Ask the Author: Maurice M. Gray Jr.
Answered Questions (7)
Maurice M. Gray Jr.
The Black Writers Reunion and Conference in Dallas, TX, August 2001. I was less than a year removed from publishing my first novel To Whom Much Is Given, and this was my first major literary event (I'd done a few signings, but nothing on a national scale). I met a lot of authors during that weekend with whom I still keep touch, but my "I've arrived" moment came when I arrived for the first group signing and found myself placed next to Pat G'orge-Walker. I'd met her when I arrived the night before, but to see an experienced author writing in my genre (Christian fiction) in that setting, and to have people who came from her table to mine treat me with the same sense of respect and awe gave me confidence that I belonged in the literary arena.
Maurice M. Gray Jr.
To me, it's the opportunity to meet readers and other writers when I go to conferences or do book events. I especially enjoy meeting fellow authors- as a book junkie, that's a definite perk :-).
Maurice M. Gray Jr.
It doesn't take much for me :-). I'm always watching my surroundings, and the questions "Why?" and "What if?" are never far from my mind.
For example, I recently told some teens at a writers workshop about an experience I had that prompted a scene to potentially add to my upcoming novel. I was walking for exercise in my neighborhood when a woman in a flashy car roared around the corner (going way too fast for residential) and almost hit me. I was still grumbling about her bad driving when she finished her circuit of the neighborhood and almost got me again!
I wondered why she was there (as far as I knew she doesn't live in my neighborhood) and what had her driving like a maniac before eight in the morning. Next thing you know I had a whole scenario conceived about why she was in such a hurry (late to work?) and who she might have been in the neighborhood to see. Ideas are there- we who write just need to entertain them (and write them down when they occur to us or risk forgetting them later).
For example, I recently told some teens at a writers workshop about an experience I had that prompted a scene to potentially add to my upcoming novel. I was walking for exercise in my neighborhood when a woman in a flashy car roared around the corner (going way too fast for residential) and almost hit me. I was still grumbling about her bad driving when she finished her circuit of the neighborhood and almost got me again!
I wondered why she was there (as far as I knew she doesn't live in my neighborhood) and what had her driving like a maniac before eight in the morning. Next thing you know I had a whole scenario conceived about why she was in such a hurry (late to work?) and who she might have been in the neighborhood to see. Ideas are there- we who write just need to entertain them (and write them down when they occur to us or risk forgetting them later).
Maurice M. Gray Jr.
Write EVERY DAY. Remember, writing doesn't always mean you have to sit down for an hour or more and write best sellers. Sometimes all you might have is ten minutes before your kids wake up, or twenty while you're waiting for the mechanic to change your oil. It might be that some days, all you can do is journal a little about something that frustrated you or that made you happy or made you think. Take those hour plus sessions when you can get them, but don't think that if you didn't do that, you didn't write. Also, when you're working on a book, realize that there will be more than one draft. For the first one, don't try to perfect it in one shot. Just write until you finish, get it with an editor (a professional, not just someone whose spelling skills you respect) and let them guide you in how to get it to where you want it. And develop thick skin- everyone won't like your writing. Take constructive criticism for what it is- useful information.
Maurice M. Gray Jr.
I got the idea for Like A Brother from having heard that phrase directed toward me from women I was interested in many times in the past :-). I wanted to write about a man frustrated by being put in that role by a woman he's interested in, but I wanted to put a unique spin on it.
I decided to take the brother analogy to its ultimate level; instead of just a woman treating my main character "like a brother," I gave him an entire extended family to whom he is "like a brother" and a background that makes him glad to have them (to the best of his knowledge, he has no living blood relatives).
This novella actually sprang from a short story I wrote for an anthology in 2010 (Home Again: Stories Of Restored Relationships) entitled Family Matters. In it, I established three characters (Erik Dawson and his parents, Thurman and CC), who are featured in Like A Brother. Erik alluded to his parents having mentored many young adults along with raising him, and I decided to expand on that in this novella. I enjoyed writing about this family so much that it was a no brainer to make Erik the main character in my upcoming novel Female Problems (the next release after Like A Brother).
I decided to take the brother analogy to its ultimate level; instead of just a woman treating my main character "like a brother," I gave him an entire extended family to whom he is "like a brother" and a background that makes him glad to have them (to the best of his knowledge, he has no living blood relatives).
This novella actually sprang from a short story I wrote for an anthology in 2010 (Home Again: Stories Of Restored Relationships) entitled Family Matters. In it, I established three characters (Erik Dawson and his parents, Thurman and CC), who are featured in Like A Brother. Erik alluded to his parents having mentored many young adults along with raising him, and I decided to expand on that in this novella. I enjoyed writing about this family so much that it was a no brainer to make Erik the main character in my upcoming novel Female Problems (the next release after Like A Brother).
Maurice M. Gray Jr.
My current project is a novella, Like A Brother. It's currently being edited in anticipation of a 2015 release. The back cover blurb is below.
Jeremiah McAllister lost his entire family before he turned eighteen, but was blessed with another one. As the oldest of more than a dozen young adults mentored by CC Dawson and her husband Thurman, Jeremiah takes his role as oldest brother within their chosen family seriously. To his siblings, he is confidante, emergency contact, babysitter and family ATM; whatever they need, he provides, no questions asked. However, some among them push his largesse to its limits.
Jenisse Anderson uses Jeremiah as a surrogate man on her arm for social events when she’s between boyfriends and as her personal 911 (she calls him to help her deal with anything she deems an emergency). Despite Jeremiah’s consistently being there for her, she will neither reciprocate nor discuss his feelings for her, or even deal with the issues of her past.
Erik Dawson (CC and Thurman’s only biological child) is currently estranged from his parents, and uses Jeremiah as a go-between so he knows they’re okay and vice-versa. Jeremiah’s repeated pleas for Erik to go to his parents and reconcile fall on deaf ears. Between Jenisse and Erik and the constant requests from the others, Jeremiah is pulled in too many different directions all at once.
As he reaches his breaking point, Jeremiah finds himself at a crossroads in his life. How can he break out of an emotional prison he didn’t even realize he was in until recently? Can he face his own history in order to embrace a better future?
Jeremiah McAllister lost his entire family before he turned eighteen, but was blessed with another one. As the oldest of more than a dozen young adults mentored by CC Dawson and her husband Thurman, Jeremiah takes his role as oldest brother within their chosen family seriously. To his siblings, he is confidante, emergency contact, babysitter and family ATM; whatever they need, he provides, no questions asked. However, some among them push his largesse to its limits.
Jenisse Anderson uses Jeremiah as a surrogate man on her arm for social events when she’s between boyfriends and as her personal 911 (she calls him to help her deal with anything she deems an emergency). Despite Jeremiah’s consistently being there for her, she will neither reciprocate nor discuss his feelings for her, or even deal with the issues of her past.
Erik Dawson (CC and Thurman’s only biological child) is currently estranged from his parents, and uses Jeremiah as a go-between so he knows they’re okay and vice-versa. Jeremiah’s repeated pleas for Erik to go to his parents and reconcile fall on deaf ears. Between Jenisse and Erik and the constant requests from the others, Jeremiah is pulled in too many different directions all at once.
As he reaches his breaking point, Jeremiah finds himself at a crossroads in his life. How can he break out of an emotional prison he didn’t even realize he was in until recently? Can he face his own history in order to embrace a better future?
Maurice M. Gray Jr.
When I'm working on something and get stuck, I put it aside and do something else. Sometimes I look at something else I wrote; that usually helps get me past writers block and back in the flow.
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