We Who Are Now Published Authors: M.G. Martin.

My first book came out in 2009 on a very small press in San Francisco. Since its release, I’ve gone through so many questions in my head. Ultimately, the ones that stuck out were: Why did I even publish a book? Was it worth it? What difference does a single book even make with so many out there? How can a small press author like myself really hope to have any impact outside of this insular small press world?

I think these are questions worth approaching again and again.

I decided to ask some of these questions to some other first-time authors. Today, I’ve invited M.G. Martin, author of Ink. Publishing’s One For None, to join the discussion.

M.G. Martin
One For None
Ink. Publishing, August 2010
http://www.spdbooks.org/Producte/9780982828410/one-for-none.aspx

I prompted the discussion with this:

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I like Milan Kundera a lot. I also like how old-fashioned his critical writings are, especially in reference to “the novel” and such.

I pulled a few quotes from some of his essays. Pretend you are answering the same question as Kundera in a really ugly auditorium at a really silly university round-table.

“…the author with his own considerations must disappear so as not to disturb the reader…”
How did you approach this in your book? Did you hide yourself and your considerations? Even if you yourself are in your book, is it possible to disappear and not disturb the reader?

MGM: I struggled to hide myself in the work for years. So eventually, I decided to go with a nom de plume in order to distance my “self” from this strong literary persona that appeared in my writing. In One For None, “m.g.” is allowed the freedom to play messenger between the spiritual & tangential world while (insert my birth name) gets to sit back, sip on a virgin piña colada & watch the poetic voodoo. It’s like being Milli Vanilli & the talented people who actually sang their songs, at the same time!

“A character is not a simulation of a living being. It is an imaginary being. An experimental self.”
This somehow appeals to me. I tend to think that it’s pompous to assume as a writer I could ever fully grasp a character that is not me, and Kundera’s explanation satisfies my suspicions. What do you think?

MGM: Yo, Milan: if a character is an experimental self, then isn’t that character based upon & therefore simulating a living being? Boo-Ya!

But actually, I stand behind this type of thinking. I tend to view literature as some type of imagined waking life. A mirror for the imagination & a therapist for the conscience. In this way, all characters become experiments constructed of the author’s potential freedom & every other person’s contribution to said author’s experience. Like texting yourself from three different phones at once.

“The novel is built on those few categories the way a house is built on its pillars. The pillars of The Unbearable Lightness of Being: weight, lightness, soul, body, the Grand March, shit, kitsch, compassion, vertigo, strength, weakness.”
What are the pillars of your book?

MGM: The Five Pillars of One For None by m.g. martin

1. Contradiction
2. The Musicality of Youth
3. Compromise
4. Mutation of Imagery
5. Energy

“Every book says to the reader: ‘Things are not as simple as you think.’”
What things aren’t as simple as the reader thinks in your book?

MGM: The simplicity of the language in the book is practicing a “call & response” with concepts that are simple: love, confusion, anger, loss, apathy, yearning. These concepts are simple on paper, but their physical manifestations are impossibly complex & difficult to deal with, so, I put them “on paper.” The freshness, the flexibility of the language in One For None releases a certain amount of gravity from these concepts, which allows for an exploration of the contradictions that shape humanity. Also, SPAM is delicious.

“But if man has lost the need for poetry, will he notice when poetry disappears? The end is not an apocalyptic explosion. There may be nothing so quiet as the end.”
Do you think man has lost the need for poetry? For that matter, do you think the world needs your book?

MGM: Once (wo)man loses the need to socialize, it’s all over. Politically, I feel awkward saying that the world needs my book, but I still think it should be read. I’ve been fortunate enough to leave behind a personal history in the archives. This may be my only shot, my only document. I wouldn’t have published it if I didn’t feel the words held weight, but I am well aware that I am 24 years old & that this is my first collection. That being said, Oprah & I are in book club discussions.

“Man hopes to reveal his own image through his act, but that image bears no resemblance to him.”
With the release of your book, what self-image do you hope to reveal?

MGM: That my life is an episode of America’s Funniest Home Videos. That I am considerate like Mr. Rogers. That I am likable like Michelle Obama. That I am
artistic like Bob Ross. That I am kind to animals like Jane Goodall. That I am carefree as a summer quiche. That I love my mother. That I am fashionable like the Amish. Take it or leave. Buy it & read it.

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Check out our prior authors in the We Who Are Now Published Authors series here. And stay tuned for our final Kundera quiz with author Zulema Renee Summerfield.