Keith Gouveia
Featured Author: Keith Gouveia is an accomplished horror and dark fantasy writer and fierce advocate of independent and artisanal publishers. His recent releases are Animal Behavior and Other Tales of Lycanthropy, The Screaming Field, and The Dead Speak in Riddles. He is also editor of the horror anthologies, Bits of the Dead, Skeletal Remains, and The Snuff Syndicate. Keith was born and raised in Fall River, Massachusetts, but now lives in Orlando, Florida.
Featured Author: Keith Gouveia Interview
- How long have you been writing?
- What/who inspired you to be a writer?
- What genre do you prefer to write in?
- Describe your writing process. What comes first–character or plot? Do you “pants” it or outline?
- What is your daily routine as a writer?
- What are some of your biggest challenges you feel like you have to overcome in your writing career?
- Do you have a set number of words each day or a goal?
- How much time is spent on “the business of writing” – queries, seeking an agent or publisher, marketing/sales?
- Do you prefer short stories or full-length novels in your writing?
- Can you give some us some insight into your story?
- What advice can you give other writers?
LHP: How long have you been writing?
Keith Gouveia: Telling stories has been a part of my life since I can remember, whether verbal or in writing. However, it has been about eighteen years since I’ve taken it seriously.
LHP: What genre do you prefer to write in?
Keith Gouveia: Horror has always been my first true love and the playground of my choice, but I’m not afraid to venture into other realms of possibilities. Even in though rare instances I do write outside of the field, horrific elements always find a way to creep into the tale I’m telling.
LHP: What/who inspired you to be a writer?
Keith Gouveia: This one is hard to answer, as I said, I’ve been telling stories since I was a kid. More often than not, those stories were ghost stories and this was a time long before I could even read the masters of the genre. That need, that desire to spin a good yarn has always been a part of me.
LHP: Describe your writing process. What comes first–character or plot? Do you “pants” it or outline?
Keith Gouveia: My process is very unorthodox. First and foremost, I write to entertain myself. I put no constraints on myself and I write only when I have an idea worthy of exploration. The idea is usually a plot element or a trope I want to turn upside down and because I enjoy the journey more than the destination, I write without the use of outlines.
LHP: What is your daily/weekly routine as a writer?
Keith Gouveia: Because I do not see this as a job, I have no routine. Usually the idea manifests itself as a voice inside my head and my commitment to it, or lack there of, depends on how loud it speaks to me. Insert smiley face.
LHP: Are there any software tools, resources, or websites you use often while writing?
Keith Gouveia: While writing, I only use word, with spell check turned off. It is when the writing is done and my proof-reading cap is on that I utilize a dictionary and thesaurus. In between writing, I am reading, and that is where I believe the tools for writing can be truly found.
LHP: What are some of your biggest challenges you feel like you have to overcome in your writing career?
Keith Gouveia: I have been writing for eighteen years and it seems society has overcome the biggest hurdle I faced. That is the stigma of self-publishing. In the beginning I self-published my first book. After that, it was quite difficult for publishers and fellow authors to take me seriously. It pleases me immensely to see these days the work, the writing, is being judged by its own merits and not by the means it was delivered to the reader.
LHP: Do you have a set number of words per day you target? or do you set other goals to meet?
Keith Gouveia: As this is not my full time job, there is no daily target. I am satisfied with any output I manage to commit to paper on any given day.
LHP: Do you prefer short stories or full length novels in your writing?
Keith Gouveia: Easy question, the answer is whatever the story dictates. I do not prefer one over the other.
LHP: How much time is spent on “the business of writing” – queries, seeking an agent or publisher, marketing/sales?
Keith Gouveia:I imagine it is the same for me as it is for everyone else, the business side probably works out to four or five times the initial investment of time the writing phase was. At times, it prevents me from actually writing and often discourages me from creating new pieces.
LHP: Can you give some us some insight into your story?
Keith Gouveia: “Soul Dew” came about as I was fleshing out a world I imagine for a fantasy novel I have been working on and off again for several years titled “Sword of Darkness, Sword of Light.” As I was laying some ground work in the novel I had ideas that didn’t fit into the narrative and so I stopped on the novel and wrote the short story.
LHP: What advice can you give other writers?
Keith Gouveia: Never give up. What works for one author can’t and won’t work for everyone else. Writing is a lonely, intimate profession. Carve your own path.
Terrors Unimagined
Keith Gouveia recently authored “Soul Dew” for Terrors Unimagined on sale now.
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