Ask the Author: Jeffrey Matthews
Answered Questions (6)
Jeffrey Matthews
It's like insomnia. I just roll with it. It usually doesn't last. It seems more about just simply not feeling like writing at the moment, not so much a block. So I don't panic, I just own it. Just do something else that day, or the next day too, and sometimes the whole week goes by, but eventually I start writing again, eventually I fall asleep again.
Jeffrey Matthews
Having a story that's all yours. Being able to give that story away.
Jeffrey Matthews
Don't listen to anyone. Don't read writing books or subscribe to writing magazines (sorry, Writer's Digest). All that stuff will make you nuts and I later found none of it had anything to do with the actual process of writing and telling a story. And the best you can, don't doubt yourself, especially while you're hotly in the moment of writing - just write. If something inside you is making you want to write, then you're a writer, even if you don't have a word down on paper. Just keep telling yourself the stories and when you're ready, sit down and regurgitate it. I do make an outline, but that usually gets trashed by about the 3rd chapter. I let my characters say what they want and they have often surprised me with their outbursts (again, all in my head) that I neither outlined for them or pre-scripted for them. And when that happens I just let them rant, or sometimes, even be silent. Many of my characters simply spoke for themselves, and that's when the crushing self-doubt comes in. Ignore it. So my advice is write, write, write, and never doubt what flows onto the page. There will be plenty of time later to edit, edit, edit.
Jeffrey Matthews
I have completed the next book - Lay Us Gently To Rest - which is not a sequel or series, but it is connected, in a way, to Carry Us All (but if I said how, it would give away part of the fun). I've also started another book, which for me is a much darker story than I've ever done so far, but has a protagonist who is on an extreme life-changing path. So while it does start out fairly grim (and I hope readers will loathe the guy), there is some light and a message in it for the reader I hope will perhaps change them too. Or at least make them think some.
Jeffrey Matthews
This may sound stupid and ridiculous, but I'm a very visual person, and writing, of course, is the opposite since it's all in your head. So I need something to see, touch, smell or experience somehow. I created my own necklace, like the type my protagonist wears in the story, and I wore that from the time I started page one until I wrote 'The End'. I kept photos of my daughters riding the carousel on my desk. I had a small bowl filled with carousel ride tokens and even a brass ring. And of course, I had my set of carousel art and history books nearby to page through every morning before I started. These things keep me grounded, in touch with my characters and their unfolding story, and helped me 'experience' and be in the moment with all of them.
Jeffrey Matthews
The seedling of this book started while I was watching my daughters on a carousel. They were so happy, so enjoying this simple ride, and I couldn't help wondering just what I'd do without them in my life. Which led me to think deeply about that, which led me to researching carousel history and art, which led me to visiting antique carousels. And somehow, the idea of juxtaposing the restoration of a broken man's soul with the restoration of a dying art form became Carry Us All.
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