Performed by Val Cole

Get to know the writer:

1. What is your novel about?

In the year 1816, volcanic eruptions cause the sky to be covered in ash and the world is sent into darkness. Emory is the personal attendant and secret lover of the consumptive Lord Ambrose Aphelion. Together, they escape to a castle in the French alps with a number of other odd guests with the hopes that the mountain air will aid Ambrose's declining health.

2. What genres would you say this story is in?

Historical Fiction and Gothic Horror.

3. How would you describe this story in two words?

Darkness Visable

4. What movie have you seen the most in your life?

Dracula (1931)

5. What is your favorite song? (Or, what song have you listened to the most times in your life?)

My favourite song is Slice of Life by the Bauhaus.

6. Do you have an all-time favorite novel?

My favourite novel typically changes depending on what I have read most recently, but I go back and reread Dracula and Frankenstein regularly.

7. What motivated you to write this story?

I have a passion for historical settings, diseases, and I find the weather phenomena of 1816 terribly fascinating. I love to explore the creeping horror of disease, the effects of social castes, and inequity.

8. If you could have dinner with one person (dead or alive), who would that be?

I would love to speak with Mary Shelley. One of my biggest inspirations for The Sky's Gone Out is the time she spent trapped in a castle with fellow writers Percy Shelley, Lord Byron, and John William Pollidori during 1816.

9. Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?

Medicine. I am currently in premed and plan to go to medical school when I graduate. I hope to study and prevent infectious disease. Perhaps this is obvious from my story, but my favourite disease is tuberculosis. It is terribly fascinating and it is the most deadly infectious disease of all time. While many people think it to be a disease of the past, it is still painfully relevant today. Last year alone, it killed 1.25 million people, beating COVID and making it the single most deadly infectious disease of 2024.

10. What influenced you to enter your story to get performed?

I hope for my work to reach a wider audience and to assist my journey into the publishing world.

11. Any advice or tips you'd like to pass on to other writers?

I have a few. In no particular order:

Make friends with fellow writers. Peer opinion and feedback are incredibly helpful during the writing process. Sometimes you need someone to bounce ideas off of and to push you to rewrite that scene.

Do something weird while you are writing that does not require a lot of focus but gets your thoughts flowing. I personally jump on a trampoline while working.

Write even if you do not think it's good. You can always go back and edit or scrap. Practice is always good and your work cannot be good if it is never written down.

Be prepared to write anywhere when inspiration hits. Bring a notebook or use your phone's notes app to write down the pretty words when they strike. You may get an idea for the most beautiful prose on the train, and there's a fair chance you will not remember by the time you reach your destination.

Figure out what people like and make note of it. Then immediately ignore that and do what you feel compelled to do.

Write for yourself first and foremost. Pleasing everyone should never be your priority, as good writing should be derisive.

Do things. Go to events. Have conversations with strangers. People watch. The best way to write accurately is to experience and understand your topic.

Research! Research! Research! There is no such thing as knowing too much about your subject, but there absolutely is a problem when you do not know enough.

Take criticisms in stride. If one person out of thirty has a critique, consider it but do not necessarily take it to heart. If you trust that person and feel they are skilled, absolutely take that advice. If fifteen of those thirty people have the same critique, you should seek to mend the issue. Be able to make fun of yourself and your work, because if you can't, nobody can. Be confident in your work, but not to a fault.