Tell us about yourself and what inspired you to start writing.
Thru my whole life I have been filled with stories, but I lacked the confidence to share them through writing. I grew up reading Hugo, Dumas, Dickens, Shakespeare, Stevenson, Tolkien, Wells, Verne and Thoreau. How could I ever craft words that would live up to the lofty loves of my heart? I drew. I painted. I dreamed of making movies… But I was scared of writing anything more than my poetry.
In poetry I could express myself freely with less constriction on how I phrased my words. I could create openly, and so for a long time poetry was primarily the only type of Writing I would share…
Yet I was still filled with stories. I just wanted someone else to write them down. Then in my late twenties, I got tired of waiting for someone to write my stories for me, and I began to work on my first novel. I shared it with those close to me and was encouraged, so I kept going. I found a passion and love I’d never known was inside of me.
I discovered then in those first months that even beyond my painting or crafting, the words and stories I’d held inside were a greater release and magic than anything else I could have possibly done with my life. I swore that no matter what, even if no one read my work… I needed to write.
I’ve been doing it ever since. Sure the real world has slowed my progress and gotten in the way a lot. I need financial stability and I have obligations a plenty. Life is complicated and doesn’t always allow the time I wish I had to spend on my books, but I will keep writing them. I will finish my stories and I will tell others because it’s part of me.
Describe your writing process? Is there anything unique about it?
Well when it comes to poetry, they sort of just flow out of me. I don’t control them much or try to edit a whole lot. They exist as they are and I let them breathe because they are pure expression… That’s not the case with my novels.
Every time I start a narrative, I have to understand the character I’m writing… I need to know who they are and how they think, so I can form their voice and write from that perspective, even while I give details and motivation to everyone around them in the story. I like to tell stories within stories and everything it seems, carries it’s own philosophy that I hope connects with readers, but before anything else, even framing devices to immerse the viewer into their world, I have to know my characters.
Have you published any books or do you have a desire to do so?
My first book attempt was utilizing a pre-existing character to tell an autobiography of emotional struggle through fictional allegory. I felt like Frankenstein’s monster… So I started writing an interview from the perspective of a creature who had been created to tragedy and who wrestled with those same emotions that I was feeling. I used it to pay homage to stories and writers I loved and it became an all consuming form of therapy… Then I lost most of it in an accident and couldn’t bear to start back on that particular story again for several years.
However in the process of writing at all, I’d discovered a passion, and I found myself soon after with a new story to tell. I started writing my science fiction series “Stealing Fire” barely a month after losing my first work. I was on a walk one day and the roads were empty. I saw an old barn standing in a field and I thought… What if the world were empty? What if I could walk across the whole continent and see no other people? What if the world returned to something I understood and could live in?
Within 2 more months I’d completed a book following the journeys of a group of young protagonists as they travelled across a post apocalyptic landscape, eventually bringing the character I’d started with originally, right into the middle of their story. Why young people? Because I believe we don’t give them enough credit, and I had something to say about that which would be clearer to read in context than for me to just say it here.
When I started back on that first story, 8byears had passed since I wrote it the first time. It had become a prequel tie in to a larger series with greater ambitions and purpose, and now that series will be 5 books by it’s end.
Do you have any favorite poets or authors?
So many that the list would take up 3 pages minimum. Most of my favorites are works we all studied in school to be honest. It’s rare that I find a modern author (published within the past 40 years) that I feel can truly compare to the classics I read over and over. I struggle to enjoy modern prose as I often find myself putting books down for dry language or dull vocabulary. Because of this, I turned primarily to comic books or graphic novels for a time, and interestingly enough that has brought me to a great appreciation for people like Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore, who I did start reading in prose form. I absolutely adore them. At this point in my life they rank on par with Bradbury, Asimov, Tolkien, Dumas, Hugo or Twain.
Do you have a favorite book of poetry or poems?
I tend toward Sci-Fi and fantasy. They have a way of exploring humanity rather than simply advancing a plot itself. My favorite books however are Frankenstein, The Hobbit, To your Scattered Bodies Go, American Gods, and Little Big.
What are you reading now?
The Steading by Pete Wood
What do you like to do when you’re not writing? Full-time job, pets, hobbies?
I teach painting classes. I illustrate for other authors. I kayak. I hike, and I try to enjoy the simple pleasures of life, like sitting around a campfire, or cooking a good meal to share with someone I love. I never seem to hold a regular job for long, two years seems to be my maximum so far, but I’ve been freelancing as an artist most of my adult life. I feel like I will continue that pattern even if my books succeed at some point.
Are you working on a current project?Oh after I finish my current series I already have about five standalone books planned unrelated to it. Poems will come at their own whim of course and who knows how many books I could publish in that vein, but yeah I’ve got lots of things left in me to write.
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