Author Interview with Alexa Wayne

This week on Indie Publishing Group we have an author interview with the very talented author Alexa Wayne!

Hi, Alexa Wayne welcome to the Indie Publishing Group website! Introduce yourself to us. Tell everyone who you are, where you’re from, what you enjoy doing, your hobbies and interests.
I am also known as A. Wayne and The OCD Vampire. I enjoy writing creepy novels about my favorite monsters there is no wonder why I am the founder of Gothic Bite Magazine. I am a paranormal nerd and enjoy reading all about history, legends and folklore to make my stories come to life.

My love for writing started before I could read and creating stories came to me like breathing. Growing up in the art field with a singer as a mother, she studied acting, singing, dancing, drawing, and scripts.

Then, one night I decided to create Gothic Bite Magazine for all who enjoyed the same subjects as me. From monsters to legends and history, GBM became my doorway to publishing my work and anthologies.  My goal, if you ask people around me, is to help authors and artists to be discovered using Gothic Bite Magazine as a tool.

Of course, I am an author too, and so my work is just as passionate as my magazine. Paranormal or Science-Fiction and horror in the foreground, be ready to read more about the darkness and twisted mind of an OCD Vampire.

When did you start writing and why?

I started writing before I knew how! Haha. I grew up with my grandparents raising me and my grandpa worked for a binding company which often had publishers as clients. He would bring home novels all the time. It was amazing and gave me a passion for writing.
My first novel I wrote at the age of twelve. It was a trilogy and each book had about a hundred and twenty-five pages.

Which is your favorite book you have written and what gave you the idea for it?

My favorite novel I’ve written is the one coming up on March 19^th named, Frankenstein. It’s a sci-fi horror. I’ve always loved sci-fi, became a Trekker about a decade ago and I realized I had all the ideas necessary to write my sci-fi novel like I’ve always wanted to since the very first time I was inspired by the movie, Event Horizon which came out in 1997.
Sci-fi is a subject I love because of the knowledge required to write it. I don’t do light sci-fi, I don’t imply that people know what I’m talking about therefore I do the research in astrophysics, read articles from NASA and read books about the subject.
However, everything needs a horror twist and in space, it’s the perfect place because like underwater, we only know a fraction of what’s out there.

How did you come up with the title for your book?

Frankenstein is the title of my upcoming sci-fi horror novel, part of my science fiction horror series named, UNFORGIVEN. The title of the series alone means a lot to me because it comes from my favorite band, Metallica, from their Black album first came Unforgiven but then a few years later, Reload came out and Unforgiven II arrived and I love them both. The lyrics of both songs inspired the entire series.
However, the title Frankenstein came from an overall idea. I love Frankenstein’s Monster. I love Mary Shelley – the mother of science-fiction. I wanted to make a tribute to her with my own vision of what Frankenstein means to some people like me: damaged, pieces glued back together from anything anywhere.
If you read the novel, you’ll understand. Mwahaha!

Who helped you with the cover Alexa Wayne? Or did you design it yourself? What was your inspiration for your cover design?

I grew up in the art field. My mother was a singer and an artist. She taught me how to draw, sing and she threw me in acting, theater, classical ballet, and modeling. After fourteen years of art, I went and studied graphic/web design, sequential art, digital art, conceptual art, storytelling, and design.
With that said, I possess the knowledge to make my own cover art and does it for many other authors as well. At the moment, the cover for Frankenstein is not decided. However, the art for the concept of the main woman hero, Frankie, is done. The inspiration came from her personality that is me. Frankie is me lost in the future with all my damage, my tattoos, hair color, eyes, and body. The overall look of what she becomes though comes from the character of Ripley from the Alien Franchise, played by the beautiful and wonderful, Sigourney Weaver.

What are some of the themes of your story?

I often choose themes that are torturing me from the inside. Subjects that I cannot stand is what drives my heroes to go forward.
Frankenstein brings up racism because I knew that in the future when aliens will meet one another it is inevitable that racism won’t come up and humans might be the bullied race of them all for our backward way of thinking, acting, and past. However, Frankie will put them back in their place.
Another topic that is raised is sexism as Frankie is female from the twenty-first century. While the ship doesn’t see her being a woman a problem, she will be tormented by the view her time period had and often point it out, “Yes, a human woman just did it.” It is to show people how words affect people and hurt them.
The main subject remains the mental illnesses that Frankie carries with her: PTSD, OCD, anxiety, paranoia, night terrors, germaphobia, cardiophobia, incarceraphobia, arachnophobia and above average intelligence. She is not a genius, not even an IQ for smart, but she is above average and understands and deducts quickly. Physically, Frankie carries scars of a hard and dark past while she also has IBS, gluten and lactose intolerances.
The goal for the series was to make Frankie as real as possible and so I gave her my battles and my dreams.

What’s your process when you sit down and decide to start writing a book and do you have a system?

I have OCD which allows me to work in one way only: order. I have to bring order to my chaotic idea. For that to be achieved, I have come up with a system that I call the: World Building Sheet that includes characters and which I turned into a workshop.
My OCD (obsessive, compulsive disorder) has me work in detail orientation. I describe everything according to a Master Class I took in Montreal, Quebec given by Walt Disney Pixar which I also mixed with my own way of thinking.
I layout my entire story in chapters and novels if a series, which is often the case with my story ideas.

Who are some of your favorite characters and why?

If we are talking about fictional characters that already exist, I have a few that inspired my work such as the love of my life, Bruce Wayne aka Batman – I’m talking about the comic book form and not the movie or cartoon ones. I know many won’t believe me, but it isn’t his money or body that attracts me to him, but his mind. The complexity of the psychology behind Bruce Wayne is one that fascinated me from the very start. I try to mold my characters after his because it gives depth to someone that doesn’t exist and make those characters real.
Another of my favorites is Mr. Data from the sci-fi television series of Star Trek The Next Generation. Androids are a fascinating subject to me because of the possibilities they create. Many sees them as a threat, a machine that will take over. Mr. Data is the proof that if given a chance, taught the best of what humanity has to give and the 3 Laws of Robotic by Asimov, we can live in harmony while something tells me if they come into our lives, we’ll turn them into disposable slaves of all kinds…
My third and final one, Captain Lorca. When Star Trek Discovery came on television, I was working for The Geek Initiative as the reviewer of the show. I fell in love with Captain Lorca because I love anti-heroes and villains who has a reason to be and brings questions. I like the mystery as long as it has a purpose and he did. His mind was beautiful and although he revealed himself has a villain, in the end, he wasn’t as much a villain if you consider that he was afraid humans would disappear in the pool of aliens.

Who are some of your favorite authors?

Authors… I always include comic book writers and scripters. Authors, I sometimes fear people only think of novelist and forget the rest of those who create wonderful work you see on television, in comic books and video games.
When it comes to novels, I mostly enjoy the work of J.R.R. Tolkien and Terry Brooks, Charlaine Harris and Jeaniene Frost. However, let’s face it, with my writing I’ve always cherished Stephen King above all. He is my inspiration for my writing and was the first author I read when I was done reading all the R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps series.
Nonetheless, I love my DC Comics and Scott Snyder is a favorite of mine. I love how is mind is quite twisted and Tom King. Amazing writing and they both taught me how to bring movement to action scenes.

Have you got anything you’re working on now?

I’m working in many anthologies at the time and my novel Blood Walker is scheduled to come in May. I still work on paranormal writing with my Vlad the Impaler series. Vlad is one of my favorite historical figures of all time. His genius and psychology are two of the main characteristics that attracted me to him.
So, the current main project for me is the Unforgiven series, mainly Frankenstein in the editing stage at the moment. Following is The Impaler Series with the second novel in the making while the first novel is also in the editing stage.

If you could have any superpowers what would they be?

Haha! I thought about that a lot for some reason and I’d like to have Batman’s mind. His strength alone would be enough to give me the courage to accept many things in my life. Basically, I want to be human, just stronger mentally and smarter. I don’t know what that says about me.

If you could travel to any location in the world where would you go?

I would love to go to Romania and visit where Vlad the Impaler grew up and lived his life. I would love to follow his entire life trajectory to understand him better.

Where do you hope to be in 5 years’ time?

I would like to be an established author. I don’t wish to be rich, to be the next Stephen King. I just want to be myself and bring happiness to my readers. I want to be a good author who can attend a few book conventions a year. I want to be happy and make people happy. That’s all I wish for and that’s where I hope to be in five years from now.

Thanks so much for taking the time to do an author interview, Alexa Wayne! Take a minute and check Alexa Wayne out on the links below! If you would like to do an author interview, please don’t hesitate to contact us!

Alexa Wane Social Media

Alexa Wayne Author Twitter

Alexa Wayne Author Goodreads

You can check out Alexa Wayne and her book on Amazon by clicking on the cover of Unforgiven I – The Series