Welcome Charles E Butler to Wednesday Wonders!
Oh My Gosh! I can’t believe I am behind schedule again!
This week I blame it on Labor Day!
Hi Charles and welcome to Wednesday’s Wonders. I am so happy to have you here and once again I find myself apologizing for my lost track of days!
Many people don’t like the name they were given at birth. Do you like your given name? If not, what would you rather have been named?
My given name was a hasty decision. My grandfather had died three weeks before I was born and when I arrived, I wasn’t in the best of health, so I was christened/baptized very quickly with my grandfather’s name. looking back, it sounds like a last Rites scenario. I’m not the biggest fan of the name and only started using Charles when I wrote my book. It has taken 40 years to warm to it, but I’m getting used to it now. But, I know firsthand that there are many people who are dis-satisfied with their names.
Do you write under your given name or a pseudonym?
I write under my full name: Charles E Butler
I act and illustrate under Eddie Butler – my social name.
Is there a routine you go through before you begin writing?
Not really. I just have to be able to concentrate. But my concentration span is limited many times. If I don’t have the quiet, I don’t get the work done.
Is there anyone you admire?
I admire a great many people, but my heroes are all dead. I like creativity in people that is a big attraction for me and it is great to see someone do well through their own effort and talent.
What do you like to read?
I don’t read too often these days, but my misspent youth was nurtured through comic books and then I graduated to horror novels. But I basically read all kinds of things. I like to read good prose. If the prose or language isn’t working, forget it.
Do you have a favorite author?
Again it comes under heroes. There are so many. Stephen King, James Herbert, Stephen Laws, Kim Newman, David Pirie…all these gentlemen inspire my own work. Plus the comic book writers, Alan Moore, Roger stern, David Micheline, Stan Lee. Actually, I was wrong, my heroes aren’t all dead…only those in the movies!
Does it have to be quiet when you write or do you like background noise? TV, music, etc.
Depends on the type of writing. If it is playing around with an idea, those can come at any time. But for the actual execution to the page, I really need quiet.
Beach or mountains?
Neither. I live in a red brick housing estate in Yorkshire.
What inspires you?
A lot of things can inspire me. Movies. Books. A song or lyric. Art.
Favorite snack food?
I have a fondness for all food. I am very easily pampered.
Doesn’t matter who we are, man, woman, child, all of us get freaked out by something. Spiders, mice, snakes, bugs, geese, etc. What freaks you out?
Bluebottles and wasps. Particularly those bluebottles that buzz and bomb you like kamikaze pilots for a good thirty minutes or so.
What is the most unusual job you’ve ever had?
All of them! I have had a crazy working life!
I read on another blog, that a writer was working on 10 novels at once. Confusing! Do you work on one or multiple novels at a time?
I do have multiple works going on at the same time. When doing anything creative it is always a good idea to have something on the back burner. I have three more review books. Two novels. Two graphic novels. A couple of screenplays. And you are right, it can get confusing too.
What do you like to do when you are not writing?
I act on stage or make short movies, mostly horror-orientated. I have submitted the films to festivals and been viewed in New Orleans. But, really, what I like to do is nothing at all.
And last question…Do you have anything new coming out that you’d like to share with us?
I already have a kindle book online called Detections in A Scarlet Vein. A very short e-book that is very funny apparently. It is just a lot of meandering dialogue and soliloquy that is proving very popular. It is very short – 24 pages approx – so too small to be considered for paperback. I may write another couple of episodes to pad it out and release it in paperback next year. I’m also playing around with the idea of writing a horror anthology book.
And a little more about Charles
The Romance of Dracula is his first book and a sequel, Vampires Everywhere, The Rise of the Movie UnDead is in preparation.
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karensdifferentcorners 
A satisfied man! What more can you ask for and a red brick house in Yorkshire sounds perfect! Great interview Charles!
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haha! I HATE bluebottles, they are crazy things! but in all fairness I hate almost all bugs. Great interview!
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