Indie fantasy authors to watch: Michael G. Manning

MICHAEL G. MANNING is a fantasy author and pharmacist living in Huntsville, TX. He is best known for his two books, Mageborn: The Blacksmith's Son and the sequel, Mageborn: The Line of Illeniel. He's recently blasted into the Top 100 Kindle books (all titles) with both, putting him firmly in the Top 10 Fantasy Bestsellers. He talked to me about the origins of his story, keeping in touch with reality, and overnight success.

ON THE PAST

Had you wanted to be an author before completing your first manuscript, or has releasing your first book made you want to be successful at it?

My earliest career goal was to be a mad scientist (around age five). I developed a desire to write books when I got heavily into Science Fiction and Fantasy books around the age of twelve.

What drew you to writing about the son of a blacksmith? Wouldn't a more obvious choice for you have been 'the Alchemist's son'?

I hadn't thought about it like that, but you're right. The ideas for the book came from some unknown space inside my mind, but the background and setting for the main character were created as parallels to my own life and upbringing. My father was a mechanic and a welder, he built things and watching him taught me a lot about the world. I was adopted also, and unlike the rest of my family I had a penchant for books, science, philosophy etc… My parents were very accepting of my differences but I always felt a bit strange.

Mordecai echoed that, the son of a wizard raised by a blacksmith. I wasn't deliberately trying to make Mordecai into my image but he definitely borrowed a lot from my life experiences.

ON WRITING

You have a full time job as a pharmacist. How do you manage to live 'in this world' and in 'the other world' you're creating?

One of my favorite expressions is this, "I don't mind being in touch with reality… as long as I don't have to live there." I don't remember if I heard that somewhere or if I made it up long ago, but it definitely suits me. I work is a pharmacist, which is quite different than my fantasy life, but somehow over the years I have adapted my working life to my inner life.

When I first started, at my current job, I worked as a regular pharmacist. Over time I had ideas regarding how we worked and how we could improve upon it; my boss was flexible and decided to give me room to try out those ideas. Now I spend my time as a troubleshooter, programmer and database administrator. I have no formal training in any of those things but I've always just learned whatever I needed as I went.

You wrote the two books incredibly fast. Is this the result of detailed planning and structuring beforehand, are you gifted with an ability to structure things on the fly, or do you leave things rough-and-ready to retain the raw force of your writing without labouring over the editing?

I didn't have any plan when I began. I was out of books to read and I couldn't find anything I was interested in. So I started enumerating the elements I was looking for in a book, and after an hour I had a list. I just decided to try and write it myself.

As far as 'structuring things on the fly'… well I guess that pretty well describes me. I did create an outline for each book before I started, but the outlines only took up a page or two. I had to stop at points and create background material and notes on various things but the books pretty much wrote themselves as I went.

Editing has been a problem for me. Although I am fairly easy going, I have very strong opinions on grammar and writing style. The books are mostly self-edited because of that. It's a task I find tedious but because of my perfectionism 'during' the writing not a lot has to be done afterwards. However as I'm sure you know, no one is perfect, and my blind spots in editing are apparent. I have had some excellent assistance from a few of my more 'technical' readers but in the future I hope to afford more professional help.

A 400-page manuscript completed in a month! Are there some pharmaceuticals you can recommend to writers ?

There are, but they wouldn't let me have them either… so I had to make do with caffeine. I know almost nothing about how professional writers are trained. I've never been to a writer's workshop and my only technical training was freshman and sophomore English in college. I suspect that my method is very different than most, but I have no way of knowing.

I just sit down and write, but that's not to say it is easy. I have distractions and moments where I am unsure what to do… but I just bull through them. While I was writing the first two books I spent all of my spare time on them, five to six hours each evening and twenty hours or so on the weekends. That resulted in the first being done in about four weeks and the second book took nearly eight weeks.

ON FANTASY

Classic fantasy has been done to death. How is your take different, or don't you try to be?

That's a rather sore point with me. I've heard that regarding every topic imaginable, but I don't think it is relevant. Every story involving people revolves around the same themes that motivate and interest us, love, conflict, death, and the struggle to rise above our limitations. Those key things have been with us in all of our stories since the first storyteller began entertaining his friends and family around a campfire.

Back to the question, I'm not trying to create something 'original' or 'ground-breaking'. I am writing purely to entertain, so I as I sit at the desk I try to imagine a story I would enjoy reading. If someone decides someday that I've done something new or original that would be nice but it really isn't my objective.

ON PUBLISHING

You seem to have appeared out of nowhere, with only a facebook page and a goodreads profile. Boom! Straight into the Top 100 on the Kindle Bestseller Lists within a few months. No website, no blogging, no twittering or publicity campaign. Are you truly the mythical 'overnight success' or is there more to the story?

I didn't really expect to be successful, but I was determined to try. I think there are three key factors that made a large impact here. The first was my family and friends, particularly my wife. I have a large network of friends, coworkers, family, and more. When I began telling them they started the word of mouth campaign for me. My wife in particular is well known on several forums and she used her social capital to 'sell' me to her friends.

The second factor is the book itself. It has to be a good read or no amount of marketing will work.

The last factor is something I didn't consider but which has worked in my favor. The book has to fill a particular 'need' within its market. As I mentioned before, I had run out of books to read that fit my criteria for a fun read. Clearly there were other people that wanted the same thing. I have read many masterpieces that didn't interest me. If I had tried to write an opus or create something radically different I probably would not have enjoyed this much success. I was writing to please myself, and apparently that fits a fair sized demographic.

ON THE FUTURE

How far away is full-time writing for you, and would you choose to write full time?

That depends upon my ability to keep writing stories in a timely manner. I hope to keep writing at a pace of about three books a year. Assuming I can do that and maintain the interest of my readers I will probably switch to being a full time writer in about a year.

My only regret is that I love my current job as well, it gives me a lot of freedom to be creative in different ways and I love my coworkers. It would be nice if they would let me keep using my desk at work so I could see everyone while working on my books, but I doubt that will happen.

What's next for Michael G. Manning?

I have no idea. My life is a great mystery to me and I'm still waiting in suspense to see what will happen next. I plan to continue writing though. I can only hope that none of the 'excitement' that has cursed my character's lives appears in my own.

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