About Lewis Stanek:
Lewis Stanek was born in Elmhurst, Illinois on March 9th, 1954. He spent his childhood growing up in the western suburbs of Chicago. When he turned eighteen years old he enlisted in the United States Air Force, he was assigned to the 3rd Combat Communications Group, and he is a Vietnam era veteran. After his discharge from the Air Force he attended the College of Dupage and completed an Associate in Science degree. He then attended Chicago State University and earned a Bachelor of Science degree, and much later he earned a Master of Religious Studies degree from Nations University. Lewis met his wife Mary Diane in August of 1984 and after a whirlwind romance they were married in November of 1985. He is a professed member of the Society of the Cross, and a member of the Order of Centurions. He has long held an interest in the supernatural and in writing horror fiction. Lewis currently lives in Dixon, Illinois with his wife Mary and three of his four children Melissa, Christian, and Zoe. Lewis’ eldest son El’Ahrai lives in Woodridge, Illinois with his wife Kathy and their daughter Maggy.
What inspires you to write?
Whatever interests me at the moment inspires me to write. My daughters inspire me. Last Novemeber my two daughters and I participated in Nanowrimo. It was the most fun I had in years. Other writers inspire me to write. I suppose Kilgore Trout, the fictitious writer in many of Kurt Vonegutt Jr.’s books was my biggest inspiration. If Kilgore Trout could do it, I could do it!
Tell us about your writing process.
If I am writing nonfiction I use an outline. My book, “Angels and Demons, A Biblical Introduction to the Supernatural” had a detailed outline and the outline was very useful in keeping me on task and focussed on what I had to do. If I am writing fiction, I do it by the seat of my pants. I let the story develop in front of me, I let the characters take life and go where they want. This is the kind of writing I truly love.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
I watch my characters, I listen to my characters, I spy on my characters, but I don’t talk to them, not yet anyway.
What advice would you give other writers?
Don’t wait, time has a way of getting away from us. Write now.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
I wrote three books before I decided to self-publish. I was too vain to self-publish at first, so I went through the process of submitting my books to small press publishers. My first book, “The Calling” was accepted by a small press. They even managed to get my name listed in Books in Print before they went out of business. The Calling never saw the light of day. My next two books, both revieved kind remarks from the editors I submitted them to and offers to publish without an advance of course and with multiple changes to be made in the text. So “Homecoming” and “Ravenswood” also never saw the light of day. This was over a period of years. After “Ravenswood” I gave up and spent all of my efforts on my real career. you know the career that barely pays the bills, ruins your health, and destroys your self esteen. After my daughters and I competed in Nanowrimo, we each won by the way. I decided to publish my project. The process was free and personally rewarding, since then I wrote and published my second book, and now am in the process of writing my third, with two projects on the back burner for later. I love it.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
Personally I prefer to hold a book in my hands and turn the pages, but I suspect e-books will be the wave of the future. That is of course as long as we can avoid destroying our civilization and continue generating electricity and manufacturing batteries.
What genres do you write?: My first love is supernatural horror, but I also write Christian nonfiction.
What formats are your books in?: Both eBook and Print
Website(s)
Lewis Stanek Home Page Link
Link To Lewis Stanek Page On Amazon
Link to Author Page on other site
