Today I’ll be hosting Derek Barton on my blog. His 3-book horror suspense thriller series, Evade is available on Amazon.com

Derek Barton was born in northeast Indiana in 1970.  The typical introvert kid; closer to books than people, but grew up with a fascination for horror novels (Stephen King, Dean Koontz) and medieval fantasy (Piers Anthony, R.A Salvatore). In April of 1996, he moved out to Phoenix, Arizona to find his own path.  He has been married to his wonderful wife, Erika since October 5th, 2012.  They have three children, Jenna, Johnathan and a five-year-old baby girl, Jessiena!

It is my pleasure to welcome Mr. Barton to this episode.

  • When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

I became engrossed with horror, sci-fi, and fantasy books while in high school and knew I had a storyteller within me dying to come out.

  • How long have you been writing?

In 2012, I took up writing – mainly for my own entertainment. By early 2015 I completed my first full-length rough draft of a manuscript. In 2016, I published my first epic fantasy novel, Consequences Within Chaos. Followed up by In Four Days, my first horror-suspense tale.

  • What inspired you to write Evade series?

Like a lot of my story ideas, this one grew from a very vivid dream/nightmare. I use lucid dreaming to “live out” stories in my head and this one actually woke me up. I knew it was too intense to leave alone and had to bring it to life for my readers!

Grab your copy Amazon.com

  • Are your characters created from scratch or are they based on people from your life?

All of the characters are developed and fleshed out with their own backstories. I do sometimes use people as characters or I’ll borrow their names for my works. A few of the characters were carried over from In Four Days and gave some insight to what became of their lives after the events of the Foxworth Mines. For anyone interested in a sneak peek at the character sketches see my blog of October 2019, https://authorderekbarton.blog/2019/10/13/character-sketchs-from-evade-derek-barton-2019/

  • Were there alternate endings you considered?

Without giving away the story’s final climatic end, I did backtrack from my much darker original ending. This worked to the benefit of some major characters and not so good for some minor ones…in other words, blood was still spilled, just a difference in whose!

  • What is the most difficult part of your artistic process?

Fulfilling my ambitions for the story. Sometimes when I’m writing my first draft, I’ll look at my outline and think, How the hell am I going to describe that?? For example, battle scenes can be especially daunting to work out.

  • What is the most surprising thing you discovered while writing your book?

I stretched my writing into some areas I had very little actual knowledge of – my research for the novels were more complex than ever! I’m speaking about story elements like the motorcycle gangs and the air prisoner transport systems as well as emergency military interactions. I feel they all came across well and true to life which I take pride in that.

  • Who is your favourite author and why?

I grew up in the 80s and 90s which to me was a golden age for horror and science fiction. Every book Stephen King wrote was a must-have to me and to this day I still read a lot of his work. Mr. Mercedes inspired me to develop and write Elude, my own crime/horror suspense story.

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  • What books or authors have most influenced your own writing?

As I stated King guided a lot of horror stories, but so did writers like Dean Koontz and Peter Straub. My fantasy work was crafted and influenced by R.A. Salvatore, Stephen R. Donaldson, and George R.R. Martin.

  • What is the best piece of advice you received about writing?

It’s critical to take a serious look at your story pacing and to work out your whole plot outline before you try to tell the actual story. If you don’t pinpoint your destination and know where you’re going, your writing will meander and most likely stall down some unexpected dead end!

  • What inspires you to get out of bed each day?

Without a doubt it is my family. They support my endeavours and give me the extra strength to keep telling my stories.

  • If you had to describe yourself in three words, what would they be?

Ambitious. Ernest. Creator!

  • Writing can be an emotionally draining and stressful pursuit. Any tips for aspiring writers?

If I hadn’t learned how powerful and how important a good outline can be to the structure of a story, I would never have been able to complete any of my tales. This is the greatest time in history to be a writer! There are thousands of sites and reference books on word crafting – take full advantage of what the internet can teach you!

  • Are you working on anything at the present you would like to share with your readers about?

The incredible sequel to the harrowing werewolf tale, The Hiddenwill be published by the end of the year. Perhaps The Hidden Within will even see the light from a full October moon!!

You can follow my page @rivyenphx and website to keep up-to-date on the progress for this project

About Evade series

FIND YOUR ANSWERS IN THIS THRILLING SEQUEL TO IN FOUR DAYS!

The balance for Evil has tipped in Hell’s favor…

On the day Detective Lindsey Korrey should be celebrating the closure of her biggest case, The Nurse Catcher, she’s caught up in an intense police car chase.

Rory, a missing child case of three years, has fallen under her protection. Someone — or something — wants him back.
Chased down and hunted by a supernatural enemy, Lindsey must evade capture at any cost.

Yet their road is full of hidden dangers. The Seekers emerge out of every shadow…around every corner…

With twists and turns, extraordinary characters, action, suspense, and a mystery with pulse-pounding revelations, EVADE will take your breath away and leave you wanting –needing to know more!

Purchase here: Amazon.com

For more information about Derek Barton, visit https://authorderekbarton.blog/about/