I've never really found inspiration for story ideas in the news, but I'd say it certainly affects our lives in so many ways. I would say that certainly the stories of the day appear in the work - I just have never gone so far as to say, well, this particular event could influence a plot of an entire book.

Michael Koryta

Categorized in : Ideas Book Inspiration

You have only so many chances to tell stories. I didn't want to be forever wedded to one form of storytelling when there are so many out there.

Michael Koryta

stories want forever

'Envy the Night' was my first stand alone, the first book I'd written in the third person and I loved the feel of that, and it was different but it was also the same. 'So Cold the River,' I knew, was going to be really different, and that's why I thought about doing it as a novella under a pseudonym, because I didn't want to damage my career.

Michael Koryta

careers night book

I started writing as soon as I started reading.

Michael Koryta

reading writing

I think anyone who writes suspense fiction and says that King isn't an influence is either lying or being foolish.

Michael Koryta

writing lying thinking

For 'So Cold the River,' I'm actually working on adapting the book with Scott Silver, who was just nominated for an Oscar for 'The Fighter,' and who also wrote '8 Mile,' which I think is a terrific screenplay. The chance to work with Scott is a tremendous pleasure and I'm learning a lot.

Michael Koryta

rivers book thinking

I think if you looked at the kind of ebb and flow of supernatural fiction and horror fiction, it does seem to be more popular in times when were hammered over the head daily with threats from all angles, very real threats.

Michael Koryta

ebb-and-flow real thinking

I think pressure can be an incentive toward improvement, and while I'm not denying that I feel some, I will also stress that it is self-inflicted and hopefully can be channeled in a healthy way.

Michael Koryta

stress healthy thinking

What I love is the writing, it's not having written. I like the process of it.

Michael Koryta

process writing love-is

Horror and supernatural novels give you a lot of what you look for in a crime novel, just with a twist that was very fresh for me as a reader.

Michael Koryta

twists crime-novels giving

In terms of characters I wish I had created - just because I haven't dealt with anything like them - I'm really impressed by characters who can endure over time, whether that be a long series run like a Harry Bosch, or a character who endures over generations and continues to please readers: Sherlock Holmes.

Michael Koryta

running character long

Band of Skulls is joining Cage the Elephant as my new musical caffeine.

Michael Koryta

elephants musical skulls

We understand tornadoes scientifically, but it still feels supernatural. The randomness makes it feel supernatural.

Michael Koryta

randomness tornadoes feels

I made a very conscious effort to finish 'The Cypress House' before 'So Cold the River' launched, because I thought that would help build a buffer between my writing and any impact that came from either the success or the failure of that first book.

Michael Koryta

writing rivers book

Stephen King, by far, is the standard-bearer. I think anyone who writes suspense fiction and says that King isn't an influence is either lying or being foolish. I read his book 'On Writing' before I read pretty much any of his fiction.

Michael Koryta

kings book lying

I'd worked at a small town newspaper, and I was thinking of all the strange stories that I had seen float through the newsroom in my time there that were dismissed as kind of amusing curiosities. Somehow from that I got to this idea of an eccentric alcoholic who built a lighthouse in the woods.

Michael Koryta

curiosity ideas thinking

Adam Nevill a spine-chiller in the classic tradition, a writer who draws you in from the world of the familiar, eases you into the world of terror, and then locks the door behind you. The House of Small Shadows grows darker and takes on more menacing life with each step forward.

Michael Koryta

shadow house doors

You should be writing for the love of the story, and when it comes time to return to the manuscript, everything else belongs behind a closed door.

Michael Koryta

stories writing doors

I would say of characters I've created, the one I've felt the most connected to emotionally was Adam Austin from 'The Prophet.' I think it was the connection to the idea that one decision you make innocently enough can have very serious, drastic consequences for someone else's life.

Michael Koryta

you serious decision life

Ultimately, in my mind, that's what I'm trying to do with my fiction; I'm trying to transport my reader into a different world.

Michael Koryta

different mind trying world

When you read a supernatural suspense story or a ghost story, or a horror story, the evil at play is something that you can dismiss. And I wonder if, in this time, if people really want to be sitting on the subway reading a book about someone releasing a dirty bomb on the subway.

Michael Koryta

you evil time people