Interview with Matt Fatek, Author of New Hope
02 Feb 2022
What’s the story behind the story? What inspired you to write New Hope: Book 1?
My wife took me on a long, long walk through our city one afternoon in July or August 2021, and when we were walking through the park, I saw a man speaking giving an interview to some reporter during an outdoor book show or a similar event. I overheard, while he was answering a question concerning the story behind HIS book, that he had a lot of ideas for the past several years and never managed to put them down in writing because there always was work, other things to do, etc. And I remember vividly that at that moment I said to my wife that I too was going to write a book! And I told her the story I had in mind (which was the story I actually wrote 2,5 months later).
At first, my wife might have thought I had had a seizure or something, because of the seemingly out-of-the-blue idea, but when we talked a little, she became incredibly supportive. That day I wrote my first ten pages and that’s how I started writing this particular book. Plus I always, ALWAYS loved science fiction. And weird stuff.
What’s your favorite genre to read? Is it the same as your favorite genre to write?
It is definitely science-fiction in general, but I also love a good hard military sci-fi novel, some horror books too. Basically, anything that is ‘out there’ and makes me use my flashlight when I get back to bed at night because otherwise, I might have a heart attack from the things my imagination seems to see lurking in the shadows.
What books are on your TBR pile right now?
At the moment, that would be Julie Weil Thomas’ new The Forgotten Empire Book 6. Also Arrival by Jasper T. Scott (I love that author!), Solar Warden by Ian Douglas (I think I must have read every single book by that author and I love them!). And Veracity by Douglas E. Richards. Those are the books that are currently at the top of my long, long Kindle list. The rest of the list includes some 30+ titles that I purchase all the time and read whenever I find spare time.
What scene in your book was your favorite to write?
This is going to sound cheesy, but I think it was the epilog. In every good book the epilog, for me, is the place that makes or brakes the book. Either it makes me buy the second book or not. And I loved writing my epilog. Hopefully, it will be more of a ‘make it’ one for most, than the other option.
Do you have any quirky writing habits? (lucky mugs, cats on laps, etc.)
Cat and dog on my lap, definitely. Sometimes both at the same time. Fortunately, my dog is a Maltese so he’s tiny, and the cat fits anywhere and everywhere. So when the lap is taken, the cat sometimes goes behind the laptop and just lies there, basking in the computer radiator’s heat. Sometimes purring. Sometimes causing my laptop to overheat. A good luck charm like that he is.
Also I like writing in the middle of the night (like 2-3 a.m.), when nobody bothers me (no clients calling, no translation work to be done for ‘right away’ etc.). Also, I like writing in the middle of doing something completely different, like adding a sentence or sixty between answering emails or doing some chores. Of course, I always rewrite them later on, because they rarely are very good when written ad hoc. But I do it still, anyway.
Do you have a motto, quote, or philosophy you live by?
This is for everyone back at home, who read my personal posts on Facebook. I like using this particular phrase like A LOT. “We’re all going to die anyway”. I write it down in the most weird places, like in “Good morning everyone. We’re all going to die anyway. Have a nice day!”. And that’s just dark humor on my part. But even recently a friend asked me, before reading the book, if it contained this particular phrase, because if it didn’t, the book might not sound like me.
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