Welcome back, my fellow creatives! I’m thrilled to continue sharing some lovely indie authors I’ve met in our community–it’s so great to connect with folks again. This month, please welcome the fantasy author Matt Sean Bell!

Let’s start with feeling the power of words. What was an early experience where you learned that language had power?

When reading certain books, you can find that the human word has a great deal of power and can even move you emotionally, bringing you to tears or remorse. One of my earliest experiences learning this was when a reader finished my first novel, and cried at the end, feeling so emotionally overwhelmed by the ending and its significance. At that point, I realized that my writing style was very powerful and capable of triggering some complex emotions in individuals.

That’s amazing! It’s like you channeled something transformative into your prose. Do you view writing as a kind of spiritual practice?

Yes, in fact, I seem to enjoy writing more than anything else in the world, so it does have a transcendent effect on me.

Your Aidaean Saga is a science-fantasy adventure set on a unique planet; one reader equated your novel to a “World of Warcraft” kind of setting. In a story-world utterly unlike reality, how do you balance making demands on the reader with taking care of the reader?

I try to make it so my readers are able to understand the context of a made-up word or idea when they immediately encounter it, so they must use a bit of their own innate context clues to figure out these words, as well as hear explanations from various characters. I try to make it so my novels are accessible, even to those unfamiliar with the genre, but also allow those more involved to fully commit to the grandiosity of the universe.

What would you consider to be sources of inspiration that sparked the Aidaean Saga?

Aidaean Saga has a wide variety of inspirations that stem from films to videogames. Although the core science fantasy concept hues closely to a mixture of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, it also has elements of grimdark warfare reminiscent of Warhammer 40,000, as well as detailed, fully-fleshed characters that are often found in RPG games. Dungeons & Dragons was also a substantial influence on the focus of my story, which emphasizes a group of heroic adventurers and the war they fight.

Role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons spark so much creativity with worldbuilding and character development. I see this in my daughter’s own work on her storytelling. How do you select the names of your characters?

I usually mix surnames and first names, as well as prefixes and suffixes to come up with my more fantastical-sounding names.

There are countless fantasy and scifi novels that inspire as well. What’s your favorite under-appreciated fantasy or scifi novel?

John Gardner’s Grendel, which is due to be adapted to a film soon!

Are there any other authors you disliked at first but grew into later on?

The author of The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald, is an author whom I originally did not enjoy the style of. However, now that I am older and have an affinity for period pieces, I find that the story is very appropriate for the era it is set in.

I know what you mean! Some stories just won’t connect with us in our earlier stages of life. It’s also an important reminder to us as writers that we’re not going to connect to all readers all the time. As an indie author, do you have any strategies you’d like to recommend when it comes to marketing and reaching readers?

I do a lot of direct engagement, sales, and giving out free samples. So I recommend all of these in order to reach your readers and build your fanbase.

What was the best money you ever spent as an indie author?

The best money I spent was printing my books and choosing to publish them myself in place of using Amazon or a popular bookstore. I felt that I had saved a great deal of money doing it myself, making the expense very efficient.

It can be so tough for a writer trying to figure out a writing process that works for them, let alone the indie publishing scene. What would you say are common traps for aspiring writers?

One of the most common traps is overthinking the initial start of your story in place of actually writing it. It may be easier for some individuals to just get directly to writing and form the core ideas of the story in place of anticipating the perfect move.

That’s great advice! I’m in that kind of muck myself right now: I’ve started writing the story, but I’m also working on notes to help me build the worlds my protagonists visit in the story. I’ve had to gather quite an odd concoction of books and music from the library to do so, lol. What kind of research do you do to help you in your worldbuilding process?

Before creating the stories, I worked extensively on the worldbuilding process, building a Compendium that contains over 600+ pages of background material and details. It contains all of the creatures, cultures, religions, races, lands, etc. of my stories, and allows me to effortlessly pull from things to create the stories themselves.

What do you consider to be the most difficult part of your artistic process?

I have a perfectionist attitude, so for me, the most difficult part to creating my novels is making sure there are no legible mistakes or distractions to pull the reader from their immersion.

Thank you so much for taking time to talk to me, Matt! Let’s end with a question I love asking folks. Nothing saps my creativity like a telephone call from my children’s school. What is your writing Kryptonite?

Editing. It is a necessary evil.

You can say that again–eesh! Thanks again for stopping by, Matt. Folks, you can say hi to Matt on Instagram, X/Twitter, Pinterest, and Etsy.

~*~

Now, what’s next? I’ve got a podcast coming up, a resource spotlight, a republishing debate, the benefits of having a fish out of your water, and of course, another trip to summer camp! I feel like we’re in The Pagemaster right now, having had our trips through adventure and fantasy. That just leaves horror…