Michael D. Young
Pleasant Grove, Utah
USA
Welcome to Vision and Verse, Michael. Can you tell us what you’ve written?
"He is the author of the novels in The Canticle Kingdom Series, The Last Archangel Series, the Chess Quest Series and the Penultimate Dawn Cycle (The Hunger), as well as several non-fiction works, including An Advent Carols Countdown, The Song of the Righteous, As Saints We Sing, and The Song of the Saints. He has also had work featured in various online and print magazines such as Bards and Sages Quarterly, Mindflights, Meridian, Nugent Magazine, The New Era, Keeping Tab, Allegory, Liahona, and Ensign. He has also won honorable mention three times in the Writers of the Future contest." - Press Release
What is your favorite genre to write?
All
Favorite food.
Lasagna, or basically any good Italian food.
Tea or coffee?
Neither. The only hot drink I do is hot chocolate.
Pizza or ice cream?
Yikes, if I have to choose, probably ice cream, by a little. Or better, frozen custard.
Wine or beer or soda or what?
Definitely soda. I’m a Mountain Dew guy, in all its varieties.
Where would you like to visit?
I’d love to visit New Zealand. I’m a big Lord of the Rings fan and I’d love to see some of the locations where they filmed the Peter Jackson movies.
Favorite musical artist.
I love the vocal group Voces8. They are an English group of eight artists and they are unmatched.
Do you listen to music when you write? What? I love to listen to movie soundtracks when I write. They don’t have words to distract me and they help me focus.
What makes you laugh?
Stupid dad jokes. I’m definitely a stereotypical dad, and I’m proud of it.
Favorite work of art or sculpture.
I love “The Night Watch” by Rembrandt. I saw it in person and it is breathtaking and much larger than it seems in textbooks.
How old were you when you started writing?
Very young. I still have my creative illustrated books from when I was about seven or eight.
Do you plan out your book with outlines and notecards? Or just write?
I use a computer program, called Scrivener that lets you create a bunch of digital notecards and documents that you can organize in folders.
Describe your perfect evening.
A perfect evening is one in which I can be productive after having a good meal with my family. I will have time to work on creative projects with nowhere else to go all while sitting in the comfort of my favorite chair or working in my office.
Where do you get your inspiration?
I often find inspiration in music. Music so easily invokes powerful emotions and I hope that my writing can do the same. It takes a lot more to make words do that, though!
What do you do when you get a writer's block?
I shift my focus to another project for a while and give my mind a break from that original project before going back to it. Usually, that’s all I need. There’s no point in running up against a break wall until you’re super frustrated.
Who is your favorite author?
Brandon Sanderson.
Best book you ever read.
I have many favorites, but one of the best overall experiences was “Jonathan Strange and Mister Norrell.” It is such an ingenious book!
Last book you read.
I just read “The Worry Cure”, which is a great book about metacognition, training yourself to think in positive ways about your own thoughts.
What would you do for a living if you weren’t a writer?
I’m also an instructional designer, which actually does involve quite a bit of writing. I’d also love to be a professional musician, and I already do a bunch of singing on the side.
Who is the one person who has influenced your personal life the most and why?
My father. He showed me what it meant to be a strong family man who balances his career with his personal responsibilities and is willing to sacrifice anything for those he loves. He’s a man of integrity and compassion and my prime example about how to conduct myself. I am very blessed to be his son.
If you could sit down and have a conversation with ONE person, living or dead, real or fictional, who would it be and why?
I’d love to speak with Beethoven. He’s my favorite composer and as I actually speak German, I could talk to him in his native language. He also overcame so much adversity to leave the world a lasting legacy. I think it would be fascinating to get to know him personally and learn firsthand how he went about composing music.
What advice would you give someone who aspired to be a writer?
Be patient. Nothing in the publishing world goes quickly. While you are waiting to hear back about a project you have submitted, start something else. Thicken your skin and get ready to learn to keep pushing on despite rejection. It can be done, and the rewards are wonderful.
Do you have some links for us to follow you?
Facebook: www.facebook.com/authormichaelyoung
Website: www.authormichaelyoung.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/mdybyu
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Michael-Young/e/B003HCB8AE
YouTube Channel: https://bit.ly/michaelyoungmusic
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