Guest Author Interview with Halo Scot
I recently had an opportunity to interview dark fiction/thriller author Halo Scot, and I am beyond excited to be launching my interview series with this Q&A. I hope you enjoy! – AJ
Hi, Halo. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to interview you today. Can you introduce yourself and your book(s) to our readers?
Thanks so much for the opportunity to ramble, A.J.! I am an author of dark fiction and a founding member of QueerIndie.com. I have written nine books in the speculative fiction and thriller genres, along with a ridiculous Rage Journal for all of your void-screaming needs. My brain monsters can all be found and stalked on HaloScot.com.
Would you like to talk a little about your writing process?
My process includes 34% void-screaming, 17.5% brainstorming, 21.5% trying and failing to outline, and 27% streaking naked through my basement. I do follow a few templates I’ve created for characters, world, and plot, but I find too much preparation actually hinders my creative drive, so I throw a bunch of story elements into a cauldron and see which emerges as the most venomous. Also, I use songs and art to inspire me, but these are in no way organized. They usually crowd a document with escalating notes in bold, caps, and italics (ex. Do this › NO, DO THIS › WAIT, THIS ONE IS THE WEIRDEST). I would say that I am a hybrid pantser-plotter with a super chaotic style. I structure some elements—I need to know conflicts and motivation for the characters and the world—but I leave the rest to sugar-high, light-bulb moments.
I’ve read your Rift Cycle series, and it quickly became one of my favorites. It’s set in a post-apocalyptic future Earth, where humanity is relegated to living in what was Antarctica. What made you decide to set the story in that location?
Thank you so much for reading and for your support, A.J.! I’m all soggy with these pesky emotions! And haha, well, this is not the most dignified way to research, but during one of my drunk-scrolls, I found this awesome documentary, Antarctica: A Year on Ice. It was captivating, and I had never realized what diverse geography exists in Antarctica, so I thought it’d be cool to set my series there—a place in our world that feels otherworldly. I made it hot, because I hate the cold, and I also wanted the characters to be able to explore the area without dying from frostbite or hypothermia.
The Rift Cycle features two main characters, Rune and Kyder. Both are forced to overcome their pasts, but they go about it in different ways. I’ll admit, Kyder was a difficult character to read at first, but throughout the series he became my favorite. What was your process for developing such a complicated, broken, and sometimes twisted character?
Again, thank you so much for your kind words! Kyder is definitely an acquired taste lol! I wish I had a defined process, but I think life is honestly the best inspiration—for me, at least. Rune and Kyder are not self-inserts by any means, but a lot of me went into both, or experiences from people I know. I think drawing from reality helps authenticate fiction. We are all complicated, broken, and sometimes twisted (or for me, most times), so leaning into that truth helped me create the fantasy.
I also read your sci-fi novella, The Heartbeat of a Million Dreams, earlier this year, and loved it. Between reading it and The Rift Cycle, I think you have a real talent for imparting emotional attachments between the reader and your characters (even the questionable ones). Do you set out to achieve this when you write, or is it a side effect of the larger process?
You are absolutely melting me! Thank you so much! I wish I did it consciously so I could limit my void-screaming percentage, but it often takes me a while to lock onto a character’s soul. There are many characters I’ve crafted but haven’t used because I didn’t feel a connection. Iterative brainstorming sessions help me the most, and reading is always inspiring. I am a character-driven reader; if I don’t intensely care about the character, and if they don’t elicit a strong emotional response, I have trouble connecting with that story.
While most of your books are science fiction/science fantasy, you recently released a psychological thriller, I Will Kill You. Did you find it difficult to switch genres, or did you enjoy the change of pace?
It was definitely difficult, and it was a new genre to me as a reader. About a year or so ago, I started reading psychological thrillers and found there were some thriller elements in the Rift Cycle of which I had been unaware. It was this connection that made me want to write a thriller with a Kyder-esque character, but set in contemporary Manhattan to focus on the emotional manipulation and psychological horror elements. I have been to Manhattan and know the city, so it was a new experience to not world-build and rather world-relay, if that makes sense. I also needed something different. I loved writing the Rift Cycle, but I wanted a new challenge and a palate cleanser so when I returned to writing speculative fiction, I didn’t simply recycle the elements in the Rift Cycle.
Do you have any upcoming releases you’d like to talk about?
I do! Thank you! I have three books releasing this Halloween: Girl of Dust and Smoke: A Dark Fiction Novella, The Mortality Experiment: A Grimdark Science-Fiction Novel, and Burn the Sun: An Apocalyptic Science-Fantasy Novel. There’s further information on my website, but in a nutshell, Girl of Dust and Smoke is about a weird woman who likes death and incest, The Mortality Experiment is about sentient secrets taking revenge, and Burn the Sun is about a futuristic Space Olympics where only the winning world will survive the imminent supernova. All delightfully bleak haha!
What project(s) are you currently working on, and can you share anything about them?
I have two rattling around my skull right now. One is a thriller standalone, and one is a dark fantasy duology. The thriller will probably feature a serial killer, because (fictional) murder is fun. The dark fantasy is set in the past, which is a first for me, but this idea keeps mutating and refuses to behave. This fantasy is the first story that I am going to restructure in a massive way, but writing is an ever-evolving process for me, so I have my plot chainsaw ready.
The thriller and fantasy are both disobedient ideas, as they’ve taken a while to cultivate into grotesque brain plants. They both might get written, or neither might get written. Some ideas come to me in somewhat tidy packages, like The Heartbeat of a Million Dreams, and some come to me in gore-soggy body bags with corpse chunks leaking out the sides, like I Will Kill You. The thriller and fantasy are currently in the corpse-leakage stage, so I’m giving them time to fester.
Besides being a writer, what do you like to do in your spare time?
I mostly write, read, and run, but when I get the time, I also like to rage-play piano, stress-bake pancakes, and take pictures.
Do you have any parting thoughts you’d like to share?
I want to thank everyone who has read my murderous brain monsters—including your lovely self. My books are strange and savage, and I am immensely grateful to those who have taken a chance on something so odd and horrifying.
I’d like to give a huge thank you to Halo for this interview! It was so much fun.
Halo’s books are available on Amazon.com, or you can learn more at her website: haloscot.com