Interview: Author Christopher Moore - Page 2

What brought you to writing? Have you always wanted to write or was it just something that happened one day when you least expected it?

I started writing stories for school when I was about 11 or 12. I liked it a lot and started writing them on my own. I wrote my first novel when I was 12. It was 16 pages long. It was basically about frogs taking over the world, which I still think is a good idea. Not for a book, I mean frogs taking over the world is a good idea. 

You have an incredible sense of the bizarre. Did that develop over time as a reaction to anything in particular? Do you find it easier or harder these days to find the inspiration for it?

I've always liked imaginative stories and wild humour, going back as far as I can remember. I honestly never write anything just to be weird - my reaction is more, "Wouldn't it be cool if ______? And I fill in the blank with something fun. 

Not all of your books have been specifically horror, but all have had elements of the supernatural in them, or at least the surreal. What first attracted you to those themes, and what continues to keep them fresh for you?

Probably a short attention span. Reality gets pretty boring. I've tried to write stories without a supernatural element, but not far in I'm usually saying, "This guy is a dick, I need to feed him to a monster." Then there you go. 

Even though you have some fairly gruesome, some would say down right sicko, scenes in your books, you always manage to keep them funny. Is that a symptom of some serious character flaw on your part, or is there actually a literary reason for you to turn disembowelment into (if you'll forgive the term) side splitting comedy?

Well, you kind of have to do it, don't you? Laugh, I mean. It's simply what I do. As with the supernatural stuff, I've tried to write non-humorous stories, but I don't get far before I'm cracking wise. 

Books like The Stupidest Angel and Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal could give people the impression that you are less then reverent when it comes to religion in general and Christianity in particular. I know you included a disclaimer in Biff, and I also believe you don't mean to insult anyone's beliefs, but what are your feelings about those two topics, and/or, is there any particular reason you picked them as targets for your humour, especially in the latter book?

Article Author: Richard Marcus

Richard Marcus is the author of the What Will Happen In Eragon IV? and The Unofficial Heroes Of Olympus Companion, both published by Ulysses Press. He has had his work published in print and online all over the world including the German edition of Rolling Stone Magazine and www.Qantara.de. …

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