Author Bio:
Matt Nagin is a writer, educator, filmmaker, and standup comedian. His poetry has been published in Antigonish Review, Oxford Magazine and The East Bay Review. Kirkus Reviews deemed his first poetry collection, ‘Butterflies Lost Within The Crooked Moonlight,’ ‘powerful verse from a writer of real talent.’ His second collection, ‘Feast of Sapphires,’ reached #12 on the Amazon Best Seller List. Matt has performed standup in seven countries, and acted in numerous film and tv productions. His first short film, Inside Job, won acting and directing awards on the festival circuit.
What inspires you to write?
I am inspired to write but just about anything…a conversation, an interesting personality, some hardship I faced, a place I visited, a new idea. Reading other authors can also be inspiring, since it gives you an idea of what can be accomplished.
Tell us about your writing process.
There is a level, with creativity, of tuning in to a certain frequency, like picking up a radio signal. I definitely do this–tend to enter a bit of a trance-like state–where I let the story flow out of me as best as possible. I try not to censor in the first draft. In later drafts, I go back and refine different elements of the manuscript.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
Listening to or talking to my characters sounds vaguely like what you'd expect from a schizophrenic patient in a psych ward. I'm crazy. But not that crazy! That said, I get what writers mean when they say they attempt this.
Who are your favorite authors?
Some big influences are: Jim Morrison, Emily Dickinson, Wallace Stevens, T.S. Eliot, W.B. Yeats, Elizabeth Bishop, Charles Bukowski, Robert Frost, and Denis Johnson.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
With poetry books, self-publishing works well. I have a humor book coming out soon with a small indie press. I guess it depends on the type of book. Certain books, with a more select audience, work better as self-published projects.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
Book publishing will go on. There is always a need for stories. Visual medias dominate today–but they need source material. Also, there will always be readers. That said, more writers are working in visual mediums–games, virtual reality, tv/film–and traditional writers have to work even harder and be even more dynamic to find an audience.
What genres do you write?
poetry, fiction, nonfiction
What formats are your books in?
eBook, Print
Website(s)
Matt Nagin Home Page Link
Follow Matt Nagin On Amazon
Author’s Social Media Links
Goodreads
Facebook
Twitter
All information is provided by the author and is presented as it was submitted so you the reader get to hear the author’s own “voice” in their interview.
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