Author Q&A with Matthew Kagle

Author Q&A with Matthew Kagle

1. Tells us about your writing/ published book(s)

Everything I write has to have a high concept. My first novel was several time travel stories told in chronological order. Switched back and forth between perspectives often, sometimes in mid-sentence.

My books are harder to get into, but I feel they’re more rewarding in the end.

2. Where’s your favourite place to write?

Pre-COVID it was at a local Peet’s. It’s hard to find a place with a good chair; I need a high back. It’s also good to have poor wifi and people constantly walking by and judging me for hogging the good seats.

3. How do you approach starting a new book?

Trepidation. Fear. Resignation.

4. What’s your favourite genre to read?

Most forms of speculative fiction are good. I need something that has a specific end in mind. I’m frustrated with stories where the characters meander from one moment to another. Authors should have an overall plan.

5. Have you always wanted to write?

Yes. Ever since I was a kid. It took a while for me to figure out how.

6. What do you do when you have writer’s block?

I haven’t figured it out, yet. I recently realized I’m in perpetual writer’s block. I always thought I was just slow, but I’m constantly stymied.

7. Tell us about a scene that you loved but had to edit out of your book

My first novel has a character with two personalities, one created on top of another depending on the contract she takes. When that one dissolves, she returns to being a different, more businesslike and intense person. Originally, there was a third personality underneath the others. She was the “real” person and completely insane.

My editor said that was a lead weight and would bring my novel down.

8. Do you like reading the same books you write?

The exact same? Ugh, no. By the time I’m done, I’ve read them over and over, a few times out loud. Make them go away!

9. Do write under a pen name? If so, tell us about how you chose it

Matthew Kagle is a friend from college. We wrote together under his name since I was uncomfortable with people knowing who I was. Now there’s a few of us using it, and he gets a thrill from being our “front.”

10. How do you choose your book’s title(s)?

I’m not certain. However, my last novel (A Thousand Secret Sorrows) might have been subconsciously borne from accidentally glancing at other titles. There is Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns and Amy Tan’s A Hundred Secret Senses.

11. What advice would you give to someone wanting to write their first book?

Start now. Just start. Don’t worry about anything else but writing in this moment. Nothing else matters but doing it. Now.

12. Do you do research for your books? If so, what kind of research?

Some of my current book takes place in the Holocaust. I’ve contacted several Museums and Libraries. I have some life stories from members of my family who escaped the camps. There are groups of Jewish writers and game designers who are always happy to help.

13. How do you fit writing into your everyday life?

Poorly. As I said above, it’s hard for me to push through the writing block and do the work. Luckily, I don’t have a job, so I can’t use that as an excuse any more.

14. How do you approach ‘world building’?

It’s helpful to know that world building is a magic trick. You can make something seem fleshed out even though it isn’t. A real world has sewer systems and weather patterns and dental hygiene and a host of other things that are irrelevant and uninteresting to a reader and downright irritating to a writer.

Creating just a few bits of culture helps people feel like they’re in a different world. Give a people unusual naming conventions, some religious rituals, and a couple oppressive laws, and it’ll seem real enough.

15. How do you handle criticism?

Terribly. I usually stop writing for about ten days after bad feedback.

16. Describe your perfect character to me

I like characters with internal conflicts that end in tragedy. I suppose they don’t all have to end tragically, but (as Orson Welles said) that all depends where you end the story.

17. Tell me about your current work

I’m working on a novel about a boy who lives in two worlds that he switches between when he goes to sleep. In one, he has been abandoned in a magical, prehistoric land. In another, he’s trying to help his family survive the Nazis.

Both worlds are falling apart, and he sees himself as the only one who can keep them alive.

18. Tell me about your main character

Micah Bladeweaver is an outcast, as all orphans in his tribe are. He is nearly killed and left for dead, but wakes up with the ability to see the gods, who are guiding him in a direction he doesn’t understand.

Micah Schermann is a boy watching his family and community being destroyed in the aftermath of the Kristallnacht attacks. Bit by bit, his family is taken apart until he ends up in charge of keeping them safe and alive.

19. Would you want your book made into a film?

That’d be amazing. I’d be willing to give up film rights for nothing without any vestige of creative control. I’d really love seeing someone else radically change my vision. Give him a cartoon sidekick! Make her an expert in an ancient martial art! That’d be fun.

20. How many books do you own?

I don’t know. Two? Three? Do cookbooks count?

 

This or That Questions…

Short books or Long books
Short

Romance or Fantasy
Fantasy

Bright book covers or Muted book covers
Bright

Ebooks, Paperbacks or Audiobooks
Audiobooks

Writing in the Morning or Evening
Morning

Character Driven or Plot Driven
Plot

 

Finally, what’s the best piece of advice someone has given you about writing, marketing, or just generally about life?

“Misery isn’t a competition.”

 

Where can you find Matthew?

Twitter