This week I’m pleased to welcome fellow author Jonathan Pongratz to my Scribbles Page to chat about his horror novella Reaper. I’ve had the pleasure of chatting with and getting to know Jonathan over the last couple years so its great to have him here today to talk.
Jonathan why don’t you tell us about a little about yourself and your writing (something that isn’t in your bio)?
Well, for starters, I’m extremely ambitious.
At any given time, I’ve got new ideas forming in my noggin, so I’ve got a plethora of projects to choose from on my many Google Docs that I use as idea boards.
I’m also something of a genre hopper. So far, each story I’ve written has been in a different genre, and I really enjoy exploring elements that bring differing concepts together. I don’t really see myself as writing one single type of genre and sticking to it.
So far I’ve written YA Horror and Urban Fantasy pieces, but eventually I want to branch out into other genres and concepts like mystery, steampunk, and maybe even time travel!.
When you’re not writing what do you enjoy doing?
I have a lot of interests outside writing, primarily reading. That takes up most of my spare time, and lately I’ve been focusing more on indie authors’ works.
Outside of that, I love binge-watching some Netflix or HBO or going out for some karaoke with my friends. I was a choir kid basically my entire life, so music has always been a huge passion of mine.
Now let’s talk about Reaper: A Horror Novella, why a horror Novella? What inspired you to write the story? Where did the idea for come from?
To be honest, I was surprised that my first published work was in the YA/Horror genre. At the time, I was waiting to hear back on the submission of my first urban fantasy novel (still unpublished at the moment). It was around September last year, and I was binge-watching all kinds of horror movies (my favorite movie genre) when a story started forming in my head. I started writing it all down, and two months later, I had my rough draft of Reaper.
This story kind of just happened, much like my urban fantasy novel, and I really love the fact that writing can be like that. Sometimes a story just comes to you and you have to write it.
Tell us about your main character Gregory, is he a younger you, or someone you knew growing up, or is he a complete fabrication? Where did his inspiration come from?
I plead the fifth on this one, haha! I did model Gregory from my experiences as a kid in the 90’s. Back then, I was your stereotypical comic book nerd that would beg his parents to go to the comic book store. Any chance my parents gave me for an allowance I would take it, though it usually involved doing laundry rather than watching my siblings. Though I was definitely afraid of the dark, I never had a creepy basement. Thank goodness for that!
You never specify a location, for the story, with a love, it’s kind of an any town. Was that intentional or did you have a real place in mind?
Ironically, this also relates to my experience as a kid in the 90’s. I grew up in a small, nondescript town, and I wanted that reflected in the story. Once I was finished with my drafts, I did go back and consider naming it, but decided against it. I figured that some of my readers would probably relate to living in an ordinary town where nothing seems to ever happen, and I didn’t feel that naming it would necessary add much to the story, especially given what happens later on. ;)
I know asking an author this is like making them remove an arm, but do you have a favorite character in the story? Honestly I loved Trent and Greg, they both seemed very real to me. So, who’s your favorite?
To be honest, I’m torn between Trent and Greg right down the middle. I see a lot of myself in both of them.
On one hand, Gregory is courageous, adaptive, and a hero. I love my heroes. But Trent is your cool kid, the one who rebels against the system built around us. We all go through that phase, and he found himself by going through that. I found myself in the same way.
So sorry, no favorites here!
Do you like horror stories? What do you enjoy reading?
Oh, I live for them! I grew up reading Goosebumps as much as I possibly could, but oddly enough, I haven’t read too many horror novels. I focused more on cinema in the past, but am starting to catch up on some really great chilling reads.
Other than horror, I am a huge fan of YA, scifi, fantasy, paranormal/supernatural, superheroes, thrillers, anything with plenty of action and a fast-moving plot that gets those pages turning! I’m also trying to get into time travel novels as well, though I’m not sure when I’ll find the time.
What’s coming up next for you? What do you have in writing pipeline?
Well, quite a bit actually. I’m currently writing the sequel to Reaper (Yes, I can confirm that there will indeed be a sequel!) and am plotting out the second act as we speak. I’m hoping to get this book published sometime later this year.
After that, I’m going back to work on my beloved urban fantasy series. I’ll be polishing up the first book one last time before submitting to different publishers. Then I just have to write the other four novels I plan on writing. No big deal, right?
Even further after that, I have a number of other projects that I’ve been dying to write, so those may pop up in between other books getting published.
The future is definitely bright!
Is there anything else you would like to share with us today?
From personal experience, I’d like to give some quick advice to newer or struggling writers out there.
Write and read as much as you can, and establish a daily routine.
Writing on a schedule has been crucial to developing my craft, even when I think that I’ve plateaued. Though I may not always want to write when it’s time to, it’s a way to challenge myself and focus on attaining my goals.
Reading supplies my inspiration to write, and the more I read, the more I want to write as well. Even if you don’t draw a ton of inspiration from the books you read, reading supplies the imagination with new thoughts and ideas that can be priceless in the long run.
I want to thank Jonathan Pongratz for stopping by my Scribbles Page today. If you have questions for Jonathan leave them below and I’ll ensure he swings by to answer, or you can find him on Social Media, see the links below. For my review of Reaper: A Horror Novella find it here. As always if you enjoyed this content and want to help spread the word not only about Jonathan Pongratz like and share below. So, tell us what are your favorite horror novels? Do you like books that go bump in the night? Tell us below. Until next time have a great week.
