Ask the Author: Matt Ingwalson
Answered Questions (5)
Matt Ingwalson
I don't have any mysteries in my life. At least, not in the old-fashioned, whodunnit sense.
What I do have is a vague sense of paranoia that constantly alerts me to the ways my everyday life could go horribly wrong. And many of my books begin with that.
For instance, every new parent knows how it feels to walk into a nursery at night and not be able to see your baby. Then your eyes adjust to the darkness and you realize everything is as it should be. But what if it wasn't? What if your child had simply vanished? That paralyzing question inspired my first Owl & Raccoon mystery, The Single Staircase .
Another example. Most people have probably stayed up too late, gone to the wrong party, and hopped in bed with a stranger. You can almost always wash your hands and chalk it up to experience. But the narcissism of the characters in Regret Things drives them to keep making worse and worse decisions until finally the past catches up to them.
At the end of the day, I'd like to think that the real mystery in all my books isn't just whodunnit. I'm after the big mystery. How do ordinary families react to secrets, violence and horror? I think my latest, The Baby Monitor: A Novella of Family Horrors , is the best answer to that question yet.
What I do have is a vague sense of paranoia that constantly alerts me to the ways my everyday life could go horribly wrong. And many of my books begin with that.
For instance, every new parent knows how it feels to walk into a nursery at night and not be able to see your baby. Then your eyes adjust to the darkness and you realize everything is as it should be. But what if it wasn't? What if your child had simply vanished? That paralyzing question inspired my first Owl & Raccoon mystery, The Single Staircase .
Another example. Most people have probably stayed up too late, gone to the wrong party, and hopped in bed with a stranger. You can almost always wash your hands and chalk it up to experience. But the narcissism of the characters in Regret Things drives them to keep making worse and worse decisions until finally the past catches up to them.
At the end of the day, I'd like to think that the real mystery in all my books isn't just whodunnit. I'm after the big mystery. How do ordinary families react to secrets, violence and horror? I think my latest, The Baby Monitor: A Novella of Family Horrors , is the best answer to that question yet.
Matt Ingwalson
Are we talking about just romantic couples? If so, I'll say Gretchen and Jimmy on You're the Worst. He's self-involved and oblivious. She's depressed and chemical-dependent. But somehow they fall in love and have to make it work. The thing I like is that the characters work for the audience, too. I actually like Gretchen and Jimmy. (Unlike, say, the couple in Silver Linings Playbook, who can both drive off a cliff as far as I am concerned.)
If we're considering any fictional twosome a couple, well, I could write about the buddy-cop formula for a very long time. There are two types of teams. The first (call 'em Sherlock and Watson) have the same goal but different skill sets. The second (call 'em Hap and Leonard) have the same skill set but different personalities.
The first genre usually pops up in mysteries. My Owl & Raccoon books are one example. The fun is in seeing how the detectives interpret clues and end up respecting each other.
The second team is more common in thrillers, where the cardinal rule is, "Keep making things worse until it's time for them to get better." The team's conflicting personalities add another layer of chaos that drives tension and causes conflict. My Sin and Nicki books follow this path. Sin buries depression and violent thoughts. His sister, Nicki, is narcissistic and so fearless she borders on insane. Chaos ensures.
Thanks for asking! It's funny how answering questions like these make you think about your own characters in ways you never consciously did before.
If we're considering any fictional twosome a couple, well, I could write about the buddy-cop formula for a very long time. There are two types of teams. The first (call 'em Sherlock and Watson) have the same goal but different skill sets. The second (call 'em Hap and Leonard) have the same skill set but different personalities.
The first genre usually pops up in mysteries. My Owl & Raccoon books are one example. The fun is in seeing how the detectives interpret clues and end up respecting each other.
The second team is more common in thrillers, where the cardinal rule is, "Keep making things worse until it's time for them to get better." The team's conflicting personalities add another layer of chaos that drives tension and causes conflict. My Sin and Nicki books follow this path. Sin buries depression and violent thoughts. His sister, Nicki, is narcissistic and so fearless she borders on insane. Chaos ensures.
Thanks for asking! It's funny how answering questions like these make you think about your own characters in ways you never consciously did before.
Matt Ingwalson
This is the number one question I get asked when my friends, family or neighbors read Sin Walks Into The Desert. It can be a bit uncomfortable. I don't know if I'm a gun nut. But I'm definitely a detail nut.
After I finished The Single Staircase, a police officer told me how much he learned about the characters through their choice of sidearm. So I doubled down for Sin Walks Into The Desert.
Sin sizes up everyone he meets based on their guns. This obsession helps define his character. And there are metaphors embedded in the weapons used by his dad, el Viejo, la Calavera, and their enemies.
I'm a big fan of Michael Mann, who directed Heat, Miami Vice and Collateral. The seemingly inconsequential choices he makes in weapons, cars and clothes create a sense of authenticity that people feel, even if they don't know why. This helps the audience relate to otherwise quiet and distant characters.
I hope the guns in Sin Walks Into The Desert provoke the same emotional reaction.
After I finished The Single Staircase, a police officer told me how much he learned about the characters through their choice of sidearm. So I doubled down for Sin Walks Into The Desert.
Sin sizes up everyone he meets based on their guns. This obsession helps define his character. And there are metaphors embedded in the weapons used by his dad, el Viejo, la Calavera, and their enemies.
I'm a big fan of Michael Mann, who directed Heat, Miami Vice and Collateral. The seemingly inconsequential choices he makes in weapons, cars and clothes create a sense of authenticity that people feel, even if they don't know why. This helps the audience relate to otherwise quiet and distant characters.
I hope the guns in Sin Walks Into The Desert provoke the same emotional reaction.
Matt Ingwalson
I don't have to search for inspiration much. In fact, I have written something pretty much every day since I could hold a pen.
I wrecked my family's typewriter in 2nd grade pouring White Out over a paragraph I wasn't happy with. My 6th grade teacher used to call in reinforcements because I'd turn in stories that were dozens of pages long. And I spent most of my career writing TV and radio scripts.
I have a huge back catalog of half finished screenplays and novels, so if I don't have a burning desire to tell a new story, I'll go noodle those.
I wrecked my family's typewriter in 2nd grade pouring White Out over a paragraph I wasn't happy with. My 6th grade teacher used to call in reinforcements because I'd turn in stories that were dozens of pages long. And I spent most of my career writing TV and radio scripts.
I have a huge back catalog of half finished screenplays and novels, so if I don't have a burning desire to tell a new story, I'll go noodle those.
Matt Ingwalson
I am finishing up the final Owl & Raccoon novella, tentatively titled The Last Child Missing. And I am beginning a new Sin & Nicki thriller. Sin Walks Into The Desert is Sin's story, and Regret Things is Nicki's. The third book will put the two of them on a collision course that will require them to come to grips with their complex feelings for each other while shooting it out with not one, but two groups of killers who want them dead. It's going to be exciting as hell.
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