Author Mo Netz - The Writer Story
Meet Mo, author of the wonderful MG debut, THE LUMBERING GIANTS OF WINDY PINES.
Introducing Debut MG author, Mo Netz. Here’s the official bio.
Mo Netz is a semi-retired slam poet from Queens by way of Atlanta. He has previously written on disability advocacy, LGBTQ+ rights, and other issues close to his heart for various publications before shifting focus to scary and magical stories for MG and YA audiences. He still believes in ghosts.
Here’s the writer story chat with the wonderful Mo Netz.
Why did you start writing? What inspired you?
I've been writing since I was a little kid. I think as soon as I realized that books didn't just magically appear in the library, someone CREATED them, I knew I wanted to do that. My first "book" I wrote when I was 3 or 4 (with spelling help). It was about a giant spider who played basketball.
When was the first time you felt that writing is something you want to do professionally?
When I was in second grade, I was chosen to represent my school at a regional young writers' conference, and I met actual authors and took classes there, and came away certain that one day I'd be an author. I never stopped trying since!
That’s sounds fun. Would you share your writing/publishing journey so far?
It was longer and more complicated than I expected! By the time I was in my teens I was writing manuscripts and trying to query them, but back then it wasn't digital yet and I didn't have a lot of community support or resources to know what I was doing. I think maybe I gave up too early on some of those projects! Then I ended up taking a decade-long detour into the world of performance poetry. But this book was the one! I wrote it in about two months, found an agent in a month or so of querying and sold the book in two weeks. It was such a whirlwind experience and I know that doesn't happen often. I'm sort of expecting it to catch up with me and I'll have to deal with the long waits I got to kind of skip over later in my career.
I can tell it must be a whirlwind since people take years to get an agent and book deal. Tell us about your book— THE LUMBERING GIANTS OF WINDY PINES?
It's a story about a kid who's been moving around a lot with her single mother since her dad died, and she's developed an imaginary dragon friend for company. They land in a little town where weird and creepy things keep happening - people disappearing, strange voices on the radio at night, sightings of things that are definitely not human in the woods. When her mom doesn't come home from work one day, she has to go into the scary woods to find her. I think what sets it apart, though, is that my main character, Jerry, is a wheelchair user. So that plays a big role in her quest for independence and acceptance while also fighting to save her family.
Sounds fantastic. When did you first get the idea? What connected you to this idea that made you think it could be a book?
I'm a wheelchair user myself, and a big fan of scary paranormal stories ever since I was a kid - I grew up on Goosebumps and Are You Afraid of the Dark? I just had a moment while watching a monster show thinking, "I can't run like that. I couldn't do exactly what these characters are doing. How would *I* survive this scene? And I just kind of jumped off from there.
Did you do any research before you started writing or did you do it as you went along?
Not really. I wrote from a lot of things I knew - the woods and mountains of Northern Georgia where it takes place are very familiar to me, and my characters just felt like people I knew, probably because they drew a lot on people in my real life! I did have to research some stuff for accuracy, like how old coal mines worked for example, but I did that as I went.
What was your process to write the book?
I have a writing routine where I aim to write at least 1000 words a day, in 250-word chunks with breaks in between. 250 is a nice bite-sized amount, not intimidating. It's worked well to kind of trick my brain that way.
What do you want readers to take away from this book?
I wrote it imagining my main audience would be disabled kids, so for them, I want the takeaway to be that they belong in the story, any kind of story, that there's a place for them. And that should translate to the world, too. To take up space and MAKE the world see them. For non-disabled readers I think I want them to see the same thing from the outside. To understand that disabled people are part of our world and when you tell a story like this, they can be part of the gang, they can even be the hero.
What is your writing routine, if you have one?
These days honestly I write whenever I have time: in the morning and at night, and sneaking it in during any "downtime" I have during the day.
Do you plot? Or discover while writing?
I consider myself a "plantser." I plot my books loosely, but I don't make detailed outlines. And sometimes as I'm writing, the story surprises me by going somewhere that wasn't where I originally planned!
What software do you use for writing?
Just Microsoft Word. I'm very old school.
What advice do you have for other writers?
Find the story you NEED to tell. The one that won't let go of you, the one that only you can tell tell the way it's inside you. And most importantly, write.
What is your favorite book(could be recent) that you’d recommend to anyone and everyone? Why?
Oh wow, I can't pick just one! Just sticking with books in a similar vein to mine, I absolutely love Hide and Seeker by Daka Hermon, The Girl in the Lake by India Hill Brown, This Appearing House by Ally Malinenko, Camp Scare by Delilah S. Dawson. They all have elements of classic MG horror/fantasy books that I've always loved, but most of them bring new perspectives that look through the lens of people who are underrepresented. I think that makes them even better.
Wonderful. Now finally, where do we find you? Please plug your links, socials etc.
Twitter/"X" - @netzmo
Instagram - @mo_netz
Tiktok -@moosenetz
website: https://monetzbooks.com/
A big thanks to Mo for spending the time with us for the writer story interview. Grab THE LUMBERING GIANTS now and support Mo’s writing adventures.
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~Toodle-oo~
