Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to L. David Hesler. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi L. David, thanks for joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I was fortunate to grow up in a home where reading was a valued pastime. My mother always kept a stack of library books on the table next to her recliner, and my brother was a connoisseur of genre fiction. My father was also an avid reader, and I eventually learned he wrote short fiction in his spare time. My family’s passions became my own. However, I was also an enormous fan of cartoons and comic books, which influenced the creative paths I would eventually take as I grew older.

Telling stories was essential to my development as a creative. In elementary school, I took advantage of indoor recess in the winter by drawing comic strips for my classmates. I began creating my own superheroes by first drawing them, and then fleshing out backstories for them; a sketchbook from my youth would feature character sketches with intertwining origins. A few insightful teachers eventually noticed what I was doing and encouraged me to begin writing stories, and I never stopped.

As an adult who wanted to become an author, my biggest obstacle was a fear of failure. I sat on my debut novel, “Children of Aerthwheel,” for almost seven years before finally taking the indie route in 2011. My mother passed away the year before, and her death was a wake-up call for me. I’d never get to share that first book with her because I had been so afraid of failing. Did that first book blow up? No. But it also didn’t set me back or destroy my life by being published. If anything, I wish I had published it sooner and resisted the urge to give in to fear. It was a lesson, I learned from it what I could, and I kept writing.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m an author and illustrator who publishes dark, suspenseful fiction for grownups, as well as the “Three Little Zombies” series of spooky fun children’s books about kindness, generosity, and friendship. I’ve been creating stories since I could put pen to paper as a child; but when I’m not doing that, I love to make music as a guitarist and electronic musician.

My body of written work is eclectic, yet it’s all connected by my endless love of monsters, mayhem, and adventure. My mature fiction may be horrifying at times, but it’s also tempered with a sense of hope that somehow, the good guys will probably win. My children’s fiction is full of positive messages, meaningful relationships, and upbeat humor.

As a fledgling writer and artist, my biggest influences were Stephen King, Peter Straub, Bill Watterson, Stan Sakai, Berkely Breathed, and Douglas Adams. As an adult, I fell in love with the work of Zadie Smith, Shirley Jackson, K. Lynn Smith, and Blake Crouch, to name a few.

Some people like to say, “Stay in your lane.” But I say, “There are no lanes.” Make what you want, and answer all your creative callings when you can.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

After several years of writing horror and dark fantasy for adult readers, I decided to create the “Three Little Zombies” series for children in 2017; it was a way to share both my love of monsters and my values with my son who was born the same year. It is, far and away, the most rewarding fiction project in my catalog.

Now that I’m two books into the series, I’ve had several opportunities to do readings and school visits at elementary schools. Whether they are in-person or conducted virtually, the result is always the same: the kids in every class start drawing their own original Little Zombie characters and share them with me during the visit. It’s such a delight!

My favorite sound in the world is a classroom full of children drawing silently. That silence is creativity at work and it’s so powerful. The energy is amazing.

However, I think the most rewarding moment was when a family bought my Little Zombies books at a local convention for their six-year-old child. They emailed me a few days later explaining that the daughter wasn’t a strong reader and just wasn’t interested in books as much as their other children. But the parents said she was enthralled by my books and was drawing her own zombies. She loved the books and wouldn’t stop reading them.

The notion that something I created might inspire a child to become a lifelong reader astounded me. And I keep that memory in the back of my mind as inspiration for my own work.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

Creativity isn’t magic.

It’s a mantra I’ve tried to share with people for years. But it’s not something I always believed.

Once upon a time, I was an elitist creative who basically thought creativity was a superpower imbued only to those who were worthy of wielding its great might. But I had it all wrong.

Everyone is creative. We’re all born with the tools we need: imagination and determination. The problem is that as we get older, sometimes we forget how to use those tools to our advantage.

Children are infinitely creative. Give them paper and crayons, then sit back and watch them make stuff to their heart’s content. But adults are afraid to let loose. Afraid to get a little weird.

Here’s the biggest secret. For a long time, I tried to create things based on what I thought other people wanted. I was overly concerned with failure to meet expectations, and I was afraid of not being good enough. But we’re all creative in our own ways, and it’s not a competition. We’re not in a club. We’re all just a bunch of humans who need to get weird and lean into creativity once in a while.

Doodle during a team meeting. Write some poetry while you’re using the restroom. Dance on your way to that coffee break. Sing a song in the parking garage. Start small, get used to that feeling of making something, and then do it some more the next day. And who knows? Maybe you’ll find yourself writing a book of your own in a few months.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ldavidhesler.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/ldavidhesler
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/ldavidhesler
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/LDHesler