If you're a fan of cult-internet horror writing, you might have come across a short story written by our featured writer, known as Christopher Bloodworth.
Bloodworth, who finds great passion in scaring the ghoul out of your spirit with his creations, is most known for his work like The Soul Game, Handbook for the Teenage Antichrist, and the Boothworld Industries.
Rapidly gaining a cult status with his self-penned urban legends, Bloodworth creates both bite-sized and full length pieces of horror fiction that has sure pierced the minds of his readers all over the planet, and let's face it, we have never been the same since.
Without further ado, we at Bubblebeam Magazine are proud to present our exclusive interview with the writer himself.
Describe your childhood. What were your strongest subjects in school? Were you in any cliques?
Both of my parents were middle school teachers at different schools. My mom taught math and my father was a band director. Being raised by two teachers was kinda weird. I was always in trouble. Constantly. Too much talking, too much fun. In middle school, if I got in trouble, I was sent straight to my mom. I got to tell her why I was in trouble. Usually in front of whatever class she was teaching. That was awesome…
I didn’t really have a strongest subject in school. I couldn’t stand English once high school started. The constant discussions and interpretations of text made me nuts and took all the fun out of reading. I took a creative writing class my senior year of high school, but it was more for fun than anything else. I spent most of the time writing silly sonnets. One of them was from Mojo-Jojo to Bubbles from "The Power Puff Girls". I don’t know… it was weird.
As far as cliques go, I was on the Varsity swim team for four years so my clique was swimmers. We were all around each other so often anyways with 2 hour practices before school and 2-3 hour practices after school every day that it just fit together.
What made you want to write stories, and when did you realise you had a unique voice in independent horror?
I was running my own clothing label in Austin, TX around 2010. All the t-shirts came with a little 200 word story that tied in with the design. I started getting frustrated because I didn’t know I was writing the “proper” way so I went to a used book store and bought "On Writing" by Stephen King.
A lot of what he wrote resonated with me and I started writing my first novel. It was titled "Awful Glee" and based on one of my t-shirts.
It was a fun novel and it taught me more about writing than any class or list of tips ever could. I never published it, but I might do so at some later point.
After that one, I wrote 4 short stories that you’ll find in "Bedtime Stories for the Damned" and then I wrote a novel called "Handbook for a Teenage Antichrist". That was the novel that really solidified my voice. Soon after, I started work on a found footage type novella called "Dear Mother: Conversations with a Psychopath."
After I finished that novella, I wrote my first /r/nosleep story, "The One That Got Away." I wrote it on a Thursday night, edited it a ton, and posted it the next morning. I didn’t really think much of it, but it did well. I started posting on nosleep regularly after that and everything built up from there.
I don’t think my writing would’ve done so well on nosleep if I hadn’t already written so much before posting. A strong foundation goes a long way.
Do you have another job besides being an author? How do your close friends and family react when they heard you like to write what you write? What do they think of your stories?
I work in a screen printing shop designing tees and other stuff.
My close friends and family don’t really react because I don’t really talk about writing. They know that I write, but I don’t really like talking about writing. It’s boring to me, because it’s something I do every day without thinking. It would be like talking about breathing. Weird.
What can you tell your fans about yourself that you think they would be surprised to hear?
I hate writing short stories. I only do it to keep writing between novels. Novels are my true love.
Speaking of which, do you have a name for your fan-base?
My superfans on Tumblr have a name. STRAWGANG. STRAWGANG4LYFE.
Describe a day in a life as Christopher Bloodworth.
Wake up, start day dreaming immediately, edit the 2,000 words I wrote the night before, go to work, day dream all day, come home, respond to fan mail stuff, hang out on Tumblr with the Strawgang, write another 2,000 words, pass out. Repeat this until I have a novel.
It’s hard work, but I love it.
What are Stories with Teeth? Which one is your personal favourite story?
Before I wrote my first story for nosleep, I read a lot of the other popular stories. They all seemed to lack one thing: teeth. The ghost in the closet nonsense doesn’t do it for me so I wanted to write something that would really affect people. I wanted to write something that I would want to read, something that would cause people to actually be unable to sleep. I wanted to make the idea behind nosleep into something literal.
My favorite story would be "The Magician and the Slytherin". It was the story that tied all the nosleep stuff together, and when I wrote it, it felt like the end of something great.
Your story, Boothworld Industries, is just one of the many of your stories that has made waves all over the internet and it has become a cult favourite. Do you have any favourite stories from other fans who have told you about their experiences dialing the number?
Sometimes I call back. The reactions are usually fun.
The Soul Game has also recently been converted as a short film. Did they get in touch with you first about using your story, and did you give them any pointers?
They contacted me about turning the story into a short film. I told them to have fun with it. I don’t make movies (YET) so I didn’t want to get in their way.
Tell us about your upcoming novel The Wish Room. How is it different compared to your other work?
It’s really just me continuing to grow as a writer. I may have already found my voice, but I’m constantly learning new things as I write.
The Wish Room is a novel complete in itself. There are heavy connections to "Handbook for a Teenage Antichrist", but you don’t need to read one to understand the other.
It’s about a husband and wife running away from their problems. They end up moving to a house with a closet that won’t open. As their relationship falls apart, something begins to grow on the other side of the locked door that wants to be released.
I originally sent out queries to three different agents for this novel. I thought about it and decided that I wanted to release it myself. Well… fifteen days before I planned to release the damned book, one of the three agents got back to me and requested the novel to read. Sooooooooooooooo, now it’s hung up in the agent process.
What are your future plans in the making?
Expanding fully into clothing with the Bloodworth brand, releasing the Dear Mother story, the Bloodworth app, and getting an agent for the other two novels I’ve already finished.
I would also love to do more special edition releases like I did with the Boothworld Industries coffee mugs.
Those were beyond fun to design and create. Package design is a big passion of mine.
I love making cool shit:
I love making cool shit:
What are your favourite creepy/horror stories you did not write yourself that you are a fan of? What do you think of stuff like Slenderman?
"Horns" by Joe Hill is easily my favorite horror novel. I’m stoked as fuck for the release of the movie. I think Daniel Radcliffe will be amazing.
I really enjoyed the first season of Marble Hornets. Those guys really went after it and I respect the fuck out of that approach.
Give us a 5 song music playlist of what you like listening to when you write. Or a playlist for anything else, really.
I usually listen to movie soundtracks when I write. I only do this to shut all other noise out so I can concentrate. My go to soundtrack at the moment is "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo." My backup soundtracks are "Oblivion" and "The Social Network."
As for a playlist of music I listen to before I write, these are my go to songs:
The Bronx – "Heart Attack American"Philthy Rich - "Ready 2 Ride (Livewire Remix)" ft. Stevie Joe, Lil Blood, Shady Nate, J. Stalin
Waka Flocka Flame – "Ballin’ Out"
Pusha T ft. Tyler, The Creator - "Trouble On My Mind"
Spark Master Tape – "Syrup Splash"
For more Christopher Bloodworth:
Handbook For The Teenage Antichrist
Bedtime Stories For The Damned
Stories With Teeth
