Game Talk - Benjamin Kurt Unsworth
- Feb 17
- 5 min read
I can't remember when exactly I first met Ben, but what I do remember about that meeting was that wide-eyed grinning enthusiasm. It doesn't matter whether it's book, TV, film, et al. - if the conversation is horror, he wants in. That almost-rabid appetite for such, and the eloquence to discuss it at length means we get to talk game.
1. For those who don't know, who are you?
I am a writer of horror and weird, speculative short stories, as well as a reviewer/article writer for a number of outlets including Ginger Nuts of Horror, Phantasmagoria Magazine, and We Belong Dead Magazine.
2. Game talk – how do you organise and manage your game? How has it evolved?
The actual writing doesn’t usually take too long, but usually because I’ve spend far too long doing chaotic drafts and scribbling down bits here and there, so by the time I come to sit and write, I either have half of written down in splinters in notebooks or it’s in my head and I know it like I do the back of my hand.
I don’t recommend it as a strategy, but I tend to do a lot of my best writing at 2am. My brain finally quietens down and there the missing part of a story or the perfect sentence will just spring into my head.
Most important though, I reckon, is not having just one project. Last year, I set myself a challenge of writing 1 short story per mensem, and I accomplished it. However, I discovered my pattern turned out to be that I usually wouldn’t finish any during one month, but would finish two the following one. Because I can’t guarantee the mood my brain is in, it’s good to have a change of pace I can switch across to.
As for how it’s evolved: I think realising I’m able to tackle multiple projects at once helps. But also, having a destination for my story helps. Even if that’s a collection which won’t see the light of day for another two decades, the story nevertheless has a purpose – if I see a submission call for which it fits the bill in the meanwhile, that’s great. I’ve just let my child out into the world a bit early and it’ll sink or swim (I’m not, I hasten to add, a parent...).
Another thing which was rather strange to realise was what I write and what my tastes are diverge quite surprisingly. A number of my favourite films are ones where Vincent Price plays a madman, like The Abominable Dr. Phibes, or squelchy Lovecraftian romps like From Beyond or Event Horizon. Even my favourite novel is The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. And yet my writing always seem to go back to the psychological. I put bleak humour in there, often by accident, but I always aim for something liminal or disturbed or which is a very abstract horror, about as far away as you can get from the world of madmen and creature features and sci-fi comedies as you can get. Realising this was a very backhanded way of entering my writing psyche!
3. Talk us through one of your biggest achievements in your game – give us the story behind it. How did it play out?
Actually it’s something I’m not allowed to talk about yet. But last year I got invited to contribute to an anthology series I’ve long been enthusiastic about, and so while I can’t say I entered the writing world with specific aspirations, in retrospect this probably is one! There’s something rather nice in simply being asked to contribute to something, as I had the story idea for it (it’s in the middle of being written at the moment) about a year ago, but I’d deliberately put it to one side as it felt very banausic and unoriginal, and I was struggling to find my “voice” for it. The invite reminded me of it though, and simply having the parameters of the anthology put me in the right frame of mind to see what was missing. And as I write it I’m finding less of a compulsion to self-edit and more trust in my own head. As someone who has a habit of overthinking things, to have something just fit into place, yet within some parameters I can work with is essence of a godsend.
4. You mention the importance of not having just one project, and that you can tackle multiple projects at once. Is there any particular format, e.g. a collection (like Into Wrack and Ruin), that fires you up or is it just a question of whatever's next if that fire starts to wane with the current project?
I have three novella ideas which one day I’d like to tackle, and until then they’re fully plotted in some deep and mysterious enclave within my computer. But for now, I’m content with writing short stories. I reckon it’s more how the fiction side of my brain is wired to think, looking at scenarios which use limited words and where you’ve got to fight with your own mind over which elements of an idea to include. While it may sound rather crude or egotistical to say so, short stories also provide the kind of quick fulfilment I desire, as they rarely take me more than about a month or two to write and edit. A future collection always features somewhere in my thinking, and if I have no burning desire to jump into a specific story I’ll just work on the next idea for one of those, but I don’t let them control me. Two short stories I’ll be working on soon are ideas I had with no ‘destination’ in mind except for the anthologies I want to submit them to, so they might end up in a collection one day, or they may just end up there.
5. It's great if things go according to plan. Tell us about when it didn't; how did you handle it? What were/are those challenges?
Sometimes lost causes exist. I’ve had a number of stories where I’ve written them – actually, sometimes I don’t even get that far – and sentimental stubbornness has prevented me realising why the story doesn’t work. And when you do realise why a story doesn’t work, and often in my case because I’m struggling to edit it, it can be a little soul-crushing.
Hence, however, the “Frankenstein’s Manuscript” folder on my computer, where all my less successful stories go, because even if the whole isn’t usable, I know those stories well enough to remember the bits I did think worked. And one day I’ll delve about in the folder with a scalpel and extract the good stuff to use elsewhere.
6. Give a pep-talk to someone on game in your field.
There’s a level of temerity required for being a writer, and that’s actually okay. Or rather, a level of temerity for the act of creation. You’re creating something you have to believe is worth people looking at, and you’re willing to offer up a slice of your brain on a platter for that to happen. You should never do it for the awards and commendations of course, but have the assurance of knowing your own mind and knowing your own genre. At the end of the day, I doubt anyone should take themselves seriously, because where’s the fun in that? If I took myself seriously, do you think I’d own 50 bow ties? But I take the work seriously. It’s a balancing act and I think the end-goal is worth it.
7. Promo for website / links:
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