Member Spotlight: Matthew C. Lucas

Why is writing important to you and why do you think it’s an important medium for the world? Legal writing has been my trade for two decades; fiction writing has been my passion for much longer. There’s never been a time in my life when I haven’t been writing. Writing is a craft. When it’s done well, it can take an author’s thoughts and shape them into a reader’s feelings. It’s hard to do (that’s why we’re all always working on it), but powerful and beguiling when it works.

What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer’s block? Honestly, I don’t know that I’ve ever had writer’s block in the sense of staring at a screen and not being able to think of anything to write. There’s always a story or a scene to work on. Sometimes getting through a particular part of a work in progress might feel like a slog (or it may just be hard to find time to write), but I try to keep a daily word count goal, and that helps me push through those parts.

What is your favorite time to write? Early mornings and at the end of the day.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received and would like to impart to other writers? Map out where you’re going to go before you start. I know it’s basic and it doesn’t work for everyone, but for me that’s what made the difference between a half dozen quarter-finished manuscripts and the first completed novel. I’ve been using and tweaking my approach ever since, but it still works.

What excites you most about being a writer in today’s age? The proliferation of smaller presses and the vast opportunities for readers to seek out and find new voices.

Matthew C. Lucas’s The Mountain is out now with Montag Press.