I’m not afraid to admit that I’m a late bloomer. When it comes to reading and writing fantasy, I wasn’t doing either until after high school. Sure I wrote plenty of crappy short stories and played tons of fantasy video games, but as for actually creating an entire world and characters, the thought never crossed my mind. By the end of high school, I was certain that I would go into computer graphics, i.e. Disney. The mid nineties produced some of the finest animated films: Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, and The Lion King, to name a few. I wanted to be a part of that. Then I got to college….
You might infer from the ellipses that college brought about a change in my life. I learned quickly that if you want to be an animator for Disney, you have to be a go-getter and something of a phenomenon. I forgot to mention that you need to go to an actual art school. I dabbled in computer graphics, but I didn’t have access to any cutting-edge animation tools/programs. I was passionate about art, but I never took it seriously enough to decide how I wanted to employ my skill. This all led to my departure from an art-related career.
As many of you might already know, I met Stef in college. No, she wasn’t the reason I became a fantasy author. We both enjoyed writing, but the thought of writing together never occurred to us. I have a T.V. salesman at the now-defunct Sun Television and Appliances to thank for my journey into the world of fantasy. Sadly I don’t remember his name, but I do remember what he was reading at the time: Stone of Tears, book 2 of the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. It was in tatters, and was quite possibly the thickest book I had ever seen: 982 pages. Despite its condition, something about the summary on the back of the book caught my attention. I had always been fascinated by fantasy and the giant books within the genre, but I wasn’t fond of reading.
At this point in my life, I was elated to have made it through all six novelettes of Stephen King’s Green Mile. Those were the first books I ever bought, because they were each about one hundred pages in length. I knew I could stomach the length. The first eighteen years of my life were spent NOT reading books. Somewhere in my upbringing I had decided that words on paper were evil. Don’t know why that is, because I grew up watching my dad read countless science fiction novels. Despite my reservations about purchasing a novel that could easily double as a brick, I took a chance and picked up my first epic fantasy.
Wizard’s First Rule. Anyone who reads fantasy has heard of this book. Love it or hate it—and there are those who do—this book changed my life forever. It was better than any video game I’d conquered, more enjoyable than drawing fictional comic book characters, and most definitely better than reading Herman Melville’s Billy Budd. I was transported to Terry Goodkind’s fantasy world, and I LOVED it! I couldn’t read the subsequent titles fast enough—there were only four published at the time—and I couldn’t wait to write my first attempt in the genre.
Like most newbie fantasy authors, my first story, Rise of the Dragonknight, was complete and utter dreck. I didn’t know it at the time; I was too busy writing and planning the sequels. Eventually I gave up on my “masterpiece” and started another one. I can still hear Tolkien rolling over in his grave when I think about my untitled schlock-fest. It wasn’t until Stef wrote me an e-mail from college that I truly began to understand what was missing from my writing. HER!
Fast forward about ten years, and we come to the present. While “Verish” might not yet be the prominent name in fantasy I had hoped it to be, my wife and I continue to plug away at the laptop and build our own world for future readers. Many things have changed since those humble beginnings, but my dedication to the art has remained consistent. Writing is my passion, and I’m glad to be living in a fantasy world.
-Matt
You might infer from the ellipses that college brought about a change in my life. I learned quickly that if you want to be an animator for Disney, you have to be a go-getter and something of a phenomenon. I forgot to mention that you need to go to an actual art school. I dabbled in computer graphics, but I didn’t have access to any cutting-edge animation tools/programs. I was passionate about art, but I never took it seriously enough to decide how I wanted to employ my skill. This all led to my departure from an art-related career.
As many of you might already know, I met Stef in college. No, she wasn’t the reason I became a fantasy author. We both enjoyed writing, but the thought of writing together never occurred to us. I have a T.V. salesman at the now-defunct Sun Television and Appliances to thank for my journey into the world of fantasy. Sadly I don’t remember his name, but I do remember what he was reading at the time: Stone of Tears, book 2 of the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. It was in tatters, and was quite possibly the thickest book I had ever seen: 982 pages. Despite its condition, something about the summary on the back of the book caught my attention. I had always been fascinated by fantasy and the giant books within the genre, but I wasn’t fond of reading.
At this point in my life, I was elated to have made it through all six novelettes of Stephen King’s Green Mile. Those were the first books I ever bought, because they were each about one hundred pages in length. I knew I could stomach the length. The first eighteen years of my life were spent NOT reading books. Somewhere in my upbringing I had decided that words on paper were evil. Don’t know why that is, because I grew up watching my dad read countless science fiction novels. Despite my reservations about purchasing a novel that could easily double as a brick, I took a chance and picked up my first epic fantasy.
Wizard’s First Rule. Anyone who reads fantasy has heard of this book. Love it or hate it—and there are those who do—this book changed my life forever. It was better than any video game I’d conquered, more enjoyable than drawing fictional comic book characters, and most definitely better than reading Herman Melville’s Billy Budd. I was transported to Terry Goodkind’s fantasy world, and I LOVED it! I couldn’t read the subsequent titles fast enough—there were only four published at the time—and I couldn’t wait to write my first attempt in the genre.
Like most newbie fantasy authors, my first story, Rise of the Dragonknight, was complete and utter dreck. I didn’t know it at the time; I was too busy writing and planning the sequels. Eventually I gave up on my “masterpiece” and started another one. I can still hear Tolkien rolling over in his grave when I think about my untitled schlock-fest. It wasn’t until Stef wrote me an e-mail from college that I truly began to understand what was missing from my writing. HER!
Fast forward about ten years, and we come to the present. While “Verish” might not yet be the prominent name in fantasy I had hoped it to be, my wife and I continue to plug away at the laptop and build our own world for future readers. Many things have changed since those humble beginnings, but my dedication to the art has remained consistent. Writing is my passion, and I’m glad to be living in a fantasy world.
-Matt
0 comments:
Post a Comment