Patrick Matthews's Blog, page 2
July 21, 2022
Dream Goals
I love unfocused effort, particularly when I’m writing a book or designing a game. There’s nothing quite as liberating as sitting down to write a story with nothing more than a few ideas.
At some point, though, I need a goal. There’s a moment in every project where it changes from “look at this cool thing” to “I’m making this specific cool thing.”
If that moment never happens, and sometimes it doesn’t, the project gets shelved. I might come back to it from time to time, but, generally sp...
June 8, 2022
Abigail’s Dragons
Growing up, the books I read were heavily influenced by my mother. An avid fantasy and science fiction fan, she particularly loved stories about smart and talented women. Telzey Amberdon and Menoly (harper of Pern) both immediately come to mind, but there were many more. In fact, it wasn’t until high school that I realized female protagonists were in the minority.
When I was writing Abigail’s Dragons, I knew that Abigail had to be a character that lived up to my childhood standards. To be...
July 20, 2021
Rafiki Writing
Have you ever found yourself stuck while trying to write a scene? It happens to me all the time. In my case, I get too exact. My descriptions end up sounding like a description from a realty listing.
“The room was twelve feet wide, with a twin bed against one wall. A desk faced the far wall, its top covered with orderly stacks of…”
Ugh.
Other writers that I’ve talked to have other problems, but they all boil down to one issue: we’re losing track of the story we’re trying to tell.
...February 8, 2021
The Blank Page
Have you ever been exploring? I go a lot: hiking, biking, kayaking, caving, wandering through strange cities, or even just going for long drives. If you explore enough, you will eventually find yourself well and truly lost.
Getting lost can be both terrifying and exhilarating. In that moment, the decisions you make can lead you to very real dangers. They can also reveal strange and wonderful discoveries.
There are time-tested strategies to take when you’re lost. If you’re in a city or driv...
January 13, 2021
Feed Your Soul
Many years ago, I took a cycling trip in Ireland. We weren’t riding overwhelming distances, but on the very first day, I had to tap out. I don’t know if it was the rain or the wind or the process of stepping off an airplane and onto a bike, but I simply couldn’t make the distance.
My companions and I dragged ourselves into the nearest pub and called for help.
As we started pedaling the next day, I found myself facing a quantity of anxiety that was unfamiliar to me. What if I couldn’t make ...
September 30, 2020
Fiction in Life
There’s a moment in Dune, by Frank Herbert, where young Paul Atreides is given a “test of humanity.” The gom jabbar (a poison needle) is held against his neck, and he’s told to place his hand inside a box. He’s told that if he pulls his hand out of the box, the needle will kill him.
Paul puts his hand in the box, and immediately feels a searing pain that steadily increases in intensity. It is explained that a human will be able to ignore the base urge to escape the pain, and instead, follow t...
September 23, 2020
Dragons and You
Do you have a compelling memory from a book?
One of mine is listening to my mother read The Hobbit, and hearing Smaug’s first appearance. Smaug is the sort of character you don’t forget. He’s vivid, intriguing, and terrifying. Even though he doesn’t show up in the story until chapter twelve, he dominates the story. When he arrives, he takes your breath away, particularly if you’re a little guy listening to your mom read.
Children’s stories have come a long way since The Hobbit. Dra...
September 20, 2020
Bradley’s Dragons Giveaway!
Hey everyone, I don’t know what I was thinking, but I just realized that I never posted a blog article about a giveaway that I’m running with The Children’s Book Review. It only runs through 9/30, but there’s still time to enter if you hurry.
July 25, 2020
Why Publish?
My fiction writing career has been quite a roller coaster. I started out, as so many writers do, when I was twelve. An avid reader, I found myself with an overwhelming urge to create stories as well as read them. So, I went to work on the old manual typewriter my dad kept on his desk.
I never finished that manuscript.
The desire to create stories never went away, though. As I moved through life, my writing ebbed and flowed in significance. While my primary money-making occupation was so...
Bradley’s Dragons
