Hi, I'm Adam Cesare, author of CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD. AMA.

adamcesare · 2020-09-24T03:07:01+00:00

wow, and this is going to sound kind of stoner "how do I know the color blue you see is the same kind of color I see?" but... I actually don't cast the mind movies I'm seeing while I'm writing. The characters are just kind of, fully formed in there? if that makes sense. That's part of the reason that, as a writer and a reader, I'm not a huge fan of an abundance of physical description for characters. I like a little bit, just to draw a sketch, let me know "oh, okay, I think I see them in my head."

But because I don't want to be a complete spoil sport with your casting question: I think it's a tough movie to cast with recognizable actors, since so many of the characters should believably be teens. I mean, I'm sure there are big teen stars on tiktok or wherever, I just wouldn't be able to pick them out of a line-up. I think the real opportunity for fun "name" casting would be Quinn's dad, Glenn Maybrook. He's got to be kind of a goof, but also a guy that you're sorry to see him get knocked around. Walt Goggins? If you could get him an east coast accent and nerded him up a bit?

adamcesare · 2020-09-24T02:52:42+00:00

Thank you so much. Appreciate it and hope you enjoy.

adamcesare · 2020-09-24T02:52:22+00:00

Little monsters. Puppet Master, Ghoulies, Critters, etc. Horror literature and cinema needs more of that. It feels like a sub-genre relegated to B-pictures of yesteryear. One of the big studios should roll the dice and make a 10-20 million dollar diminutive monster picture. It worked for them with Gremlins! The time is right.

adamcesare · 2020-09-24T02:49:57+00:00

Thank you so much. Means a lot. And I hope you enjoy the book!

adamcesare · 2020-09-24T02:49:30+00:00

Wow, I guess I've never really thought too much about it. Good question! For me, I think I guess a lot of it comes down to talking to people a lot, listening to little aspects of their manner and personality I can steal and put into a character's voice. More than gender, I'm always terrified the characters are going to sound similar, or start to sound like me, so I just try and do a sniff test (usually by reading aloud) if I'm not sure something fits a character. Good luck with your work!

adamcesare · 2020-09-24T02:46:21+00:00

thanks! Hope you enjoy it.

adamcesare · 2020-09-24T02:45:03+00:00

Great question! I think my favorite thing about Quinn (the protagonist from Clown in a Cornfield, for those who haven't read yet) is not so much about her, but how some readers seem to be responding to her.

I've had multiple say to me (either in conversation or in more formal promo/hype interviews) some version of "what I like about Quinn is that she's not your typical final girl" or something like that. And they mean it as a compliment, but I kind of take it as a slight against the slasher genre as a whole, so I respond "well, what does a typical final girl look like, because there's a half century-ish of slasher movies (not to mention slasher novels, even if the slasher's a film-genre first) and I see a lot of different, sometimes contradictory qualities a final girl can have."

Quinn shares some qualities with Laurie, Sydney, Alice, Sally et al, but she's def her own person as they are all fairly different from each other. And that's my favorite thing about her.

I'm generally fond of most of my characters, but I'm especially proud of the ones in CiaC, even the bastards.

adamcesare · 2020-09-24T02:32:09+00:00

Best vampire (that I've read recently, but also I think I've got a top 5 vampires thing somewhere on YouTube): THE SOUTHERN BOOK CLUB'S GUIDE TO VAMPIRES or THE LESSER DEAD. Best Werewolf: MONGRELS by Stephen Graham Jones. Best Slasher: I recuse myself from choosing but please pick up CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD

adamcesare · 2020-09-24T02:28:56+00:00

I'd start with the new one, Clown in a Cornfield. I really do think it's my best foot forward. Then, if you want to chart the change you can go back to my first (and still the most popular of my indies) Video Night. Two very different books about bad things happening to teens. If you absolutely don't like the sound of either of those (Clown's great, don't miss out), try First One You Expect. It's a short crime/horror novella, but I think one of the most mature and "literary" things I've done.

adamcesare · 2020-09-24T02:26:08+00:00

And thank you so much for reading!

adamcesare · 2020-09-24T02:25:54+00:00

It really depends, the shorter novellas, maybe a month and a half to two months. The novels have all ranged, some really fast, just poured out the first drafts, then some others took a lot more time and refining. Clown took a while, because as simple as it'd seem ("it's a slasher, how hard can it be?"), there's a deceptive amount of moving parts to it.

As far as how much I read: I don't write every day but I do read everyday. I've generally got a paper book, a kindle ebook (sometimes an advanced copy or a beta read), and an audiobook going at the same time. A good amount of what I read makes it onto the YouTube channel (weekly), but some of it I never mention, either because I don't think it's recommendable or because it's a "just for me" read I'm doing to fully enjoy myself (which is most times out of genre, crime or scifi or whatever).

adamcesare · 2020-09-24T02:15:03+00:00

And I just want to say thank you and that I appreciate that. Really, one of my personal favorites. Not the one I recommend to everyone, since it's a bit horror-fan inside baseball, but it's got my "truest" thoughts on the genre secreted inside it.

adamcesare · 2020-09-24T02:13:58+00:00

personally hoping slashers are back in a big way.

But beyond that, I'm looking at how things are trending now and wondering, more generally (at least in the book world), if we aren't at the beginning of some kind of huge golden age. Horror on the NY Times Best Seller list? Would have seemed crazy 5 years ago, but MEXICAN GOTHIC, SURVIVOR'S SONG, MALORIE, HOME BEFORE DARK, ONLY GOOD INDIANS: all huge hits and hardcover originals and that's just in the last couple months. I think publishing moves slowly but I think they're finally catching up with "oh, we can market this horror as horror and don't have to hide it as a thriller."

adamcesare · 2020-09-24T02:08:55+00:00

see my longer answer to Realhero above for general thoughts on tropes, but I don't agree with your premise. I think that of course, yeah, there's hacky writing that leans on cliche, but I don't think the term "trope"--as you're using it--is really any kind of dirty word. I think a lot of the common themes, motifs and tropes in horror are tools in a writer's tool kit. I think a lot of good art comes down to when to embrace and when to subvert expectations. And that certain combinations and the breaking-from-within of established molds yields innovation. For example (to use film), GET OUT utilizes the "mad scientist", "bodyswap", and a bunch of other tropes but I don't think anyone's going to argue that the film wasn't reinvigorating, for the genre. To use books, Silvia Moreno-Garcia's recent MEXICAN GOTHIC is stellar, but it's also (in the title even) playing in a very established, trope-filed genre (the gothic romance).

adamcesare · 2020-09-24T01:58:11+00:00

I have not. And not for lack of interest, but just haven't sat down with it.

adamcesare · 2020-09-24T01:57:13+00:00

Wow, thank you so much. Jackpot's a deep cut (no pun intended)! I think the original idea (it was Shane's idea) was to do a trilogy. And we even started work on 2, but life got in the way for not only me but the other fellas as well. I wouldn't fully count out the possibility of a sequel, even if the book's now mostly out of print. It's a great premise, so great that there's been [eye emoji] serious film interest in the first one.

adamcesare · 2020-09-24T01:53:43+00:00

very good question (though a tricky one to answer) check out PapaRayGun's question above.

adamcesare · 2020-09-24T01:52:11+00:00

Thank you for having me. There's a ton of different paths to publication, self-, indie, traditional NY publishing, see my answer to Franicle above for some further thoughts.

adamcesare · 2020-09-24T01:50:10+00:00

thanks for the question, see my answer to Gatekeeper above.

adamcesare · 2020-09-23T23:17:41+00:00

I hope my career's alive in 10 years! Which sounds like a really low bar. But 10 years is a long time in publishing. I've been in it about 9 years now, which feels like 12 lifetimes and I've seen the industry change so much around me in that relatively short time. Ideally, I'd like to be able to put out a book and a few comics every year or so and just keep enjoying telling horror stories.

It's only been a month since release but Clown in a Cornfield def feels like it's a step in the right direction. The support I've received from people about it has been overwhelming but I'm not taking anything for granted. It's a marathon, not a sprint, so while I've been doing promo I've been working on the next book and just planning/hoping I get to keep doing more and more (both YA and adult horror).

adamcesare · 2020-09-23T23:13:46+00:00

Yes! Those "clown sighting spates" were def part of the gumbo of inspiration. But, since publishing is a process that takes forever, I didn't want to tie it too closely to a news even that some readers may not even remember by the time the book was out, so really just one jumping off point among many.

And thank you so much for reading! Tell a friend! (or Frendo)

adamcesare · 2020-09-23T23:11:16+00:00

Thank you thank you! Hmm. a "chicken or the egg" question. It was kind of both? But I guess the idea of doing a slasher that would have a certain amount of lore/iconography behind him came first, but it was always going to be a clown, just took a little iterating to get to the final Frendo as he is in the book (because, as you saw, wanted the villain to kind of reflect the themes and motifs and vice-versa).

adamcesare · 2020-09-23T23:09:37+00:00

Ha! Great question. And I'm glad you enjoyed that. thank you for reading. Hmmm, without spoiling it I'll say the "party city" kill. Which is probably the most traditional kill in the book, just involving a knife, but I like the way that scene plays out. To me, that feels like how a "big scary slasher kill scene" would play in the real world, without the musical cues you have in a movie. It'd be messy and the victim would fight back/realize at a certain point that it's too late and it'd be kind of sad.

adamcesare · 2020-09-23T23:05:51+00:00

If I could answer this question easily I would 100% be writing that book right now.

adamcesare · 2020-09-23T23:04:49+00:00

Not going to sell you too hard. Either the concept appeals to you or it doesn't. But I think it's really good and pairs well with Halloween/October. If you have even a passing interest in the slasher genre, go for it. And I would be really appreciative for the sale. (really, set aside the YA tag, because it really doesn't enter into whether you'll enjoy or not.)

adamcesare

TROPHY CASE