An interview with M C Masters

The online website, LitHub, often poses a series of seven questions to authors. Since I doubt they’ll ever ask a humble author like me to partake, I’m offering my take on their approach:

Without summarizing it, what would you say your book is about? Moral dilemmas. Lust for power. Family honor. Loving and making art. Oh, and vengeance.

Without explaining why and without naming other authors or books, can you discuss the various influences on your book? Thought-provoking looks into a character’s motivations and flaws, but not necessarily with a hope of redemption. Ambiguity can be satisfying as can unexpected twists. And a touch of action thrills, too.

Without using complete sentences, can you describe what was going on in your life as you wrote this book? Big adjustments, good and bad. Pandemic. And a yearning to write and tell a story.

What are some words you despise that have been used to describe your writing by readers and/or reviewers? What’s wrong with applying the best word (and eschewing the fifth grade reading level one) to express the moment?

If you could choose a career besides writing (irrespective of schooling requirements and/or talent) what would it be? Furniture builder and refinisher.

What craft elements do you think are your strong suit, and what would you like to be better at? Dialogue excites me. But I wish some of my descriptions could be more poetic.

How do you contend with the hubris of thinking anyone has or should have any interest in what you have to say about anything? I don’t worry about it. I write what I hope are entertaining tales for readers to immerse themselves into for a couple of hours. Not trying to change the world or anything.

That was fun. How about a few more typical questions asked of authors followed by my answers?

What is the first book that made you cry? The Time Traveler’s Wife.

Does writing excite or exhaust you? Energizes especially when I encounter the wu wei or flow of the work. I’m always delighted when a serendipitous moment leads in a fresh direction or ties everything together.

Did you ever consider writing under a pseudonym? Uh, yup.

What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer? Brian C. Holmsten challenges me often. We discuss our ideas, works in progress, and beta read each other’s work. Other writers help me in absentia through their bodies of work: Auster, Murakami, Shriver, and so very many others.

What was the best money you ever spent as a writer? The FreeWrite Traveler for distraction-free writing. It’s a portable basic word processor with no web connection. Written thousands of words on it. I also devour writing craft books, and in total, they’ve been worth the investment.

What do you owe the real people upon whom you base your characters? While no single character is based fully on a real person, the many individuals I encounter in my life become aspects of a character. It’s like a recipe where you toss in a pinch of this person and a dash of that person or personality and mix it together to arrive up at someone altogether new.

How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have? Too many. But I’m working through the backlog to get them finished and out there while also generating more novels, too.

How many hours a day do you write? I set several goals. For example, I’ve won NaNoWriMo for eight straight years, which means writing 50,000 words in one month. I’ve also written at least 500 words a day for 127 consecutive days. These days I work to spend at least one hour every single day on my writing. It’s often far more than that, but it has to be an hour. Or else. And I do this about 88% of the time.

How do you select the names of your characters? I search for something that has meaning to mirror the character. For instance, in my novella, Spandrel, Charlotte means “free person.” But is she really? Spoiler alert. In Evanesce, Theresa, can mean reaper. 

Do you hide any secrets in your books that only a few people will find? All the time. Tons of references that only I, or a select few pals, will pick up. Often these are minor character names, allusions to other books and stories, and homages to the authors and their worlds who influenced me.

What is your favorite childhood book? The Encyclopedia Brown series.

What is the toughest part of your artistic process? Finding the end. Not the end of the story, but the end of the process. Realizing when to stop, that you’ve done all you can to make the story and the writing their best.

How long, on average, does it take you to write a book? The zero draft, as I call the initial run through, about 80 hours. Then, around 500 more to turn it into a book worth reading.

Evanesce is available on Kindle and in paperback from Amazon. Also available as an ebook on Barnes and Noble and Apple Books.