1) Who is your favourite author and why?
My favourite
author is Iris Murdoch. I enjoy Mrudoch’s attention to detail, the way she
makes her characters come alive — sometimes I want to root for them, other
times I’m hopeful that they will fail. What I enjoy in Murdoch’s works is the
relentless search for hope and love in a world that can be, at times, unsteady
and dark.
2) When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I began to think
of myself as a writer around age twenty-five. I had just moved to Ottawa
(Ontario), and I was determined to make writing an integral part of my day. And
I did. I wrote (and still do write) faithfully first thing in the morning. I
would spend my lunch hour writing. I would go to a coffee shop and writing before
heading hope after a day at the office.
3) Describe your writing space?
My writing space
is the upstairs bedroom I use as my office. My desk is pushed up against the
wall, in part to keep me focused on my writing and not on what is going on
outside on the street, but also to let me reread the quotes that inspire me.
Specifically, Charlie Chaplin’s “As I Began to Love Myself.” Also on the wall above my desk is a landscape
watercolour painting done by my grade school art teacher. To the right of the
door there are two beige armchairs where I often read. On the wall above the
chair is one of my paintings, “When Night Falls I,” the title piece of my
newest series of paintings. My framed university diploma is on the wall next to
the window that offers a view onto the street below.
4) What are you reading now?
I am currently
reading Julia Cameron’s Faith and Will:
Weathering the Storms in Our Spiritual Lives, Brenda Ueland’s If You Want to Write: A Book about Art,
Independence and Spirit, and Iris Murdoch’s Existentialists and Mystics: Writings on Philosophy and Literature.
5) How many books have your written? Which is your favourite?
Freestyle Love is my first (published)
book, so for now it’s my favourite.
6) What comes first, plot or characters?
Sometimes plot
comes first, sometimes it’s a character that I hear in my head, a scrap of
dialogue that I have to get down. But more often than not, whether it’s the
plot or a character that starts me writing, I let the characters — their
interactions with each other — drive the story initially. Then, once the draft
is completed, I set about to put the pieces together, and in the right order.
So I guess it’s fair to say that I let the characters get inside my head and
let them “lead me.”
7) Do you ever suffer from writer’s block?
I’ve never
experienced writer’s block. I sit down and write every day. Sometimes the
writing is easy, sometimes I feel like I’m writing uphill. But I write. Like
today. I work to my daily quota and then, and only then, am I free to do as I
please.
8) What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
When I’m not
writing, I like to run, hike, read, cook, playing the piano, travel, and spend
time with friends and family. I’m also a painter, so that keeps me busy, too.
9) Tell us about your latest book?
My latest, and
first, book is Freestyle Love. In
many ways, Freestyle Love is not your
typical romance novel. Love may be the novel’s currency, but it’s really the
characters’ actions and reactions — how they interact in love — that interests
me. Sometimes we let our experiences define who we are, and that is the trap
that Malachi Bishop involuntary falls into. Malachi is far from perfect —
although I think in his mind he’d disagree. He’s arrogant and uncompromising,
held to the “It’s my way or the highway” mentality. Malachi becomes a character
people love to hate. So Malachi, on an unexpected journey of self-discovery,
experiences a sort of great awakening, moving from “denial” to acceptance of
the man he thought he was to the man, at the end of the novel, who he becomes.
10) What’s next for you?
What’s next for
me? To keep writing, and where that leads me, time will tell.
Blurb:
When it
comes to one-night stands, Malachi Bishop has “rules”. No pillow talk. No
sleeping over. No planning a future hook-up. First names only. It’s just sex,
not a prelude to love. But when Cole Malcolm, a smooth-talking management
consultant, woos Malachi into bed, the rulebook is tossed out the window. The
one-time fling leaves Cole reeling: Malachi is his first real shot at
happiness, his “forever” man, and he’s determined to show Malachi just how good
they could be together. But Malachi doesn’t believe in happily-ever-after, and
dodges Cole’s play for his heart. After all, Malachi is still mourning the loss
of Taylor Blanchard, whom he hoped to love forever. Then there’s Zach Brennan,
a handsome twenty-five-year-old and student at the college where Malachi
teaches. Falling for Zach could destroy everything he’s worked for, but Malachi
can’t help himself.
Caught by
love and in its betrayal, it’s a later affair with a beautiful stranger that
changes Malachi’s life most dramatically. Now Malachi must confront his present
and his past that bring into question the larger fantasies of home and his
place in the world.
Excerpt:
As Cole Malcolm asked the
server for his bill, Malachi Bishop was across town, alone in his condo,
pouring himself a stiff drink. Malachi picked up the crystal tumbler and moved
into the living room, standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows and
watching as the dark storm clouds edged their way eastward, dulling the bright
sky. His unit, located just below the penthouse level, offered a view of the
west side of Claredon, including the college. And Malachi was right, as he had
explained to Shane Martin, that on a clear day he could see to Chemong Lake.
Malachi sat down on the
worn brown leather sofa and stared blankly at the TV. Am I unreal? Malachi
lifted his glass to his mouth and held it there. Tuesdays, when he taught three
of his four classes, left him drained. Today he was exhausted. Malachi’s day
started off with the advanced writing workshop, and Zach Brennan had not shown
up again. Malachi had taught the ninety-minute English literature course that
started right after the lunch break pausing often, as if he were unable to
weave together, and hold, a train of thought. One of his students asked if he
was okay, to which he replied, “I’m fine,” with great defence, and then
dismissed the class — forty minutes early. When all of the students had left
the classroom, Malachi sat down at his desk and wrote out a notice cancelling
the creative writing class he was to teach later that afternoon. He posted the
notice to his classroom door and then made for home.
Beyond the usually long
day of teaching, beyond the ordinariness of his life, Malachi was caught up in
the paralyzing, awful, blackly saddening events of the day. In the aftermath of
the day’s events, his perception of his life in Claredon had shifted, seen now
as imaginary and formless, indeed a fabrication. There remained a contradiction
because he knew that there was an inescapable realness to Claredon where he
had, over the past five years, carved out a home. And in that realness there
was Zach Brennan.
About the
Author:
Marcus
Lopés is originally from Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia. His writing has appeared
in Canadian and international literary magazines. Freestyle Love is his first
novel. A novelist, essayist, poet, painter and singer-songwriter, Lopés lives
in Sherbrooke, Québec.
Website: www.marcuslopes.ca
Email: marcus@marcuslopes.ca
Link to schedule:
Comments:
No comments:
Post a Comment