Interview: David Moore

I was fortunate to run into my next guest over at the Writer’s Cafe. David Moore is not only an exceptional writer, a supportive creative soul, but he also has this great sense of humor that often makes me laugh despite myself. He is the consummate professional and a great friend. I could go on but I’d much rather turn this show over to him; David, can you tell us a little about  yourself?

Masks, we all wear them. Living in New Orleans, I’ve become somewhat of a pro at it (and not just at Mardi Gras!) Sometimes I forget what’s real under the masks.

At home, I wear the whitebread, corny dad mask, while dressing on the preppy side. Upbeat, always weraing a smile, my wife doesn’t believe I ever get depressed. At work (I manage a Bed Bath and Beyond) Mostly the same, although with a bit more authority! But my writing is dominated by a darker side. My wife commented the other day, after reading a poem that had been published by the Medula Review ( http://themedulareview.com – shameless plug) that it made me look crazy. And maybe I am. I often feel disconnected. But I think all writers a crazy to some degree. We have to bend our minds 15 degrees off normal to create. Sometimes it’s hard to get back.

This is probably one of my more personal pieces:

The Unmasking

A Poem by David W Moore III

Your first look hits my iron mask and rebounds,
flashing highly polished effervescence.
Your gentle fingers unlatch and remove the ferrous face.
A single crimson tear rolls from the eyes of steel
as it clatters to the floor,
Divine Comedy, a mask in white is revealed.
Flirtation lights its eyes as it laughs with painted heart.
Alabaster porcelain liquefies under the harsh sunlight.
Rouge lips sag to convex
as comedy abdicates to tragedy.
You sit mesmerized as the play unfolds,
jumping only as tragedy falls and shatters at your feet
leaving…
Nothing…
Featureless…
Faceless…
I sit unresponsive
as your probing fingers peel back my skin.
Indigo rivulets stream forth from sea-foam
attached to glasswork bones.
You reach between my ribs,
wincing at the tinkling of spider-webbing glass
and gingerly remove a worn leather bag
drawn closed and beating feebly.
I stare through orbless eyes as you open the top
and the beat stops short.
You hesitate with a look of concern
and trail your fingertips lightly down the smoothness of my cheek.
I nod acquiescence.
Upending the bag, you watch as corundum and gravel spill forth.
Cornelian and obsidian and oddly shaped pieces of amber
bounce on the table in a slurry of ink.
A Rorschach pattern of rocks and mud slowly expands
to the edge of the world.
Your eyes are searching; mine, resigned.
When finally you drop the bag,
a single small stone,
fractured and faceted in purest carmine falls out.
You reach out and hold it up to my midnight mask.
Moonlight tears course from socketless eyes.
You touch the stone to the salted rain and…

It beats.

© 2011 David W Moore III

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Q:~~~~So let’s start off with this, what attracted you to writing?

DM: ~~~~I’ve always been a voracious reader. I think, that leads to a desire to write (although talent is still necessary). Unfortunately, my literary beginnings were not nearly so noble. Like many others, I began writing as an outlet for teenage angst. My first poem, Shadows ( http://www.writerscafe.org/writing/davidwmooreiii/597375/ )  was written about a seemingly never ending depression following a high school breakup. I would like to add, at this point, that as a form of therapy, writing is MUCH cheaper than an office visit, and probably just as effective!
I moved from poetry to fiction in college when I started my detective novel, Shadow’s Dance. It has since rewritten itself into a psychological thriller, but hey, it’s been in the making for 20 years! Unfortunately life interrupted. Marriage, birth, death, another birth, all distractions. Besides, while I always personally liked my writing, I’d never shown it to anyone to get feedback, so I just assumed I was rather average (and not the KING that I now see myself as!)

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Q: ~~~~Who would you describe as the biggest influences on your views of writing (famous writers, poets, teachers)
DM: ~~~~As a child, I loved science fiction and fantasy: Frank Herbert, Stephen R. Donaldson (love a flawed hero) and more recently Terry Goodkind and George R Martin. Thrillers and horror also tugged my strings, although if I had to pick one book as my favorite (and a recommendation for all to read) it would have to be Carlos Ruiz Zafon‘s Shadows of the Wind, a true gothic piece written in the time of the Spanish civil war about a book with language that, even in translation, is absolutely gorgeous and enthralling. As for poetry, I liked the classics as a teen, but when I was grown, I put childish things aside (ha!) Poe, Byron, Donne. I don’t write in that style, but I can appreciate the foundation they laid. Strangely enough, even though I write poetry, I did not continue on into the more contemporary writers, and that is a gap, I am trying to fill now.

When I joined Writers Cafe, last September, I had written no more than 4 poems in the previous 10 years. I happened upon the site and found Selene SkyeDeme. I say that like someone might say they found god (or goddess) and they wouldn’t be far off. Her surreal gutter slams and dreamlike imagery struck a chord and made me FEEL again. Since then, a veritable flurry of 40+ poems and 4 short stories and a book later, I am a writer again. My style has change due to her writing. My imagery remains the same, but infused with a bit of surreality now.

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Q: ~~~~Where in this world is your favorite place to be and what about it do you draw inspiration?

DM: ~~~~Where? Hmmm…. Not here, not now. How’s that for a cop-out answer?
I like the quiet of a country setting, but soon become board of the slow pace, so I live in a smaller city with much character, both good and bad, but never generic.

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Q: ~~~~Speaking of the here and now, has the artistic atmosphere changed at all in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina devastated the area? (if yes how, if no do you feel people have rallied for a sense of recovery)

DM: ~~~~The atmosphere in general was very surreal for the first year after Katrina, and is really much of a haze in my mind now, much like post trauma. My house was destroyed, and over a year of fighting with the corporate insurance companies that I’d paid untold premiums to and never made a claim left me ALMOST made whole, but somehow damaged in the process.

Artistically, it’s never been better. The spotlight and influx of money has helped tremendously. New Orleans is now the darling child of the country in some ways. Just on a film note, more movies were filmed in Louisiana last year than in Hollywood.

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Q: ~~~~That’s some serious creative mojo, having so many movies filmed there! Can you tell us about what hobbies you have outside of writing?

DM: ~~~~Sheesh, who has time? I work 55 hours a week. Although I do enjoy being an extra in movies (I’ve done five) My most recognizable scene is in the first minute of The Vampire’s Assistant (Cirque Du Freak). As they pan across the graveside mourners, I’m wearing a blue suit right next to the principles (and appear pretty close up, but no lines)

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Q: ~~~~Wow! That’s really cool! *adds to Netflix Queue* I’ll be looking for you! Ever get writers block and what is your favorite way to break it?

DM: ~~~~No. But that is a bit misleading. I don’t write until I feel something. I don’t try to force it. I need that gut feeling to plant subconsciously into the piece to give it some intensity. So I may not write every day or even every week, but when that muse calls… Sometimes it’s a painful thing. The only piece I ever wrote with no Idea what I was going to write before I started word one was Tangle ( http://www.writerscafe.org/writing/davidwmooreiii/752117/ )

But if I’m looking for an idea, I read. Sometimes a word or phrase will explode into something unexpected. Take In the Rye for example ( http://www.writerscafe.org/writing/davidwmooreiii/765507/ )

I rarely do prompt writings, my muse doesn’t listen to them, but while reading Kerry’s Thursday Challenge about Catcher in the Rye, the title phrase (totally out of context from the story) Made her jump up and down. (woefully, it was not written before the contest ended)

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Q: ~~~~What methods do you use to promote your work?
DM: ~~~~Social media, word of mouth, book signings… I don’t promote as much as I should to be a serious writer. Maybe one day…

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Q: ~~~~Promotion is such a laborious task, but completely necessary with your work! More people definitely need to know about it. Ok, next question, do you have an internal editor and if so how do you deal with that niggling voice?

DM: ~~~~Ha! I am my own worst enemy. Immediately after I finish a poem, I absolutely hate it. I gradually warm up to it over the first day, and begin to like it after two or three days.Because of this, I do no edits (other than grammar) for at least a week. Fiction, on the other hand, is the complete opposite. I love it at first and gradually see all the nitpicky errors over time.

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Q: ~~~~It interesting how you react to the different modes of writing, but now that you mention it I realize my inner editor is far less picky about my poetry than my story telling. Do you feel that writers have a duty or goal they must achieve in relation to their readers ?

DM: ~~~~One goal and one goal only (at least for myself), and that is to evoke. Evoke something, anything. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. I don’t care. I don’t see the point of writing something if it doesn’t THUNK you in the gut.

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Q: ~~~~ What’s your favorite way to expand your vocabulary?

DM: ~~~~Read, read, read

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Q: ~~~~ Of the stories you’ve created who is your favorite or least favorite characters?

DM: ~~~~Pick my favorite child? Really? I guess I’ve had the most fun with my sociopath in Shadow’s Dance. Sociopaths are freeing. Yes there are rules, but they just don’t care! Chris, the protagonist is somewhat of an anti-hero, trying to find the killer while suffering a breakdown, and finally starting to believe he might be chasing himself. He is a bit more painful to write. There is a lot of me in him.

I love the way they take over, though. When I was young, I heard an author talk about that and though the was full of cr@p. But these characters tell me what they are going to do much more often than they listen to me.

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Lastly, do you have any projects in the works (put in any blurbs, links to your publications and your website(s)…shamelessly promote, the floor is yours!)

First, there is my current book, From the Midst of the Maelstrom (a journey from my writing beginnings to where I am today) available at my website (for signed copies) or Amazon or other booksellers.

I have three books in the making:
Marie Laveau’s Hot Pink Hearse (poetry) due out early 2012
God’s and Other Complexes (short stories) due out late 2012 (not withstanding the apocolypse)
Shadow’s Dance (novel) due out ?

You can find my works at:
http://www.davidwmooreiii.webs.com
http://www.shadowsdance.webs.com
http://www.writerscafe.org/davidwmooreiii

( I opened up most of my writing on WC for a few weeks for anyone who wants to see. I will be privatizing most of it next month again)

Questions not asked:
What is your writing process?
I usually start with a mind picture or movie. I let that percolate for a day or so to let it spin-off some imagery and evolve a bit. Only then do I start writing. That’s how I get my patented ‘intense visuals’. For example Alice and the Event Horizon ( http://www.writerscafe.org/writing/davidwmooreiii/693716/ ) started as a mind movie of a black sphere with an undulating surface floating at a distance on a white field. The camera then rotated around it before beginning to zoom in. Finally, it crashed through out the surface and into another reality. Over the day, it developed into a black hole. Then Alice popped up and shouted, “Through the looking singularity”, finally Scylla opened her maw and asked to join the tea party. I had absolutely no say past the imagery.

Favorite single line you’ve written?
Waves rush in, shouting their silent song of persistence
from Castles of Sand ( http://www.writerscafe.org/writing/davidwmooreiii/598785/ )

I love the contrasting image of time, but I’m most proud of the aural crafting. When spoken aloud, the ‘s’ and ‘sh’ sounds reproduce the surf rolling in.

What is the most interesting thing that has happened to you?
I was struck by lightning.

Oh? And how was that?
Like becoming instantaneously deaf and blind while being struck by a 2X4 in the chest. It probably explains a lot about me!

Sorry for hijacking the interview!
If you want to save space, you can remove the links.
David

Thank you once again for your willingness to be under the spotlight! I appreciate your time and participation! (You can hijack your interview anytime! I don’t mind at all! )

And thanks to everyone for stopping by and reading!

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