Today's Chat with Sarah features Greg Morgan author of Weeper.
To view the official review, click here.
To view the book on Amazon, click here.
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1. When you aren't writing, what do you do?
Think about writing. No, seriously, I travel; I have another business I run. I spend time with family and friends. I go to the beach…a lot.
2. Can you tell us the best piece of advice you've ever received?
“Living well is the best revenge.” It keeps me trying harder.
3. How do you handle criticism?
I think very well. I was an independent filmmaker and directed four feature films, produced some others and wrote and sold screenplays. I thought bad criticism was mean at first. Then you come to see half the people are gonna like it and half won’t. Something to get used to. Weeper is my first novel, and I have received mostly great reviews; but, there are always a few bad ones, and I’m fine with those opinions.
4. Let's discuss your book Weeper. How did you come up with the idea for the book?
It was around 1993, and I was watching a short film from a USC film student. Its main character was a Sin Eater. I’d never heard of one, so I went to my university library. (There was no internet then.) In some tiny section of the library I found reference books on early American funeral and death rituals that fascinated me. Then I learned about paid mourners and Warners. Warners were basically from the Dutch immigrants that lived up in Appalachia. They called them Aanspreekers. Then I researched all the superstitions. Amazing how the people back then even walked outside with all the superstitions.
5. The reviewer mentions that there's historical information about battles included. How much research did you do for this book? How long did it take?
I do a ton of research. For Weeper, it was mainly the stories of these characters within the context of the civil war because that’s when the strange funeral rites were being practiced. Andersonville prison was a real confederate prison. One funny thing that happened was when Augustus gets captured and goes to Andersonville. I had a character make a reference to a date, and an editor told me that Andersonville prison only existed slightly over a year from Feb 1864 to May 1865. I had to make changes to have it hold truth. But Captain Wirz was the actual captain of the prison. He plays a role in the book, and he was sent to prison for war crimes after the war.
When the Missus moves to Petersburg because I need her to be held back from getting to her children. The siege of Petersburg was from June 15, 1864 – April 2, 1865; perfect for my plot. She leaves that April 1865, and her kids are at certain ages now etc. Also, in that chapter, I have people get killed from “The battle of the crater.” What happened was the union dug long tunnels under the Confederate lines, put a bunch of dynamite in there, and it was an insane explosion, which killed a lot of people. Then the union troops ran in to attack, but ironically it turned out that the explosion didn’t blow a hole in their lines; it blew a crater. A crater so deep that when the union troop ran in they couldn’t run out, and they were massacred.
For my next book Collodion, I did months of research.
6. Augustus seems to be somewhat of an underdog. Is he based on anyone in real life? How did you manage such genuine character growth?
He is an underdog for sure, and he is not based on anyone. I just need the character to be likable and thoughtful. He changed a lot from draft to draft, then he came into his own. I think of him like Matthew McConaughey as he played the role in Cold Mountain, one of my favorite books. As far as character growth, I became good at that by writing screenplays. You have to have the character grow within a much shorter page count.
7. What was the most satisfying part of writing this book?
Finishing it! I wrote Weeper as a screenplay 35 years ago. I knew it was a much larger tale than a film could handle. So I wrote the first 65 pages and shelved it because life took a different direction for me. Two years ago, I picked it back up and finished it. It was so satisfying to get that tale on paper. And now, I am addicted to writing long form narrative.
8. What's next for you? Is there another book?
Yes, it’s called Collodion, and it’s finished, edited and weeks away from being published. Collodion is about two people on the autism spectrum—a postmortem photographer and a Union army embalmer—who fall in love in this unusual, quirky, and sometimes dark, civil war era romance. It’s a companion book to Weeper. A few of the characters from Weeper are the main characters of Collodion. I’ve started on my third book which is called Sin Eater, and it will also be a companion book to Weeper and Collodion. You will find out what happens to many of the characters in Weeper in the third book Sin Eater.
I like to end on some fun questions.
9. What's your favorite book (besides your own)?
Ouch that’s hard. I have so many so I’ll give three. The Prince of Tides, Dances with Wolves, Cold Mountain.
10. What's one tool you just can't live without?
Is a computer a tool? If not, a multi-bit screwdriver.
11. Cats or dogs?
Dogs
12. If your life was a movie, what would it be called?
“Hollywood.” It’s the nickname given to me by an old friend.
