A few weeks ago, I came home from school and my dad told me he had been to breakfast with his Uncle (my great uncle) Paul, who was in town for a short time. He shared the conversations of that morning, and brought up that he was writing a book, which at the time I was not aware of. He went on telling me what it was about, and I thought he was a perfect person to talk to for the newspaper, especially because so many people in the school are aspiring writers.

Paul Schnabel, who lives in Saint Louis, Missouri is originally from Hingham, Massachusetts. As a current retiree, he is in the process of writing a Gothic Horror novel, with a working title of “The Tales of Cushing”. It takes place in a fictional seacoast town in Massachusetts, and takes inspiration from living in the Bay State. 

Paul is surprised his writing took the turn to Gothic Horror. He says it could be due to the way the story has progressed, and the classes he has taken in writing. Those classes led him to smaller groups of writers that meet every few weeks, and at those meetings they share feedback and critiques of each other’s work, which could have also shifted the genre of his story.  He also mentions watching a lot of Twilight Zone, which has fueled his interest in the “creepy stuff”. 

I asked if he had any advice for aspiring writers, and he said “Believe in yourself! We all have great stories and tales in all of us!”