Tell me a about
yourself. What got you started in writing?
In high school I fell in love with
Theater. Stepping out onto the stage and delivering a line that made over
200 people all laugh at once was the greatest feeling I had ever known.
An odd path for someone who was normally quiet and shy, but the theater bug had
bit and I was hooked. I chose to go to Northern Arizona University for
college as it was far enough from home to be completely independent, but still
a state school that wouldn't bankrupt by parent.
My major was Theater and my goal was to hone
my acting craft and take Hollywood by storm. Then I went to my first
college theater audition. Reality checks can be a cruel friend.
Despite NAU being a small college, the talent amongst the small group of actors
was overwhelmingly good. I never felt so
out of my league. Somehow, I got a small
part in that first show, but I could not see myself being successful in the
face of such great talent. And if I couldn't compete on the college level, I would never make it in Hollywood or
New York. Sadly I realized that acting
was off the table, but I still loved Theater, so I stuck with it hoping I could
find skill as a Director or Tech.
.jpg)
Back stage during the rehearsals for
that show I was in, Bill, a senior, the lead in the show, and the most talented
actor I had ever met, asked me where I got the monologue I used in the
audition. I told him I had written
it. “Really?” he said, “it was good. You should consider making it into a full
play.”
Wow!
This guy who I thought was 100 times more talented than me had just
given me an unsolicited complement on something I had created. I had dabbled in writing before, getting
encouragement from family and teachers, but never thought of it as a something
I had a gift for.
The encouragement from
the upperclassman who everyone looked up to was enough to keep kick start the
project, but it was the words on the page that kept me going. I fell in love with the creative aspect of
the work and had a complete one act play in just a couple of weeks. Now I’m not one of those writers
that says, “I write for myself and don’t care if anyone likes it.”
To me that foolish. It’s like a poet who only read their work in
a closet so no one can hear. So I needed
to find something to do with my play.
Fortunately every year the school held a play-writing contest open to all
students. The interesting thing about it
was that it was a blind competition. A
group of professors would evaluate each entry, but would not know the name of
the writers, since most would be students from their classes. My freshman year, going up against lower and
upperclassman, I won. I won a contest
that was completely based on my work and was not enhanced or limited on
anyone’s opinion of me. I had found
something that I was truly talented at and I loved it. A few months I received my prize, a black-box
production of my play. To see my work
come to life was better than being on stage and getting the laughs and tears
myself. A world that I had created was
brought to life before my eyes...
As time passed I kept writing on the
side as a hobby and hoped I would find that inspiration to write a Broadway
quality show, but as a career it was a very distant dream. Then I met this beautiful red head named
Carleesa.
 |
| Get the Book at Amazon
One of the first things she
told me was that she liked a man who was
as comfortable in a kilt as he was in a suit.
She loved art, theater and anything creative. On our first date I told her my best theater
and Disney stories as well as all about my plays. She hung on every word and I got lost in the
joy found in her eyes. As you may have
guessed we fell in love, got married, had two wonderful sons and…, well were
still trying to live happily ever after.
Our love for each other is stronger than ever, but life has not been
that easy.
|
As we settled down I moved up
into retail management and eventually became a store manager making a decent
living. She had a career in non-profits
as a charity campaign manager. Yet when
the economy took a nose dive I got let go and couldn't find work for nearly a
year, and once I did find work it only paid a quarter of what I was
making. My spirits were crushed and I
was feeling very lost. That year, when
it was so bad we nearly lost our house; Carleesa never once blamed me or did
anything to make me feel like I had failed in any way. Instead, on my birthday she gave me a copy of
The Writers Market. A book I used to buy
myself every year that would list all the publishers, agents and contest where
you could submit writing. She included a
message that said, “No matter how bad things get, I never want you to give up
on your dreams.”
.png) |
| Carleesa and Matt |
I
picked back up the pen that day. There
were a couple of ideas for plays I started, but there wasn't enough inspiration
to finish them. Yet there was an idea
for a couple of sci-fi characters that I had been thinking about for a very
long time, but never had a story for. A
space fighter pilot in the future meeting and falling in love with a beautiful,
red headed, medieval woman who could do magic.
Giving it more thought I considered it might make a good movie, but I
needed to outline a story first. So I
started writing out a short story, just so I could get it clear in my
mind. Within a week I had over 42 pages
and had hardly reached what would have been scene three. I was writing a novel and I was loving
it.
Every day I couldn't wait to get
some free time to write because, like a reader, I couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen next. That’s
how I write. With only a vague idea of
where the story is going, I let my imagination flow out onto the page and
discover it as I write. Each day my
passion for the book grew and after five months of lunch hour and late night
scribing I had completed the first draft.
I presented it to my wife for her blessing. That sounds extreme, but it is because I
trust her with not just my love, but with my life. She would never say an unkind word to me, but
she would also never let me do anything that would lead to embarrassment or
shame. So as a critic she is kind, but
honest. When she read the book she told
me that she loved the story and then discussed what could make it better.
One
of the first lessons I learned was that I had habits of a playwright that I
needed to get rid of, such as brief descriptions and relying on dialogue to
tell the story. At that point I became
a student of other writers, reading classic as well as contemporary books from
the best sellers list. Studying entire
series from a few authors to see how they progressed and listening to audio
books to understand the pattern and timing in successful writing; all the while
working on rewriting the book based on notes found on practically every
page.
It
took me an additional two years and ten drafts to finish the book The Warrior’s
Stone. It is something that I am proud
to put my name on and to list my Carleesa as my muse on the inside page.
What's your favorite part about writing? Your least favorite part about writing?
I
write the way people read. The idea for
a story might be a character or situation, but I never know what’s going to
happen until I write it. So my
inspiration is to find out what is going to happen next. My lease favorite part of writing is going
through the work and fixing all the typos and spelling errors that my editor
has pointed out. Even though I have
improved a lot, I still make a lot more mistakes than I should. One thing that I do to catch and fix them
before I show the work to anyone is to have the computer read the text. It’s the difference between knowing what is
supposed to be on the page and hearing what is really there that the eye didn't see.
How do you come up
with your characters? Why would readers want to get to
know them?
It
depends on the story. More often than
not the main male character is an idealized version of myself. Not who I think I am, but who I wish I could
be. The character of Roy, in the
Warrior’s Stone, is brave, honest, very analytical, smart, cleaver, but also deals
with deep emotional scars that make him cold and distant until he meets a
woman who he can’t help but fall in love with.
My personal narrative has some similarities, but is not nearly as
dramatic or interesting as Roy’s story. The main female character of Katreena beings
with my wife, in her kindness, a need to be helpful to others and her ability
to make those around her feel loved. Yet
as I develop the story, that characters take on a life of their own. I don’t know what they are going to say or do
until it happens. As I get to the end of
the book, they have evolved into something different than what I started with,
so I often have to go back to the beginning and rework parts to keep them true
and consistent.
What types of
marketing do you do to promote your writing?
As
an independent writer I don’t have the backing of a big publishing house, so
I’m on my own for everything, from the book covers to the press. So most of what I do in on the internet;
Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Authors web page, participating on book blogs,
doing my own blog, and posting on any site that will let me. I also put together a couple of book trailers
on YouTube, paid for some advertising on Google and Facebook (I don’t
recommend) and paid for a press release.
Yet in the end the best results have been from people I gave the book to
and had them read it. So far everyone
has loved it, recommended it to their friends and written great reviews on web
pages like Amazon and Goodreads.
What are you currently
working on? Do you have a new book out?
I’m
finishing the rewrites and edits on book two of the New Terra Series, the
sequel to the Warrior’s Stone and then will go back to book three. I actually started both book two and three at
the same time and had planned on the other one to be the second book, but about
five chapters in I decided the time line worked better to have that book come
third.
Book
two in the series should be out early 2015 and the third one out early 2016, so
long as I can get all the rewrites and editing done. It’s hard for me to all a book done. I always feel like I can do better and put
myself through another draft, which then requires proofing, editing and
reviewing. So we will see.
What would you tell a
beginning writer who wants to publish but doesn't believe
he/she has enough
talent?
Go
to the library and check out three best selling writers in the genre that you
want to write in. Here is what you will
find. 1.
They don’t use any magic words.
The most popular writers don’t write like Shakespeare. They use everyday language they you and I
do. 2.
Read the work with a critical ear.
Here is what I mean. As you read,
listen to the voice in your head and break down the pattern and sounds as if
you were listening to music. This is
where you find the subtleties in successful writing. You will find that the best writers have
learned to not over use words, unless it is in dialogue that fits the
character, and they string their words together to keep the reader interested,
even when the story drags. 3. Find someone you trust to read your work and
give CONSTRUCTIVE feedback. This should
be someone who loves to read and cares about you enough not to discourage you
from writing. 4. Keep writing. No one ever wins their first race.
***
Thank you, Matthew!
Learn more about Matthew below:
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for your comment.