Leigh Paynter is an Oakland based author, who recently published her first book of fiction The Pine Barrens’ Devil. Although she resides on the west coast, she gets most of her inspiration from growing up in Southern New Jersey.
We dove into her mind with this interview to understand her inspirations, and get to know more about her works!
CoM: How long have you been writing or creating art in general?
I’ve been a television and print journalist for 15 years, which is why I left my home state of New Jersey – to pursue my career and follow the job offers. I’ve spent my adult life helping other people tell their stories, so writing fiction is completely new to me and does not come naturally.
I have seen some horrible things as a journalist and covered a few disappearances and murder mysteries. I sleepwalk a lot and have very vivid nightmares, so I draw some inspiration from my dreams.
I started writing a thriller that dives into Post Traumatic Stress, but chickened out. I don’t have the confidence to pull it off since the main character is based on my brother. It became too emotional for me, so I decided to put it away and work on another long time interest – American folklore / horror.
CoM: Tell me about your book!
The Pine Barrens’ Devil tells the tales of four travelers through different periods in American history, who vanished after entering New Jersey’s Pine Barrens and encountering the Jersey Devil. It’s a collection of four short stories. This is not the Leeds’ 13th child story.
My brother and I spent our childhood in Atlantic County, New Jersey, not far from the Pine Barrens. We always loved to be scared and it took a lot to impress us with a scary story. Our favorite creepy creature was the Jersey Devil, since he was local.
We would check out books from the library on the Pine Barrens and the Jersey Devil legends, and go on “hunts” to try to find the Jersey Devil. Neither of us bought into the Leeds 13th child story – mostly because there were strange happenings reported in and around the Pine Barrens before and well after the Leeds Family legend.
Honestly, it was actually the Pine Barrens that scared us. It’s incredibly easy to get lost in there! As populated as New Jersey is, the Pine Barrens is mostly untouched. The Leni-Lenape tribes even referred to the Pine Barrens as “Popuessing,” or “Land of the Dragon.”
So, as a kid, I started creating my own campfire-type stories about the Jersey Devil and the Pine Barrens to try to impress my younger brother. He was honest and would let me know if it was truly a good story or not.
CoM: How long did it take you to finish your book?
I sat at my computer and started writing two years ago. I hired a professional editor from Simon & Schuster for an editorial assessment. Her biggest criticism – “you need to write more.” Not a bad criticism, actually. I then hired a second editor – this time a freelancer from Random House – who did the copyediting. So a year and a half to write and another 6 months for the editing and additional writing.
CoM: What was the inspiration behind creating this?
My brother’s death. I had promised years before he died that I would write down the stories so that he could scare his future children with them.
CoM: I see you’re interested in folklore. What are some of your favorite lesser known creatures?
The Headless Horseman
The Russian Firebird (not to be confused with the Phoenix)
La Siguanaba
The Wendigo
Pope Lick Monster
CoM: What is your favorite sub-genre of horror?
My favorite would be Psychological Horror, because I believe it’s very hard to do – but if done well, the stories are extraordinary and stay with me. I would include vampire and space horror stories in this category, because the victims are often put under extreme mental stress/terror and still need to try to quickly study the new enemy and outwit them.
Top movies: Alien (1979) & Aliens (1986), Hush (2016) & The Shining (1980)
Top books: The Girl Next Door (Ketchum), Where are the Children (Higgins Clark) The Secret History (Tartt)
* I’ve also recently seen really great found-footage horror films.
Found footage films: Afflicted (2013) & Hell House LLC (2015)
CoM: Who is your favorite horror icon?
Dracula
CoM: Who are some of your favorite authors?
Washington Irving
Edward Rutherford
Mary Higgins Clark
Donna Tartt
Jack Ketchum
Gregg Olson
CoM: What was your biggest challenge in making the book?
Researching history takes a lot of time. This is fiction, but I still wanted it to be as accurate as possible. I also learned chess to write one chapter.
CoM: I’ve heard that writers have certain places, or times of the day that they like to write to help to get them really in the zone. When writing this book, did you find that anything of that sort helped you write?
At the time I started writing, I was working two jobs. I only had time to write after work – preferably wrapped in blankets on my couch. I would usually start at 7:00pm and end at midnight. If I spent a night reading a really good Thriller or watching a good horror movie, I was more energized the next night to write.
CoM: If you could give one piece of advice to aspiring authors what would it be?
Just plow through it until you write ‘The End.’ If you reread a chapter after you write it, you’re going to edit it…and then you may toss it and rewrite it. This will delay your book. Just get through it, then go back and read the finished story.
CoM: What are some of your goals as an author?
My brother died at the age of 29 after a long battle with Post Traumatic Stress from his service in the U.S Marine Corps. For a man who grew up loving horror stories, something really scared him in Afghanistan that he could never talk about. After he died in 2014, I started writing a mystery thriller novel that had him as a main character. I want to tackle PTS in the book. After writing six chapters, I lost my confidence.
Instead, I put it away and decided to finally do the Jersey Devil book, which was a nice mental break for me.
I hope after I receive feedback from readers on The Pine Barrens’ Devil, I’ll be able to complete the full novel.
CoM: Is there anything else you’d like people to know about your work?
There is a subtle theme – a warning with each story. I’m curious to know if it comes through to my readers.
Check out Leigh Paynter’s social links and work here:
Instagram.com/tainted_candy
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