We met with author Eric Fritzius to learn about where he got the ideas for his stories and what he plans to do next.

Tell us something unexpected about yourself!

Invented the Oxford Comma. (Or maybe it was the Oxford Coma. I forget. I drank a lot in England….  Or was it Oxford, Mississippi?  Lemme check my diploma.)

How did you get into writing?

I started writing plays from an early age. Eventually, I realized that many of my ideas could not be easily staged and really needed the breathing room that prose offers. Once in a while, some of those stories have found their way back to the stage, as is the case for my story “…to a Flame,” which is also a short play with several productions to its credit. It will appear as a future episode of my podcast The Consternation of Monsters Podcast found here or on iTunes.

Where did you get the inspiration for your current book?

Many different places, as it's a collection of short fiction; some stories spawned from my travels, childhood memories, random sentences involving cutlery, a typing test, legendary Appalachian monsters, the tenacity of criminals and wolves.

How long did it take you to write this book?

Technically two decades, but that's just counting when the earliest of the stories was written. Most of the rest were far more recent.

Have you got any writing rituals?

I've tried a number of things, but I find that having a deadline with embarrassment on the line helps a great deal.

How important is marketing and social media for you?

Purty darn.

What advice would you have for other writers?

Read your stories aloud. I find it's the fastest way to copy edit. While you're at it, turn them into audiobooks.

What are you reading now?

I'm super late to the Kingkiller Saga party, so I'm reading The Name of the Wind. I'm also reading Eliot Parker's Appalachian detective novel Fragile Brilliance.

What's your next step?

Finishing up the next two collections, one of which contains further adventures with the characters from A Consternation of Monsters, and the other which will feature more earth-bound, non-genre stories. Those will also be the next two audiobooks.

What are your top 3 books of all time?

Martian Chronicles. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. American Gods.

Do you read your book reviews?

Occasionally. Trouble is, while the majority are quite positive, there are always a handful that can be complete bummers. Sometimes even those are entertaining, though. Like the recent review of my audiobook that described it as “Bubba Lovecraft,” which made me laugh out loud, and is not entirely inaccurate.  

Follow Eric on Twitter: @thingsyouforgot