Interview from 2010 between M. R. Mathias and David Wiseheart

Start from the beginning
                                    

How do you create and maintain dramatic tension?

Another question I don’t know how to answer. I just write. I hardly ever struggle to tell the stories. They just seem to flow out of me. I start building a story and a lot of the things that happen with the characters just starts happening to them. Clive Cussler once said (this is not a direct quote by any means) that he loved to write Dirk Pitt into all those seemingly inescapable situations with no idea himself of how Dirk was going to win free and save the day. That is what I do. The story creates its own tension, at least mine do.


How do you develop and differentiate your characters?

Again, I just write. I try to give each character a unique trait or two that I use throughout the story. Some characters are brave, others not so much. Some are perpetually curious, and others complain a lot. Consistency of characters is key in a long novel, especially when two characters are very similar and related.


What do you think makes a great epic fantasy?

Well after reading so many novels, from all genres, I have come to the conclusion that reading is just a form of entertainment. A book, even a great one, is still just a book. When you are in a place that is book poor, and the number of titles you have access to is very limited, then there are times when any book is fantastic just because it’s there and you can read it. But to answer the question...

A great epic fantasy takes an unlikely group of would be heroes (or a hero) and tells us how they overcome insurmountable odds, be it by skill, or destiny, or luck, to win out against a terrible, and seemingly unstoppable evil. There must also be love and loss, humor, and a lot of fantastic scenery and conflict. I suppose that is the root of most traditional fantasy. To me (personal opinion here) that cannot be achieved in two or three hundred pages. I can read three hundred pages in a long afternoon. If I can read a fantasy book in a day, then it was not epic. That’s not to say that shorter fantasy books, like the Conan series, or most any R.A. Salvatore book are not good. They are just not Epic Fantasy. They are “Serial Fantasy,” or “Pulp Fantasy,” but not epic. I want the climax to be two or three hundred pages long, not the whole story. I tried to achieve that in The Sword and the Dragon. I also try to make sure that each book I write is its own book, even though it is part of greater work.



Who do you imagine is your ideal reader?

People who enjoyed The Rift War Saga, Wheel of Time, The Sword of Truth, LOTR, Memory Sorrow and Thorn, The Farseer Saga, those people should like The Sword and the Dragon and The Wardstone Trilogy. If you are more into Dragon Lance, Forgotten Realms, or R. A. Salvatore’s type of fantasy then my Dragoneers Saga (which I consider a fantasy serial, not epic fantasy) would be more to your liking.


What was your journey as a writer?

I just started my journey so I can’t answer this well. I decided to write my first novel after reading so many mediocre books that I knew I could do as good, if not better. That is to say that I could tell as good of a story. I am not as good at the mechanics of writing as most educated writers, but I am getting better at the process.


What is your writing process?

So far it has been simple. I put the pen to paper and start writing. The story tells itself and I let it. I approach writing as a reader. If I am getting bored then something exciting needs to happen, if this character is turning out to be a jerk, maybe a little redemption is in order. I have an idea of where the story will end up, but getting there is as exciting for me, as it for the reader. After it is written, I start entering the chapters into MS Word by way of speech recognition software. (Never name a character Oliver if you are going to do this. “All Of Her” or “All Over” is what gets entered most of the time. J) I am getting better at typing, and my current NaNoWriMo project is being typed, not spoken into my laptop. (The Butcher’s Boy won the 2011 Readers favorite Award for horror fiction-added in2012-mr) I tried editing myself at first, but I just don’t have the knowledge of grammar to do it well. Now I pay people to edit for me, but I have been lucky to find people who understand my situation and do so at a rate I can afford. The industry standard of .02 cents a word would have cost me seven grand to have The Sword and the Dragon edited. That’s more than half a year worth of rent, or two used cars.


You've reached the end of published parts.

⏰ Last updated: Jun 02, 2012 ⏰

Add this story to your Library to get notified about new parts!

Interview from 2010 between M. R. Mathias and David WiseheartWhere stories live. Discover now