My kick-ass editor
This week, I’m joined by Editor (and he’s an excellent one) and bestselling author, Scott Morgan. You’ve read my tweets about his books and his webinars, and I have highlighted his flat-out awesomeness in another post about my 10 favorite Indie Authors. Scott was kind enough to consent to being interviewed by your’s truly, and was very kind in offering me the chance to be interviewed by him on his blog this week.
You have a very broad range of skills in regards to the writing and publishing industry; Would you mind lining out all you offer? I write, edit, speak, do webinars, teach, host workshops, interview, research, and generally be a smartypants. My background was as a mystery writer (as a kid), then a songwriter and poet (as a teen), then a scriptwriter (in my twenties), then a journalist (in my thirties), and now a grab bag of stuff I picked up along the way.
Where did the inspiration for Tryptic come from? After I had published Short Stack, a Twitter friend who really liked it told me that it had re-kindled his interest in short fiction. As we talked, we came up with an idea for a collection of short stories centering on one town. The project got called off because of something in my friend’s life. I don’t want to reveal anything more than that because I don’t want to tread on his privacy, but the stories in Tryptic started with that book in mind. When we called off the book, I had three stories mostly finished that I liked a lot and didn’t want to see go to waste. A little while later I did a podcast with Charity Parkerson and Melissa Craig, who encouraged me to put out smaller bodies of work so that at least something is out there. The orphaned stories all had the theme of compassion amid a decaying situation, so I strung them together and put them out.
When did you start writing? I started telling stories when I was four or five. I had a Spiderman doll and some Lincoln Logs and I used to build what I considered movie sets. I would narrate because I didn’t know what writing was yet. When I was seven I wrote my first short story, a murder mystery about someone who gets killed with a piece of ice, and once it melts there was no evidence. It was my dad’s idea, but I stole it and wrote an eight-page story. Wish I still had it.
What made you start writing? I was always full of shit, so it was bound to leak out eventually.
Do you have any writing quirks? Just that I love it despite the pain. But I don’t need the room to be precisely seventy degrees or anything, if that’s what you mean.
Who would your guest list include for your fantasy dinner? William Shakespeare, Brian Hodge, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, and Terry Bradshaw (because you KNOW it’s going to be fun with him there).
What year would you visit in a time machine and why? Wow, good question … Probably 1993, because it was the last time I was in love with the totality of my existence.
What book exceeded your expectations? The Trouble with Tom: The Strange Afterlife of Thomas Paine by Paul Collins.
Do any of your fiction characters ever show up in your dreams? Nope.
If you were going to a deserted island, what three items would you take with you? A jumbo book of crossword puzzles (good ones), a pen that doesn’t run out of ink, and my guitar.
Name 3 books on your to-be-read list. Banvard’s Folly: Thirteen Tales of Renowned Obscurity, Famous Anonymity, and Rotten Luck, by Paul Collins; Dark Prairies, by R.S. Guthrie; Anything I might have missed by Alexie Sherman.
What book could you read over and over? Nonfiction, The Trouble with Tom; Fiction, Falling Angel, by William Hjortsberg.
Which book do you think is a necessary read? On Writing, by Stephen King.
Visit Scott Morgan’s website here and check out his Amazon.com Author’s page here. And you can listen to Scott’s third interview on the TweepNation podcast here.
Peace, love, and huggles,
Amber
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