thePULSEInside the Dark Mind of Writer James Ferace
By Joseph Anthony
James Ferace is a prolific up-and-coming author whose work has been featured in such poetry collections as “Searching for Soft Voices” and who is the winner of two “Editor’s Choice” awards for his poetry. James also has several published eBooks available at Lulu.com (and other online merchants such as the Apple iStore) including The Kinder, Wisdom Teeth, Eternamente, and The Sleep of the Just. He is also the writer of the Australian short films Beneath the World and Our Own Hell, both directed by Mark Douglas. Much of James’ work is very dark and is categorized by the author himself as psychological horror ~ making him the perfect interview for our Halloween issue.
1. Much of your writing is dark and haunting, some might even say disturbing. Would you consider yourself a dark person, or is your writing either just a small part of your personality or actually something for which you have to go outside of yourself to find inspiration?
I guess you could consider me a “dark” person. My tastes always seem to lean towards the gruesome and macabre. I have a pretty bleak outlook on a lot of things. But, no, it’s not who I am all the time. I’m actually pretty silly around my friends and my daughter. But I’ve been through several things in my life which shaped who I am today, as we all have been, really.
2. You mentioned having lost some of your prior work. Does everything you write remain relatively fresh in your mind conceptually, if not verbatim?
Absolutely not. In fact, I just found an old disc of mine not too long ago and was shocked at how much material was on it that I had completely forgotten that I’d written. It was like finding a lost treasure chest. I was very excited. To re-read it all again with new eyes was quite an experience.
3. What was it about Poe, and others authors like Lovecraft, Kafka, and Burroughs, that first caught your attention…and how old were you? And at what age did you write your first story?
My father used to mention Poe from time-to-time, but I explicitly remember reading “The Tell-Tale Heart” in junior high and being absolutely captivated. I wanted to know more about the author, which lead me to his other fantastical tales and, what really grabbed me, his poetry. The first time I read “Alone,” I felt like I was writing the words as I was reading them. It spoke to a certain loneliness I felt in my soul. I guess you could say that about all of them…the alienation of Lovecraft, the paranoia of Kafka, and the cynicism of Burroughs…they all spoke to a portion of my psyche. I wrote my first full-fledged story in high school (rather than just a page or two here in there in my youth) for a writing assignment. Something about it just really made me feel awakened ~ tThe freedom of being able to just let me imagination tell a story. It made me feel alive. Like I was the controller of my own little universe. I loved it.
4. Poe is known for having an overwhelming phobia about being buried alive…what is your greatest fear?
That’s a tough one. I have many fears. I’d have to say my greatest fear, however, would be having lived an unfulfilled life. I can’t think of anything more tragic than that. I’m also a bit of a hypochondriac, if that counts. (laughs) But, seriously, I’ve had a chronic illness for over a decade now that’s had its ups and downs…and the fear of a long illness and being bedridden for long periods of time is a massive fear of mine…easily. You’ll notice a lot of what I write touches upon disease and infection.
5. You have not yet paired your writing with any illustrations – why?
I don’t think the stuff that I write really lends itself well to explicit interpretations. I’ve always felt that what I write is extremely dreamlike and disjointed and really uses the reader’s imagination to bring a lot of it alive. I’ve always felt that definite artwork can really ruin a lot of great works. Like how Lovecraft often wrote of the unseeable, the undefined. When you try to draw it and make it real, it just doesn’t work. The whole thing just collapses. However, I have recently teamed up with a brilliant artist named B.J. Tyson, who’s been working on some amazing cover art for me, so…
6. Do you have an overall vision of the world, of humanity, that you are hoping to communicate through your writing?
I feel, personally, that life is a very tragic and sad thing and many people spend their lives trying to deny this. My mindset tends to fall right in stride with many of the great philosophers like Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, and Sartre. However, I do believe there is a lot of hope in many of the things I write, as well. In fact, I write of lot of my material to exorcise these feelings of hopelessness that I have, not to reinforce or solidify them…and I think that shows in a lot of my stuff. At least I hope so.
7. Are you always the lead character in your stories, or are do you sometimes put others in that role? If the latter,
I’d say there’s a little of me in every main character that I write, but…they’re certainly not ME, per se. There are times, especially when writing for female characters, that I put a female I know and/or am close to into the role…and I write it how I would see them reacting to these situations, as I’ve (obviously) never been female, I want it to be as realistic as it can possibly be. Men and women deal with things in vastly different ways, so…I can’t really write too much from my perspective in those cases. But I feel it’s most effective the more I put myself into the story, because then it’s more genuine.
8. Would you some day like to see any of your writing turned into film/write a screenplay? Do you ever score/cast your writing in your mind?
Well, I feel that the majority of what I write is, for the most part, unfilmable. I guess there are a few exceptions, but…on the whole. Then again, you think of something like “Naked Lunch” as being unfilmable…yet look at what a brilliant job David Cronenberg did adapting it. And, no, it’s a very rare thing that I cast and/or hear any music accompanying what I write. Maybe in my teens, when I wrote a few “Sherlock Holmes” stories. I remember hearing the brilliant Bruce Broughton score to the 1985 film “Young Sherlock Holmes” going through my head as I wrote. (laughs) But that’s about it.
9. What do you see as your greatest strength as a writer?
I tend to be my own worst critic, so I can’t really pinpoint anything as what I would consider a “strength.” I would hope, however, that my strength would be that I have my own voice and that I’m original and someone reads something of mine and thinks, “I have never read anything quite like that.” I hope, also, to really pull the reader into all the strangeness they’re reading…and get lost in it. I would hope that it sticks with them for days…if not more.
10. You have talked about some of your writing, maybe even some of your best, coming straight from nightmares that you have. Do you ever wonder if your mind is subconsciously creating those nightmares so that your conscious self will have fodder for more writing?
(laughs) I don’t know, maybe. Maybe. I’ve been having them ever since childhood, long before I ever wanted to be a writer. Horrible nightmares, waking up covered in sweat and shaking. My grandfather, I’m told, suffered from them, as well. But, who knows? Perhaps there’s some force putting these images into my head in the hopes that I’ll write them down and put them out there for the world. (grin)
11. Your greatest weakness?
Dialogue is not my strong point. I’ll admit that right out. I’m less about writing what people say, rather than what they’re thinking. Some might say that another weakness is that what I write isn’t streamlined enough and doesn’t get to the point, but…that’s all done on purpose. My favorite books, films, etc. all are very hallucinatory, sometimes written or shown from the point of madness or disillusion…and that’s the way I write. It all just flows from my subconscious that way.
12. Does your writing ever become so heavy that you have the urge to switch over, even for just a few stories, to something lighter, more humorous?
Oh, without a doubt. Many, many times I have a thought, or a concept, that is just so unbelievably disturbing to me that it’s hard to get it all down on the page. I do have to keep walking away and disconnecting. But I need to get it out. I need to release it. I’ve sat there writing, breaking out in a sweat, feeling nauseous, but pressing on. And, yes, there are several pieces I’ve written that are quite whimsical just for that reason. I don’t show them to many people…
13. Do you see only the dark, the haunting, the traumatizing in this world, or do you see some of the levity and absurdity of it as well?
Oh yes. It’s hard to laugh at it sometimes, but you really have to or you’ll just…snap. I remember hearing a comedian once talking about how humor is “the lubricant of life.” I totally agree with that. I have times where I’m sillier than normal, laughing more than normal, and the people who are closest to me know that those are the times when I’m feeling the worst on the inside. I’m laughing to distract myself for the harshness of reality.
14. As what genre would you characterize your writing?
It’s hard to generalize. A lot of what I write I consider to be dark, dark, pitch black drama. It’s all about a person’s emotion in dealing with life, really…although fantastic elements are thrown in to emphasize these things. But it’s all down-to-earth…to me, at least. They deal with sadness, loss, pain, grief, fear. Many would describe my work as “horror,” but I really do not agree with that at all. Psychological thriller, perhaps, but very little of what I write would I classify as pure “horror.” Just the way several of my favorite films, “Eraserhead,” “Jacob’s Ladder,” are always classified as horror films, but…nothing could be further from the truth, to me.
15. Have you ever experienced writers’ block?
I have. All writers do, I’m certain. I’ve had the urge to write, but sat there staring at a blank page for hours. But, you have to be aware of your limits and realize when it’s just not coming to you, get up, go for a walk, listen to music, and come back to it later. Unfortunately, all it usually takes with me is a night of sleep…and the images come again. It’s usually first thing in the morning when my pen is moving the fastest.
You can browse James Ferace’s online Lulu storefront and/or purchase his work at the following link:
stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=4383048
Great article, wonderful interview, with a unique and interesting writer. As well as person. His books are a must read.