{"id":7814,"date":"2019-01-11T06:45:56","date_gmt":"2019-01-11T11:45:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tellest.com\/?p=7814"},"modified":"2019-04-02T07:29:06","modified_gmt":"2019-04-02T11:29:06","slug":"interview-kyle-mata","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/interview-kyle-mata\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Kyle Mata"},"content":{"rendered":"
Intro: Hello folks! We\u2019re here today for an interview with Kyle Mata. He is the author of the newly released Sci-Fi novel, Scorpion:<\/em> The Rae Wars<\/em>. Join us as we find out how he got his start, how the Scorpion Universe is developing, and what\u2019s coming up next!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tellest<\/strong>: Hi there Kyle.\u00a0 Thanks for joining us. \u00a0You started writing back in college. \u00a0Were those the same stories your readers are able to enjoy now, or have you moved on from them?<\/p>\n Kyle Mata<\/strong>: The short answer is no, none of my first writings ever really made it off the ground. My history as a writer is quite sporadic.\u00a0 The first thing I ever wrote was actually a trilogy of Star Wars books with a friend of mine back in 2009. She would write a chapter, then I would write a chapter and so on. \u00a0We went back and forth for a year, and had grand plans to have it published one day. Unfortunately, we never made it past book two before she had other things in life that drew her attention. \u00a0I continued that method of \u2018writing with a friend\u2019 with two other good friends of mine, it was a blast, but they never did get finished. \u00a0I realized by this point how much I loved writing and started two other stories on my own. \u00a0They are both about thirty pages long and never made it further.\u00a0 During this same time I started These Things We Do for Freedom<\/em>. \u00a0I wrote the prologue, basically establishing the rules for my writing\u2026and then I didn\u2019t touch it again for the rest of my time in college. \u00a0In early 2014, I was transferring my files from my old computer to my new one and stumbled across the two-page word doc and just picked it right back up. So from 2010 to 2014 I didn\u2019t do any writing at all. \u00a0But I\u2019m glad it\u2019s something I stuck with in the long run.\u00a0 Maybe someday I\u2019ll dust off those old works, but right now my focus is on the Scorpion Universe.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n T<\/strong>: Are the people you worked with in those collaboration works coming out of the woodwork to team up again now that you\u2019ve got your books officially up at places like Amazon?<\/p>\n KM<\/strong>: Oh man, I wish. \u00a0I haven\u2019t worked on any collaborative stories in a few years. However, I can say a few characters were devised collaboratively. \u00a0I have a small group of my friends and family that have read literally<\/em> every story I have ever written. \u00a0I call them my beta-readers, and they\u2019ve really helped me grow as an author.\u00a0 One of the guys I used to write with is an original beta-reader. Shout out to Andrew! He started reading my old works, worked on some collaborative stuff with me, and now he\u2019s prime in reading whatever I crank out these days. \u00a0I\u2019d love to do more collaborative stuff. \u00a0Writing with someone else is great because you get to incorporate details into a story that you would have probably never thought of yourself. \u00a0It also helps you get past things like writer\u2019s block and dips in motivation. \u00a0I highly recommend it to those who want to start writing but don\u2019t know where to start.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n T<\/strong>: Do you have any specific science fiction properties that you gravitate to?\u00a0 Any big franchises catch your fancy?\u00a0 What about sci-fi writers?<\/p>\n KM<\/strong>: I\u2019m a sucker for space battles, powered battle armor, and really cool characters.\u00a0 Star Wars was my gateway into science fiction, I wish the old canon hadn\u2019t gotten so out of hand.\u00a0 Now I have to say Halo is the franchise that really catches my fancy, as you said.\u00a0 I grew up with Spartan-117 and I\u2019m always quick to buy the games as they come out.\u00a0 Aside from just the well written story and stunning world-buidling of the games, the Halo books have some of the best fight scenes I\u2019ve ever read.\u00a0 Which is a great segue into sci-fi writers.\u00a0 Karen Traviss was one of my first inspirations to write.\u00a0 I started writing my first collaborative Star Wars story after reading her Republic Commando series.\u00a0 She then went on to write an awesome post-Halo 3 trilogy.\u00a0 I\u2019d love to know how she ended up writing stories in two of my favorite universes.\u00a0 If I ever had a chance to chat with any sci-fi author of today it would be her.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n T<\/strong>: You\u2019ve got a pretty interesting background in that you\u2019re an air force officer. Are you currently active duty?\u00a0 Does that kind of think influence your work?<\/p>\n KM<\/strong>: I am currently active duty, and I\u2019m stationed in Japan at the moment. \u00a0I\u2019d say being in the Air Force certainly influences my work.\u00a0 My preferred genre of reading is military science fiction, and I\u2019ll admit I cringe a bit when the \u2018military\u2019 aspect of those novels is as unrealistic as some of the aliens the space marines are fighting.\u00a0 Which is why I take great care to keep the military side of my writing accurate\u2026well as accurate as possible without getting boring. \u00a0I don\u2019t think all the forms, schedules, regulations, and required signatures going on behind the scenes in order to launch space fighters off a battlecruiser would really keep the reader\u2019s attention. \u00a0If you want to talk about how the military has physically influenced my writing; the majority of Scorpion:<\/em> the Rae Wars <\/em>was actually written while I was deployed to Afghanistan.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n T<\/strong>: You\u2019ve been around quite a bit. \u00a0I\u2019m sure that helps to kind of instill this idea that the universe is bigger than we think it is.\u00a0 While you\u2019ve been traveling, was there anything that you\u2019ve seen that sort of worked its way into your work at all?<\/p>\n KM<\/strong>: Absolutely. \u00a0In my time in the Air Force I\u2019ve been all over the United States; I\u2019ve been to Germany, Qatar, Afghanistan, Japan, South Korea, Guam and a few others. I\u2019ve seen incredible and sometimes terrifying sights. \u00a0I\u2019ve worked with multi-million dollar aircraft, weapons, and equipment.\u00a0 But the most interesting aspect of my travels are the people I\u2019ve met. So yes, I have worked the deserts of Afghanistan, and the cities of Korea into my stories. But I\u2019ve also worked in aspects from the most interesting people I\u2019ve ever met.\u00a0 Truth is often stranger than fiction, and I wouldn\u2019t have the developed characters I do if not for the awesome people I\u2019ve met.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n T<\/strong>: You can have a lot of life grounded in these tales, but there are some ways that these things can end up feeling so new and foreign.\u00a0 How do you write something like that\u2014a character or even a race that doesn\u2019t think quite the way we do?<\/p>\n KM<\/strong>: My process for making up a character or race from scratch usually starts by building them to fit a need in the story.\u00a0 Once I write the basic premise for that character, or race, or faction, and give them the one or two qualities they need to fit their role, they tend to take on a personality of their own.\u00a0 I liken it to meeting a new person.\u00a0 Generally, the setting in which you meet them tends to help you form your initial opinion of them.\u00a0 But as you get to know them they reveal more of themselves to you.\u00a0 Their personality, their background, their intelligence, their sense of humor, and soon the character you know now could be nothing like the person you initially thought they were.\u00a0 I put a character with a name on paper in a spot where they are needed, and then they start to form and develop as much as any real person would.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n T<\/strong>: The Scorpion Universe is pretty robust, with a huge capacity for ongoing change. How\u2019d you come up with the concept, and how do you keep track of it all?<\/p>\n KM<\/strong>: I came up with the concept for the Scorpion Universe almost by accident. \u00a0I went through a phase while I was deployed where I only wrote short stories of exactly five pages. \u00a0I would make up a prompt, or a set of rules, and write a story within the boundaries. One short story I wrote had the prompt of creating a world that is a combination of all my favorite things; video games, books, movies, comics, history, and so on, and then putting a story in that world that a picky reader like myself would want to read. \u00a0I called it Scorpion. \u00a0I sent it out to my beta-readers.<\/p>\n Every single one of them asked where the rest was. \u00a0So, a five-page short story turned into a whole series of books.<\/p>\n As to how I keep track of everything, I can honestly say a lot of it is memory, I have a tendency to easily memorize things I am passionate about.\u00a0 Which might be why I can speak entirely through movie quotes and song lyrics. That said, I do have an excel spreadsheet of reference material, as well as three white boards around my house covered in all sorts of ideas and short hand to help me remember things. \u00a0Coming up with clever names is one thing, remembering how to spell them, is another.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n T<\/strong>: Each of your characters has interesting qualities that make them easy to root for. How did you come up with them? Which of them is your favorite?<\/p>\n KM<\/strong>: The four main characters are sort of the embodiment of the Shakespeare quote \u201cSome are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.\u201d As for which are which, you\u2019ll have to figure that out on your own because that\u2019s half the fun. With that quote as a starting ground I guess you could say I took aspects of other fictional characters I like and poured those aspects into mine. \u00a0A prime example would be the desire to defend the defenseless, no matter the consequences, that can be found in Robert E. Howard\u2019s Soloman Kane, can be found in the cover character, Karr.<\/p>\n You want me to pick a favorite character? That\u2019s like asking a parent to choose their favorite child! There are some that I truly dislike, but that\u2019s the point, what are heroes without villains? And not all villains are enemies. There are some that I really enjoy writing because they are so fun and unique. But I can\u2019t tell you a favorite, there are several and I don\u2019t know, I feel like if I tell you my favorites it\u2019ll spoil things somehow.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n