Welcome to the third installment of Writers Like Us. Today I’ll be interviewing Matt.
Alpine Writer: What author or authors do you think most influenced your writing?
Matt: I’d have to say Timothy Zahn and Robert Jordan have been my biggest influences, Jordan more for description, worldbuilding and and intrigue, and Zahn more for things like dialogue and twists. My other favourite author is Brandon Sanderson, and although I can’t think of any specific ways he’s influenced my writing style, I’m sure he has. I’ve also found a lot of the materials on his website to be inspirational, rather than influential, which puts him up there too.
A: What genre do you usually write?
M: I normally write fantasy, but I’ve been working on some young adult superhero-y stuff lately. One of my favourite things about writing is figuring out how the magic systems work, so I always try to include something magic in the story.
A: Do you tend to stick to one genre or do you like to write lots of different things?
M: I go all over the place, with my novels mostly being fantasy but occasionally whatever a superhero story is, and with my short stories all over the place, from horror to comedy to just weird. I have a mystery novel planned, but haven’t started writing it, so I’m not sure if that counts.
A: Do you tend to write the same kind of things as what you read?
M: Yes. I started writing because I kept saying, “I’d like to see a book that does this,” and one day I just decided to do it. My writing is for me, not for anyone else, because I’m writing for love of what I’m doing. I think that’s the most important part of it.
A: What is your most recent work-in-progress?
M: I’m currently working on two novels. The first is the beginning of a young adult series called Incendiary, about a couple of bored high school students who get superpowers and decide to see if they can take over the world. That one’s really fun to write, because it’s centered around the villains making their plans and trying to keep everything hidden. The second novel I’m working on doesn’t have a title yet, but it’s a fantasy novel in which the villains think they’ve found the fulfillment of a doomsday prophecy, along with a half dozen other major events that I don’t have the space to get into, and I probably couldn’t describe briefly.
A: What are some of your favorite books?
M: Well this is going to be a long answer. The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan is amazing, and I’ll devour anything Timothy Zahn’s ever written, with The Icarus Hunt, the Blackcollar and Conquerors series, and Spinneret probably being his best works. Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn series, like most of his other stuff, is great. I recently read Battle Royale by Koushun Takami, and thought it was really good, although that’s a polarising one. I could keep going, but if I do I’m never going to stop, so I’ll just leave off with that.
Awesome!
Tune in next week for the fourth and final installment!