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Announcement: Three Book Deal with Jolly Fish Press for The Prospero Chronicles!

5/28/2013

Hi, everyone, Matt Carter and F.J.R. Titchenell here, blogging the good news together.

If you haven’t already heard the triumphant screams emanating from our rooftop from wherever you are, we’re here to say, it’s official! We’ve just signed a deal with Jolly Fish Press for the first three books of our joint YA Horror/Sci-Fi series, The Prospero Chronicles, and the first book, Splinters, is tentatively set for release in fall of 2014!

So just what are The Prospero Chronicles already? Here’s a little tease for Splinters:

There's something rotten beneath the small town of Prospero, California. For over a century, the town's history has been rich with tales of monsters, miracles and mysterious disappearances in the surrounding woods. It’s a town where everybody has something to hide, especially those who may not be entirely human.

Sixteen-year-old Mina Todd knows about the otherworldly shapeshifters that secretly run Prospero and has dedicated her life to fighting them. Ben Pastor, in town to attend the funeral of his missing childhood friend, Haley Perkins, has never believed any of the strange stories about what happens in Prospero. When Haley turns up alive and well at her own memorial service, Ben and Mina are forced to work together to uncover what happened to her. Though they may not always understand each other, Ben and Mina’s unlikely friendship may very well be the only thing that can save the town, and possibly the world, from its insidious invaders.

Of course, what this means, other than the obvious fact that you’ll all get to read what we’ve been having so much fun writing (and the fact that we will likely be befuddled by appropriately unhealthy amounts of celebratory rum, orange chicken, and chocolate ice cream for a while), is that Matt’s going to be spending a lot more time hanging out online from now on, to spread the good news around.

You can find him at facebook.com/mattcarterauthor, or @MCarterAuthor on Twitter, if you’d like to congratulate him, give him a like and/or follow, receive up-to-the-minute updates on The Prospero Chronicles, and generally let him know that social media isn’t so scary after all.

Hint hint.

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The Book Was Better?: JAWS

5/27/2013

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The common wisdom these days about book to movie adaptations is that “the book was better”. Oftentimes this thinking is justified, as most movie adaptations are either rushed to capitalize on a recently popular book or are boiled down versions of timeless classics that by the nature of runtime have to cut a large amount of necessary plot points. Then of course there are the movies that decide to change the original story for some asinine reason, like the late-90’s TV movie version of Animal Farm that decided to tag on a happy ending. Seriously, what were they thinking?

Probably that these animals vaguely looked like Babe, and that kids like Babe more than metaphors for the rise of Stalin.

Still, there are a lot more successful, high quality adaptations of good books than people generally want to admit. The Harry Potter films excellently translate the wonder and darkness the books had to offer. Jurassic Park is one of the classics of adventure. Carrie and The Shining are considered true classics of horror.

And let us never forget Bond. James Bond.

These examples all come from good movies made from good books. The truly fun ones that mess with the “book was better” mentality are the great movies that come from mediocre, or even flat-out awful books.

Like this.

Stephen Spielberg's film adaptation of Jaws is one of the classic thrillers, tightly paced, incredibly tense, and ultimately focused on the character drama of three unlikely men teamed together to kill a man-eating shark.

And a soundtrack that made more people afraid of the water than a giant fish with a blender for a mouth.
Thank you, John Williams.

Peter Benchley’s original novel, on the other hand, lacks pretty much every element that makes the film a classic. Sure, the character drama of three men and a shark is there, kind of, and it does make a solid attempt at being a great man vs. nature book (emphasis on attempt), but in the end it is mired down by a lot of unnecessary subplots and bits of character drama that come out of nowhere that ultimately create a boring story about some truly unpleasant people that you really wouldn’t mind being eaten alive by a Great White Shark.

Seriously, how can you make this boring?

Jaws is, and should be, a story about three men from differing backgrounds hunting down a shark stalking a quaint New England town. It’s not about Chief Brody’s inferiority complex about his formerly rich wife, or how the mayor is in debt to the mob (though that does explain why he militantly wants to keep the beaches open), or Quint’s thoughts on just how awesome an aborted whale fetus is for shark fishing. It sure as hell isn’t about the baffling side-plot about Chief Brody’s wife indulging in a rape-fantasy with the visiting icthyologist (if there were ever a list of words I never thought I'd have to use in the same sentence, "rape-fantasy" and "icthyologist" would have to be up there).

Can't you just feel the heat radiating off of him?

Jaws the book had a lot of good ideas, but none executed as well as they should have been. This is one very definitive case where the movie was better.

Especially because Spielberg knew that blowing a shark up was much more entertaining than watching it bleed to death.

So, what do you think? Are you a Jaws fan? Ever run across one of those surprise cases where a movie adaptation blew away its original book?

Please take the time to like me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter! I’m big into liking/following back, so just drop me a line!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mattcarterauthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MCarterAuthor

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Why Horror?

5/23/2013

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Whenever I tell people I’m a writer, one of the first questions they ask is, “Oh, what do you write?” This always initiates the great internal debate of just how honest I want to be with people, because I usually know what their next response is going to be. Still, being an honest guy, I tell them the truth:

“Horror.”

Now, sometimes they just say “Awesome”, and my day goes by a lot more easily. Most of the time, however, a look of confusion crosses their face and they ask, “Why horror?”

I’ve never had an easy answer to that question. Here are some of the not-so-easy answers I’ve often used, or at least considered using.

1) “Shut up, I can write whatever I want!”

For obvious reasons this one never made it out of the consideration phase.

2) “It’s a good way to confront my own fears.”

When I was little, I was afraid of everything. Dolls, strangers, my own shadow, nuclear holocaust, loud noises…

This guy.

…the list goes on. However, when dad started introducing me to monster movies when I was a kid, and I began to explore horror on my own from there, I found an outlet for my fears. Horror, a lot like roller coasters, is the ideal safe adrenaline fix. You can’t get hurt, but you get enough buildups and releases to trick your body into thinking it has faced danger, even when you haven’t. However, unlike roller coasters, with horror you can’t see the tracks in front of you. Oh, sure, you can know the clichés, you can have a rough idea where it is going, but you still have a pretty good chance of having the rug pulled out from under you.

Oh thank god, it was only the cat. Now please ignore the guy in the clown suit breathing on the back of your neck.

3) “I love zombies.”

Who doesn't?

4) “It’s escapism at its finest.”

The world is a scary enough place on its own. There are so many tangible, horrible things to be afraid of that sometimes it just feels better to completely unplug for a while and be caught up in a fantasy world where it’s perfectly all right to be afraid of something that can’t possibly hurt you for real. I think that's one of the reasons some of the more fantastical villains of horror have been so enduring; we know that they're not real, and this allows us a safety net of sorts to let fear in without truly having to worry about what the world will look like tomorrow because of that fear.

Won't you let him help take away your fears?

So what do you think of horror? Do you love a good scare every once in a while, or do you prefer to look the other way?

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My First Post. Behold!

5/22/2013

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Hello one and all, and welcome to my blog. I'm new to this, so apologies in advance for any growing pains or posting oddities as they may come up, I hope to inform, and if not inform than to entertain, and if not to entertain, then, well, I certainly hope not to embarrass myself. I'm a big pop culture buff and an even bigger nerd, so in addition to talking about all things writing here, expect more than a few odd jokes and strange tangents to sneak their way in here.

Now, all disclaimers aside, I spent a good long while trying to figure out how best to kick this blog off; would I just do a short post saying hello and promising a great many things to come, or would I go on a rambling, sprawling 420,000 word epic poem describing my life from birth until the moment I began writing this blog post. In the end, with the help of my lovely wife and co-author, Fiona, I came up with a compromise in the form of 18 Questions About Matt to help you get to know me better.

Enjoy!

(P.S. Why 18? Because 20 felt too long, and 17 just didn't feel quite right)

18 Questions About Matt

About Matt the Author:

So, what kind of stories do you write?

For the most part, you could say I'm a genre writer. I really enjoy writing both sci-fi and horror and have dabbled with the odd bit of fantasy here and there (though more along the lines of things not working as they should and less mystical lands of dwarves, elves and dragons). I skew toward the dark, because at heart I'm a little boy who still loves his monster movies, but I'm willing to give pretty much anything a try so long as I'm allowed to put my own spin on it.

What sets your work apart within its genre?

I love playing with a juxtaposition of darkness and comedy in stories. If you see me writing a dark story, expect lots of odd bits of humor (often uncomfortable humor) to be sprinkled throughout to try and unsettle the reader. If you see me writing a comedy, on the other hand, I love to insert moments of unexpected darkness to shock the reader from their expectations. I love making people laugh and cry, and will do my best to get them to do both at the same time. As well, I've been told I've got a very cinematic style. I love setting a vivid scene, whether to instill wonder or terror or confusion in the reader. If you can feel the legs of one of my creepy-crawlies crawling up your spine when reading one of my stories, then I've done my job.

Who are your strongest influences?

Having been raised on movies as much as I have been on books I can name a nearly equal number of authors and filmmakers who have shaped my writing style. On the authorial end of the spectrum, I gotta say Stephen King has been my greatest influence, with honorable mentions going to Max Brooks, H.P. Lovecraft, Harry Turtledove and George MacDonald Fraser. Filmmakers whose styles have sculpted my writing (and a fair few of my nightmares) would include John Carpenter, Wes Craven, Eli Roth and Sam Raimi (pre-Disney, pre-Spider-man Raimi who knows how to keep the laughs and the screams coming).

What’s your journey as a writer been like so far?

A long, fairly standard path these days I imagine. Started writing stories when I was about seven (my shining achievement being a short story about how my friends and I were eaten by a robot T-rex and lived in its stomach), moved on to fan-fiction in my teenage years, and finally started attempts at professional writing in earnest once I hit my 20's. I've had a few short stories published in a variety of small press anthologies, but I am now looking forward to getting that ever-elusive first novel out there.

What are you working on now?

With my writing partner and lovely wife, Fiona, I am currently working on the third book in our series of YA SciFi/Horror books, The Prospero Chronicles. Taking influences from H.P. Lovecraft, The X-Files and The Thing, we are having a lot of fun writing this, and think you'll have quite a bit of fun reading it.

What’s your favorite part of the writing process?

The second draft. Why? Well, my first drafts almost always turn out pretty long-winded. It feels really good to take a machete to the extraneous words, sentences and paragraphs to find out what the chapter's really supposed to look like.

What’s the hardest part for you?

Starting stories. Getting the first line, the first paragraph, the first chapter down is always a challenge. There is nothing scarier than a blank page and a flashing cursor.

What’s your strategy for dealing with writer’s block?

Write whether I want to or not and hope it gets the motor running. If that doesn't work, there's always taking a walk or bingeing on video games, though this latter technique isn't the most reliable.

What storytelling pitfalls do you find most important to avoid?

Making characters jump through plot hoops. So often a story outline is just a series of scenes you have in mind that you absolutely want to write, but it's very easy to get lazy and not adequately explain how characters get from one situation to the next. In fact, it's usually much easier to just have a character completely forget who they are and act wildly out of character just so you can get them to the next scene that you really really want to get to. Sure, it's an easy shortcut in writing, but it'll distract readers. Take the extra time to think things through, make each action flow logically to the next, and the story will benefit greatly.

In the pursuit of your writing career, what question have you most fantasized about being asked by an interviewer, and how would you answer it?

Considering the kind of stuff I write, I hope one day to be asked, "How do you sleep at night?" And my answer would probably be something along the lines of "On top of a large pile of money surrounded by many sharp objects, just in case." Whether or not this will be true by the time I'm asked is another matter entirely, but what can I say, I'm an optimist.

About Matt:

Other than reading and writing, what’s your favorite way to spend a day?

This'll probably sound clichéd, but it'd be spending a day with my wife. Maybe catch a movie or two, or hit up Disneyland, or go to the zoo, or if we're not particularly ambitious maybe spend a day inside marathoning movies, cartoons or Star Trek, or playing games (board games, video games, Magic: The Gathering... we love our games in the Carter household). We have a lot of fun together.

One food you can’t live without?

Peanut butter. So versatile. So addictive.

What’s one fact about you that most people would never guess?

I am a huge fan of Disney musicals from the 1990's-2000's, especially The Little Mermaid, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Princess and the Frog. In fact, given enough caffeine I can bust a pretty mean rendition of "Friends on the Other Side".

What’s your zombie apocalypse survival strategy?

Consistently surround myself by people who aren't as fast as me and hope for the best.

DC or Marvel?

Though Marvel has a better track record of movies, I gotta say I'm all about DC. I am a proud child of the Batman generation.

If you could be a member of any fictional species/race/class/subset of humans or humanoids, which one would it be?

Klingons, hands down. They know how to party, they love telling good stories, and they take pride in how much of their day is spent playing with sharp objects. Qapla'!

If you could have a loyal magic guard pet to strike fear into the hearts of your enemies, what would it look like?

A Lovecraftian horror so great and terrible and indescribable that a mere glimpse of it would cause instant madness. Playing fetch with it would be a challenge, but I imagine a combination of sunglasses, mirrors and a few pulleys would make it possible with some effort.

And of course, coffee or tea?

I don't drink hot drinks, but if I had to choose among my iced options, I would go with tea.

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Announcement: Three Book Deal with Jolly Fish Press for The Prospero Chronicles!

The Book Was Better?: JAWS

Why Horror?

My First Post. Behold!

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