Favorite MG
authors? Illustrators you admire?
I don’t read very much middle-grade, as I don’t want
to be influenced by what else is out there in my category. I have, of course,
read the new classics, Harry Potter
and Percy Jackson. JK Rowling and
Rick Riordan are both amazing. (Really going out on a limb, aren’t I?)
On the subject of illustrators, I have to give a shout
out to Owen
Richardson who painted the covers for my Jack Blank books and the Artemis
Fowl series too. Also, Matt Armstrong, who did
the cover for Seaborne: The Lost Prince.
I couldn’t be happier with the way that one turned out. Growing up, I was
incredibly influenced by comic book pencillers. There are too many to list, but
I’ll say Jim Lee, Marc
Silvestri, Arthur Adams, Todd McFarlane, Erik Larsen, and Joe Quesada to name a
few. I’m still a huge comic book fan, so that list grows every year.
Favorite MG
books from the past year (2014/2015)?
I actually didn’t read any! I read a ton of books, but
nothing in my category. I will say that Brandon Mull had a new series kick off
last year, and I think his Beyonders
and Fablehaven books are excellent. I’d
recommend anything he does sight unseen.
How/why did
you start writing?
When I was growing up, I spent a lot of time reading
comic books like the X-Men, watching TV shows like GI Joe and the Transformers,
and movies like Indiana Jones and Star Wars. I always walked away from those
things wanting to create my own version of them. I would spend hours drawing my
own superheroes and super-villains. My own Transformer and GI Joe characters. My
own space adventurers and dauntless archeologists. For some reason, it was
never enough to just watch. I always wanted to get in the game.
I think creativity is a compulsion. No matter what
form it takes (writing, drawing, singing, acting, etc…), it starts out as an
idea that you feel a need to express. A voice in your head that won’t shut up.
That’s what gets me started on every new story. I don’t know why I feel a need
to do it. I just know I love it and can’t stop. Maybe that’s the reason.
One piece of
advice for young writers?
You only fail if you quit. Don’t
think about the odds and don’t give up. If after years of writing, you are still
trying to get published but haven’t quit, then you haven’t failed. It
doesn’t matter how long you’ve been at it. A screenwriter named Josh Olson
wrote, “You can’t discourage a writer. If I can talk you out of being a writer,
then you’re not a writer.” I totally agree. Life is going to present you with
no shortage of excuses for giving up. The important thing to remember is that’s
all they are— excuses. They’re not reasons. Have faith in yourself and your
story. You can do anything if you want it bad enough.
Also, write for YOU. No one is forcing you to sit down
and write, so write the story you want to read. The one you will have the most
fun writing. There’s no guarantee anything will ever happen with it, so you
better at least have fun writing it. I happen to believe that makes the book
come out better in the end.
What are you
currently working on? (Give us your elevator pitch!)
I’m working on a book that is a cross between Johnny
Quest and Indiana Jones, with a little bit of James Bond mixed in. I’ve got a
first draft complete, but it needs a few tweaks. I’m still trying to find my
groove with this story, but it will be a lot of fun once I do.
Are your
characters/stories inspired by real people/events?
I think
we’re all the sum total of our experiences, so it’s impossible to separate
yourself completely from your art. Often, it’s only when I look back on a
finished project that I realize, “Oh, I’ve been writing about myself.” Maybe
not on a story-detail level (as I have never been a pirate or super-hero), but
on a thematic level definitely. I see elements of that in Seaborne and Jack Blank,
and I didn’t even realize I was doing it while I was writing the books. That’s
one the amazing things about writing— a book can still have surprises in store
for its author!
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Don't forget! Matt is going to be hosting a half hour art lesson at YA Fest Jr!
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