We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Matt Harry. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Matt below.
Matt, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s jump back to the first dollar you earned as a creative? What can you share with us about how it happened?
The first time I earned real money as a creative was in eighth grade. I would meet with Mr. Werner, my English teacher, during the lunch period to discuss my writing. He would read whichever silly story I was working on and give me feedback. (Now that I’m a teacher myself, I realize what a sacrifice it was for him to give up his lunches!)
One day, he handed me an envelope. Part of me worried that it was a letter of resignation. Instead, I opened it to find a handwritten note from the editor of a local kid’s magazine. Mr. Werner had sent the editor a story I’d written, and he had accepted it for publication! Even better, there was a $15 check included. It wasn’t much, but it was the first time I realized that I could actually be paid for being creative.
Thanks to Mr. Werner, I gained the confidence to submit my work to other magazines. I became a reporter for the teen section of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, I wrote plays, and I went on to be the editor of my high school newspaper. I’m still a writer over 25 years later, and that’s in large part because of the support Mr. Werner gave me. I dedicated my first novel to him as a small indication of my gratitude.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Do you like adventure? Do you yearn to escape the humdrum routine of everyday existence? Then you might be interested in my work. I love telling stories of escapism and whimsy. Growing up in the suburban mall sprawl of northeastern Ohio, I sought out anything that could whisk me away from the cookie-cutter houses and endless chain restaurants. When movies and video games weren’t enough, I started writing. I began with short stories, then moved into one-act plays, and completed my first “novel” when I was in seventh grade.
As I grew older, I started to wonder if storytelling was something I could do for a living. I moved to Los Angeles to attend USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, but when I graduated, I could only find work as a reality TV editor. My heart still sought out escape, though. I decided it was time to write another novel.
In 2017 I published my first real book, a middle-grade fantasy called Sorcery for Beginners. Publishers Weekly called it “a clever, often hilarious adventure” and Booklist dubbed it “a charming package.” The sequel, Cryptozoology for Beginners, was published two years later.
I went on to write a novel about a super-powered baby called Superkid, and an interactive novel for adults called You Are a Filmmaker. Reviewers called it “extremely compelling, creative, and fun.” All four books can be found on Amazon, Indiebound, or at your favorite local bookstore.
But novels are not my only creative outlet. I’ve written over two dozen screenplays, several stage plays, and a web series pilot for YouTube called Super Kids. In 2019, I wrote and directed an immersive romantic comedy called Somebody to Love. Become Immersed called it “a delightful romp about modern dating.”
I have several more novels in the pipeline, including a sci-fi detective story and romance set in a valley where people don’t age. Recently, I’ve been hard at work on the third book in the Codex Arcanum series, Time Travel for Beginners. I’m also writing my first podcast and developing a mobile game based on You Are a Filmmaker. I hope to escape into stories for the next fifty years.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
As a writer, I’ve learned to get cozy with rejection. Publishers, agents, book buyers — they’ll all reject you for a variety of reasons. But the toughest turn-down I ever received was from my freshman Playwriting teacher at Kenyon College.
One of our first big assignments was to write a ten-minute play. Quentin Tarantino was popular at the time, so I chose to write a gritty scene between a thief and a prostitute, with plenty of pop culture references. My Playwriting teacher tore it to shreds. She told me I clearly didn’t know what I was writing about. (She was right; I didn’t.)
But I wanted to impress her, so I wrote another draft and turned it in. That also got a grade of “terrible.” She added that I should stop wasting her time. Instead, I wrote another draft. And another. And another. For a whole school year, I rewrote that ten-page scene and kept turning it in. Each time, my teacher would find a different way to tell me it was awful.
For some reason, I kept going. I vowed to keep writing until I’d earned some sort of praise from my instructor. Finally, nine months after my first draft, I turned in a brand-new version of the play. It was completely different from the original — much more personal, with characters I actually understood and recognized.
I watched my professor’s inscrutable face as she read my pages. When she finished, she handed it back to me. “This …” she said grudgingly, “Is not bad.” To this day, those words are among the highest praise I’ve ever received.
The experience also taught me several trite but valuable lessons. Lesson One: Writing is rewriting. Lesson Two: Personal details make for universal stories. And Lesson Three: Never bail on something you love.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
Being a writer can be a lonely gig. Many hours a week, I sit alone at my laptop, wondering if what I’m currently working on will appeal to anyone besides myself. And for years, I didn’t know the answer. But after Sorcery for Beginners was published in 2017, I started to experience my favorite aspect of being a creative: the audience reactions.
I’m no million-selling author, but the interactions I’ve had with readers have been incredibly rewarding. I’ve had kids tell me Sorcery is their favorite book. I’ve seen people post pictures of my novels in places as far away as Norway and Tasmania. Just one month ago, at the LA Times Festival of Books, two people stopped by my table to tell me how much they enjoyed my work. A middle school librarian texted me to say that her students were copying spells out of my books and “casting” them at each other on the playground. One girl even dressed up as one of my characters for a school project!
But the best audience reaction is hearing people laugh at something I wrote. My greatest hope is that my work can improve someone’s day, or help them escape their own problems for a small amount of time. I think that’s the core goal of any creative endeavor, really — to transport an audience. I’m humbled to have achieved a small amount of that in my career.
Contact Info:
- Website: mattharrywork.com
- Instagram: matt_harry_mh
- Facebook: Mattharrywriter
- Twitter: mattharrymh
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTNhiqWo6co&t=19s
- Other: https://www.amazon.com/Sorcery-Beginners-Simple-Challenging-Arcanum/dp/1942645686 https://www.amazon.com/Cryptozoology-Beginners-Codex-Arcanum-Harry/dp/1947848828 https://www.amazon.com/Superkid-Matt-Harry/dp/1736502603 https://www.amazon.com/You-Are-Filmmaker-Interactive-Novel/dp/173650262X
Image Credits
Juliane Crump Amber Stephens Harry Jessica Maison @cantstopwontstopreading