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It began one sweltering afternoon in the humid city of Savannah , Ga . Another model and I had booked Ben Clayton online as a photographer , squeals of glee erupting from our lips when we saw his portfolio -- he possessed a passion for all things zombie related . The day of our planned photoshoot , we spent hours having Ben meticulously apply zombie FX makeup to our faces and bodies before roaming around the historic district groaning and scratching at windows with our eyes rolled in the backs of our heads . Crack open a few beers later and Ben was photographing us as zombies struggling with telephone cords , zombies trespassing in nearby courtyards and zombies in sombreros . And that is how I came to know the author and artist Ben Clayton .
What got you started in being an artist and a writer ?
My parents both are writers as hobbyists and my mom was an English teacher , a magazine editor , a newspaper editor and she likes writing fiction . So , it ' s in my blood . As far as sci-fi and horror , my dad is a big sci-fi and horror film fanatic and I watched movies with him when I was young ... Probably too young to be watching those movies .
I always enjoyed writing . It ' s like a meditation , but when you get really positive feedback from other people like , " Woah , that is incredible , now I don ' t want to show you my writing anymore ," kind of thing ... Not to sound immodest , but it ' s kind of a boost .
What ' s had a big influence on your creativity ?
The earliest inluences would have been fantasy books , Mark Twain and C . S . Lewis . I wrote a lot of fantasy early on . Terry Brooks and Stephen King , definitely . " Salem ' s Lot " was a big influence .
Also , movies were a big influence . Wes Craven ' s " Nightmare on Elm Street " and " The Serpent and the Rainbow ." " Jacob ' s Ladder " was a great one too even though it wasn ' t Wes Craven . I liked the dark , twisted sense of that movie .
One of my inspirations and love for zombies was inspired by early George Romero .
What would you call yourself occupationally ? I ' m kind of shy , so I have difficulties working at
Interview with artist and author Ben Clayton
regular jobs . I do art photography , photo manipulation and I write . I ' ve been doing photography professionally for ten years and I was first published in 1993 as a writer when I was a senior in high school .
What projects are you working on currently ?
I have one that I can ' t talk about and a new one that ' s about a young woman , maybe college-aged , who is sort of an anarchist and she does what she wants . But , remember " The Last Starfighter ?" She ' s like an online gamer badass and ends up getting recruited into the International Space Agency of the future . So it ' s a sci-fi thing . She ' s really cool and doesn ' t give a shit . Her commanding officers don ' t like her very much but she doesn ' t really care . That ' s my newest idea .
I ' m also trying to get " Numb 2 " off the ground . I have book one published . Getting the art done is expensive for a graphic novel . " As We Know It ," The short story that I wrote for Subcutaneous about the guy during the explosion that goes looking for his mother , is actually a prequel to " Numb ." I always wanted to tell that story and I was excited that I got to tell it .
What inspires you the most ?
Mostly my dreams . Also , certain authors like Poe . There ' s a certain rhythm in my writing and prose rhythm is always so delicate and so perfect and that ' s always a big influence for me . Almost like poetry in a way . Because I ' m seeing the story in my head , just like other writers read a story . I see my stories in my head and then I write them down . I try to do it in a way where I get the rhythm right and the reader will visualize something similar to what I ' m seeing . A lot of the punctuation in my stories are for flow .
What ' s your best tool ? My best tool is a thesaurus . Especially for the rhythm . I want the words to fit the connotation and the rhythm .