Read More! with Trevor: Horror, Science Fiction and the Craft of Writing with Patrick Loveland

TL;DR

Patrick Loveland’s approach to horror and science fiction combines cinematic storytelling, careful outlining, and consistent writing shaped by feedback. He explains how Too Many Eyes grew from collected short stories into a collection featuring a roughly 100-page novella about a haunted film print, while also discussing his art, screenwriting, literary influences, and other books. Read on for the specific ideas and methods behind his work.

Transcript

all right hello everybody uh welcome to this week's uh episode of read more i'm trevor and joining me this week is san diego's very own author artist and screenwriter pat gloveland hi patrick how you doing all right how are you good good sure so uh a question i always ask everybody uh on this show your i think guest number four is uh what what are ... Read More

Key Insights

• ✍️ Patrick Loveland's writing style is described as cinematic, which may be attributed to his background in screenwriting.
• 🙈 He outlines his stories before writing them and sees the outlining process as crucial to his storytelling.
• 🍰 Short stories are a different process for Loveland, with less emphasis on outlining and more on capturing a single idea or concept.
• ✍️ Ideas are important, but their implementation and execution matter even more in writing.
• 💦 Loveland emphasizes the importance of writing consistently and seeking feedback from others to improve the quality of one's work.

Questions & Answers

Q: What does Patrick Loveland discuss on Read More! with Trevor?

Patrick Loveland discusses his horror and science-fiction writing, including Too Many Eyes, A Tear in the Veil, and The Europa Ascent. He also talks about his work as an artist and screenwriter, his reading influences, and the importance of outlining, consistent practice, and feedback.

Q: How did Patrick Loveland develop the idea for Too Many Eyes?

Too Many Eyes began as a plan to collect short stories Loveland had published in periodicals and anthologies. An unfinished anthology submission about haunted or strange experimental films grew into a larger story, which he reshaped as the novella at the center of the collection.

Q: What is the main concept of the Too Many Eyes novella?

The story concerns a film print that arrives at a one-screen art-house theater for a test screening before a festival. When screened, it rips a hole in dimensions and unleashes something horrifying; the print later reaches a multiplex in San Francisco.

Q: What inspired the theater in Too Many Eyes?

The fictional one-screen art house was modeled after the Ken Theatre in San Diego. Loveland even used his memory of the theater’s floor plan when constructing the novella’s opening sequence.

Q: Why did Patrick Loveland choose the title Too Many Eyes?

Loveland felt Too Many Eyes sounded bold and had a grindhouse quality that would stand out. He preferred it to the planned collection title, The Place Where It Rains, and used it for both the collection and its roughly 100-page central novella.

Q: What books was Patrick Loveland reading during the interview?

He was reading Ramsey Campbell’s Along with the Horrors and Thomas Ligotti’s Songs of a Dead Dreamer. Loveland described Ligotti’s work as nihilistic, bleak, weird, and marked by an eerie sense of offness.

Q: What happened to Patrick Loveland’s first novel, A Tear in the Veil?

A Tear in the Veil was published by the Canadian imprint April Moon Books, but the rights were later returned to Loveland. He planned to revise it for Stay Strange Press and restore its original working title, 5150, which it had when it began as a screenplay.

Q: How does Patrick Loveland approach writing stories?

Loveland outlines his longer stories before drafting and considers outlining crucial to his storytelling. He treats short stories differently, focusing more on capturing one idea or concept, and emphasizes that execution, consistent writing, and feedback matter when improving a work.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Patrick Loveland is an author, artist, and screenwriter from San Diego.

• He is currently reading Ramsey Campbell's "Along with the Horrors" and Thomas Ligotti's "Songs of a Dead Dreamer."

• Loveland's book, "Too Many Eyes," started as a collection of his short stories and evolved into a novella about a haunted film print.

• He also discusses his previous book, "A Tear in the Veil," which he plans to revise and republish.

• Loveland recently released a new book called "The Europa Ascent," a sci-fi horror story set on the moon Europa.