Day 2
Today our stop is with the newest editor for the Railroad! series, Mr. Joe Mynhardt.
Joe Mynhardt is a South African
horror writer, publisher, editor and teacher with over fifty short story
publications. He has appeared in dozens of publications and collections, among
them FOR THE NIGHT IS DARK (with Jasper Bark, Tonia Brown and Scott Nicholson).
Joe is also the owner and operator of Crystal Lake
Publishing. He has published and edited PAUL KANE’S SLEEPER(S); DANIEL I.
RUSSELL’S TRICKS, MISCHIEF AND MAYHEM; FEAR THE REAPER; KEVIN LUCIA’S THINGS
SLIP THROUGH; GARY MCMAHON’S WHERE YOU LIVE; and WILLIAM MEIKLE’S SAMURAI AND
OTHER STORIES.
Upcoming collections Joe has edited include JASPER BARK’S
STUCK ON YOU, HORROR 101 (non-fiction book), THE OUTSIDERS (Simon Bestwick,
Gary McMahon etc.), CHILDREN OF THE GRAVE (Joe McKinney, Armand Rosamilia etc.)
and TALES FROM THE LAKE VOL.1 (Graham Masterton, Tim Curran etc.).
His collection of short stories, LOST IN THE DARK, is
available through Amazon.
Joe Mynhardt took up writing towards the end of 2008 and
has enjoyed remarkable success. Joe
contributes to horror fiction in more ways than his own work. He maintains a
constant presence on several of the major horror writer’s forums as a
contributor and adviser. He’s also a moderator for a foremost writers group and
an Associate member of the HWA.
All in
all, he keeps his finger on the active pulse of current horror. His influences
stretches from Poe, Doyle and Lovecraft to King, Connolly and Gaiman. In
his spare time Joe blogs about haunted buildings.
In his
non-fictional life, Joe is a primary school teacher who enjoys
reading books and comics, watching movies, and collecting rare coins. After
matriculating in 1998, he moved to Bloemfontein, South Africa (birthplace of
J.R.R Tolkien), where he received an honors degree in Education Leadership and
Management. Joe devotes himself to his
wife, his work, and to feeding his two dogs. I’m sure if something happened,
and he was incapacitated, he wouldn’t mind if his dogs ate him. After all, it
would be a shame to let all that talent go to waste.
Read more about Joe and his creations at www.Joemynhardt.com and www.crystallakepub.com or find him on
Facebook at “Joe Mynhardt’s Short Stories.”
This is what Joe has to say about being an editor:
“When I started writing, I really didn’t like the editing
phase of a story. And I know a lot of people would agree with me. But, as time
went on and I learned exactly what I needed to do, I realized that the editing
phase was where the real magic happened. It’s the editing/editor that make the
difference between a first draft and a polished book, after all.
I quickly learned how to pick up on the preferences of
not only the writer, but also what the story needed. And what any author needs
is a second pair of eyes without an emotional tie to the story. Someone who can
see the bigger picture on the first read (plot and character arc), and do a
line-edit on the second read. I tend to read the book or story a third time as
well, just to make sure there are no silly spelling or grammar mistakes.
This is almost impossible for an author to do, since they
should already be busy with their next project, and they are just too close to
the project to hold back on editing their work over and over. I recently had to
inform an author that I was going to do one more edit on his book, and that he
wasn’t allowed to read the final draft until it was published. The book was
perfect.
It’s very difficult for an author to know exactly when to
stop editing.
Other nice things about using an outside editor is of
course being more productive, sticking with the writing phase you love so much,
and building up your ‘who you know’ list, which we all know is very important
in these days."
We here at Railroad! are pleased as punch and peacock proud to have Joe aboard our staff. Thanks for joining us, Joe!
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