Marc Watson
Hi Marc! So happy to have you. Why don’t you introduce yourself?
Hello, I’m Marc Watson, and I write stuff. I’m an author of genre fiction (primarily Fantasy and Science Fiction of all lengths). I began writing at the age of 15 with a pen and paper, and I’ve never really stopped, even though until recently it was more of a background to me than my defining trait. I have been published on flash fiction site www.101words.org, as well as comedy site www.thecorrectness.com. I’ve been a student of the excellent writing classes at Athabasca University for a number of years.
My first novel, Death Dresses Poorly, launched in December, and is currently available on Amazon worldwide. You can grab a copy here.
I live in Calgary, Alberta, and I was spawned out of the depths of Southern Ontario. I’m a husband, proud father of two, and can be sometimes found at an actual job. I’m an avid outdoorsman, a martial artist of some high repute, baseball player of very little repute, and lover of all Mexican foods. One day ‘World Famous Poutine Aficionado’ will be on my business cards.
I may have to fight you for that title 😉
When did you know that you wanted to be a writer? How did you start?
Ha. I’ll tell you when I know. I’m still not sure about this whole thing. I’m more of ‘someone who writes’ than a writer. I sometimes call myself the Anti-Author. I really like my job, and I never plan on doing this full time. I think the moment you’re looking for was February 29th, 2016. I had the first two parts of my epic fantasy story Catching Hell finished, and they had been for some time. I was just sitting on them doing nothing with them other than editing from time to time.
To curb my writing craving, I had been writing poutine reviews for a website I have planned but still haven’t made yet. All of that writing made me realize that not many people ever write a book, and why shouldn’t I do something about it. In just one day I made my plan, started querying publishers, created a social media profile, and ‘Marc the Writer’ was born.
You write science fiction and fantasy (which I love!). Can you tell us a little about the books you’ve written so far?
I would love to, thank you! I wrote Catching Hell over the course of a year during my lunch breaks while working a labor job in order to stimulate my brain a bit. It’s a distant future story about two young heroes who have their home destroyed by a robotic army no one knew still existed. They’re separated and one of them, Johan, learns about these lost technologies and how to use them to fight this new enemy, while the other, Aryu, who was born with wings, learns about mysticism and magic from a phoenix-man named Nixon Ash, who is sworn to kill him eventually because of a sword he discovered called the Shi Kaze. Part one of Catching Hell will be released in March of 2018.
My second book, but oddly it became my first release, is a dark comedy urban fantasy titled Death Dresses Poorly. It’s about a disenfranchised millennial named Ethan who is approached by Death to take over his position. The catch is that Ethan refuses to die, despite Death’s best efforts, and he’s also just as angry and sarcastic as you’d expect. The two play off each other while Death takes Ethan on a tour of the worlds beyond ours that he’s tasked to save. It’s very much inspired by the works of Neil Gaiman.
What is it that you love about writing sci-fi and fantasy? Would you ever write anything outside of these?
I love the freedom to be creative that they give me. The ability to be as crazy and imaginative as I want to be. They’re very much interconnected genres. Technology just gets replaced with magic! I grew up consuming a lot of genre fiction in all kinds of mediums, and I admittedly have an overactive imagination, so it’s easily the best fit.
As for writing anything else? I stray from time to time, like with DDP, but it’s still a fantasy story at its core. I’d guess I may orbit these two genres, but I’ll never get too far from them.
Can you tell us about your path to publication so far?
I’d love to since it’s a story that still makes me smile. After I decided I wanted to focus on taking writing seriously, I started targeting local publishers. In a few months (and what I’d call a reasonable yet not crippling number of rejections) I was contacted by one from Red Deer. Unfortunately, they ended up going under two weeks after I signed with them, so I went from elation to heartbreak in the blink of an eye. I made sure to target publishers, and eventually agents, who I really thought I’d jive with. I didn’t want to carpet-bomb. I had a precision publisher attack, as it were.
Now, after years of staring at Catching Hell, I ripped myself away from it and wrote ‘DDP’ in just six weeks. In that time, ‘CH’ was picked up again by a more stable publisher (Double Dragon Press). Once ‘DDP’ was finished, I decided to toss that out there too, even though I intended it to be self-published, just to give that world a try. It was picked up by the second publisher I queried (Fluky Fiction out of Maine) and they had a smaller publication window that Double Dragon, so ‘DDP’ became my first release, even though Catching Hell was picked up first. Two books picked up and published in two years. My track record is starting off great!
In the end I realized that self-publication isn’t for me. I don’t have the time or the industry knowledge to do it right.
What are some of your go-to genres when reading and who are some of your favorite authors? What is it you love about those genres?
Unsurprisingly, I read what I know. I love good, creative fantasy. From new-guard stuff like the Lightbringer saga by Brent Weeks, to classic series like ‘Shannara’ by Terry Brooks, or ‘The Dark Tower’ by Stephen King. All different, and all wonderful in their own way.
But for all of this fantasy, The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx is still my favorite book of all time. I simply can’t write such vivid characters and places, and I aspire to so badly! That book is my high bar.
Are you a pantser, a plotter or somewhere in between?
In between, but mostly pantser. I’ll plot a basic outline, not even a full synopsis or character bio, and then just see where the keyboard takes me. Of course, that technique led to ‘Catching Hell’ being 225k words initially, so maybe I do need a more solid plan…
When you first get an idea, how long until you know you’re ready to begin writing and what does that progression look like?
About five minutes. Seriously, if I get an idea, I don’t waste time starting to get it down. I may not write a whole book from that initial burst (although as DDP proves, I certainly can) but I get something down quickly so I don’t lose the feeling that idea gives me. Of course, that also means that I have thirteen WIPs at the moment in various stages of completion. I’m a story bouncer. I’m all over the map. I can stick with something, or I can let it go and come back years later. No two books have been written the same.
Authors are interesting beings. I always want to know how their creative process works. What does a typical writing day look like for you/what is your process?
As I said, I’m more of an anti-author. I am a busy guy with two young kids and an amazing wife, so I only write during my lunch hours at work. Home time is for the family, and once the kids go to bed I’m too tired to write. I hate writing at home, and I hate writing in silence. I see authors show pictures of their perfect writing space, like a desk at a window in a cottage, overlooking a quiet lake. I’d drive myself mental sitting there. I need activity around me. A friend of mine referred me to the term ‘pink noise’, a mix of chaotic and unreasonable ‘red noise’ and the quiet standard thrum of white noise. My office, school (when I was there), or a coffee shop are my writing places. Places with action, but not chaos.
So, if you factor in that I need to actually eat, I may have about 45-50 minutes a weekday to write, provided I don’t have something else to do, or feel like watching YouTube. It seems odd, but it’s worked out pretty well so far!
What have been some of the biggest lessons you’ve learned on your writing journey so far?
Patience is a big one, but if you’re trying to be an author, you know that already (or you’re simply being unreasonable). I am fully aware that the speed at which I’ve been able to get things done is not common in the industry, so write, query, and write some more. It’ll come.
Past that, I think writing is a very personal journey. No two paths are the same. The things I’ve learned likely don’t apply to 99% of the other writers out there. So I guess, embrace the individuality? Even if you have dozens of friends in the industry, your journey will be different than theirs, so don’t benchmark against them.
It is such a crazy and competitive market. How do you tackle the marketing and promotion of your author brand?
Great question, and one that I’m still trying to suss out. I met another young author early in this journey who turned me on to having a publicist, which has worked out wonderfully for me. As I said, I’m a busy guy, so having someone sort out signings and interviews and whatnot is a huge help. My publisher for ‘DDP’ has also been amazing. They’re a smaller outfit out of Maine, and they’ve been great at helping me understand how the industry works. They’re pretty fresh as well, so we’re all on this journey together.
I also personally maintain all of my social media accounts and my website (although it was designed by my wife. Love you, babe!) I only connect with people on places like Instagram and Twitter who actually contribute to the world, instead of being retweet and share machines. It’s helped me connect with some amazing writers and international communities. If you see something posted on any of my feeds, know that it’s me behind the keyboard. Adjust judgments accordingly.
What advice do you have for aspiring writers about writing?
I always advise to at least try writing at your own pace, even if that pace is somewhere between turtle and snail. So many people and communities push the WRITE WRITE WRITE mentality. Aim for 500 words a day! NaNoWriMo! I say forget that noise. If you feel like stopping and just using your free time to dive into seven seasons of something on NetFlix in your free time, do it! Your story will still be there for you, and if you never go back to it, it likely wasn’t worth finishing anyway. If it doesn’t thrill you enough to finish it, why would it thrill anyone else to read it?
Anything else you would like to add or talk about?
Only that I really appreciate the chance to talk writing with you and your audience. It’s a scary world to get involved in, with so many people exposing themselves emotionally and creatively and getting very little feedback in return. Take it all with a grain of salt, and don’t let anyone tell you how you should write. And whatever it means to you: be a hero.
Thank you so much, Marc! Where can people find out more about you and your books?
Website: www.marcwatson.ca
Online at: www.facebook.com/marcwroteabook
Twitter and Instagram: @writewatson