Welcome Matt to the new blog, visiting and sharing your new releases with us.
I think its appropriate to congratulate you on being #1 on the UK Amazon Free Horror Chart for Gated and # 10 on the over all UK Amazon Free chart across all genres.
"Gated" has now passed the 16,000 download mark and "Asylum" is the Amazon UK and US #1 on the Horror/Anthology Charts.
I reviewed this book on February 26, 2013
Follow the link to read more about this great book.
First I must admit once again that I never read Horror, I just do not like all the blood and gore associated with the genre, but Matt's book was different. He had a great story to tell and the usual blood and gore was only found at the end of the book and I was inwardly relieved. The book did keep me on the edge of my seat with a great build up and I was pleasantly surprised with the book as a whole.
Enough said I want to focus on him and here is what he answered to all my questions.
1. Are
you famous is the general question I get when family and friends introduces me
to their friends. It always left me with a pause as quick comebacks filters
through my mind but ending up saying something like ….”Oh gee thanks” and give
a shy smile. (a)Does this happen to you and (b) what do you say?
Not yet
but I’m trying. The only benefit that I can see to becoming “known” is greater
circulation of your work.
2. In
general do you like to talk about you writing and published books or are you
very close-lip about it? If no why?
I think that I am a pessimist by nature, so my
greatest fear is that I ever talk about what I am doing, is that something will
go wrong.
3. What
book/s are you currently writing and what is it about?
I launched a Dark Thriller called “Gated” at the start
of Dec 2012 which is still selling and going extremely well on free weekends,
so I am still promoting that.
Since I finished writing “Gated” I have also completed an anthology of horror stories called “Asylum” which I have launched about a week ago, so I am trying to promote that as well.
Since I finished writing “Gated” I have also completed an anthology of horror stories called “Asylum” which I have launched about a week ago, so I am trying to promote that as well.
Also I have reached around the halfway mark (40,000+
words) on a Dark Thriller called “The Montague Portrait”.
This novel is about an insurance investigator who was
widowed and sank into a bottle of grief. His late wife ran a community art
gallery which subsequently went to rack and ruin despite his promise to look
after it. He is drawn into a case concerning a painting called “The Montague
Portrait” which was supposedly destroyed in a fire some years before and a
large policy was paid out. There is a Machiavellian benefactor calling the
shots and the surviving woman who witnessed her parents die in the fire that
destroyed the painting. The painting is said to be cursed and the spirit of
Hugo Montague possesses men and murders their wives’ in a reenactment of his
own crime.
However I have grown concerned about the pacing of the
story especially when attempting to replicate the pacing of “Gated” which has
been a success for me. So I have sent the half finished book out to a few
preview readers that I use for their options whilst putting the book on the
back burner.
Never one to let the grass grow I am now about 13,000
words into “Abra-Cadaver” which I am enjoying writing immensely.
"Abra-Cadaver" is a story about Tommy
Ross' 12th birthday party. Surrounded as usual by his close-knit group of
friends, a magician, The Captivating Cosmo X - Master of the Unknown is
performing. Fascinated by magic Tommy and his friends sneak into the guys van
and mess around with some of the equipment, before being chased out. During the
"Guillotine of Death" trick his assistant is beheaded in front of
Tommy in the front row splattering him with warm sticky blood and mentally
scarring them all in different ways forever. The magician pleads his innocence
at the trial claiming that the trick malfunctioned. Tommy and his friends stay
silent about playing around with the equipment beforehand. The investigation
discovers that the magician’s assistant/wife was having an affair at the time
and call this motive. He is found guilty and sent to prison for life, screaming
bloody vengeance. Tommy and his friends share a guilty secret that poisons them
all. Tommy's parents’ divorce and he leaves town at age 13.
Twenty odd years
later Tommy is returning to Denver Mills after his father’s passing to settle
the estate. He is reunited with his friends and we see how they have all
changed and evolved. But there has been an escape at Blackwater Heights, the
comatose Captivating Cosmo X has woken up and he has promises to keep, and he's
heading home with a whole new bag of tricks. It is turning out to be quite fun
to write, kind of a slasher film type of novel, but with emotional depth to the
group of friends and their relationships to each other.
Newly Released
4. Why
this particular genre?
I have always been a fan of dark thrillers and horror
novels, especially when treating the audience to depth and intelligence. I find
that the pacing and thrills are fun to read and fun to write. I am not a fan of
anything that is lacking in character development and chocked full of
stereotypes.
5. What
inspire or motivate you to write?
A few years ago I was injured in a DIY accident and
subsequently diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis, which is a degenerative
chronic back condition. Due to austerity measures I do not qualify for any
financial aid despite not being able to work a full time job. My wife and I run
a small business and she has had to take on extra work during the recession to
keep us afloat. I have worked since I was 12 years old, through school holidays
to help pay for college and a full-time night job to pay my way through
university, so sitting around wasn’t an option. I have always been keen reader
and like most people always thought that I could write a novel.
I have no literary educational background, my degree
is in tourism. So I’ve spent the last nine months slogging away at the
grindstone teaching myself to write a novel. My first two attempts were
seriously flawed, but showed some promise and my third attempt “Gated” has netted
me some success.
“Gated” hit the UK Amazon Free Horror Chart #1 twice
now during two giveaway weekends and has a sales high of #4 on the UK Amazon
Horror Chart and #2 on the Horror/Thriller Chart. “Asylum” was my 4th
book in nine months with half of “The Montague Portrait” and about a 7th
of “Abra-Cadaver” completed.
6. What
is the writing process like for you?
I start with an idea for a story, but find that the
book develops as I write, never allowing me to see around the corner as I
progress. I have a large note book that I keep to jot down various ideas and
thoughts and will refer to those as I work sometimes linking them in at various
stages. I work every day and make sure that I produce at least 2000 words a day;
it is a job after all.
7. What
is the best and/ or worst part of being a writer?
Working on my own is always great for me as I am not
by nature the most sociable of animals. But obviously it is a long hard road to
achieve any sort of financial success and it can be frustrated as there is an
awful lot of luck involved in getting noticed and I have barely scratched the
bottom rung of the ladder.
8. Any
advice for struggling writers?
Stick with it and develop a very thick skin. Don’t
take criticism personally, but view it dispassionately and remember that some
people will never like what you write. Take note of constructive and technical
errors. Most importantly find an effective method of proofing; I am still
personally trying to master that particular skill.
9. What
is your favorite genre to read or write?
I enjoy horror and thriller novels the darker the
better, and biographies of interesting people.
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10. Favorite
author?
I am always and will forever be a Stephen King fan. I
find that his work is often dismissed by critics due to preconceptions over the
subject matter. I firmly believe that no-one constructs a human landscape like
King.
11. Do
you have a favorite spot to read and write?
I have a small office at home and work there.
12. What
do you like to do when not writing?
I am part comic book geek and part sports loving jock.
No longer able to play sport I am a regular traveler to Anfield to watch
Liverpool FC and The Rec for Bath RFC.
13. Do
you have a bucket list and would you share at least two things on it?
I have never taken the time to make a bucket list,
perhaps that is the first thing to put on it.
14. Most
daring thing or experience you have done you would like to share?
Taken the naïve step to try and become a writer with no
training and no literary background is pretty daring.
15. This
or that questions:
·
Coffee or Tea - Tea
·
Sweet or sour – Sweet
·
Home make meal or takeouts – Home made meals
·
Winter or summer – Summer
·
Night-owl or Early-Bird – Night-owl
·
Telephone or visits – Visits
·
Which social network do you prefer? Twitter
·
Blogger or website? Website
·
What does your family say about your career?
Supportive or Clueless
Supportive
Moto
“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over
again and expecting different results.”
Well our time is up and I want to thank Matt for this insightful interview.
I enjoyed learning more about him.
I enjoyed learning more about him.
Thanks for your willingness to take part in this new blog. I hope that you will see the fruit of your labor enjoying the benefits of it all as you master the craft.
We have two things in common, both of us went through personal difficulties to come where we are and we were both clueless on writing. And I say this with no pun intended.
Please connect with him just as you do with me.
We need all the support we can get.
We need all the support we can get.
Buy Links
Twitter:: @MattDrabble01
My next featured author would be Ann B. Harrison author of
Taming the Outback
Taming the Outback
on April 10, 2013
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