Bound 4 Escape

On the outside, Sam has it all: money, good-looks, youth. His life is fueled by an endless supply of drugs, alcohol, sex–anything and everything to keep his mind off of what he struggles to keep hidden away: a troubled past as well as recurring disturbing psychotic visions. Strange things begin to happen to Sam causing his diagnosed anxiety to grow into paranoia. To make things worse, brutally mutilated bodies are being discovered around the city and no one seems to care.Experiencing what it is to come full-fledge into adulthood–love, lust, loss, rejection, denial–Sam realizes money and good looks aren’t everything and sometimes what you’re running from is closer than you think.

Available on Amazon

Behind the Smut: A glimpse into the writing process involved

No animals or people were harmed in the making of this book.

In all honesty, I’m probably the worst person to talk about “process”—the preparation and research that typically goes into a project. When it comes to structure and organization, I believe in less is more which may be a good thing or a bad thing. Many (most, actually) writers use timelines and spend countless hours researching a project before they even get started typing. That method has always felt a little too much college-research-paper-esque for me. Where the hell’s the fun in that?

Here’s my process: I get an idea that starts with one simple plot and maybe the semblance of a character or 2, an idea that excites me; an idea that I find myself thinking about at work, while driving, while making love to my wife (kidding). As soon as I can, I sit down and start writing. Here’s the fun part. I don’t know where my characters are going to go or who they’re going to turn into. As I type the words for the first time, it’s as if I’m reading those same words for the first time. As a writer, there’s nothing more exhilarating than getting so wrapped up in a world as it grows around you—not from your mind, but somewhere deeper. If I did it any differently, I would sacrifice everything that drives me to write.

When it comes to portraying characters, etc. accurately, I write what I know. When not reading fiction, I’m reading books on psychology. I’d say I’m more versed than the average Joe, so that helps when dealing with characters who struggle with anxiety, sociopathic tendencies, commitment issues, human issues—love, lust, loss, rejection, denial, all that. Plus, we’ve all been through a little heartache growing up, some more than others. So I use that. Reading Smut (and I strongly encourage you to), you’ll see there is a lot of descriptive sex from a very male perspective, as well as social anxieties, and drug-use—some illegal and some considered more socially acceptable. As I mentioned above, I write what I know.

So the writing process for me was and always is pretty simple. I got an idea that excited me. I sat down, uninterrupted. I turned on Pandora. The National pretty much provided my soundtrack for the entire writing process or lack thereof. If it was early, I had coffee sitting next to me. If it was late, I had coffee sitting next to me and a cocktail of some kind involving ice, club soda, something citrus, and either tequila or whiskey. My black cat Kong would occasionally jump up on the desk and sprawl out across the keyboard, all but forcing me to pet him. Throughout it all, the characters and their story developed before my eyes. Some took turns I didn’t want them to. Some impressed me. Some let me down. Some broke my heart.

Thanks for your interest. I hope that reading Smut, you can feel some of the fun and excitement I had writing it.

Best wishes.

About the Author

Matt Micheli is a writer out of Austin, TX, Wild Card Winner of the 2012 Halloween Book Festival. He has several fiction and non-fiction pieces featured in various literary magazines and is a multi-contributor to ManArchy Magazine, Revolt Daily, and Paragraph Line. He is a loving husband and father by night and takes on one of many corporate-America faces by day. You will find him either behind his computer writing words or at the nearest bar, either way with a stiff cocktail close by..