Meet the Master of Disaster—from foreshadowing pandemics to dreaming up demon apples, author Chuck Wendig juggles multiple genres like a seasoned carny. Step right up for some tasty urban fantasy, a side-show of horror, a sci-fi circus, or middle-grade with plenty of thrills and chills. He’s got all amusements covered. This year, Wendig published Gentle Writing Advice in June, and his forthcoming supernatural thriller Black River Orchard about an orchard of trees that possess dark magic, publishes in September. With New York Times and USA Today bestsellers to his name, Wendig shines across numerous readerships. How does he balance all his acts? In a candid conversation, he shares insights on writing productivity, finding your voice, and embracing process over product. We discuss how the real world always impacts fiction, especially the scary things. It turns out, facing fears can be frightfully productive. Already a writer’s writer, Wendig also explains why craft books aren’t necessarily bullshit.
We met at my first-ever writing conference in Fort Collins about seven years ago. You told the participants a story about your dad cutting off his finger. I have yet to forget this.
[Laughs] True story.
You had the audience completely mesmerized. Not because of the creep factor—that would have been gimmicky—it was how you laid out the story. You did it carefully and slowly … you had us all there till the very end. How do you do this as a storyteller? Does it happen organically? Can we learn this?
Part of the irony is my dad was, himself, a fairly good storyteller. I don’t think it’s genetic or something you can’t pick up. Storytelling is like writing in general, you learn by doing it and often doing it . I used to run role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons, so it’s kind of the same thing—you’re telling a collaborative story for people. You
