Loading
MM![]()
author
Mark S. Moore
Many author’s biographies are written in third person. I’ll admit that is where I started. I wrote out everything in third person but I quickly realized that wasn’t me. That wasn’t my voice. That’s...view moreMany author’s biographies are written in third person. I’ll admit that is where I started. I wrote out everything in third person but I quickly realized that wasn’t me. That wasn’t my voice. That’s not who I am as an author or a person. I came off a bit like a pretentious asshole. Have you ever written about yourself in third person? Try it.I first began writing when, sitting in the counselor’s office in high school, I realized I didn’t like the ending of a Dragonlance novel. I’ve long since forgotten what book it was but it was likely something by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. It wasn’t that the ending was bad, it was that it ended at all. I wanted more. I remember similar feelings earlier in my life when I read Harry Potter. I wanted to know about the next generation, I wanted more stories. That is where my writing comes from, a love of reading.A love of reading isn’t enough to become a writer, though. I went on to study History and earn both a Bachelor’s and a Masters in the subject. Anyone who’s studied history knows just how closely linked it can be to fiction, to storytelling. History is the collection of narratives that we all have decided are important to be told over again for one reason or another. My flirtation with narrative grew into full-on infatuation by the time I entered the work-force in 2015.My debut novel, Rise, was initially a passion project started in November of 2015. After some harsh criticism and a bit of soul-searching, I sought to hone my craft and make Rise into something more concrete. I joined a Writer’s group (thenextbigwriter.com), completed an Advanced Creative Writing course at Oxford University and dug my heels in. Through it all, I had support from family, friends, co-workers, and strangers. With any project there are going to be setbacks and moments of doubt, a tremendous support system pushes you forward when you’re ready to give up. I was lucky enough to have that.The first draft of Rise was finished in early 2016. Since then it has been shredded to pieces, finished, shredded again, definitely finished, shredded once more, absolutely finished, and then torn to pieces one more time before giving it up to the first-rate editing talents at JMR Professional Editing.Rise was published in November 2018.view less