An escape not a reflection

 

So something I’ve been thinking a lot about, is what my writing says. Is there a hidden message or some profound lessons? My answer is no, you may find one or see one. 

I feel I write something because I want to escape into a world not dive deeper into the pile of poo that is the real world. After a long day at work the last thing I want to do is write about how a character is stuck in a dead end job. Or remind myself (and readers) that the world really isn’t equal. 

One thing I do tend to do in my writing is, the women seem to be better equipped to handle the problems they face. Whether that’s a commentary on how I see things I don’t know. I do know I enjoy putting characters through real life problems but maybe not the ones you’d think. 

A big part of HWR is cancer specifically breast cancer. That is something that has affected so many that I felt any reader could feel connected with it. Now there are other real issues that pop up but they aren’t the foundation of the story. 

The world is sometimes the most awful place so I want to create a world that problems just continue based on choices. Some of my favorite stories are ones where everyone is just doing the best they can but things go from bad to worse. It’s so dramatic and captures you and holds on tight. 

Now some will say that all of this is a cop out and I don’t use my voice to talk about anything that matters. Movies like Get Out have put a spotlight on black writers. I think that those writers are necessary but so to are ones that just give you one hell of a joyride. 

I hope you enjoy what I create, I look out of my window to a world of possibilities, and I hope the bring good stories.-MH

What scares me

 While referring to with my writing, what really scares me is the fear of what’s in the unknown. 

 

So what’s in the unknown? It’s less about greatness for me and more about disappointment. What is scarier to me is the disappointment that could await. 

I love being creating but with every creation there is a strong chance of disappointment. With writing that fear is not that whatever I write will be awful but that it will be good and my fear will stop me from getting it to the place it needs to be in order to showcase it. 

I do believe in myself and my ability, however it’s not up to me to deem my works good or bad. That is up to the unknown. With eyes glowing, looking on in the dark I feel frozen. The things outside my control scare me the most. 

Now having completed the HWR series, I feel lost because I am no longer in control of where this story goes from here. I hope that it has legs strong enough to stand on its own. 

I believe it’s better to lean into fear rather than run from it. If you are hesitant about doing something because of the fear of the unknown, take the risk. Who knows could be the first step to your dreams! -MH

 

Where did he come from?

So you want to write a story? How do you pick  character traits ? What’s my go to? 

I tend to look for a person I can see them as.. in this case our hero in the Here We Remain series Mark. 

   I thought about what he looked like first. Not who he is but what he looked like. That made me see him in my head and informed what I’d believe he could or would do. 

So I set out with the idea of he’s an “every man” kinda guy. I thought about everyone I could and yep I came to Mr. Chandler Bing! 

He has a lovable smile and you want that guy to win even if he’s kind of an ass. So I built what I saw off of this like a template. 

Things I add visually to a character (Mark) he has an eye dimple when he smiles. His eyes are a bit sadder. Now that I know what he looks like, who is he? Charming but a little dumb. He makes up for a lack of common sense with humor. He’s probably picked up working out but life and a lack of effort had him drop it so he probably isn’t the most consistent person. He loves his family and that’s the most important thing about him. 

From there the journey he’s on will have him react with those things at its core. The more you build at the start the better you’ll know your character. 

So if you’re going to write a story find a way to see your world and the people who live in it. Now go create something! -MH

 

Storytelling

 As long as I can remember I was a story teller 

Way back to when I was a kid playing with GIJOE and toy cars I told elaborate stories. My mind always saw everything as if it was really happening. I used to think it would go away when I got older, imagination and all. 

To my surprise it didn’t. I always felt weird that as a preteen I still told elaborate stories with my toys or whatever. I moved from Maryland to Kansas and that rocked my world. I had no real friends at first but was old enough that other kids had life long bonds that no matter what I did I’d never be included in. 

 So back to spending time alone creating entire worlds with toys. I could spend days on the same story remembering where I’d left off the day before. At this point I felt like I was too old to play with toys so I pushed all of that to the side and actively tired to make friends. I did some of whom I am still friends with today. 

Jumping back just a bit I wrote a mid evil story for fun in 6th grade. Not because I had to or for school just because I thought of it and had to get it out. Flash forward to high school and a myth fantasy and folklore class I took (probably one of the best classes I took but should have been more into) I had to come up with a fantasy story and I didn’t want to come up with something because I’m high school it’s not cool to try right? 

What did I do? I turned in that story I wrote as a tiny me back in 6th grade. Thinking I’m going to skate by with a C on the project... nope I got pulled aside and told how creative and fun the story was. Wait what? In storytelling class I got a kudos for something I wrote for fun as practically a child? 

In that same time frame my English teacher and I had a love hate relationship she hated me and I love it :) I got pulled aside in that class and told that she saw I understood the class and projects but that didn’t mean my classmates did so I needed to leave them alone. It actually shocked me, I thought here I was goofing off all the time and she said I understood the class? After that I took it more seriously and applied myself she actually became one of my all time favorite teachers Mrs. Jennings thank you. 

One last thing that happened that stuck with me is a government teacher and I had a similar relationship (see a patter?) but one day I was crap talking about a project or assignment she gave and ways to not do it and I will never forget this she said “Matt you are a wordsmith in the worst way.” I knew it was a proud but shut up and do your work moment. 

Anyway back to the point. I spent so much time hiding from my gift that I wonder what could have been had I leaned in to it? I think to myself now how I could have gone to film school or something for writing. Would I have been more successful? 

I’m here to say if you find yourself coming back to a thing and it brings you joy, lean into it don’t hide from it. If you have kids and they love a art show them it’s ok to love it. Don’t put them in a box because you put yourself in one. I believe the world is changing and artist and art is becoming more important than ever. The human experience is becoming more important than making money and punching a clock everyday. 

Like always if you’re here it means you stuck with me through all of that, I thank you and appreciate it. If you have anything you’d like to know about me, my writing, the process, anything let me know! Don’t forget to like comment and share these help me grow and reach new people! 

Thanks -MH

Looking Forward

 So if you follow me on social media you’ve seen posts about Nightmare On Film Street(NOFS). A podcast that rates and reviews horror films. I followed them on Instagram for a while before I actually started listening. Something that kinda just worked out for me in a weird way is the timing of it all. 

 With things wrapping up on the HWR book series it’s time for a new writing project. What will it be this time? How does NOFS have to do with any of it? 

I decided I’m going to write something in the horror genre! Now I know what you’re thinking, zombies are already kinda in that genre? 

You are correct, but with zombies or infected it’s more about the kills than the scare. While I haven’t decided the format of this next project, maybe a book maybe a screenplay 🤷🏾‍♂️ 

A week ago I teased this on my Facebook, asking what will the next project focus on? People had some fun guess but no one got it right. The mystery answer...

The next writing project will be a paranormal one! Some believe, some don’t.. then there are the ones who have seen everything they need to. 

Can’t wait to jump in to this and push my writing to new limits and learn something new! Hope you stick around and see what happens. 

Thanks for stopping in! If you love writing or just want to know more about what goes into the planning or execution of one of my projects let me know in the comments on any of my accounts! 

Find new limits and push past them -MH 

What’s in a name?

So what’s in a name anyway? 

 

The name of your project is important. Not just to others so you can explain it to people but in my opinion   it gives it life. When I came up with the name for my first book it was hard! I remember playing with different ideas but nothing sounded good. 

Taking it all the way back to the beginning, the last line of the book was actually written before anything else. Crazy I know. So at the time I had lost a grandparent and I was really thinking about life in general. Mistakes and missed opportunity but more important wasted time in general. 

The title Here We Remain, was more about life after the event not so much the event itself. We all have setbacks or failures, but here we are after, so now what?  Are you going to wallow or shutdown? That’s fine if that’s what you want to do. As long as you realize that you are still here after all of that. 

In the book’s case yes there is a zombie apocalypse and all that but that’s only part of where our hero’s problems come from. 

Back to the way the name came about, I wrote that last line and played with the wording for a long time. The title wasn’t going to be that at all, I had maybe five bad ones. One of which was Security Team Z... it was so bad. Moving on, I looked at that last line repeating it out loud. I said it almost like a prayer, remembering people who were gone and those still here. Friends, family and what I hoped to accomplish. Here We Remain just felt right. 

Now after all of that I will say I’m happy I went that route instead of others. Something else I’ll leave you with about names, naming a character in the book. How do I do it? I hate it so much, maybe the worst part of the entire process to me. What I like to do to make it kinda fun and funny is looking around the room I’m in and picking a movie or book or whatever and taking a random pairing of names and boom we have a new character.

Let me know some of your least favorite parts of writing or creating. If you also hate naming things tell me why?  

Thanks for stopping in hope you will find your way back

-MH

Nightmare on Film Street

 Something new that has been inspiring to me, the podcast Nightmare on Film Street NOFS 

This podcast is fun and not what I expected. I keep finding film podcasts that just rip movies apart and I am not a fan of that. Even when they don’t like something about a particular film they show it a certain amount of respect, that is what impresses me the most. 

The hosts are sound well versed, I think when you have a woman and man show they either work well or they don’t at all. They get old because one person’s opinion is forced down the others throat. This isn’t the case with Kim and Jon. They respect each other and it makes me the listener respect them both more. 

I worked in a movie theater for almost 10 years, I developed my own way to grade a movie. I feel most podcasts use an unrealistic scale that is often not consistent. The way they rate is understandable and tracks with other movies similar to each other. I can’t speak enough about how love that. 

Last thing I want to say is, they bring up such good points and ask each other such good questions I find myself thinking of how I’d answer or talking out loud getting funny looks because of it. 

On the technical side I will say it is put together very well the audio quality is great, the levels are just right (air pods) I don’t always notice a cut or edit but when I do it isn’t distracting. All and all it is a well produced podcast. 

If you like horror movies and talking about them this is the pod for you! Check it out 

https://nofspodcast.com/

Why I started writing

 This is a good topic first real post,

I now have written 3 books. What even brought this about was having to quit my job. Not because I hated it or life changes. I had to quit due to a buyout and I worked with my wife, we could not be on staff together. 

Flash forward a few weeks and something I’d battled with since I was a kid probably (the more we learn about it) depression. I found myself back in the darkness I fought hard to leave behind. I made all of it worse by distancing myself from friends because most of them I knew from work so it was just a reminder of what I had given up. 

I loved to write since middle school, I would have teachers tell me how original my style was and how they enjoyed my creativity. So I thought about doing it again to pass the time. If anything it would give me something to do between laying in bed and sitting on the couch right? 

There is more to where the story came from in a later post but know it has a crazy story. 

So I started to write and soon I found myself excited to wake up and write while everyone was still sleeping. That turned into writing till well after they got home at night. The story was writing itself! I felt like I had lost my life and out of it an entire world was born. I had 4 or 5 chapters done.. I thought “man I could do something with this.” So I looked for an editor and as fate would have it one of my work friends was going to school for just that!

So I’d write a chapter or so and she’d edit the last one and send it. I’d put those edits in and write the next bit. That went on till we had done a 13 chapter book. I don’t think she even knows how she helped save my life. She also helped form my writing teaching me to become a better storyteller by leaving, “show the reader don’t just tell them” over and over. 

After a ton of work I had a real solid story but wasn’t sure it was done. It needed something but what? I thought hard about the books I loved when I was young because that was the last time I really enjoyed reading. 

What I found was my favorite books were the ones that had art or pictures every so often. The search was on for an artist. Again fate tossed me a gift, one of my best friends that I hadn’t talked to because of  life being life, reached out to me. She said her husband was an artist... I said, “ wait you’re married?” At the very least we had to catch up to that point. 

After meeting him we decided to move forward and the world lined up and the book was one step closer. In this time I jumped from job to job but my focus was to finish this book. That is just what I did. Shortly after Christmas I was able to get things in order and found the amazon self publishing company and boom Here We Remain was a solid thing I could hold in my hands. 

The next books took time, years in fact. Now that I realize I love to write I feel energized to get them done and out so that this world that’s more than just a Zombie apocalypse, can be completed, those people who live in it can find their destiny. 

If you have read all of that I first want to thank you. This is the first time I have ever written about this, I’m an open book if people ask but my trauma is not feeling worth anyone’s time and I tend to make it true by my actions. So I appreciate you giving me yours! Hopefully you’ll come back to find out more about how HWR came to be! 

First post jitters

 New to this blogging thing but excited to see where it goes. here is a little about me! 

I’m Matt, I am a writer and movie lover. Currently working on a 3 book series the first of which is available on amazon. The Here We Remain series follows a man and his kids as they try and pick up the Pieces after they lose a wife and mother. All of this in the midst of a outbreak of a virus causing the dead to walk. 

My other interests are movies, everything from horror to comedy, action and adventure too! I worked at a movie theater and developed a love for film and storytelling. 

Follow along as I write about the book process and maybe some movie reviews along the way. 

I’m always learning because life is not lived at a stand still, we live or we just exist, I choose to LIVE! 

Thanks for stopping by.