#12 Questions for… Matthew Ward

3 min


Matthew Ward#12questionsfor

 

Matthew Ward

 

MOTH: 1. What inspired you to become a writer?

MW: 1. Honestly, it’s something I drifted into over the years as my confidence grew. I’ve always loved stories and what makes them tick. After a long time spent taking in the best (and worst) lessons from published books, I just hit that point where I decided ‘why not give it a go?’

A couple of unsteady starting attempts, and a few years later … here we are.

 

MOTH: 2. The title of your last book?

MW: 2. If we’re talking ‘published’, it’s LEGACY OF STEEL – the second volume in the Legacy Trilogy. If we’re talking the last ‘finished’ book, it’s Book Three of that trilogy, which I’m not allowed to reveal the name of just yet.

 

MOTH: 3. Ebook – for or against?

MW: 3. I’m generally for anything that helps people buy the books they want to read. I’m not a huge adopter of the format myself – I like the physicality of the pages beneath my fingers – but digital remains a great solution for folk who don’t have a lot of space, or who want more convenient access than lugging around a big hardback provides.

MOTH: 4. How do you deal with bad reviews?

MW: 4. I’m not sure I ‘deal with’ them at all, to be honest. Not everything’s for everyone, and that means you’re going to get bad reviews from time to time. There’s no such thing as an objectively good book, so you’re always writing for the audience that does love what you write. Someone else is writing for the others, and I think that’s the best way for things to be. It certainly makes for a healthier publishing industry.

MOTH: 5. Is it better to promote yourself online or in other media?

MW: 5. Right now, I honestly couldn’t tell you. Especially as the lines between the two are blurring as never before – there’s very little that can’t be replicated online.

I will say that I do struggle with self-promotion through any channel. I’m a natural ‘stand at the back and watch’ person, so putting myself forward is always a terrifying prospect. Social media definitely seems to work for a lot of authors, but I’m still very much feeling my way with it.

MOTH: 6. Which writers had most influence on your writing style?

MW: 6. J. R. R. Tolkien and J Michael Straczynski for worldbuilding, Timothy Zahn and Alistair MacLean for characterization, Bernard Cornwell for action scenes, along with a combination of Terry Brooks and Geoff Johns for the inherited ‘legacy’ aspect of stories. It makes for an interesting mix on the page, and I think quite unique. Classic fantasy, contemporary sci-fi, the golden age of thrillers and modern superhero comics all bound together.

MOTH: 7. What success do you expect from your work?

MW: 7. I think it depends on how we define ‘success’. Just getting to a point where I’ve got three books out in the world is huge – it’s something that I couldn’t have imagined twenty years ago, so that’s pretty successful. On top of that, there are a lot of folk who love the stories I’m telling … and I know this is going to sound cliché, but honestly that makes it all worthwhile.

Beyond that, I’ll happily keep writing novels as long as folk want to read them. I’m not sure anything else really matters.

MOTH: 8. What is your target audience?

MW: 8. Fans of character-driven fantasy, by and large. I’ve heard at least one reviewer say that Legacy of Ash isn’t a good place to start reading fantasy, but is a great, deeper read for those already steeped in the genre. That’s probably fair.

That aside, one of my goals is to write books that you can enjoy as a teenager or an adult. The Legacy Trilogy is very much written in mind of being accessible (and suitable) for younger readers, and lacks the graphic content of other contemporary fantasy stories.

MOTH: 9. Describe your last work in 12 words.

MW: 9. A rising generation fights to unmake the mistakes of their forebears.

MOTH: 10. Advice for future writers?

MW: 10. Keep at it! For all but the luckiest (or the best connected) this is a long road, and you’re going to face rejection and knockback all along the way. The overnight success stories that news articles love to focus on are seldom as overnight or successful as they first appear.

But every word you write makes you better, and boosts your chances of catching the right eye when luck finally breaks your way. And it will, if you keep plugging away. Write what you want to write, be honest with yourself about what and where you can improve, and you’ll get there.

MOTH: 11. Where would you like your writing to take you as a guest?

MW: 11. I don’t know that I have a goal insofar as far as that goes. I think we’ll just see what the future brings.

MOTH: 12. Holding your next book promotion?

MW: 12. Right now, I can’t say for certain. The Covid-world presents plenty of challenges for in-person events, and we’ll have to see how all that shakes out. The best I can say is to keep an eye on my Twitter (@thetowerofstars) as anything of note will show up on there!


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