Author Interview with Can Wiggins

Q: If you could have a fantasy pet, what would you have and why?
A: Mmm. At the risk of incurring the wrath of The Worst Cat in The World, I would choose a Hellhound. I have a project started up and a hellhound figures into it. Cerberus? Why not ...

Q: What type of music best describes your writing?
A: I have two distinct sounds, one being jazz (all sorts) for the more noir bent while film and TV scores are my other bag of tricks which include SF, Fantasy, Horror. I also listen to classical music. Always have, probably always will. I don’t/can’t listen to rock while I’m writing.

Q: Tell us about your writing office/space and why it’s special to you.
A: I have a small desk I share with Edgar Allan Poe (I’m not kidding) in a corner of my living room, a window on either side. I can look out and see flowers, birds, deer, and the occasional gremlin.

Q: What is your favorite piece of visual art that has inspired a story or two?
A: This is a tough one as I’m quite visual and make art as well. A favorite artist is Gustav Klimt (all that gold and geometric design). His “Judith” (carrying the head of Holofernes!) is a definite yes for me as is “Athene” and “Hygeia” – strong women who took matters into their own hands for everyone’s betterment. Frida Kahlo, Leonora Carrington are my favourite surrealists, esp Carrington’s sculptures. And William Blake was a visionary, simply put. “Nebuchadnezzar”? Get out of town… what a horrorshow. But to be honest, I often get more inspiration from a phrase or line of dialogue in a movie or book, and often, something someone says in passing will hit me as “that would make a good story”, etc. Words have power.

Q: If you didn’t write full-time what would your day job be? Is writing a hobby for you?
A: Writing is not and never has been a hobby. I’ve always written with an eye towards being published, and/or to entertain readers and listeners. I do work but my dream day job? I would be an editor at a publishing company. Doesn’t have to be one of The Big Four but I think that would be right up my alley. I’ve always had work as a proofreader/editor, often at a newspaper, a law firm, or a design firm. It sounds tedious but it really isn’t. The job is to not only correct typos but to clarify and make the original work/writer “read” even better than they already do.

Q: What is your writing schedule and how many words do you write in a sitting?
A: I try to make time every day for writing, which can be tough. My goal is at least 500 words a day but if I’m in the zone, I go until I run out of steam, and I’ve popped out a couple of thousand words in a first go. I write between breakfast and early afternoon, but I often write after the rest of the house has gone to bed and I can work completely uninterrupted.

Q: How do you celebrate publishing a new story?
A: Oh, I’m terrible. I tell everyone, haha. Then I jump on another story.

Q: How do you balance your outside life with your writing life?
A: Outside life. That’s a good one. I like a little boob tube plus I garden and listen to music. I try to visit friends. I read a LOT. I have a very supportive partner who is a great cook, as well as a good beta reader.

Q: Write your eulogy in three sentences.
A: Allow me to do this in one: “Now I’ll really raise hell.”

Q: What project are you most proud of completing?
A: There’s a series I’ve been on for a while that I’m hoping to wrap up this year. Let’s leave it at that.

Q: Do you have any projects you would like to tell your readers about?
A: I have a Weird West tale that also could be considered an off the chain SF/Weird story.

Q: Who is your favorite character from any of your stories and why? If you had to choose a popular author to continue writing this character in another book, who would you choose and why?
A: Sweet Betsey from P.I.K.E. The titular character from this story is a tough bird and a smartass which is what she needs to be in her line of work. Sadly, a lot of people do not know/remember the Old West ballad “Sweet Betsy from Pike”, which is a shame. That gal had adventures! I can’t think of anyone who could continue the character. NOT because I don’t think they could, I just don’t think anyone else would want to be saddled with a postapocalyptic P.I. who has to drag people back into their own timeline or else…

Q: Where can your readers find you on social media?
A: I’m mainly on Facebook as Can Wiggins. I’m working on more of a presence with an author’s page or Substack or whatever. If anyone can help me, let me know! I keep threatening to name it “Miss Wiggins Can Be Difficult” which is how my doctor once described me to an intern. 

Bio: Can Wiggins never met a monster she didn’t like … except one. She’s been published by Planet X Publications, Oxygen Man Books, Alien Sun Press, shoggoth.net and the Atlanta HWA anthology, Georgia Gothic. Her cowritten screenplay “Eidolon” is a modern take on “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and starts filming summer 2024. A member of HWA as well as The Outer Dark community, she’s been a regular contributor to Weird Fiction Quarterly since its 2022 inaugural issue. She lives in Athens.