An Interview with Ray Garton
Interview conducted c. early 2010s
Introduction
Ray Garton is a prolific horror and suspense writer whose career spans more than six decades and includes over sixty novels, novellas, and short story collections. Best known for works such as Live Girls, Sex and Violence in Hollywood, and Meds, his fiction explores fear, desire, moral fracture, and the psychology of transgression with an unflinching eye.
This interview was conducted during a period when Garton was reflecting candidly on the realities of long-term professional writing. The conversation examines discovery-driven storytelling, character-first construction, genre boundaries, and the psychological demands of sustained creative output.
Garton’s responses reveal a fiercely individualistic philosophy of writing. He rejects formula, distrusts dogma, and emphasizes lived experience, emotional honesty, and persistence as the true foundations of effective storytelling.
This interview is preserved as part of the Better Storytelling Archive, documenting the voices and working methods of contemporary genre creators.
RayGarton__Interview
The Interview
Life as a Writer
How did you get into writing?
I think I started plotting in the womb. As far back as I can remember, I’ve had the drive to make up stories. Before I could read or write, I drew stories in comic-book panels. Once I learned to read and write, I simply switched from pictures to words and read constantly. By seventh grade, I was writing novel-length manuscripts. They were terrible, but I was learning.
When did you first realize that you have what it takes to be a writer?
I always wanted to be a writer. It wasn’t something I chose so much as something I had to do. In college, I sent stories to a literary agent I’d heard about. He liked them and asked if I had a novel. I didn’t—at least not one good enough—so I wrote one quickly and sent it to him. He sold it within weeks. I was twenty years old, and that sale convinced me I could do this, though it also made me dangerously overconfident.
Premise
Where do you get your ideas from?
Anywhere I can. Ideas tend to arrive unexpectedly rather than through deliberate searching. Writing is always discovery for me—from beginning to end. Each project is different, and I still don’t fully understand how the process works. I’m afraid that if I analyze it too closely, it might fall apart.
I’m constantly bombarded by ideas. Most of them aren’t usable. The ones that stick—the ones I can’t get rid of—are the ones I write.
How do you develop your ideas into a story?
It depends on the idea. Some require research. Some arrive whole and demand immediate attention. But an idea alone isn’t enough. You attach characters, settings, relationships, and backstory. Any one of those—character, place, or even a single scene—can become the foundation for a novel if you’re willing to work it long enough.
Genre
What kind of stories do you enjoy working with?
I want to disturb readers or make them laugh—sometimes both. Horror should provoke emotional or visceral reactions. I also enjoy suspense and crime fiction, which allow you to manipulate tension without supernatural shortcuts.
I believe that even characters we label as monsters are human beings. That recognition is far more unsettling than treating them as inhuman.
What genres would you like to explore in the future?
I’d like to write more comedy. I’ve been working for years on a novel about my time at a Seventh-day Adventist boarding academy, written as humor rather than horror. I’m also interested in horror that meaningfully engages with modern anxieties rather than relying on familiar monsters.
Structure
Do you work from an outline?
No. Traditional outlining nearly drove me insane. I can’t find the story unless I’m writing it. Sometimes I outline a few chapters while working, but never the whole book in advance. Unexpected discoveries are often more interesting than anything planned.
Plot
How do you build your story?
By following characters and seeing where they lead. This requires backtracking and rewriting, but it’s the only way I know how to work. Most of the writing happens in my head. Typing is the smallest part of the job.
Character
For you, what makes a great hero?
I’m drawn to ordinary people—damaged people—with internal obstacles as daunting as any external threat.
If one of your characters were to describe you, what would they say?
They’d probably say I was a sadistic monster. I put them through hell. That’s part of writing horror.
Setting
How much time do you spend researching the setting for your stories?
I usually write about places I know well. Writing unfamiliar locations makes me nervous because mistakes are inevitable—and sometimes embarrassing.
What settings would you like to explore in the future?
Las Vegas. It feels surreal, almost off-world. I’d like to set something there someday.
Theme
Do you like to know the purpose of your story before you sit down to write it?
With novels, no. I often don’t know what the book is really about until I’m deep into it—or finished. Sometimes readers see meanings I never intended.
Dialogue
Do you have any favorite lines from your stories?
I honestly don’t remember them. Once I finish a project, I move on and make room for the next one.
Writing Process
Do you have a routine?
I write every day, but without a rigid schedule. Sometimes I work immediately in the morning; other days I read first. Background noise varies—music, television, silence—depending on my mood.
How do you deal with writer’s block?
I don’t believe in it. If you can’t write, there’s a reason. Figure it out, work on something else, or abandon the project. Writers write.
Story Development
How do you go about fixing a story?
Every story is different. There’s no universal method.
How do you know when to stop?
You develop a sense for it over time. Writing is learned by doing. The more you do it, the better your instincts become.
Words of Advice
What words of advice would you give to new writers?
There is no single right way to write. Anyone who claims otherwise is lying. Learn from others, but keep only what works for you. Develop a thick skin. Embrace useful criticism. Eschew delusion.
Final Thoughts
What’s the best thing you’ve ever written?
Sex and Violence in Hollywood and Meds.
What are you working on now?
Another thriller, several short stories, and various work-for-hire projects.
Closing
This interview captures Ray Garton’s uncompromising view of storytelling as discovery rather than formula. His reflections emphasize emotional honesty, resistance to dogma, and the necessity of persistence over validation.
Presented here as part of the Better Storytelling Archive, this conversation preserves a voice defined by independence, longevity, and a deep understanding of fear as a human experience.