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Writing horror, which is what I am doing now, has always been there but maybe I never really recognized it. Once, I wrote a story called “Payaso,” which was about a clown who had superpowers and went around running after child abusers.

It’s partly inspired by stuff we’ve seen from Stephen King and his works, and how something harmless or funny seems to have a dark side to it. I think that was brewing somewhere in the back. Me and my friends loved reading Stephen King. Likewise, Neil Gaiman is a major major influence as far as horror and fantasy is concerned.

As far as superpowered soap opera drama is concerned, I think I channeled that through Batch 72. They may have superpowers but the most important thing in their life was getting their band into a gig or making a girl fall in love with them.

Frank Miller is an influence too, in terms of crime noir. Warren Ellis is a big influence, as well as Alan Moore of Watchmen fame. These are guys that have taken what has been normal comic book staple, or even the whole medium itself, and have shown you what else can be done with it. As far as TV shows are concerned, X-Files comes into play. CSI played a big influence as far as Trese was concerned, because they were the ones who started this trend of the police procedural.

Like all artists, there must be times when you’re feeling drained. What do you do to get the creative juices flowing again?
One tip that I got from Neil Gaiman is that he likes to work on several things at the same time. So when he is stuck with something, there is something else for him to work on. I’ve tried that and it has worked sometimes.

One thing that’s certain is that waiting for inspiration to hit you is a myth. I mean, if inspiration does hit you, it’s a wonderful feeling to have, the story just gushes out. But if you keep waiting for that, sometimes it takes too long.

What worked a lot for me and Kajo was we gave ourselves deadlines, not that we respected the deadlines, but it was something that we kept in mind. So that when the deadline has passed, it gave you more sense of urgency to finish that stuff. Having a regular goal helps.

I also never stop thinking of the next stories I want to write. I have a notebook full of little plotlines, sometimes dialogue, which I don’t really know goes to what story, and it just sounded good. And it’s nice to go back to those notes if I’m stuck and pick up stuff from those.