Ask the Author: Michael Norton
Answered Questions (5)
Michael Norton
Good morning, Richard. And thanks for your question!
Several parishes around the country have conducted classes or discussions about "A Hiker's Guide to Purgatory." (I was even able to attend a couple of these that happened to be nearby, and it was great fun.) They did tend to be sort of rough-and-ready Q&A affairs, but that might have been because I was present.
So far as I know, nobody has put together a formal discussion guide with questions for each chapter. If I'd known how popular HGTP was going to be, I might have done it myself. By all means, feel free to put together your own questions -- and if you get stuck on anything, you can always contact me.
God bless you, and let me know how it goes!
Mike Norton
Several parishes around the country have conducted classes or discussions about "A Hiker's Guide to Purgatory." (I was even able to attend a couple of these that happened to be nearby, and it was great fun.) They did tend to be sort of rough-and-ready Q&A affairs, but that might have been because I was present.
So far as I know, nobody has put together a formal discussion guide with questions for each chapter. If I'd known how popular HGTP was going to be, I might have done it myself. By all means, feel free to put together your own questions -- and if you get stuck on anything, you can always contact me.
God bless you, and let me know how it goes!
Mike Norton
Michael Norton
You're most welcome, George!
I wish you many blessings in your approach to Ignatius. Like you, I've looked with a certain envy at the huge market that exists for non-Catholic Christian fiction, but those publishers don't seem to have much use for us papists. Ignatius Press is one of the few Catholic publishers interested in fiction -- mainly thanks to talented writers like Michael O'Brien -- and I encourage you to work with them. Since they're very selective, it's a good idea to approach them with the very best manuscript you can produce. I found it useful to consult their author guidelines https://ignatius.com/manuscript-submi... before contacting them. They didn't seem eager to hear a pitch from me, so I just sent them the whole enchilada.
My only other suggestion is to be patient. Really patient. I didn't hear from them for at least six months, and publication took even longer. (In the end, of course, it was worth the wait.)
Good luck, George! Oh, and by the way, my dad was a detective with the Grand Rapids Police Department when I was growing up back in the Sixties. Strange coincidence, eh?
Mike Norton
I wish you many blessings in your approach to Ignatius. Like you, I've looked with a certain envy at the huge market that exists for non-Catholic Christian fiction, but those publishers don't seem to have much use for us papists. Ignatius Press is one of the few Catholic publishers interested in fiction -- mainly thanks to talented writers like Michael O'Brien -- and I encourage you to work with them. Since they're very selective, it's a good idea to approach them with the very best manuscript you can produce. I found it useful to consult their author guidelines https://ignatius.com/manuscript-submi... before contacting them. They didn't seem eager to hear a pitch from me, so I just sent them the whole enchilada.
My only other suggestion is to be patient. Really patient. I didn't hear from them for at least six months, and publication took even longer. (In the end, of course, it was worth the wait.)
Good luck, George! Oh, and by the way, my dad was a detective with the Grand Rapids Police Department when I was growing up back in the Sixties. Strange coincidence, eh?
Mike Norton
Michael Norton
Hello, George!
I don't have an agent (although there are times when one might have been useful) but my situation may be somewhat unique. "A Hiker's Guide to Purgatory" is the only novel I've ever written or plan to write, and Ignatius Press is the only publisher I ever wanted to publish it. I was blessed to have hit the bulls eye on my first and only try.
I don't have an agent (although there are times when one might have been useful) but my situation may be somewhat unique. "A Hiker's Guide to Purgatory" is the only novel I've ever written or plan to write, and Ignatius Press is the only publisher I ever wanted to publish it. I was blessed to have hit the bulls eye on my first and only try.
Michael Norton
So how did this idea come to me? Well, unsurprisingly, it came to me on a hike. Well, really, during a series of lunchtime hikes around Traverse City. Hiking is a good thing to do when you’re a writer because it gives you time to think about things. And since I’m getting on in years, the afterlife is increasingly on my mind.
Over and over, this image kept coming back to me of a guy with a backpack standing at the bottom of a steep grass-covered hill – just standing there wondering what to do next. I’m a curious guy who always wants to know what’s around the next bend or over the next rise. So I had to write this book to find out what was on the other side of that hill.
As a writer, I was drawn to this idea of Purgatory as a place of pilgrimage and journeying. Heaven and hell are final destinations. But in Purgatory you’re still on the journey; you may know your final destination, but you don’t know how long it will take you to get there or what will happen to you along the way.
Over and over, this image kept coming back to me of a guy with a backpack standing at the bottom of a steep grass-covered hill – just standing there wondering what to do next. I’m a curious guy who always wants to know what’s around the next bend or over the next rise. So I had to write this book to find out what was on the other side of that hill.
As a writer, I was drawn to this idea of Purgatory as a place of pilgrimage and journeying. Heaven and hell are final destinations. But in Purgatory you’re still on the journey; you may know your final destination, but you don’t know how long it will take you to get there or what will happen to you along the way.
Michael Norton
I think I'd love to visit C.S. Lewis's Narnia. It would be lovely to travel to a place that left me better and wiser than I was before. Not to mention the adventures!
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more