Michael Patrick Hicks Interview

Michael Patrick Hicks blipped onto my radar last winter about the time I was releasing Time Heist. His debut novel, Convergence, was a hot little piece of writing that shared many technological viewpoints as my own work. I was intrigued enough to pick up a copy, which is a good thing, ’cause as it turned out, Convergence was awesome.

Don’t believe me? Well, fine. Just check out the REVIEW I did of Convergence last year. See. Told you I liked it. Now don’t you look foolish.

Wait, what’s that? I’m not supposed to mock the readership? Makes me seem unapproachable and a bit of a dick? Gah…fine.

I’m sorry, I’ll stop abusing you. I swear.

Anyhow, Michael has proven not to be a one hit wonder, and continues to churn out great story after great story. His short story Revolver for the anthology No Way Home was one of the most loved (and hated, depending on your political point-of-view) stories in the entire collection.

Hicks isn’t a one genre pony either. He’s dabbled with horror, so if that’s your thing, you should check out his short Consumption. A story which I haven’t personally read, but judging from the reviews, lives up to the horror billing.

Alright, that was a lot of words to get us to the reason we’re here. So, without further adieu, let’s do some Interviewing! Get over here, Michael Patrick Hicks, I’ve got some words for you!

Michael Patrick Hicks Interview

I know it’s hard (’cause a parent loves all their children equally. Right, Mom?), but if you had to chose, what’s your favorite story you’ve ever written?

My current work in progress is quickly becoming my favorite. Mostly because it’s something fresh and new and has a few surprises. I’ve put my previous works to bed, for better or worse, and am moving onto a new adventure. This one is a horror story, so I get to cut loose and get savage and bloody with it, and it’s nice to move away from the sci-fi stuff I’ve been working on for the last few years (and will likely be returning to after this WIP is wrapped up).

Fans of your Consumption short-story will be excited to hear your moving back into the Horror domain for a bit. Is this new project going to be novel length?

I originally intended it to be a short story, but blew past that about 15,000 words ago. It’s a natural horror story, about nature itself going crazy and turning against humanity, with the working title of Mass Hysteria. It will end up either being a pretty long novella or an actual novel. I’m having so much fun with it and the idea keeps coming, and there’s a few twists on the original idea as things progress. I think fans of Consumption will be pretty happy with it, and I am tremendously pleased to be writing a horror work again. It’s such an enjoyable genre to stomp around in!

I’ve been seeing a lot of baby related posts on your Facebook wall recently, what’s it like working with a kid in the house and has it affected your daily work routine?

Well, my wife and I are still waiting on the arrival of our first child.

This, for you people keeping score at home, is the reason you do research before an interview. Whoops. We’ll just claim there was a rip in the time-space continuum and I’m actually from the future. Continue pre-baby Michael.

I don’t know for sure how the writing routine will unfold around having a kid in the house, but we’ve talked about it and she supports my writing career completely so we’ll make it work somehow, someway. I’ll figure it out, because, ultimately, I have to and it’s vitally important to my sanity to be able to write. In so far as altering the writing routine thus far, we’ve gone through a number of classes, registering for baby shower gifts, visiting pediatricians and day care facilities, so there’s already been a good bit of upheaval and readjustments to the schedule. I fully expect more to come soon!

I assume you’ve been testing all the kid’s toys…you know, for science and safety?

Oh, absolutely! That’s the first vital step toward being a responsible parent. We don’t know the gender and are keeping it a surprise until delivery, so we’ve been getting some gender-neutral stuff. I bought a stuffed Cthulhu  for the wildlife nursery we’ve been decorating, and a little knitted baby cap and socks with Bat-logos, so if we have a boy, he’s Batman, if we have a girl, she’s Batgirl. It’s perfect and accessible. Sometime soon, I’ll be rummaging through my parent’s basement to find my old Millennium Falcon and ensuring that it is child-proof, but may need to keep it out of baby’s reach for a little while. You know, just to be safe.

Alright, let’s talk a bit about story and the craft of writing. We all know to avoid cliches, and yet we’re all guilty of using them on occasion. What’s your personal favorite (or least favorite) story trope?

Least favorite (and I’m guilty of it, I’m sure) is villains monologuing when they should be killing! But even then I have some favorites – that whole scene in Goldfinger when James Bond is strapped down to the table with the deadly laser beam on a course to bisect him. It’s utterly ridiculous, really, but still such a great scene and quote-worthy dialogue from Goldfinger himself. “No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!” But really, you should have just freaking killed him when you had the chance…

This is one of the most resilient tropes around, and possibly for good reason. Some of the all time greatest movies would have been about 100 minutes shorter if the bad guy just straight up shot the good guy in the head.

As a writer, what do you perceive to be some of your strengths and weaknesses?

The biggest flaw I see in my own works is characterization. I wish I could plumb the depths of a person the way Stephen King does and really get inside their head. I think a lot of it stems from knowing the characters so well in my own head already, that I don’t always capture as much of it as I should on paper. It’s a constant growth process, though.

I do think I am pretty good at writing an action scene or two, and my last novel, Emergence, is a giant chase story with a lot of action beats. I think it worked pretty well, all in all. I also think I’m able to craft a few good moments of grotesqueness, which my short story Consumption is all about.

I admit I haven’t read Consumption, but if the grotesqueness is anything like the action scenes in Convergence, then it’s probably pretty darn gross. I think we are all aspiring to Steven King levels of characterization, but you do a pretty darn fine job of it in your short story Revolver which was featured in Lucas Bales’ No Way Home Anthology.

You’ve talked about Revolver, and the reception it’s received, in other places so we won’t go into details here, but for you readers at home looking for a good human interest story, you’d do well to pick up a copy.

How has the act of writing changed (or not changed) in the years since you first began?

I’ve learned to put an increased focus on the characters over the plot. While both are important, it’s the characters that really carry the weight of it all right on their shoulders. You need that solid foundation to build a good relationship between the book and its readers. I’ve grown much more conscious of this over my succession of releases.

*cough Revolver cough*

Tell us a bit about your story creating process. Do you plot or just go by the seat of your Daisy Dukes?

More pantser than plotter, but it’s sort of a mixed bag in terms of creating. I’ll get an itch for a particular story, and as it grows in my head I typically know the beginning, middle, and end. What comes in between those acts is usually a mystery and I end up pantsing my way through them, building scenes to get from point A to B to C, making stuff up on the fly. I like to let the story unfold on its own, for the most part, and nudge it along when necessary. I welcome coming across those unplanned surprises that the story has in store for me, or seeing characters connect in ways I hadn’t previously imagined. I like to leave a lot of room for discovery along the way.

One of the great joys of being a writer is seeing your word-babies grow up and go about their lives, indifferent to your wants, wishes, and desires. Stupid word-babies.

What’s the game plan moving forward?

Ultimately, and this is no doubt true of every writer, the plan is to be self-sufficient and make writing my sole source of income. Although it takes up a good deal of my time and most of the real estate in my brain, I’m not at the point yet where I can say this is my full-time job. I’m still going day-to-day as an office drone, but am planning on annual releases for the foreseeable future, or more if time allows.

Quick, take a look around. What’s lying around on your desk? Anything incriminating? Don’t worry, we’ll wait while you dispose of the evidence.

An outdated Mac laptop and several external hard drives devoted to iTunes files and photography. All the fun stuff is on the bookshelves, which are piled with FunkoPop figures.

Are you still using Scrivener, by the way? If so, how’s that working out? If not, what the hell!?

I am! I like Scrivener quite a bit, actually, but there’s so much stuff to wrap my head around in it and figure out what I need or don’t need. I recently finished a DRMR short story (which, for those that don’t know, is the ‘world’ I write typically write in and is the basis for my novels Convergence and Emergence) that is slated to appear in the upcoming Cyborg Chronicles anthology, and wrote that entirely in Scrivener. I’m now trying to get into the ins and outs of compiling a story into an ebook for the solo release of my short story Revolver, but there’s a bit of back and forth there with how I want it to look versus how Scrivener is producing it. Once I get that sorted out, though, it should be released soon thereafter. Mass Hysteria is becoming a joint effort between Microsoft Word and Scrivener, depending on what computer I’m writing on at the time.

Your favorite author calls tomorrow, says he/she wants to collaborate with the one and only Michael Patrick Hicks. Who is calling and what sort of story do the two of you write?

This is a tough one. I’ve already gotten to collaborate with a number of great authors between the anthologies curated by Lucas Bale and the upcoming Cyborg Chronicles from Samuel Peralta. As you might have guessed from an earlier answer, Stephen King is my favorite author, and if he ever calls me to collaborate on a project, I don’t give a damn what it is. I’m saying yes, no questions asked.

With your Horror/Sci-Fi background, I suppose that’s not too surprising. When you two are done writing a best-seller, send him my way. I have a really good Children’s Horror story I think would do well in the 5-8 age group.

Alright, if you recall, earlier I admitted to being from the future. I’m pleased to tell you that you’ve been inducted into the Writing Hall of Fame (yes, there is actually such a thing). What do you think they said about you and your legacy/career?

That I am amazing and not only redefined, but breathed new life, into the science fiction and horror genres. Because, really, what else are they going to say if I’ve made it into the Writing Hall of Fame!? And any rumors about me illegally doping to get that far are just that, rumors and fabrications. It’s all part of a smear campaign, I tell you!

Due to right-wing political pressures (as a direct result of Revolver) there was, unfortunately, an asterisk added to your name in the history books. Sorry, looks like you’ll never outlive those doping charges now.

Besides that asterisk, what do you resent most about writing?

All those nasty voices in my head constantly demanding things, sometimes very awful things. And not having nearly as much time as I would like to follow through on executing those demands with hands on the keyboard.

I’d ask you what sorts of awful things, but you write Horror, and I’m not so sure I want to know.

So instead let’s talk about safety lines. You know what I’m talking about. It’s that line, or description, that’s always cropping up in your stories. Come clean, spill the beans, let’s air that laundry.

I try to excise as many of them as I can during the edit stage, but I’ve noticed an odd reliance on the word “blossoming” or “blooming” and their derivatives in describing things. Blood blooms, memories blossom, ancient monsters blossom their way out of some unfortunate’s chest cavity. It’s become a strange crutch word that I need to be careful about and has joined the list of other filler words such as like, just, it was… I have no idea how or why I’ve latched on to it recently, but there you go. Writing’s funny like that.

“Blossom” is such a great word, and it looks funny. Bonus points.

Okay, I’ve taken up far too much of your time. Any parting words? Stories? Jokes? Humorous anecdotes? Or feel free to pimp whatever you’d like in the space below. No seriously, go hog-wild!

Thanks for the interview, Anthony! It was fun, man, and much appreciated.

If people are interested in learning more about me or want to connect, hop on over to http://michaelpatrickhicks.com!

If they want to stay in the loop on upcoming releases, they can subscribe to my newsletter at http://eepurl.com/5M4z1.

Michael Patrick Hicks Works!