Meet Matt Zander
Current mood: restless

Meet Matt Zander...

Pros: Sharp observation, acid tongue
Cons: Needs anger management, restless
Catchphrase: So sue me

"Matthew Aaron Zander, Gemini, ruled by the planet of Mercury. Born into the world at 9:32 p.m. on June 12, 1973 at the William Osler Health Centre to Thomas John and Maureen Sharon Zander. Raised in Etobicoke, Toronto, Ontario. Attended Bloordale Middle School at an early age before being formally educated at Central Etobicoke High. Showed signs of promise in both the arts and social studies, but was easily distracted, undisciplined, and never quite lived up to his potential, graduating in 1988 with an academic average of sixty-three percent. Forwent any hopes of attending college and quickly developed several undesirable pursuits, wilfully engaging in behaviour most unbecoming of a gentleman. Thereafter began the abuse of intoxicants and a lifestyle which would prove very difficult to extricate from. However, with the separation of his parents and the untimely loss of a high school friend, he began to recognize his choices, and showed tremendous strength to leave that life in his past. It was then he gained employment in a respected profession, providing a service to the community at large. Sadly, certain elements of undesirable conduct from his formative years continued to be a source of entertainment, particularly when combined with his peers and lack of ambition. In his last two years of life alone, he was complicit in the act of burglary a total of twenty-seven times, directly affecting the lives of one-hundred and ninety-six souls. Unbeknownst to him, these actions changed the course of several souls, thwarting the very purpose of their journey. Furthermore—"

 
Yep … I screwed up. Big time. Maybe that’s why I was given a second chance…

Available at Amazon.com

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I may never write a novel again...
Current mood: crazy
Category: Writing and Poetry

Over on Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood Daily blog, a number of Hollywood screenwriters have written pieces during the WGA Writers' Strike about why they write, and why they do what they do. I'll link to a few of these below as they're quite interesting to read, especially if you're a TV fan and want an insight into some of the top TV-show writers talking about how they came about being a writer. As I read each one, I smiled lots, as I couldn't have related more to what some were saying about why they write. So I thought I'd put down my thoughts about writing, too, and this was what I came up with…

 
Why I write:

 
Ten years ago, I'd never have dreamt I'd end up writing a novel, let alone one that'd take me years to finish. Writing was just something that never appeared on my radar. Sure, I'd talk with friends about comedy skits and scenes, TV pilot ideas, and potential indie scripts, but none of us every actually did any writing. Or if we did, it was only ever the opening few pages of a script before we'd kinda forget about it and just wind up at the video store renting DVDs. We were never short of ideas. We had loads. It was just the act of writing that was so solitary and commitment-based that scared us slackers off. I mean, I was always the guy who had a billion ideas, but when it came to sitting down with a laptop and laying them down, I'd suddenly find any excuse in the book (no pun intended) not to write, and just move on to dreaming up the next cool story idea. I guess back then, I didn't have that big a desire to say something.

But as time went on, things began to change. As I developed the Zander idea - still unsure if I'd ever actually start writing it - I found I had a few things I wanted to say, things I wanted to get off my chest. With Zander, I had this kinda intensity that I hadn't felt with any other story idea before. And so I began writing the opening scene…

 
…

 
Several years later…

 
Post-Zander, it's such a great feeling having written. It kicks ass. But did I write the thing cos I love writing? Are you crazy!?! Hell, no. Just like a few of those Hollywood screenwriters at the links below, I hate writing. It sucks ass. It really does. Well, okay, maybe that's a bit harsh. There are odd times I've loved it, and there were times during the novel when nailing a pivotal chapter was like snorting lines of cocaine with twenty hookers around me. But those times were rare and often came only after I'd spent hours agonizing over a single paragraph, trying to find the perfect structure or words to say what I wanted to say. Yep, I'm not afraid to say writing mostly sucks. It's hell having to sit down some days and stare at the screen, thinking about anything but writing. It's even worse when you have a window with a water view to look out of, a cat that loves to walk across the keyboard and distract you, and a mind that sometimes is even willing to clean than stay in that chair, staring at that smug, blinking cursor.

That's why when I meet someone who tells me how much they love writing, and want to write novels for a living, I always get really suspicious. Sometimes I ask them to repeat themselves, as if I haven't heard them correctly. If they say again, "I love to write, too!" with an overdose of enthusiasm, I lean in close to their face, lift my eyebrow up, and stare into their eyes as I think to myself, 'Why are you trying to b.s. me?'

 
Writing is a strange thing to love. But I don't have a beef with anyone who does. Words flow easily for some, I have no doubt about that. Some writers can pump out pages and pages a day, and maybe not even have to go back for a second or seventy-eighth re-write. Some writers can write and write and write without any self-loathing at all. They're the lucky bastards. Writing for me is a grind. An all-consuming grind. Hell, it took me seven years to finish my novel - that alone should be enough of a sign to tell you how writing is for me. Every single word, every sentence, every element of the story, I obsess over. It needs to be right. It needs to be good. It can't suck. Every word has to count. It has to feel right. And when it does feel right, well, that's the best feeling in the world. It makes the hell of writing worth it. When you know you're finished. When you know it's over. It's like a long, arduous journey across a vast wasteland has come to an end. You can rest. You can sit back and smile. Cos there's no more hell. You forget all the pain characters and dialogue caused you. You forget the frustrations of writing whole pages in a rabid frenzy and deleting them seconds later because you hate it. And most of all, you forget that years have passed from the time you started the first page til the time you wrote the last line. You forget that you used up a good chunk of your life on something that no one may ever read or give a shit about. You forget that. Cos you're not writing anymore. You've written.

 
I may never write another novel again. That may be it for me and novels. I'm (call me crazy) kinda excited about adapting Zander into a screenplay, so there's hope for me yet in writing for the screen... But novels…? Years of work? Years of hell? Doubt it. Zander will probably be the only novel I ever release, simply because in that single story, I said all I wanted to say.

 
But… as weeks and months go by, and as writing process amnesia sets in, maybe I'll forget about the pain and agony writing causes and I'll wanna write something again. And why would I ever do a stupid $%@ing thing like that?

Cos I love a good story.

Stories are my drugs. Stories about flawed, lost souls, stories about slasher serial killers, stories about supermarket slackers … I just love stories. And so whilst the act of writing will always suck, if I get an idea for a story that I think would be cool, maybe I'll write it. Maybe. Cos my mind probably won't rest til I do. And I admit, it kicks ass having written.

"Why We Write" 1: Greg Garcia

"Why We Write" 2: Steven Levitan

"Why We Write" 3: Howard Gordon of '24'

"Why We Write" 4: Damon Lindelof of 'Lost'

Currently listening : Waiting for My Rocket to Come By Jason Mraz Release date: 15 October, 2002

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Life or death?
Current mood: cooky/wacky
Category: Writing and Poetry

Death makes some people nervous.
I get that.

Death scares the crap outta others.
I hear them.


But they say that "we must know death in order to know life…"
 
During the writing of The Matt Zander Journals, the occasional friend or acquaintance would bring up the near-death experience aspect of the story and ask me how I came to write a book about death - emphasizing the word 'death' with their voice, as though it was a strange idea for a book, and who on earth would ever want to read about 'death'.

And so I wanted to offer my answer to you all who may've been wondering that very same thing, or who don't like to think about the whole 'death' thing, let alone read about it.

In the book, Matt Zander's near-death experience is one-third (Part 1) of the story, and it's then, at the end of Part 1, that Matt states he's never felt more alive in his life. In the aftermath of him coming back from the 'other side', he's able to see life in a whole new perspective to the rest of us. To see the things that really matter.

Once he begins his road-trip journey, ambitious as it sounds, I wanted to write a novel with a good dose of social commentary and observation of everything going on around us. This celebrity-worshipping, money-hungry, pill-for-everything, dumbed-down, psychobabble society of ours, that never seems to stop to think what it's doing or where it's going. I really wanted him to explore the true meaning of life with his near-death wake-up call still fresh in his mind.

And so, getting back to the question that sometimes came up, invariably, my answer to those asking was that I didn't write a novel about death at all…

I wrote a novel about life ;)


gd

Currently watching : 24 - Season Six Release date: 04 December, 2007

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UPDATED: Over 5000 copies of The Matt Zander Journals (Part 1) downloaded
Current mood: pleased
Category: Writing and Poetry

It’s getting tougher to track downloads of the Part 1 eBook, as it’s on torrent sites now and being distributed all over the place (places I don’t even know about). I know for sure the 5000 mark has been reached, but I’m sure it’s much more than that. I’m trying to set in place a way to at least continue tracking a ballpark estimate number of downloads.

Seems people are enjoying Part 1, at least! :P Yay!

If you haven’t already, grab it now ... free. Part 1 is a complete, stand-alone, one-third of the novel. Perfect to read when you’re stuck at the airport or another one of life’s waiting rooms.

The complete novel is available on Amazon.com.

Currently reading : Slash By Slash Release date: 30 October, 2007

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Zander Part 1 now available in alternative eBook formats

I've put together a couple of alternative formats for the download of The Matt Zander Journals (Part 1). On the download page, you'll now find the right-hand side tab listing a few new formats, apart from the main eBook in PDF.

The new formats are:

Microsoft Reader
HTML
Plain Text

I'm currently looking into making the complete novel available as an eBook, alongside the paperback which is available on Amazon.com. I'd love to get Zander "Kindle'd", which is Amazon's new eBook reader, but they seem to have restrictions on US only for the time being. I'm looking at some alternative options soon and will post more when I have news!

Enjoy!

gd

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My debut novel is OUT NOW!
Current mood: accomplished
Category: Writing and Poetry

The day has come.

Zander is here.

After what seemed like years of writing (oh wait, it actually was years :P), taking longer than I could possibly imagine a novel would take to complete, I'm excited to say my debut novel, The Matt Zander Journals, has finally been released...to the world!!!

I'll try to make this brief, as I've written a Zander FAQ which should cover pretty much everything about the book and what I intend doing with it, i.e. what it's about, how I came to write it, who it's targeted at, etc.

The novel is available for only $21.95 RRP on Amazon.com! Also available is Part 1- a complete, stand-alone one-third of the novel - FREE from garydenne.com

As the journey ends on releasing Zander to the world, another begins on making it a household name (yes, I think big ;). That's why I'm giving everyone the opportunity of reading Part 1 of The Matt Zander Journals without the worry of thinking they've wasted precious $$$ on an unknown. By all means, if you download Part 1 and enjoy the book, I invite you to grab the entire novel from Amazon.com and finish the journey.  And if you wanna help, tell a friend or pass Part 1 along to anyone who might enjoy it!

Needless to say, I'm really excited to hear people's reactions to the novel now it's out there. Be the first to write in and lemme know what you think!! I could place your quote on my site!!

I've worked long and hard on making this book as good as anything else you'd find in the New Releases section of a bookstore. And now it's time for it to speak for itself...

With your help, let's make Zander an indie book success, right off the web. The little book that could! How cool would that be?!

For me at least, I'm going to work towards that dream.

The journey has only just begun.

Best,

gd

Currently listening : Nevermind By Nirvana Release date: 24 September, 1991

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The Zander FAQ
Current mood: happy
Category: Writing and Poetry

Everything you wanna know about The Matt Zander Journals (ok, well not everything) is now online at the Zander FAQ.

Check it out here!

Currently listening : Greatest Hits By Journey Release date: 01 August, 2006

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Zander Release Date
Current mood: excited
Category: Writing and Poetry

Zander begins his journey....Mon 26 November 2007.

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Matt Zander - Podcast...Someday?

Okay, so this is one of those pipe-dream ideas...but maybe sometime when time permits, I'll make Part 1 of The Matt Zander Journals a podcast audio book for people to download and listen to on MP3 players, or wherever they damn well please ;)

Not sure when, but it'll be here someday. Ummmm, maybe :P If you want to give me motivation to do it, email me!

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Writers’ Strike - Fight

Just a note to say I support all the WGA writers currently on strike against the studios. Not a moment too soon. I hope there's a great resolution soon for the writers, but if not, strike until it comes. Don't give in to the studios. Writers need to start claiming a higher amount of respect in showbiz. It's ridiculous that an actor can headline a movie but the writer is barely seen on credits. Just crazy. Without writers...remember, there'd be nothing. NOTHING.

*crickets chirping*

I'm hoping for a day where writers get promoted as much as movie stars, or at the very least, as much as the director. Like a 'Written By' tag on movie posters, trailers, etc. And the writer involved in all press for the show or film.

So, hang in there writers, make the studios hurt even more than they're already hurting. The movie business is already tanking, and Hollywood's future is looking pretty damn crappy. Yep, that's right. The business model is changing. Not only is it changing for publishing or music, it's changing for film and TV. The entire landscape. Movies are tanking. People just don't wanna go to crap no more. And the studios aren't getting that. I can see the future where video games, user-created content (YouTube) and "internet artists" rule. I mean, it's just insane to be paying major movie stars $20 million per picture, PLUS another, say, $50 million on the back-end as revenue particpation for a blockbuster film. It's just INSANE. Who gets that kinda money? $70 million to act in a friggin' movie for a 6-month shoot? No wonder Hollywood is slowly committing suicide. The publishing houses are doing it, too. The record companies have already done it. They're dead.

And yet, here we are, in the middle of a writers' strike, and the Writers' Guild is asking for 4 more cents per content aired? 4 cents?

*shakes head*


It's kinda got me thinking as to where we're headed as far as creative content and art goes. Music, Books, TV, Film - how is the future going to look, once the bottleneck of bandwidth gets solved. I mean, like, high-def video being able to effortlessly stream to any PC or home-entertainment device in the world. So YouTube won't be a tiny box on the screen, but rather, it will BE the screen. User-created content will be entertaining to tune in to. You can see it happening. Don't think it won't happen. Same as writing. I'm going to be releasing my first novel, which has been several years in the creating, for free. I'm doing it for a number of reasons, but mostly the bottom line is for marketing and to get known and read. I'll go into it on a later post sometime, but for now, I just wanted to comment on this writers' strike and show support for the writers.

They deserve what they're asking for...

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