1. Tell us about yourself and your most current project/s?
Hi! I’m the father of a three-year-old and the husband of a talented artist. My day-job is in Higher Education, where I monitor complaints related to state grants. I published my debut horror collection, A Mythos of Monsters and Madness, in September. I think of this work as the culmination of my first five years as a horror writer. In this time, I’ve been lucky enough to have about thirty short stories published along with one academic essay about H.P. Lovecraft. I also created and moderate the R/JohnLangan subreddit in my spare time.
2. Where did the inspiration/idea come for this project?
A Mythos of Monsters and Madness felt like the natural next step after I had a good foundation of short stories published. I was partially inspired by short story collections like The Wide Carnivorous Sky by John Langan and Occultation by Laird Barron, but I also wanted to be able to get a copy of my book in my mother’s hands before she passed away, and I have been increasingly worried about her health since she had a major stroke in 2022. There are also a few other elderly family members and friends who I worried might not make it to see my book come out if I didn’t publish in 2025. Maybe it sounds weird, but I wanted them to know the encouragement and help they provided me paid off.
3. What does the writing process look like for you?
I usually get an idea, ruminate on it for a few days, and then I get it on the page in a few frantic bursts over a short period of time. I love writing a 3,000-word short story in one day. Since I became a father, I’ve had to adjust to doing my writing more piecemeal. I’ve also slowed down on writing quite a lot since I started chasing my kid around, and I was surprised to find myself at peace with my slower output because being a dad has made feel fulfilled.
4. How do you handle writer’s block?
If I’m really stuck, I’ll take a nap, but I usually just get anything on the page and work on salvaging it later. One thing I picked up in a psyche class as an undergrad is to listen to the same music consistently while writing to train your neural pathways to function in a consistent way. I have a specific horror writing playlist I put on when I need to get down to business. It works for me.
5. How do you feed your creativity when feeling drained?
When I’m drained, I like to delete all my social media, clean my house, and try to minimize my distractions so I can focus on a single book, movie, or game. Sometimes I just try to let myself have time off from being creative as well. Not actively wanting to write a story is the best way I’ve found to get my creativity back. I also like to play board games (Mansions of Madness, Arkham Horror, A Game of Thrones: The Board Game), and I find they can sometimes feed my creativity too.
6. What advice would you give writers who feel stuck or uninspired?
Take a break. Don’t fall for the ruse that we all have to be “hustling” all of the time. Sometimes we just need to let the world flow around us for a while.
7. Have you ever thought about giving up writing? If so, what pulled you back?
I’ve been contemplating this more often lately. Back in 2019, when I first started getting serious, I had two separate writers tell me not to give up, and I remember thinking I’d never have that problem. Surprisingly, once my daughter was born, I felt a lot of my creative drive vanish with the happiness of being a father. Balancing my day-job, writing, and parenting is really hard, and I need my day-job to pay for my house / family, and my daughter is an actual person developing and growing, so my writing just doesn’t feel as important as it once was to me. That said, I feel like I’ve made it too far to just quit. My hope is that with my collection being out, I can now take a step back while still having a book out to point people toward.
8. How do you keep your voice or ideas fresh over time?
I love experimenting with different narrative forms. I have told a story via a series of journal entries, an autopsy recording, a letter, office notes, and more. It’s a lot of fun to vary how you tell your story, and I think it helps readers suspend their disbelief while reading.
9. What do you wish more people understood about the creative process?
I can’t write YOUR idea. I mean, I know I could ghost write if I wanted to do so, but when people come up to me and try to get me to write a story they have, even if it’s a good pitch, I can’t do it. I need the idea and spark to come from me.
10. What is the most honest thing you’ve ever written - and did it scare you?
When my wife was pregnant, I wrote about a lot of my parental fears. In most cases, the fears came out subconsciously, which was pretty surprising. I’d sit down to write a simple ghost story and find strong themes of parenthood in there.
Where can my audience find you?
The best place is www.jeremiahdylancook.com. It has links to all my published work, appearances, social media links, etc.