Edgar Allen Poe and Jack Kerouac are tied as his all time favorites… But Vaughn also loves and reads F. Paul Wilson, Matthew Woodring Stover, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, David Baldacci, J.R.R. Tolkien, George R. R. Martin, Terry Brooks, James Patterson, Michael Crichton, Chuck Palahniuk, and John Grisham to name a few. He also loves classic authors like Ayn Rand, Dashiell Hammett, Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Truman Capote, Harper Lee, and H.P. Lovecraft. Vaughn has a special place in his heart for Richard FariƱa as well. There are so many good authors and it is impossible to remember them all… Suffice it to say that Vaughn loves reading and admires anyone who writes!
Archives
Does Vaughn accept story ideas?
Unfortunately he does not have enough time to accept all of his own ideas, let alone someone else’s! Vaughn cannot possibly listen to other ideas and try to create stories from them. But he does offer this piece of advice, “If you have story ideas, write them yourself and work on publishing them!”
How much research does Vaughn do for his books?
Research is Vaughn’s most favorite part of writing a book. He spends countless hours reading books, surfing the web, and talking with knowledgable people about subjects that he is unfamiliar with. Even if he knows a subject well, Vaughn still researches it thoroughly to make sure that he doesn’t have any holes or problem areas.
Where does Vaughn get the ideas for his books?
Ideas come to Vaughn at all hours. He will sometimes wake from a nightmare and lay there thinking that he’s just discovered another idea for a book. Vaughn’s ADD mind goes crazy with all of the ideas and he tries to write most of them down (at least the concept).
How did Vaughn become a writer?
In Junior High School Vaughn was always coming up with stories. They would just pop into his head and some of them he wrote down. Before long he had a collection of them and folks who read them used to pat Vaughn on the back and say, “Not bad, kid.”
During High School Vaughn did more reading than writing, but he never lost the stories that would appear from nowhere. They continued to come to him today.
Shortly after High School Vaughn did some more writing and he realized that stories and writing were going to be a part of his life. He could never stop the ideas from popping into his head. Usually they are goofy or not tellable, but once in a while a really good one comes along and begs to be written.
Unfortunately his Adult ADD kicks in and he starts new stories before completing the old one. As he has aged and supposedly become wiser, he’s now better able to focus on individual tales and complete them.
Vaughn’s first published book was his memoir, Survivor – One Man’s Battle with HIV, Hemophilia, and Hepatits C.