Ask the Author: Matthias Drawe
Answered Questions (21)
Matthias Drawe
Sure. No problem. You can just post additional questions, and I will gladly answer them. Thank you!
Matthias Drawe
I came to New York for the first time when I was in my early twenties. I have a talent for languages and I lost the accent rather quickly. I feel a certain affinity to the English language. German is more convoluted somehow, English is simpler, more straight forward. Also: There is a sense of humor in the English speaking world that I find very appealing. Germans are not known to be especially funny, and I always felt my particular sense of humor underappreciated in Germany.
Matthias Drawe
I am a risk-taker, and I tend to experience weird stories. I just feel the need to pass them on.
Matthias Drawe
Yes. I believe that good fiction needs to be based on real experience. You can feel it right away if a story has a true ring to it. If it's based on real experience, you will find all kinds of surprising details in the story, details only life itself in all its weirdness can come up with.
Matthias Drawe
It's a coming of age story set in West-Berlin when the wall was still standing. It's about a group of young, anarchistic squatters facing eviction. It was a very special time at a very special place. West-Berlin was like no other place in the world at the time. It was surrounded by a hostile communist dictatorship, and yet it was full of life, art and love. I had the story in my drawer for almost 30 years. In 2014 it was ripe to be told.
Matthias Drawe
Well, I have a background in film. Just like Hardy von Hachenstein.
Matthias Drawe
Yes. It's a technique that allows me to move forward quickly.
Matthias Drawe
Well, this is actually based on family lore. My last name is pretty rare in Germany. There are only about 200 people with this last name in a country of more than 80 million. At some point, my grandfather conducted some genealogical research and found out that our name "Drawe" derives from the river "Trave" and from the local gentry around the town of Travemünde, who were called "von der Trave" several hundred years ago. Over time, the "von" was lost and there was a consonant shift from "Trave" to "Drawe." I always liked the idea, that we are descendants of impoverished gentry, so I put it in the book.
Matthias Drawe
Yes. Pretty close to what's in the book.
Matthias Drawe
I agree. The more trouble, the funnier it gets.
Matthias Drawe
This is a difficult question, and there's no easy answer. First of all, you have to ask yourself about perspective. How do I want to tell my story? In first person? Third person? Past tense? Present tense? Some people call it to "find your voice." You need to find the right angle to tell your story. I could have told the story in first person, and I started out this way, but after some experimenting I found that telling my story in third person and using the alter ego "Hardy von Hachenstein" gave me more poetic license. It gave me the necessary distance to see the comical aspects of the hero.
Matthias Drawe
No. It's literary fiction. It's first hand experience put into dramatic form, that's what it is.
Matthias Drawe
Well, I wouldn't put a number on it, but Hardy is based on my experience, yes. What you find in the book has been experienced first hand.
Matthias Drawe
Yes, I've heard it before. And the answer is: a lot.
Matthias Drawe
Thanks for contacting me, Rodrigo. Sure why not. Unfortunately I am travelling at the moment. Please be so kind and contact me again on Tuesday (Nov. 15). How would you like to conduct the interview? Via Goodreads?
Matthias Drawe
The inspiration is an interesting conflict.
If I experience a strong human conflict in an interesting setting, I write it down. Maybe that initial idea develops into a story.
If I experience a strong human conflict in an interesting setting, I write it down. Maybe that initial idea develops into a story.
Matthias Drawe
I'm working on a novel about a young guy who wants to become an indie filmmaker in New York City. He needs to go to hell and back to get there.
Matthias Drawe
I've been writing for almost 30 years, now, and the only advice I can give is: If you want to be a writer, write! - You have to sit down every day and practice. It is a long process to create a good story and it is dificult to find your own "voice" to tell that story. You can only get there if you practice. - I've seen plenty of people who are talented but they lack the energy to practice. You need to be ready to write ten drafts for your story or even more.
Matthias Drawe
If I have a funny idea for a scene or a character it makes me laugh. Once you created a certain world for your story the characters all of a sudden come alive and get a life of their own. It is also very rewarding to get the idea for an interesting dramatic twist. - I can make myself laugh by creating a funny scene - what can be better than that?
Matthias Drawe
Writers block is a terrible thing of course and it happened to me several times.
At a certain time of my life I made a living as a radio journalist, specializing on travel reports and human interest stories, so it was essential to constantly produce new ideas. But at times I would just sit in front of a blank page and could produce absolutely nothing.
I've learned over the years that for me there are good and bad days. Some days it's a joy to write and one idea leads to another, other days it's just a drag and everything is bleak.
I decided to simply do something else on the "bad days", get my papers in order, organize my apartment, take a long walk.
And sure enough the mood changes again. Maybe the following day I have a good cup of coffee in the morning and suddenly feel inspired.
What works for me is the following:
Try every to write every day but if the "feeling" is not there, drop it. I only produce good stuff when I am in a good mood. When in a good mood everything comes easy. So when those moments are there, I grab them and hammer out as much as I can.
At a certain time of my life I made a living as a radio journalist, specializing on travel reports and human interest stories, so it was essential to constantly produce new ideas. But at times I would just sit in front of a blank page and could produce absolutely nothing.
I've learned over the years that for me there are good and bad days. Some days it's a joy to write and one idea leads to another, other days it's just a drag and everything is bleak.
I decided to simply do something else on the "bad days", get my papers in order, organize my apartment, take a long walk.
And sure enough the mood changes again. Maybe the following day I have a good cup of coffee in the morning and suddenly feel inspired.
What works for me is the following:
Try every to write every day but if the "feeling" is not there, drop it. I only produce good stuff when I am in a good mood. When in a good mood everything comes easy. So when those moments are there, I grab them and hammer out as much as I can.
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