Meghan: Hi, Glen. Welcome welcome. Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Glen R. Krisch: I’m currently a full-time writer and stay-at-home dad. Before that, I worked in warehouses, built tractors on an assembly line, worked in retail management, among many other jobs. I married my high school sweetheart. I love to run, and I try to eat a vegan diet, but I don’t force it on anyone.
Meghan: What are five things most people don’t know about you?
Glen R. Krisch:
- I once finished 4th in a 50k trail race.
- I’m pretty much a recluse.
- My first memory was being in a crib on Halloween 1975. I was 15 months old.
- I went to an environmental conference in 1993. Ralph Nader was the keynote speaker.
- In grade school, I wrote to NASA so often to ask for free posters and other materials that they finally asked me to stop.
Meghan: What is the first book you remember reading?
Glen R. Krisch: The first adult book I remember reading is Thinner by King. I don’t remember much before that. We had an encyclopedia set that I read all the time. I also started reading the newspaper on a regular basis when I was nine. I read, and constantly, just not fiction.
Meghan: What are you reading now?
Glen R. Krisch: I almost always read multiple books at once. Right now, I’m reading King‘s The Drawing of the Three (a reread as I attempt to read the whole Dark Tower series), as well as a bunch of Jack Ketchum short stories (a reread of Peaceable Kingdom and his last collection, Gorilla in My Room), and some nonfiction material for a project I’ve been working on for about a decade.
Meghan: What’s a book you really enjoyed that others wouldn’t expect you to have liked?
Glen R. Krisch: Hmm… I don’t remember the title, but I once picked up a Nora Roberts book, and it was SO compelling. She can really write!
Meghan: What made you decide you want to write? When did you begin writing?
Glen R. Krisch: I started writing as a sophomore in high school. I was being bullied by a neighbor and no one would listen to me. Instead of doing something destructive, I turned my emotions into bad poetry and short stories.
Meghan: Do you have a special place you like to write?
Glen R. Krisch: My office, and when it’s nice outside, the rocker on my front porch.
Meghan: Do you have any quirks or processes that you go through when you write?
Glen R. Krisch: I can’t listen to music. Actually, sound of any kind can be detrimental to my output. I oftentimes write while wearing earplugs, even when I have the house to myself.
Meghan: Is there anything about writing you find most challenging?
Glen R. Krisch: The hardest part is always starting. All it takes is writing a single sentence, and I can write all day. But opening the document and starting…? Yep, that’s my devil.
Meghan: What’s the most satisfying thing you’ve written so far?
Glen R. Krisch: Hard to say. I feel great satisfaction completing a project. Doesn’t matter what it is—a poem, a short story, or novel—but it feels like a weight is lifted from my shoulders when I finally type the last word.
Meghan: What books have most inspired you? Who are some authors that have inspired your writing style?
Glen R. Krisch: For the most part, I’m totally blind to my own style. I have no idea if I write like anyone else. I just have a goal of personally being able to see the characters move through scenes as they deal with conflict.
Meghan: What do you think makes a good story?
Glen R. Krisch: It’s all about characters and conflict being propelled down the page. Throw in an interesting setting or time period along with the above, and I’m in heaven.
Meghan: What does it take for you to love a character? How do you utilize that when creating your characters?
Glen R. Krisch: I love heroes that aren’t perfect. I love bad guys with hints of humanity. I love when the bad guy feels like what he’s doing is the right thing to do. I love characters with secrets. I love characters who make bold sacrifices.
Meghan: Which, of all your characters, do you think is the most like you?
Glen R. Krisch: Hard to say. Most of my lead characters have some small part of me. From Kevin and Carin in my first novel, The Nightmare Within, to Krista, Jack, and Poppa in my latest, Little Whispers.
Meghan: Are you turned off by a bad cover? To what degree were you involved in creating your book covers?
Glen R. Krisch: Book covers are so important. I’ve been very lucky (for the most part) in that I’ve not only worked with great artists and designers, but they’ve taken into account my vision for the cover.
Meghan: What have you learned creating your books?
Glen R. Krisch: They don’t write themselves.
Meghan: What has been the hardest scene for you to write so far?
Glen R. Krisch: In my first novel, The Nightmare Within, I knew the main character’s grandmother would die at the hands of the monster. I knew it early in the process of writing the book, and when I reached that point… I just couldn’t write it. Finally, after a couple of weeks, I just did it. When my wife came home and asked about my day, I could only mutter… “I killed the old woman today.” She knew what I was talking about because she knew I didn’t want to face writing that scene.
Meghan: What makes your books different from others out there in this genre?
Glen R. Krisch: Truthfully, I have no idea. I try for originality and quality. If I accomplish that as I write a story I feel compelled to write, then I consider it a success.
Meghan: How important is the book title, how hard is it to choose the best one, and how did you choose yours (of course, with no spoilers)?
Glen R. Krisch: I try to come up with fitting titles for my work, but sometimes it’s a struggle nailing one down. It’s probably beneficial that it takes me so long to write a book so I have more time to mull it over.
Meghan: What makes you feel more fulfilled: Writing a novel or writing a short story?
Glen R. Krisch: I used to write only short stories. From the time I graduated college with a writing degree, until I finished The Nightmare Within about five years later, I wrote exclusively short stories. Now, I write almost exclusively novels and novellas, unless someone asks me to write a short. I like writing short stories, but I love the depth and dimensionality of longer works.
Meghan: Tell us a little bit about your books, your target audience, and what you would like readers to take away from your stories.
Glen R. Krisch: Ugh… geez. You had to ask this question? The problem is, I don’t know who my audience is. In my mind, it could be anyone. I don’t care who you are, your background, etc. I write almost exclusively because I want to write specific stories. I’m sure it’s bad for my sales, but I’m my own audience.
Meghan: Can you tell us about some of the deleted scenes/stuff that got left out of your work?
Glen R. Krisch: I might be unusual in that I don’t have too many deleted scenes from my work. For a longer story (a novella or novel) I usually have a dump file. This is just a place where I can cut and paste paragraphs that I personally love that aren’t the best fit for the story.
Meghan: What can we expect from you in the future?
Glen R. Krisch: This year will probably look like I write a TON, but I haven’t had much published in the last few years even though I write just about every day. So far this year I’ve republished my out-of-print novel, Arkadium Rising. I’ve published the short novel, Echoes of Violence. Another new novel, Little Whispers, came out in June. I also have plans to publish a paperback edition of Nothing Lasting, and three new novella projects will also see the light of day this year.
Meghan: Where can we find you?
Glen R. Krisch: Twitter ** Instagram ** Facebook
Meghan: Do you have any closing words for your fans or anything you’d like to say that we didn’t get to cover in this interview?
Glen R. Krisch: Just that it’s still a thrill that people read my work, and some of them even enjoy it! Thanks for having me, Meghan!
A native of the Chicago suburbs, Glen Krisch hopes to add to his list of ghosts he’s witnessed (two), as well as develop his rather pedestrian telekinetic and precognitive skills. His novels include Amazon Bestseller Where Darkness Dwells, The Nightmare Within, Nothing Lasting, Arkadium Rising, and Little Whispers.
Before becoming a full-time writer, he worked a lot of unfulfilling jobs that only reinforced his ambition to chase his dreams. Besides writing and reading, he enjoys spending time with his wife, his three boys, simple living, and ultra-running.
In a secret lab in the southern Illinois woodlands, scientists break through the barriers between universes. While trying to decode the mysteries of the multiverse, they unwittingly bring a deadly flu virus into their own world. At first, people die in great numbers. Then, the newly dead rise, preying upon the living like a plague of locusts.
Not only have the scientists unleashed a deadly plague, but they’ve changed the very fabric of time, causing those who remain to continue to re-live the same day.
The Upton family has lived and died through thousands of todays. A married couple with three kids, they run the Cherryhill Campground next to the lab. In a day of unending chaos and violence, the only thing they know for certain is they must fight to stay together no matter what.
It’s a time to say goodbye.
Krista Forrester and her family return to her childhood lake house to say goodbye to her dying grandfather. His last wish is to spend his final days surrounded by family. It’s a time to reminisce, a time for togetherness and love. But the family’s return awakens both forgotten memories and the unsettled spirits tied to the land.
Sometimes memories are better left buried.
Krista never wanted to return to the lake house. She hasn’t been back since Breann, her childhood friend, disappeared from the sandy beach right outside her back door. Her disappearance left behind both lingering sorrow and many unanswered questions. Was Breann a victim of a now-convicted serial killer? Will Krista and her family succumb to the evil bound to the lake house? Is Breann still somewhere close, waiting to be discovered? What are those melancholic little whispers Krista hears in the middle of the night?
Only by confronting the tragedies of the past can Krista guarantee her family’s future.
Meghan's Haunted House of Books 