Every day for the next five days, I’ll be posting the Author Q&As from the contributors of Jozi Flash 2017. The anthology will be available for free download from December – just in time for Christmas!
Today, please join me in welcoming Nthato Morakabi, whose prolific writing is second only to his sense of humour!
What’s your favourite genre to write and why?
I’ve made my name as a horror writer. This is due to my entire youth spent reading R.L. Stine, Stephen King, Clive Barker and a host of other horror giants. So perhaps before I would have said horror immediately, but now I’m not so sure. I love the fantastical aspect of horror, which is also present in fantasy and sci-fi. Short answer, I don’t have a favourite genre, I have favourite genres.
Have you published anything else?
Yes. This is mostly thanks to my blog, where networking with another blogger got me in touch with a writer working on an anthology. This would become my first international platform where my horror short story The Taxi Driver would feature in Dark Tales. The following year we worked on Dead Tales and my short story The Salesman also featured.
How do you feel about social media and which platform is the one you use most?
Social media, like anything else in life, can be amazing but can also ruin people. Personally, it’s thanks to social media that I became a published author. I have met many amazing authors who I can now call friends even though we’ve never met face to face. I spend most of my time between my WordPress blog and Twitter.
Which of your stories in Jozi Flash 2017 is your favourite?
Haha, hard to say. I loved Colours of Freedom. I wrote it as a flowing melody that told a story of love and sacrifice with a touch of African history. Then again Neapolitans was hilarious to write and The Family Recipe was a tribute to my first published horror, which I also wrote in 2nd person.
Who or what inspires your writing?
Everything. Music. Movies. Anime. Books. Random conversations. A single sentence on a billboard. There’s inspiration everywhere, it’s just about how my mind interprets it.
Are you taking part in NaNoWriMo and what are you working on?
Oh yes, I am definitely taking part in NaNo. This year’s novel is a horror, which, surprisingly, is a genre I haven’t written for NaNo. Ever. The premise is based on regret, and the personal inner darkness we all have to deal with. Intermingled with a supernatural entity of course.
Who is your least favourite book character and why?
Gee, this one is tough. Wait, no it’s not. It’s the entire cast of The Desert Spear, the second book in Peter V. Brett’s Demon Cycle series. It’s like they became new people compared to the first one, and the choices they were making annoyed me.
Pet peeve as a reader?
Bland writing where the narrator/main characters sound like a robot. Just mechanically going through every day things that don’t really do much for the story. I don’t care how you put on trousers unless you explain you have eight legs and four of them are made of jello.
Pet peeve as a writer?
Editing. Nuff said.
How do you feel about editing?
Ha should have known haha. See the previous answer? Okay uhhh editing is a necessary evil and when you have 50 000 unedited words, with grammar issues that could topple a small country … well you can imagine how I feel.
Connect with Nthato on Twitter, on his blog, or on Facebook.