Welcome: William Butler to this online interview with author, book reviewer, educator and talk show host Fran Lewis.
William was born in Morehead City, NC. He moved around a lot as a
child living in various places such as NY, GA, FL, VA, until his
family settled back in NC, where he lives now. He runs the blog Bang
Noir and writes articles for examnier.com. His debut novel, Bang, a noir crime suspense novel, was published in December 2010. His second novel The House of Balestrom, a Gothic suspense drama, was released on August 2011. He is currently working on his third novel and the sequel to Bang. William Butler's inspirations are authors such as Chuck Palahniuk, Anne Rice, J. T. Leroy, Jacqueline Susann, Anias Nin and Tennessee Williams. He tends to write about characters who are not entirely friendly. It's not all rainbows and butterflies for his novels or short stories. But Noir is a part of what he writes. It was quoted that "William Butler is an expert in the creation of self-destructive characters whose actions take them to disastrous ends." -C.C.Cole (Gastar Series, Author).
Fran Lewis interview questions for The House of Balestrom
1. How did you create Balestrom House?
I had wanted to write a gothic tale about a family. The house was going to have to be huge and almost other worldly. The house had to be a character as well. I looked at other huge houses as inspiration. Like Biltmore Estates and Hearst Castle. I took that and threw it on a private island that would be owned by the family. I actually saw a vision of the house one day driving to work. It was one of the first imaginings of the story before I even started writing it.
2. How did you come up with this family?
The Balestrom family came about one day as being part of the house. I knew I wanted to write a story about a rich and powerful family and I created one, but that family turned out to be different. Not the family I wanted as the Balestroms, so I went back to the drawing board and boom they started developing and I created Victor, Camille, Ruth, Cyrus, Alexander, Aunt Birdie, and Elizabeth. Though there were more, but I didn't want to bog down the story with all of them. That's what the next few books are for.
3. Why did you create a family filled with such hate and deceit?
Oh, I love writing stories with characters that don't seem very stable. But they each embody a human characteristic that we can relate to. The Balestroms have power and money. They can do whatever they like--in their world. I wanted them to be self-destructive and manipulative, but hold themselves higher than everyone else.
4. When creating Camille did you model her after anyone else?
I didn't have a particular person in mind when I created Camille. I knew I wanted a strong woman who uses her mind and words to manipulate others. She's not above blackmailing someone to get what she wants. But I also wanted her to come off as someone trying to reveal the evils of the other characters.
5. Why was Sara so defensive of Susan? Why so loyal?
Sara and Susan are sisters. Sara goes by the code Blood is thicker than water. She was there for Susan all the way to the end. She loves her and looks up to her in a way. Sara is like a mother to Susan in the story as well.
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