About Michael Goodwin Hilton:
Michael Goodwin Hilton is an award-winning playwright, poet, and short story writer who has had his work developed and produced in festivals across the United States and Europe. He is a two-time recipient of the Governor's Award for Best Play in the State of New Jersey and The Spotlight Award from True Acting Institute, among other honors. His work has been published by Tiny Seed Literary Journal, After Dinner Conversation, as well as several Smith & Kraus ‘Best Of’ anthologies. His debut short story collection, "What The Statue Thinks," has been published by Wild Ink Publishing. He lives with his family and teaches at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt. He writes on Substack at “Little Things” and can be followed on Twitter/X @AuthorMGH.
What inspires you to write?
Everything. Absolutely everything. The people I know and love. The people I don't know at all. Everything I read. Everything I watch. Everything I feel and taste and see and know, and perhaps above all else what I don't know at all. I try to write from as deep a place as I can, allowing the story to rise gradually to the surface, sometimes over the course of years. I am inspired by the need to communicate, both with myself and with others, and how storytelling functions first and foremost as a means of a communication, one which can exceed and transcend other types of interaction and correspondence.
What authors do you read when you aren’t writing?
I try to alternate between classic and contemporary. So here is a smattering of who I've been reading within the past year: William Faulkner, Hermann Hesse, Jane Austen, Anne Enright, Marilynne Robinson, Jesmyn Ward, Blake Butler, Don DeLillo, Shakespeare, Dostoevsky, Paul Auster. To name a few.
Tell us about your writing process.
I usually outline a little bit, but what's usually more important are the notes I take, which very often are a long list of questions related to the story or play that I am writing. So much of the process is based on intuition, though, which develops over a long period of time, sometimes years for a particular story. During that time, I consciously try to surround myself with as much media as possible that is somehow related to that concept, e.g. books, movies, plays, etc. that are at least obliquely related to the story I'm trying to tell. It is very gradual and usually very slow, and if the story is very good then the final draft bears little resemblance to how I had imagined the story taking shape before I began writing it. I typically don't use software, but instead a good old fashioned notebook. I think it's important to form a physical relationship with your story, so through handwriting, especially in the early phases of research and conception. I try not to put a screen between me and the story right away. It should feel more like an extension of oneself at the beginning.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
I try to listen as closely as I can. I try to let them tell me where the story is going. I try to assign them the authority, and trust that the story will grow out of their needs if I develop them well enough to the point where I can turn the story over to their direction.
What advice would you give other writers?
This above all, don't give up. It's boring, banal advice but it's worth taking to heart because it's a long, lonely slog, and rejections can wear down even the sturdiest of resolves. But at a certain point, it's important I think for every writer to check in with themselves, look in the mirror and ask whether it would still be worth it even if no one ever read a word of what you wrote except for your closest friends and family. If the answer is yes, you're a writer, and no one can ever take that away from you. Because the work is what matters most, and the work is what will keep you warm on those cold nights.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
I was very luck in having connected with Abby Wild at Wild Ink Publishing via Twitter. I was really impressed by their mission and the quality of the people they worked with and their ethos as an independent press. So I submitted diligently but finally got really lucky. I would encourage new writers to network everywhere and anywhere. In-person, online, via Substack, everywhere. Comment on other writers' posts, say hi, share work, order books from people you don't know and write an honest review online…just connect as far and wide as you can.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
I think there will always be a feisty, committed readership for good work. The landscape is fragmented, and breaking through to a larger audience is becoming increasingly difficult, but there has always been an audience somewhere out there so I don't despair too much. People's attention spans are more resilient, I think, than people give them credit for, and we need well-told stories like we need healthy food. The industry will continue to transform, but I have to believe truly good work will always find a place to belong.
What genres do you write?: Literary fiction and dramas.
What formats are your books in?: Both eBook and Print
Website(s)
Michael Goodwin Hilton Home Page Link
Link To Michael Goodwin Hilton Page On Amazon
Your Social Media Links
Goodreads
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All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.
