What are you working on and what can we expect from you in the future?

My most recent writing work is my debut collection, That Which Grows Wild: 16 Tales of Dark Fiction (Cemetery Dance Publications; July, 2018)

Quick synopsis: Equal parts of whimsy and weird, horror and heartbreak, That Which Grows Wild, by award-winning author Eric J. Guignard, collects sixteen short stories that traverses the darker side of the fantastic.

How long have you been writing?

I’ve been writing fiction driven by the goal of publication since February, 2011. However, I’ve been writing and drawing stories ever since I was a child. I just did it then for my own interest, or for friends. I stopped in college, in order to pursue business and serious-minded life necessities... which, of course, I now regret. I don’t regret the pursuit of those things, but rather having given up writing for so many years. I only jumped into as a potential career after the realization struck me that I was missing out on something I was passionate about!

Advice you would give new authors?

Be confident to fail. Read broadly. Experiment. What I tell others, and what I repeat to myself like a mantra, is simply: “Keep writing, and remember that every rejection is an opportunity for improvement!”

 

You’re also an editor. What three tips would you give to a writer who is looking for a publisher for their stories?

1. Read authors you admire, and who you wish your books would be placed alongside on a bestseller list. Read authors who are progressive and experimental. Read authors of diverse voice. Read authors from bygone eras as well as the newest up-and-comers. Just read, and daily, at least 30 minutes.

2. Be a slush reader for a few months, meaning a “first reader” (generally unpaid volunteer) for a publication. By reading submissions (most that will be rejected), you’ll see (a) what everyone else is doing and flooding the market with (and thus you can set yourself to be different), and (b) flaws in others’ writings that by their aggregate you’ll be able to recognize in yourself (and can rectify).

3. Everyone gets rejected. Everyone, and more often than they’re accepted. Remember that every rejection is an opportunity for improvement!

Which do you prefer more, Editing or Writing?

I’m gonna take the middle road on that answer, as both editing and writing provide me great satisfaction, just in different ways. I really look at them both as completely different processes, like asking if I prefer baseball over the color green. I find editing is easier for me than writing. Writing is emotionally exhausting, whereas editing I can do all day long. And I’m always thrilled with the chance to connect and work with other writers while editing. But I love so much to type “The End” at the end of a writing piece—it’s a wonderful, fulfilling sense. Both are different journeys to a creative destination.