Skylerr Darren (born Skylerr Darren Chang) is an American author, fiction writer, and artist. Darren continued to pursue this creative passion which eventuated in him drifting off into the horror/thriller genre in which he calls “The darker side of life.”
At the end of 2015, his first book ‘Interview with The Devil: Part 1 Victor’s Account’ had been completed, not even a year after graduating from high school at the age of sixteen. Aside from focusing on writing, Darren also enjoys painting on his leisure, the majority of his artwork taking on the role of disturbing shock art that depicts the gory scenes that would usually be found in his books.
On May 18, 2018, he released his Second novel “Interview with The Devil: Part 2: Lanza’s Account,” the continuation to the first novel “Interview with The Devil: Part 1: Victor’s Account.” Part 2 will tie in the loose ends that Part 1 left the readers with, and will also cover social and political issues and controversial events that have been occurring lately.
‘Interview With The Devil: Part 2: Lanza’s Account’
Who inspired you to be an author?
I’ve always held a fondness for writing and telling stories, even from a young age I use to write bizarre scenarios and create strange characters. Honestly, the person who inspired me to write ‘Interview with The Devil: Part One Victor’s Account” was Tom Six, the writer and director of the 2009 body horror film ‘The Human Centipede: First Sequence.’ I watched that movie for the first time at the age of thirteen, and it scarred me so badly that I slept with my television on for the next four years. While viewing that movie, I seen a truly disturbing environment and I longed to create one similar of my own, if not, worse.
We couldn’t help but notice your first book ‘Interview with The Devil: Part 1 Victor’s Account‘ was published while you were barely out of high school. How did your writing career first get started and when?
I began writing ‘Interview with The Devil’ during the summer of 2014 while taking classes at my local community college. I had been talking about writing a book for a while since 2013, and I decided that I was finally ready. It took a couple of years to completely finish as I had to take some time to graduate high school, and once I did I looked into publishing my work.
As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up?
At first I wanted to be a scientist, and then I wanted to be a veterinarian, for the reason that I like animals. After realizing that I have a difficulty with math and I’m not very savvy when it comes to acquiring medical knowledge, I went back to my writing abilities and focused more on art and creating.
How would you characterize the perspective of your “IWTD Series”?
I wrote the books to grasp my audience and bring them into a startling realm where anything depraved or licentious is possible to happen. While reading the book, most readers feel as though they are walking through a living nightmare. Consumers are supposed to be terrified, as well as aware that there are some truly disturbed individuals out there and sometimes normal everyday humans can be contributing to the way these people operate and not even know it.
What do you love the best about writing horror thrillers?
I love scaring people with the graphic stories that I come up with. There’s something about a person’s reaction to a sickening line from my book or a scene in a chapter that inspires me to want to write more. I like exposing people to things that most people don’t think about or didn’t even know exist.
Who are your personal favorite thriller writers? Who are your favorite writers overall? And why?
I don’t necessarily have a favorite writer, but I do enjoy researching certain writers in the same genre as myself (psychological horror, body horror).
Do you feel all your dreams have come true? What is one thing you’d like to do you haven’t done yet?
I would like to reach a larger fan base of people who are excited and intrigued with my type of writing. One thing that I would like to see is a substantial amount of people commenting on my work, how it affected them rather negatively or positively.
For readers who haven’t read your book yet. What should we look forward to?
Readers should look forward to horrendous scenes of violence, brutality, emotional pain, and mental torment. These are the themes of both novels, but Part Two has more life lessons to be taught if you really pay attention. It shows you what happens when a person is belittled from the time that they are born and brought into the world. I also received a lot of inspiration from real life events that were occurring at the time that it was published.
I’m sure that having such success with a novel completely changed your world. Can you put it into words?
Having a book published and going on book signings have let me see that it’s harder to approach people at times to present your product. Being an author definitely adds another title to your name, but I’d to see where this takes me before I can fully answer this question.
‘Interview With The Devil: Part 2: Lanza’s Account’
Lastly, what would be your advice to the budding writers out there? What would be that one mantra you wished someone had shared with you?
One piece of advice that I would give an aspiring writer is this: I am constantly hearing about writers not knowing what to write, having writer’s block and staying stuck on a blank page. This is the thing, don’t think. When you think too hard on what to write, that’s where the problem ensues. You’re applying too much pressure. Sit down and just start writing. Even if it’s something stupid about an alien going to a grocery store to buy out the ice cream section, just write it. Exercising your mind with something as little as that is better than not exercising it at all. One thing that I wish someone had told me before I decided to get into this, is don’t expect much from people. Get lost in the writing. In other words, bury yourself in your own book and don’t look up. Pretend that the world no longer exists, and everything that you write is the only thing happening at that very second. Doing that will help more with your craft and ensure that you don’t get distracted.
Where can readers connect with you.
I can be reached at: https://skylerrdarren.com/
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