Jonathan Moon has always wanted to write stories that scare people. The author, located in Moscow, has published more than 10 horror fiction books and said he has always favored a darker writing style.
“My style is dark,” Moon said. “Really dark and violent.”
Moon said he loved to read as a child, devouring horror stories, and grew up with his creativity sustained by authors such as Stephen King and Dean Koontz.
As a tribute to his love for horror and the author who had the most influence on his writing style, Moon said he chose to decorate his right arm with a tattoo inspired by the world of H.P. Lovecraft.
“I learned [from Lovecraft] that you can write terrible things meaningfully,” Moon said. “That”s what I try to do.”
Rather than writing fiction with the sole purpose of disgusting the reader, Moon said he aims to write fiction that forces his readers to think.
Moon said he writes what he wants to read himself, and incorporates as much emotion into his stories as possible.
“It is graphic and dark, but “¦ it”s poetic and it”s not overpowering,” Moon said.
When it comes to contemporary fiction, Moon said he thinks many of the novels being widely produced and publicized today are empty, boring and predictable, attributes he tries to avoid in his own writing.
In order to accomplish this, Moon said he often breaks the rules of conventional writing.
Moon said his first novel, “Heinous,” which was published in 2010, is one of the best examples of how he challenges the conventions of fiction writing.
“I didn”t follow any of the common rules in writing … [the book] goes back and forth between first-person present tense and first-person past tense,” Moon said. “It goes back and forth between dream sequences and reality, and I blur it all together.”
In addition to “Heinous,” Moon said one of his works he is most happy with is a collection of short stories called “Stories to Poke your Eyes Out To.”
“I feel like it offers people the best glimpse of my work in one package,” Moon said.
Nina Rydalch | Rawr
Jonathan Moon stands in front of the UI Art and Architecture building.
Trevor Delphous, a friend of Moon”s and reader of his work, said he enjoyed the unpredictability in Moon”s story “Hollow Mountain Dead.”
“It was nice “cause it kind of rolled into the plot very seamlessly,” Delphous said.
When it comes to Moon”s writing style as a horror fiction author, Delphous said Moon”s work is original and descriptive, but not wordy.
Delphous, who has known Moon for about four years, said Moon is a dedicated person, not only to his writing, but also to his family.
Moon said one of the reasons he finally pursued his dream of writing was because of his wife.
“She told me, “if you”re going to be a writer, you”re going to have to write something,”” Moon said.
Moon said he sees the writing process as a skeleton, beginning with the bare bones and later being fleshed out to create what he referred to as “a monster.”
When he is working on something, Moon said he often sees an image that is going to emerge near the end, and from that he can see the basic plot line leading up to it.
Other than horror, Moon said he also writes dark poetry and has written comedy with Timothy W. Long.
Currently, Moon said he is working on a collection of poetry about cults in conjunction with Craig DiLouie, a Stoker Nominated author for “Suffer the Children.”
When it comes to fiction, Moon said he encourages readers to expand their own horizons. He said if readers want something fresh and outside of the norm, it is best for them to search beyond the New York Times Bestseller List.
“There”s a lot of great fiction out there that people never see,” Moon said. He said people just have to dig below the surface to find it.
Nina Rydalch can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NinaRobin7