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Dean M. Drinkel and Barbie Wilde have been friends and collaborators for a number of years now having first met at a BFS Open Night in London. Of course Dean originally knew Barbie from her electric performance as the Female Cenobite in Hellbound: Hellraiser 2 – but over a glass or two of red wine, Barbie spoke at length about her love for writing and from that conversation Dean went onto publish one of her early stories in his first anthology (discussed further below). When it came to the setting up of Demain Publishing and the Short Sharp Shocks! Series in particular, Dean ensured that Barbie was involved from the off and as a ‘gift’ for the work they had done together, he actually launched the series with her excellent story Patient K.
DEMAIN PUBLISHING: Great to speak to you again Barbie. Let’s get straight down to it: Patient K is a cracking story – can you tell your readers what it is about? BARBIE WILDE: Hi and sure. Patient K was first published in Dark Discoveries Magazine and the theme for that particular issue was the idea that the supernatural world is just as real, if not more real, than the natural world. I’ve always been fascinated by eyes (they’re one of my favorite organs!) and the idea of a ocular prosthesis (AKA an artificial eye), especially a haunted one, just popped into my head one day. DP: Having read the story, we can tell you are definitely fascinated by eyes ha ha! What particularly challenged you when you wrote Patient K? BW: This story came rather easily to me. Normally, I do face challenges, but for some reason, this one just flowed. I supposed the initial inspiration was the warning that all mothers tell their children: “Don’t do that or you’ll poke your eye out!” My brother and I used to fence with ski poles in our basement when we were kids, so it was a miracle that I didn’t get my own eye poked out at some point during my misspent youth. Especially since my brother was four years older than me and considerably taller. (I was very good at fencing though. Used to beat him all the time. I even went on to take a sabre fencing course at University.) DP: Fencing? I didn’t know that about you. I’d love to fence…anyway, anyway – did you ever feel as if you were one of the characters in Patient K when you were writing it? BW: I guess I do live the characters a bit, as any ex-actress might. And a reviewer actually asked me if I had been abused as a child after reading one of my stories, Uranophobia (featured in the Phobophobia anthology) because I’d written so feelingly about it. But no, I just have an exceedingly vivid imagination. And I pride myself on thoroughly doing my research. DP: Your imagination certainly is vivid my friend, I can attest to that. Do you think you have a specific writing style? BW: I like to keep things simple, scary, sexy, gory and occasionally funny. The most important thing is to find the unique voices for the characters and for the overall tone to the story. I know of some folks who can’t disguise their own voice in their stories and I think that can be a real handicap for a writer. DP: Yes, when I first started out as a writer I had a friend who “wrote as he spoke” so I told him to his face – he didn’t take too kindly to it and perhaps I hadn’t articulated properly what I was trying to say but I totally agree with you. Personally I think it’s like certain actors that give the same performance every-time…perhaps that’s a discussion for another time. Okay, I probably know the answer to this already (because it’ll be the same person for me too I’m sure) but do you have authors (or books) who influenced you? BW: I couldn’t possibly choose just one! However, as far as horror is concerned, there is an author that stands above the rest and that’s Clive Barker [DP: me too!]. He’s the Hemingway of horror: he writes concise, rich, muscular prose with the added bonuses of humour and erotica. I also adore Rod Serling. The Twilight Zone and Night Gallery TV shows were powerful influences in my childhood. My third favorite author is crime writer Patricia Highsmith. She has many of the same qualities as Clive: so beautifully descriptive in just a few paragraphs and so deliciously perverse in her ideas. (The ‘criss-cross’ concept in Strangers on a Train. The character of Ripley in all the Ripley novels. Wow…) Other favorite writers are Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Margaret Atwood and Shirley Jackson. The first horror novel that I read was Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which was a huge influence on me. Other favorites are The Hellbound Heart, Weaveworld, Rosemary’s Baby, Psycho, The Haunting of Hill House and [Stephen] King’s The Shining and The Stand. And special mention must be made of Stephen Volk’s marvellous novella, Whitstable, which features Peter Cushing as a character. DP: I totally agree particularly about Clive Barker…I also need to read more of Mr Volk’s work actually so thanks for the reminder. What next then For Barbie Wilde? BW: I’ve just finished working with Hellraiser’s Doug ‘Pinhead’ Bradley on the audio book of my diary-of-a-serial-killer novel, The Venus Complex. Doug has done a magnificent job. It’s such a pleasure to hear his sinister and dulcet tones reciting my twisted and sick prose! I’m still working on a feature length screenplay based on my short story, Zulu Zombies, which first appeared in The Bestiarum Vocabulum anthology. And I’m in pre-production for the horror feature film, Blue Eyes, which is based on another short story of mine, which first appeared in the Green and Pleasant Land anthology. Ex-Fangoria Editor-in-Chief Chris Alexander (Blood for Irina, Queen of Blood, etc.) is co-writing and directing. DP: Oh that’s brilliant. I loved The Venus Complex as a book so can just imagine where Doug takes it and well done working with Chris – he’s certainly a talent. Like me you always have a lot of projects on – do you suffer at all from writer’s block or do you simply not have time for it? BW: Yes I do…however, I just follow the advice of famed story consultant, Robert McKee, who said that if you suffer from writer’s block, you should just go back and research, research, research. Something you read might just trigger a helpful creative thought to stir you out of the inky abyss. DP: That’s good advice. So when you write do you plan / outline or just go for it hell for leather so to speak? BW: I just go for it. Although I normally have a pretty good idea of where I’m going before I sit down to write. (My ideas often come to me just as I’m falling asleep, which is very inconvenient.) I’m very character driven, so I like to create the main character first. Then I let them scamper off and I follow in their wake, writing down their adventures. DP: Personally I don’t really outline a short story / novella and just go for it myself and then when I finish the first draft I try to work out what the story is…I do end up doing a lot of drafts that way but I like discovering the story as I go along…I’ve been working on a lot of tv scripts recently and I’ve found that for them I quite like planning each act etc and sticking quite rigidly too it – I also handwrite the first drafts of the scripts where with the stories it’s straight onto the laptop…what do you think is your favourite them to write about and genre to write in? BW: My favorite theme, although I love crime and horror, is the exploration of the human psyche and human psychological motivations. And since sex is part and parcel of being human, many of my stories explore the sexual mindscapes of my characters. These elements alone can inspire stories of horror and crime. I am attracted to the dark side. I think that I am a pretty relentlessly cheerful person myself and one is always attracted to opposites. DP: Oh, I like that answer. So, okay, I’m a film producer – pitch me Patient K. BW: A beautiful one-eye woman goes to a ocularist ¾ who just happens to be a murdering pervert ¾ to have a new prosthetic glass eye fitted and gets more than she bargains for. But then again, so does he. DP: I hate doing pitches etc but totally got that one…so let’s try: if you were writing a synopsis for a newspaper / magazine article – how would it go? BW: After a childhood accident in which she loses her left eye, Klara Alexander visits her new ocularist, Dr Markham, to have a replacement ocular prosthesis fitted. Unfortunately, the good doctor is a sexual pervert and he takes advantage of her while she is under sedation. Too shocked to report the attack, Klara goes home and tries to recover. Then she notices a scary phenomena occurring in her new prostheses: a tiny glittering golden entity appears in what previously was the dark void of her left eye socket. The frantic little figure is waving to her…sending her signs and messages …advising her how to take her revenge. And boy, does she. DP: I should employ you to write all my pitches / outlines ha ha. Finally then can you tell your readers something surprising about you? BW: I once took a course in how to play the bagpipes at University. It seemed like a good idea at the time. (I have to confess I had a bit of a crush on the teacher. What can I say? I had a thing for men in kilts.) I’ve also gone sky diving twice in the hopes that it would cure me of my fear of heights and fear of flying. It didn’t. DP: Sky diving? Rather you than me my friend! Well, thanks for your time Barbie – all the best with everything you do and I raise a glass of red wine to Patient K! Cheers!!!! For more information about Barbie: Website Address: barbiewilde.com The Venus Complex is available on Amazon and on Audible.com: https://tinyurl.com/TheVenusComplexAudioBook Twitter and Instagram Address: @barbiewilde Any other social media links: Facebook: barbie.wilde Facebook Pages: BarbieWildeAuthorActress, VoicesOfTheDamned, BlueEyesHorrorMovie, TheVenusComplex (Note: original photo of Barbie Wilde by Robin Chaphekar, Barbie Wilde-Cenobite artwork by Andrew Tong)
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CategoriesArchives
November 2023
AuthorDean M. Drinkel |