Morgan Parker Interview and Author of Textual Encounters

Morgan Parker - Author Interview Recently, I had the pleasure of reading Morgan Parker's new book, Textual Encounters.  I absolutely devoured his unique style and well written story.  I immediately told as many people as I could to read his book and clearly wanted to know more about this "new to me" author.  Here's what he had to say: 1. Have you always been interested in writing and tell us a little bit about your first writing experience. Yes, I have always been interested in writing. From an early age, I realized that the world I could imagine was a lot more exciting than the one I dealt with on a daily basis. Writing allowed me to capture my adventures on paper. As I got a little older and entered puberty, those adventures became very exciting indeed. 2. How long did it take you to write Textual Encounters? Surprisingly, Textual Encounters did not take long at all – about 2 weeks for the first draft. And that’s including the daily napping. 3. In this new day and age, a book primarily consisting of texting is an interesting and wonderfully voyeuristic concept. Tell us what inspired you.

In the early 1990’s, I read a series by Nick Bantock about two people who become pen pals through post cards and letters (do we still have post cards today?) and develop an incredible emotional attachment. I read it as a love story.

Since so much of our personal communication is done through texts these days, modernizing that original concept of two people falling in love through a stray text seemed natural.


4. Tell us a little about your main characters, Jake and Christine.

Jake represents everything that I am not – wealthy and single with six-pack abs, the kind of guy who could seduce any woman. I look at Jake as a bit of a tragedy, someone who has a tough time letting go of the past until Christine shows up.

Christine on the other hand, is the image of a former girlfriend who broke my heart but obviously with a different name, profession, city of residence, and personal circumstances than “my” Christine.


5. Which character was your favorite and/or most fun to write about?

I never would have thought that writing about such a heartless woman (how dare she break my heart 15 years ago!) could be fun and exciting, but it sure was in this case! Oh, I had tons of fun exploring what made Christine “tick,” and while she definitely sticks to her character, there was a reason I allowed her disappear at the end. And not just for retribution.


6. Now that you've released Textual Encounters, do you plan on writing any additional books?

Although Textual Encounters provides the foundation for a host of other stories that I’m super-excited about, I will be publishing a standalone, twisted love story later this year (late Summer 2013) and because I’m a loner and I keep hearing people say it’s good to step outside your comfort zone, I learned a few tricks of socialization (always start with “hi” for example) and I am also looking at collaborating with other writers whose work I admire.

7. Did you find it challenging to write in the style you chose? Also, do you have a preference in writing in first or third person? Why?

Have you ever seen the spelling and grammar errors in text messages? Initially, I thought I was a genius – no editing required! Yippee! In reality, people read because they love stories. Stripping a short romance novel of exposition made the writing process a little painful for me and I often wanted to give up. Since most people don’t use texts for exposition and most of their texts are driven by motives that get hidden below the surface, I had to work really hard to tell a story through these two people’s poor spelling and grammar. I love it.

My point of view preference when writing is the first person because it comes naturally (most of us don’t address ourselves as “he” or “she,” but as “I”). However, we see a lot of first-person narration being published today, and while it sounds more natural when telling a personal story, it has tremendous limitations and you can lose the reader if she doesn’t connect with you as a character, regardless of how great the underlying story might be. With this in mind, you will find that my standalone twisted love story and other standalone novels will be written in the third person, exclusively.


8. Tell us about your character, Katie and how she ties into the story.

Ultimately, Textual Encounters is Katie’s story. She’s the one who finds the iPhone and takes the action to reveal this love story to the world. While the texts are ultimately “on the screen,” the words are filtered to us through Katie’s eyes. We need to trust that Katie is telling the truth, and in the second book, we see just how manipulative she can be. In fact, we see it at the end of the first book.


9. Do you have other book projects in the works? If so, care to elaborate?

Outside of books 2 and 3, I have 2 other projects that I plan on publishing this year. One is a love-triangle story about a young couple struggling with infertility and death, and the other is a tortured story of forbidden and secret love between two people and the one thing that holds their passion together.

1. When and where were you born?

I was born in Ontario, Canada in 1974, which really wasn’t that long ago (if you’re 90).


2. What kind of childhood did you have?

I think I had a good childhood. A favorite childhood memory involves my mother breaking her toe when she tried to kick me. Now, those were some good times in the hood. I still haven’t asked her what story she told them at the hospital…


3. Are you married? Do you have children?

Yes, I’ve been married for ten years and have two children, a four-year old girl and an eight-year old boy. I don’t kick either of them, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t want to (and not just for fun, but sometimes I want to get back at them for climbing on me and putting their knees in places they shouldn’t – ouch).


4. What do you do to have fun when you're not working or writing?

Outside of leading an active lifestyle, I enjoy the occasional cigar and martini. I wish I could say I enjoy alcohol a lot more than I do because some of our greatest writers were unbelievable alcoholics, but I’m not much of a drinker. I snort blow instead <-- yeah, that’s not true.


5. What's the craziest thing you've done in the past six months?

 
Have you ever seen The Hangover? Well, nothing like that.

6. What's your favorite curse word?

Oh, that’s a nasty one. It starts with a “c” and looks like this: [censored]. Truthfully, I’m very careful about cursing unless I’m in a very relaxed and intimate (well, not that fucking intimate) setting. As a writer, I prefer words with huge shock value.


7. What turns you off? What turns you on?

The one thing that turns me off is a woman that allows a man to define who she is. We’re all human here, we all need to be independent and strong. As a result, nothing turns me on more than confidence and intelligence in a woman.


8. How do you want to be remembered in this lifetime?

An ex-colleague of mine wished me a Happy Father’s Day when I was a young(er) father. She said at her house, things are purposely exciting on Father’s Day – nice meal for Dad, no chores for Dad, and he can do whatever he wants. I asked how come so much attention?

She said because on Father’s Day, her husband always gets out of bed a little earlier than he normally does, sneaks downstairs and heads outside onto the front porch with his coffee. He sits there in the silence and cries.

Why? I asked her.

Because Father’s Day reminds him that he lost his best friend the day his father died.

So they make sure the day is filled with love and excitement in order to distract him from the sadness of no longer having his father and best friend around.

That’s how I would like to be remembered, as a great father.

Buy Textual Encounters Here!!
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