10 Questions with Peter Oliver Wonder
1. How has your time in the Marines influenced you as a writer?
When you spend that much time with, what could very well be, the most foul mouthed and sarcastic bunch of people this world has to offer, it really has a tendency to help you grow as a person. The sarcasm and swearing was a part of me well before I joined the Marines, but they helped me forge it into a weapon that comes out pretty cool in my writing.
2. Who is your favorite writer?
I can't help but wonder how many times you've given out this question and just reeeally pissed someone off. That being said, I'm going to answer a different question, because I am a cheater. Then, I won't even answer that question write. The writer I'm most grateful to have found is a draw between two. J.L. Bourne and David Wong are the reasons I began writing. If it wasn’t for them, there is likely a chance I never would have chosen to begin writing in the first place. And then I wouldn't be answering questions because no one would care what I have to say.
3. Is there an overall theme to your writing?
Oh, God no. In the first book of the POW! Series you can see that I'm too crazy to stay on one theme for too long. My writing outside of the series is quite a bit more sinister and less light hearted.
4. What made you start writing?
The first books from the authors mentioned above were only part of the equation. When you've got a mind that runs a mile per minute and you have an overactive imagination and no cable or internet because you're poor . . . masturbation only gets you so far. I was forced to provide my own entertainment and writing was what I found.
5. What made you want to start writing horror?
My unusual answer is nothing. I began writing The Zombie Days to be more of a comedy than a horror. Mind you, it's not a funny story, just funny and lovable characters. After that, I found other open calls for horror due to the connections I'd made in the world of indie authors and tried my hand in real horror. Turns out, I'm not terrible at it. The things I'm writing now are a far leap from when I wrote TZD three years ago.
6. Is there any subject that is off limits for you as a writer?
I'm not overly PC and I don't mind getting my (character's) hands dirty. I suppose I draw the line at overly descriptive rape. As I continue to write, there is a chance that things can go in any direction, but to glorify such a thing as sexual abuse, I simply cannot do.
7. What is your best quality as a writer?
Isn't the best quality of any writer the fact that they write? Perhaps you mean what's best about my writing itself. If that's the case, I have been told that my characters are very believable. Also, in my short stories, I'm able to tell a complete story in as little as just under 1500 words, so far. I don't often say a lot of good things about my writing. I prefer to leave that to other people.
8. If you could pick one other author to collaborate with on a novel or story, living or dead, who would it be?
I don't know who I would pick, but I currently have planned a project with the great David Owain Hughes. We've been friends since a, shall we say, 'Kerfuffle' took place late 2014 / early 2015. He's a great author with a talent for the filth and together, we'll write something that can make you laugh and throw up all at the same time. Or just throw up . . . a lot.
9. Which person do you most admire?
I admire anyone that's made their way up from something small. I don't ever expect to rise to the likes of Stephen King or J.K. Rowling, but those that come from humble backgrounds and build themselves an empire really just impress the hell out of me.
10. If you could invite five people to a dinner party (alive or dead, real or fictional) who would you invite?
No one. Instead, I would crash the Mad Hatter's tea party. They're all mad. Bonkers. Off their heads. And so am I.
When you spend that much time with, what could very well be, the most foul mouthed and sarcastic bunch of people this world has to offer, it really has a tendency to help you grow as a person. The sarcasm and swearing was a part of me well before I joined the Marines, but they helped me forge it into a weapon that comes out pretty cool in my writing.
2. Who is your favorite writer?
I can't help but wonder how many times you've given out this question and just reeeally pissed someone off. That being said, I'm going to answer a different question, because I am a cheater. Then, I won't even answer that question write. The writer I'm most grateful to have found is a draw between two. J.L. Bourne and David Wong are the reasons I began writing. If it wasn’t for them, there is likely a chance I never would have chosen to begin writing in the first place. And then I wouldn't be answering questions because no one would care what I have to say.
3. Is there an overall theme to your writing?
Oh, God no. In the first book of the POW! Series you can see that I'm too crazy to stay on one theme for too long. My writing outside of the series is quite a bit more sinister and less light hearted.
4. What made you start writing?
The first books from the authors mentioned above were only part of the equation. When you've got a mind that runs a mile per minute and you have an overactive imagination and no cable or internet because you're poor . . . masturbation only gets you so far. I was forced to provide my own entertainment and writing was what I found.
5. What made you want to start writing horror?
My unusual answer is nothing. I began writing The Zombie Days to be more of a comedy than a horror. Mind you, it's not a funny story, just funny and lovable characters. After that, I found other open calls for horror due to the connections I'd made in the world of indie authors and tried my hand in real horror. Turns out, I'm not terrible at it. The things I'm writing now are a far leap from when I wrote TZD three years ago.
6. Is there any subject that is off limits for you as a writer?
I'm not overly PC and I don't mind getting my (character's) hands dirty. I suppose I draw the line at overly descriptive rape. As I continue to write, there is a chance that things can go in any direction, but to glorify such a thing as sexual abuse, I simply cannot do.
7. What is your best quality as a writer?
Isn't the best quality of any writer the fact that they write? Perhaps you mean what's best about my writing itself. If that's the case, I have been told that my characters are very believable. Also, in my short stories, I'm able to tell a complete story in as little as just under 1500 words, so far. I don't often say a lot of good things about my writing. I prefer to leave that to other people.
8. If you could pick one other author to collaborate with on a novel or story, living or dead, who would it be?
I don't know who I would pick, but I currently have planned a project with the great David Owain Hughes. We've been friends since a, shall we say, 'Kerfuffle' took place late 2014 / early 2015. He's a great author with a talent for the filth and together, we'll write something that can make you laugh and throw up all at the same time. Or just throw up . . . a lot.
9. Which person do you most admire?
I admire anyone that's made their way up from something small. I don't ever expect to rise to the likes of Stephen King or J.K. Rowling, but those that come from humble backgrounds and build themselves an empire really just impress the hell out of me.
10. If you could invite five people to a dinner party (alive or dead, real or fictional) who would you invite?
No one. Instead, I would crash the Mad Hatter's tea party. They're all mad. Bonkers. Off their heads. And so am I.
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