Author interview with war/horror writer John Milas

John Milas’ novel, The Militia House, is inspired by a portion of his experience deployed to Afghanistan. He says, “The book is a horror novel because I found the war to be scary amidst a branch of service and mostly an entire country of people (the U.S.) who were not afraid of the war. My goal was to make the war scary for readers. We’re too conditioned to accept war as a norm to actually feel afraid of realistic portrayals of war. It’s like asking someone to play Call of Duty and seriously reflect on the nature of killing. It’s not going to happen.”

Q: When did you first catch the writing bug? What drove you to persist?
A: I have always told stories in some shape or form, whether it was drawing pictures with overt narratives or writing a story if the opportunity was presented in grade school. In an abstract sense, I persist to reclaim my interiority from the world that is constantly trying to strip it from my grasp. Also, practically, writing costs nothing, and I can do it at will whenever, wherever, and however I want. Even more practically, I’m not better at anything else than I am at writing, so not writing feels foolish.

Q: What/who were your early literary influences, and how do you think their writing has shaped you as a storyteller today?
A: I’m not good with recall in the context of these types of questions. Everything I’ve ever engaged with at any stage of my life, whether or not it is literary or even narrative based, has shaped me as a storyteller.

Q: Does writing energize or exhaust you?
A: It depends on the project. Work is work. Ambitious projects are exhausting. Frivolous projects are fun.

Q: Do you try more for originality or to please your readers?
A: Neither. I write to please myself.

Q: Do you ever try to write to the latest trends? Why or why not?
A: I put no effort in discerning what the latest trends are.

Q: What is your approach to incorporating elements of diversity and inclusion in your writing?
A: I aspire to live a life populated by a diverse group of people. My approach is for this to come through naturally in my writing.

Q: Do you have your own circle of writer friends? If so, what other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer?
A: There is a group of local writers who I see when I go to events in the area and there is a group of writers who are scattered around who I know from grad school and beyond. Writers providing me with feedback is usually helpful, even if the advice itself isn’t. If someone gives me unhelpful advice, I’m immediately pushed back in the opposite direction, which is a good thing.

Q: Have you ever gone on a “literary pilgrimage?” If so, where did you go and why?
A: I consider any event I travel to as a literary pilgrimage. I drove to Chicago to see Percival Everett. I drove to Decatur to give a reading and Q&A at Richland Community College, which I feel is in service to the students. I drove to Tennessee to attend the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. All of these contexts are different, but all are a type of communion I feel I am participating in.

Q: Do you prefer to write stand-alone novels or series? Do you make connections between non-connected books?
A: I don’t like the idea of pre-planning a long multi-book series. The harder someone tries to plan ahead to avoid narrative contrivances, the more contrivances are going to emerge to serve that goal. The flip side is The X-Files, in which it is obvious Chris Carter didn’t plan a thing after maybe the third or fourth season.

Q: If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?
A: Writing is like lifting weights. There might come a day when you can life a thousand pounds, but lifting a thousand pounds is never going to feel easy per se. The harder you work, the stronger you’ll get, but writing will always be work.

Q: How did publishing your first book change your process of writing?
A: I think my process changes from project to project, based on what feels natural. The biggest difference with my book was the sustained collaboration with an editor. That only happens with short work if a magazine editor wants to work with you on edits. Otherwise it’s much lonelier.

Q: What was the best money you ever spent on your writing career?
A: I bought a season ticket to a single-A minor league hockey team this year and I plan to write about the experience.

Q: What author’s work did you dislike at first but grew to appreciate later?
A: David Foster Wallace. His writing is more earnest and less pretentious than most people think. And I hope we’ve learned by this point that being pretentious is not the worst possible personality trait.

Q: What was an early experience where you learned that language had power?
A: I was given a detention for using “the F word” in 5th grade.

Q: What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel?
A: The Short-Timers by Gustav Hasford

Q: Do you have an all-time favorite writer, or does your favorite change over time? Who is your favorite writer today?
A: I have no favorite writer or book but I recommend readers look up Ron Riekki’s work.

Q: What is your favorite genre to read? Do you write in that genre? Has that always been your favorite genre, or has your taste evolved as you have grown as a writer?
A: Genre can mean anything. It can mean poem, story, essay. Within either of those groups, it can splinter off into other sub-groups (thinking of ‘genre’ as ‘group’ is helpful). I really have no preference on substance at this stage. When you earn two degrees in creative writing you just gravitate towards what’s not boring.

Q: How do you balance making demands on your readers with taking care of them?
A: I’m not a therapist if someone needs to be taken care of. I write for ambitious readers.

Q: What – if anything – do you owe the real people upon whom you base your characters?
A: It would be unwise to base a character off of a real person whom the author knows personally.

Q: How many unpublished and/or half-finished books have you written?
A: I have a collection I’ve worked on for years that is sort of half-published as many of the pieces can be found linked at my website.

Q: What does “literary success” or success as an author look like for you?
A: Deriving satisfaction from doing the work is success to me. Everything other than that is up to someone else to decide.

Q: In your experience, what has been the best way to market your books? Where have you found the greatest return on your investment (whether it be time or money invested?)
A: I wish I knew. I am still learning about this.

Q: What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters of the opposite sex?
A: The same things that are different about writing outside of my subject position in any context: putting myself in someone else’s mind and body.

Q: What kind of music or sounds do you like to listen to as you write, or do you prefer complete silence?
A: I like instrumental music. I have kind of a neutral playlist and then a dark playlist that was shared at Large Hearted Boy.

Q: What period of your own life do you find you write about most often? (childhood, teen, young adult, etc.)
A: I’ve written a lot about my early twenties.

Q: What are the ethics you see in writing about historical figures?
A: If you’re writing historical figures, but you’re making something up about them, it should be for a good reason. However, I’m not sure who really has the right to determine what a “good reason” is. I think ethics in fiction is an amusing discussion.

Q: How do you select names for your characters?
A: I try to choose names not already used by family or close friends.

Q: If you didn’t write, what would you do for work? (Or what do you do “for a living” if you aren’t supporting yourself with your writing – yet?)
A: I work an hourly support staff job at a university, which I hate. I’ll just be candid about it. I was naïve after grad school in thinking that a throwaway job would allow me the freed-up headspace to write in the off hours. It turns out that sitting at a computer all day and being treated like a child has not provided me with a lot of motivation to “get to work” when I’m not at my desk on campus. It has turned out to be an awful experience, and I say that as a veteran of active-duty Marine Corps service.

Q: Do you read your book reviews? How do you handle those reviews, whether good or bad?
A: I’ve read the reviews written in good faith, so anything featured in a publication, as those reviews are well-intended and typically not meant to attack the author. I read negative reviews on Netgalley as I was curious to hear what booksellers and librarians had to say. But Goodreads or Amazon or Reddit, no thanks. I’ve looked at some of my friends’ reviews before and I felt frustrated on their behalf. I’ll save myself the trouble.

Q: What was your hardest scene to write?
A: There’s a dinner scene in my debut novel that I don’t want to spoil, but so many readers have responded favorably to it. I personally felt it was a lackluster scene and didn’t enjoy writing it, but this one stands out.

Q: What have you written that you found to be the most fun to write?
A: I have a story in Peatsmoke Journal called “Space Yacht Cookout” that was written in kind of a fugue state. It’s kind of a stupid story and also kind of edgy and political. The setting and the sequence of events were amusing to play around with.

Q: Do you Google yourself? If so, have you ever been surprised by what you have found?
A: I did once and found that my job profile at work was a higher result than anything relating to my writing career, which I was upset by. I don’t think this is the case anymore though.

Q: What one thing would you give up to become a better writer?
A: I don’t think writing is so important that I would give anything up to be better at it. And frankly, if I was any better at writing than I am now, in our current moment in time, I don’t think anyone would really notice.

Q: Do you read any literary journals? If so, which one do you find most useful to you in advancing your craft?
A: I used to be a huge fan of Booth. I have the first 13 or 14 issues. In terms of advancing anything, I would probably read something like Always Crashing or Rejection Letters just to see what people are doing that is different from what I’m doing. I’m more intrigued by that.

Q: What is your favorite book from your childhood?
A: I got a lot of mileage out of my friends’ copies of the Final Fantasy VII strategy guide. I read the junior novelizations of Alien Resurrection and Jurassic Park about fifty times. I remember this book called Lizard Music.

Q: Do you have a favorite book of all time?
A: I probably never will.

Q: What is the most difficult part of your artistic process?
A: Drafting new work is difficult for me.

Q: Does your family support you as a writer?
A: My immediate family has read my book.

Q: If you had to do something differently as a child or teenager to become a better writer as an adult, what would you do?
A: I’m not sure it really works that way, because writing is an intellectual pursuit, and you can’t really fast-forward your brain’s growth. It’s not the same as playing sports as a kid, which is entirely possible.

Q: Do you believe in writer’s block? If so, how do you break through it and begin writing again?
A: No. If I’m not writing, it’s because I’m depressed or am busy with something else. I have so many projects in-progress, trying to claim I ever have writer’s block would be hilarious. I think Steve Almond has the best take on this: We are always suffering from writer’s block in many ways. So many forces of nature and beyond are trying to stop us from writing. And writing itself, is difficult!

Q: How did you become involved in the subject or theme of your book?
A: I served in the Marines and deployed to Afghanistan.

Q: How long have you been writing?
A: Most of my life, but more ambitiously since 2013.

Q: What cultural value do you see in writing/reading/storytelling/etc.?
A: My belief is that literature is not escapism, or at least should not be. It’s intimate, which is not really an escape, is it? In that case, it’s about bringing people closer to each other. In a cultural sense, I would call that building community.

Q: Can you share some stories about people you met while researching your latest book?
A: My novel was based on lived experience so I did not necessarily meet new people while writing it. However, I did call some of my friends to ask them to tell me stories about the days we served in the military together. Sometimes it’s because I need to keep my memory straight and other time’s it’s because they’re outstanding storytellers.

Q: What was the hardest part of writing your most recent book?
A: I can’t imagine anyone has ever served on the losing side in a war and felt no regret. The Militia House is extremely personal, but I also struggled with feeling like I had a right to tell the story. It was also my graduate thesis to start with, so the deadlines and stress of keeping up throughout the year were tough.

Q: What did you enjoy most about writing your most recent book?
A: Writing dialogue is my favorite. I liked writing the parts where the characters interact with each other.

Q: Are there misconceptions that people have about your book? If so, explain.
A: I wouldn’t know enough to comment in full detail. I did see one review that questioned the lack of local representation in my book, that is they pointed out that there are no Afghans present in the book in a substantive way. All I can say in response to that is that this is how the war was perceived by those of us in logistics. We did not interact with the locals in sustained, meaningful ways. In that sense, we had little, if any personal connection to what was happening in Helmand. It’s blatantly acknowledged in the interior access of the narrator in the first chapter. I think this should be a criticism of the way the war was handled.

Q: What is the biggest thing that people THINK they know about your subject/genre, that isn’t true?
A: In my case, people think they understand the military because they saw Saving Private Ryan or 1917.

Q: What is the most important thing that people DON’T know about your subject/genre, that they need to know to properly understand and fully appreciate it?
A: Many people don’t seem to know that veterans are not robots.

Q: What is your favorite trope from the genre in which you write? How do you make that trope your own when incorporating it into your work?
A: Gothic literature includes a litany of tropes and conventions. The haunted house has always intrigued me the most.

Q: What inspires you to keep writing?
A: Literally any image or occurrence that I encounter in daily life.

Q: Who are some of your favorite authors that you feel were influential in your work? What impact have they had on your writing?
A: There is an acknowledgments section in the back of my book that lists off the relevant horror and military writers. Sarah Waters is excellent and I would recommend The Little Stranger to anyone. On the military side, Gustav Hasford’s The Short-Timers is really amazing, but I would recommend it to almost no one. The impact on my writing is to make me feel jealous of what Waters and Hasford, and the others I thanked, were able to accomplish.

Q: What did you find most useful in learning to write? What was the least useful or most destructive advice you have been given? Did you ask for the advice, or did it come to you unsolicited?
A: It is a huge mistake for creative writing instructors to proscribe genres, forms, and topics in their workshop classes. If you forbid a college student from doing something, well, then that’s what they immediately want to do. I think it’s really useful for emerging writers to be left to their whims early on, to experiment and find their way.

Q: What are some day jobs that you have held? If any of them impacted your writing, share an example.
A: I’ve worked permanent hourly jobs, whether part-time or full-time, for most of my life. All of them have influenced my writing. Nearly all of them, save for local TV production, have been miserable. I enjoyed my time as a writing tutor in grad school.

Q: For those interested in exploring the subject or theme of your book, where should they start?
A: I guess you can start with 9/11 and progress chronologically from there.

Q: How do you feel about ebooks vs. print books and alternative vs. conventional publishing?
A: I used to have a Kindle and someone stole it. No one’s going to bother stealing my print books.

Q: What do you think is the future of reading/writing?
A: Hopefully that more people participate.

Q: What process did you go through to get your book published?
A: A traditional process where my agent sold the manuscript to an editor.

Q: What makes your book stand out from the crowd?
A: I do not have an exact comp-title for a GWOT gothic horror novel set in Afghanistan in 2010 that emphasizes the verisimilitude of the enlisted Marine Corps lifestyle.

Q: How do you find or make time to write?
A: I use my weekends.

Q: Do you write more by logic or intuition, or some combination of the two? Summarize your writing process.
A: Some combination of the two. I like to know the ending before I start writing if possible.

Q: What are some ways in which you promote your work? Do you find that these add to or detract from your writing time?
A: I haven’t put as much effort in as I probably should, on social media that is. Otherwise I try to travel when I can. Everything detracts from my writing time, frankly, even spending time with my friends.

Q: What projects are you working on at the present?
A: I have a collection of fiction and a couple of novels that I’m wanting to get started with. I also would like to pitch titles to a few different book series out there.

Q: What other books would you recommend to our readers in addition to your own?
A: This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno.

Connect with the author

• Author website
• Buy John Milas books on Amazon today!

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