Interview - Mo Moshaty

A genre screenwriter, author, and lecturer, Mo Moshaty has seen her work cross over multiple mediums with credits ranging from genre television series to publications throughout the indie community. Now, in honor of the release of her latest anthology "Love the Sinner," I talk with her about her early interest in the genre, her writing practices, and some background on the stories within.

Me: Hello and thank you for taking the time to do this. First off, when did you get into horror in general?

Mo Moshaty: I'm sure you hear a lot of us say this, or authors I mean, at a very young age. I grew up in the 70s as a latchkey kid so once cable started rolling around everything was available at any time of day, and it wouldn't be out of the ordinary to see something like the howling on TV. And I just became really voracious for anything that scared me after that.

Me: Were you into genre films growing up? What films specifically got you into watching horror movies?

MM: The first scary movie that I ever saw was Carrie and my oldest sister had a friend over and was watching it in the living room. And of course, I was watching it through the staircase banisters and trying to keep it together, trying to hold my hand over my mouth and not scream or get scared but that really led to Stephen King's movies as they came down the pike like Children Of The Corn, Christine, Cujo so I think anything in that vein where it was so realistic and things that could happen. You could be attacked by a rabid dog you could get into a possessed car. Those were my starter movies, and it wasn't till I was a little bit older around 10 or 11 that I saw the thing and that really changed my perspective into, "Oh sci-fi horror is a thing too." Then it was Twilight Zone and the Alien franchise after that.

Me: Who were some of your favorite writers growing up? Do you try to take influences from their style with your own voice in your work?

MM: My favorite writers obviously were Stephen King, but I truly, truly loved the work of Rod Serling and Ray Bradbury. Especially Bradbury in the way his prose, even though it was repetitive at times, spoke to me so deeply and was so easy to take in and so incredibly haunting. A really wanted to be a writer that could do that. And Serling’s work as a social activist and a damn fine writer making social issues palatable to those that did not want to see what was staring right in front of them is an absolute gift and it's a shame that we can't have more stories from him. Also, what's interesting about my choices here shows you the glaring lack of women’s representation in the genre. Outside of Shirley Jackson, I didn't know any others at that young age. Which is a shame.

Me: What was the starting point of becoming a writer? Were you always into writing growing up?

MM: I was always a voracious writer even as a child, you know, making up what I now know is fanfiction from a lot of my favorite stories and I really flexed those muscles into my high school and college years. But it wasn't until probably my late 30s that I started script writing and really found a love of that and as my vision kind of turned into writing more prose from an intellectual property standpoint I really fell in love with short-form horror fiction and the craft of it.

Me: What is your writing process? How do you stay focused on writing?

MM: I think as you try to want more for yourself and try to build an ideal life you try to take on everything that interests you and I think the key to finding time to write or making sure that writing is what you want to do at the moment is making sure that the story that you want to convey is important to you at the period it's really hard to stare at a blank page, and if the story is dry or it is not within you then you have to move on to another piece so my process is really sitting down with a mission I'm going to write this and the minute I feel exhausted or defeated I absolutely have to move to another project or piece and even if I'm working through four or five projects because I keep getting exhausted and defeated, that's OK I've made some headway.

Me: Is there any specific type of genre you prefer writing? Is there any style or format you find easier to get into even without a preference?

MM: I will always be in love with short-form horror. I am at the moment trying my hand at a full-length novel and I'm excited to see where that goes. But my first love is always going to be short-form horror fiction.

Me: How did you settle on the plot for your newest collection "Love the Sinner?"

MM: This actually started off as a scripted television series pitch that I had um the opportunity to pitch to several prestigious companies all with the response that "no one's really watching anthologies right now." Meanwhile there's Creepshow and several there so maybe it was just mine specifically, ha. So when I really looked at this story for what it was it was really easy for me to break this down into self-contained stories for a collection and what I started to realize about the stories that were done, which were free weight and in the interest of time the connecting theme was two pieces: envy and wrath. So I had my stage set for other stories to fit that vein and it just so happened that I had some in the deck already and some that were crafted as the book molded itself to be but what I find absolutely fascinating about the structure of it is that it begins with the one mortal sin in the book, there are seven deadly sins and the bonus sin I guess you could call it. But I felt that it was really important to start with that one because it's not too big of a departure for the book, but it does lay the groundwork for what we're going to be facing. And it was very important for me to take the notion of the devil completely out of a book about sin because what I'm trying to prove through these stories, and although these characters are unlikable and some quite despicable, they're incredibly relatable and man is the scariest monster.

Me: Was there any special significance to making the characters bound within various sins?

MM: I suppose I'm just lucky that the first two that I had fell in step with each other so nicely.

Me: Was there any part of your real self-injected into the characters and stories?

MM: I am not self-injected into the characters, but I know a few people in my life that I've had the displeasure of dealing with that are featured within.

Me: Once it was finally written, what was the process for having it published?

MM: Once your manuscript is done, and this might not be every place but once your manuscript is done it goes off to the first editing process and as excruciating as giving your baby over to someone. I'd like to use this analogy with a few friends of mine who have asked me a similar question. Picture you having a baby and handing your baby over to someone who then tells you I am going to draw all the places on this baby, because quite right now your baby is quite ugly, where I can make this baby much prettier, and then they do, and they hand you a marked up baby for you to spruce up on your own. Now repeat that process again, ha! Editing something that you've kind of poured your heart and soul into, or having to kind of fight for the love and blood of the story is an interesting experience. But I do not believe that love the sinner would be where it is without my publishers and its editors first and foremost loving the stories and loving the body of work and because they loved it wanted it to be something bigger and better than it was. And I am forever grateful for that.

Me: What do you do to keep your creative energy flowing?

MM: I'm always working on different projects. Like I said earlier I have about four or five different either new books, novels or flash fiction poetry what have you that I'm working on at a time so I always can energetically shift from something that is sapping me.

Me: Lastly, what else are you working on that you'd like to share with our readers? Thank you again for your time!

MM: Right now I am working on my first novel which is an amalgamation of mental decline, folklore cryptids, sci-fi horror and grief. And I hope everybody loves it!