Matt was kind enough to do an interview with me via e-mail.
Scott: How did the story for Hooked develop?
Matt: I didn't start out intending to write a book. I wrote the first few pages of Hooked in the summer of 2004 after being viciously attacked by a muse. That's the only way I can explain the book's origin. Then, once those first pages were written, I got caught up in the story: what was happening to the main character, his lost love, his sanity and health?
That emotional core started to dovetail with some observations I've made as a journalist about the pace and nature of life in the digital age. I wrote at a frenzied pace, awakened by the muse many mornings at 6 a.m. and wrote for a couple of hours before I had to clock into the day job. The story unfolded organically.
Scott: How did your background as a tech writer help?
Matt: Spending time as a journalist is something I'd wish on any aspiring fiction writer. The job entails, among other things: observation, expansion of perspective, and daily writing (if you don't write, you don't eat). Along with empathy, these skills seem like pillars of fiction writing. I was able to incorporate into the book many of the observations I've made over the years about Silicon Valley, the computer business, and the technology culture.
Scott: What did you hope to accomplish with this story?
Matt: Foremost, I wanted to express and feel emotion, passion, joy, sorrow and exhilaration. I wanted to love writing the book, and I did. And now I hope that readers can experience some of the passion and emotion that I felt while writing. Finally, I wanted an excuse to drink hot chocolates - and sitting at a café writing gave me the cover I was looking for.
Scott: You also write a daily comic strip. What is it about? I don't think I know of any other novelists who also write a daily comic strip. Is it a coincidence the comic strip is, if your bio is correct, set in a café, which is also the setting for the novel's start?
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