotten out of my system. I guess it didn’t hurt to have crushes on Wonder Woman and Batgirl when I grew up, either. Now, in my next novel, Lipstick Asylum (where the dead rise), Cozy Coleman and the Scream Teens will take the helm in the Feeni Xo Universe. There will be no more Sylva Slasher, unfortunately. I’ve retired her to the more current and relevant character of Cozy Coleman.
Me: Was there any special significance to making the character of Cozy Coleman raise the dead and communicate with them?
AAH: I’m into stories that deal with how the consciousness works. We don’t know as much as we should yet, about how the consciousness works but I’d like to believe that the consciousnesses of someone who dies still exists. If it does, there has to be a way our living consciousness can connect to one that has entered a realm without a body. My interest in this thought process will continue to be explored in my stories that tell all the Secret Lives of Feeni (a TV series Omnium Gatherum developed and adapted from my Bram Stoker Award-winning novel, Oware Mosaic) and the worlds that the Scream Teens discover in their upcoming journeys.
Me: Was there any part of your real self injected into the characters?
AAH: Naturally. One of my good friends, Art Holcomb, once told me that it is our responsibility to create worlds of fiction from our own experiences thereby making each writer’s story unique to their peer’s and reader’s experiences. In that same train of thought, I often do a keynote speaking address about making the chocolate chip Cookie Monster, meaning like a baker creating a new recipe for that scrumptious treat, there must be the familiar chocolate chips in the recipe but also some unique ingredient or process that allows the taster to experience something wonderful, familiar and different all at once.
Me: Once it was finally written, what was the process to having it published?
AAH: First let me say that rejection is part of the process. Whenever my stories are rejected, I tell myself that No only means No-t yet. There could be a number of reasons why it wasn’t accepted: they just accepted a similar story, it didn’t quite fit what they were looking for or the more obvious it wasn’t good enough which means I need to dive back into the story and polish it up. So part of the process is rejection. And to that note, I once submitted my short stories to seven different publishers a day for nearly six months, earning a whopping 582 rejections. But here’s the thing: I received 18 acceptances. Ask anyone who can focus on the positives and they’ll say that having that many stories accepted in that amount of time is unheard of, and I’m chuckling inside, if you ask someone who only sees the negative, they’ll say having over 500 rejections in that amount of time is too brutal to bear.
Now the process: I research open markets in my genre, look up specifics to each editor’s policy and what they’ve published, write a short efficient query letter specified to their submission guidelines, submit and wait. If I get a generic reply back or any for that matter that doesn’t say they’ve accepted my story, I don’t reply. I never reply. Never. If the rejection is somehow encouraging, I save that letter and note to myself that when I have something else that the publisher may be open for to submit to them first.
Me: How did moving from short story to full-length novel challenge your writing skills?
AAH: I actually went from novel to short story back to novel. The challenge was learning how to go from being very descriptive and substantive in my novels to writing succinct and efficient in the much more limited short stories.
Me: How do you do to keep your creative energy flowing?
AAH: Well, I don’t wait for inspiration to keep it flowing. Sometimes, I don’t feel like writing. Other times, I’d rather be watching TV or playing a video game or just hanging out somewhere but I understand that I chose writing as a career, as a job, and therefore have developed routines for writing. I’ve also developed rules/rewards for skipping doing the things which may distract me from writing.
Here’s the routine. I sit down. I write.
Every day.
If I miss a day, I’m kicking myself in the rear until I can get back to writing. I will go to a park and write in my car, write in a park, write in a coffee shop or write in my office library. Most times, I wake up at four or five in the morning and write, and sometimes, I write in my head while driving to work with the radio off.
Me: Lastly, what else are you working on that you'd like to share with our readers? Thank you again for your time!
AAH: My next novel will be out in September! It’s called Lipstick Asylum (where the dead rise) and it will be published by Omnium Gatherum Media. I’m happy to announce that everyone can pre-order by tapping on the following link:
I’m also excited to report that an A-list actor has read the script adapted from my novel, Oware Mosaic, called The Secret Lives of Feeni, and loves it! He committed to playing Feeni’s father! Isn’t that awesome? I have a couple other Hollywood actors reading it and for any producers and directors who are interested in the TV series based on the Bram Stoker Award-winning novel, and wants to read the pilot script/pitch deck can contact Kate Jonez from Omnium Gatherum Media via:
Or contact my publicist, Mickey Mickelson at Creative Edge:
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