Made in NH– Authors: Steve Carter
By Amy Ray
This is the eighth in a series of ten-question interviews of authors who represented NHWP at the Made in New Hampshire Expo booth.
Steve Carter is a jazz guitarist and writer. Intermodulations is his first full-length book of poetry. The poems capture the interplay between music, art, and literature, and are rich with glimpses of city life. Steve is a lifelong resident of the greater Boston area and the city of Boston has a large presence in many of his poems, appearing almost as a character itself.
Steve will be at the New England Authors Expo (Danversport Yacht Club, Danvers, MA) on Wednesday, July 29th from 4pm - 9 pm.
Amy Ray: What inspired you to become a writer?
Steve Carter: I always loved reading. In college, at UMass Boston in the ’60s, I met a lot of students and teachers who inspired me.
AR: What is the most challenging aspect of writing for you?
SC: Making it musical.
AR: There are many typewriter fans here at the Writers’ Project. How do you write: computer, typewriter, longhand, dictation…?
SC: Mostly on my laptop, using Scrivener for writing projects, FreePlane and sometimes Scapple for research and outlining, Aeon Timeline for novel timeline.
AR: Plotter or Pantser? (Do you plot ahead of time or fly by the seat of your pants?)
SC: For poetry, a pantser; for writing, a plotter.
AR: What was your path to publication: agent with traditional publisher, small press, indie publishing or self-publishing?
SC: My wife and I own our own publishing company, so we self-published this book.
AR: How long did it take you to get from your initial inspiration to the finished product?
SC: More than forty years. Some of the poems in Intermodulations were written that long ago. I started making notes for my novel-in-progress in 1972. Igor Stravinsky once said, about his composing, “I am like an insect—I can wait.”
AR: How do you market your books?
SC: Primarily through book events at libraries, book stores, and so forth. See the events page on our site for a list of events.
AR: Do you have any advice for other writers?
SC: Read more. Decades ago, Aldous Huxley said that he got tired of writers who wrote more than they read. At writer events I attend, I hear, “Everyone’s writing, but no one is reading.”
AR: Are you working on a new writing project?
SC: I’m working on a novel I started forty years ago.
AR: What are you reading now?
SC: In print: Burn by James Patrick Kelly, Life Work by Donald Hall, and The Kingdom by the Sea by Paul Theroux. Ebook on my smartphone: Beacon Hill, Back Bay and the Building of Boston’s Golden Age by Ted Clarke.
Amy Ray’s book, Dangerous Denial, is a Silver Falchion nominee in the category of Best First Novel: Thriller/Mystery. Ray also has a short story in the New Hampshire Pulp Fiction anthology, Love Free or Die. She lives on the seacoast and is a longtime member of NHWP.