| Illuminated's Matt Bronleewe |
|
|
|
| Posted by Vicki McCollum |
02:00 PM Saturday, 29 December 2007 |
Permalink
|
 Illuminated by Matt Bronleewe combines human failings, street-smarts, and old-fashioned sleuthing in a mad dash to find the Templar Knights’ lost treasure. The clues are hidden in rare Gutenberg Bibles, and only one man, August Adams, a rare-book hunter, can decipher them. But the lives of his family are at stake if he fails. Bronleewe plots an intriguing, international suspense that’s just plain fun to read. He graciously consented to an interview about his novel and future books in the works with Thomas Nelson Publishers. Illuminated released in August, is already in its third printing!
Vicki: Talk about the premise of Illuminated. Bronleewe: It started with two ideas. The first idea was very simple: I wanted to write a book about a book. The second idea was slightly more complicated: the book I wanted to focus on was the rarest book in the world – the Gutenberg Bible. They say if the Gutenberg were auctioned today it would fetch over $100 million dollars. That’s quite a book! As I dug into the real history behind the Gutenberg Bible, I knew I had no choice but to write a modern-day thriller around it.
Talk about your research. Did you incorporate any actual myths surrounding the Gutenberg Bible into Illuminated’s plot?
The research started months before I typed a single word and continued throughout the writing process. I worried at first that the research would slow my writing, but I found the opposite to be true. Every real-world secret birthed a new chapter. But the process wasn’t without difficulties. I hired a researcher named Casey Mask (thanks Casey!) to help me uncover as much information as possible in the limited time I had available. It was a race to the finish line! Regarding the illustrations within the Gutenberg Bible, the conclusions I reach in Illuminated are my own, but based upon actual historical research. As they say…truth is stranger than fiction…and that certainly is true for Illuminated. Myths continue today about the Orphans and the Order of the Dragon, the two medieval societies in your novel. Do the societies still exist? The Order of the Dragon still exists. Maybe. During the writing of Illuminated I found a website for the organization. Strangely, it disappeared about a week after the book hit stores! Coincidence? Decide for yourself! As for the Orphans, their beliefs were largely carried forward by Martin Luther, who arrived on the scene about a century later. As for a modern version of the Orphans, I’m not certain…but their idea of a “holy war” is still very much alive. You said the deeper you dug, the more rattled your nerves became at night. What did you mean? I know authors that got more than they bargained for when doing research for their books. Some organizations don’t care to be exposed. That is, after all, why they’re called SECRET SOCIETIES! Some of those organizations will go to great lengths to ensure that their story is never told. I wrote a lot of Illuminated late at night at my home…and occasionally I’d have terrible visions of somebody watching me through the windows. WAS THE ORDER OF THE DRAGON TRYING TO STOP ME? HAD I STUMBLED ONTO SOMETHING DANGEROUS? I have a wild imagination, and it definitely got the best of me many times! You wrote the soundtrack for at least one of Ted Dekker’s novels; which one? And, did you also write the soundtrack for Illuminated? I produced a track for Ted’s book The Martyr’s Song. It was a lot of fun working with him, and it was also an encounter that encouraged me to work with my book publisher – Thomas Nelson. Ted was asking me about my book, and all of a sudden he said, “You’ve got to come to Thomas Nelson! They’ll totally get what you’re doing!” He was right. I’ve been extremely happy with my Nelson family! As for the Illuminated soundtrack, I produced it, but I had a programmer friend of mine – who goes by the codename THUMPMONK – compose it for me. We worked very closely together to get the right tone and feel to match the book. Did each character have theme music? For the most part, yes. All the main characters had their own themes. I found that I had to be a little careful, though. If the music was too revealing it could give away a plot-twist involving a character. I won’t say anything more, but if you read the book while listening to the soundtrack, you’ll see what I mean! How did the soundtrack help you in your writing? The soundtrack is very cinematic, so it helped me envision each scene from Illuminated as if it were dancing on a screen before me. I listened to other soundtracks, too. For instance, anything by John Williams is always inspiring! You formed the band Jars of Clay in the 1990s, and continue to write and produce music in Nashville. So, how long have you wanted to write fiction, and how did you get started? Have you written any fiction before Illuminated? Writing is very new for me. Really, the first fiction writing I did was just a few years ago, right here at INFUZE! I wrote some short stories, and it was already exciting to get feedback from people and hear what they thought. I guess I caught the writing “bug,” because it was during that time that the seeds for Illuminated were planted. It’s been a wonderful journey…and an unexpected one too. I’ve been absolutely blown away and blessed by everything that’s happen so far! Musicians, once they’ve mastered one instrument, seem to pick up other instruments easily. Do you think your song writing experience helps your fiction writing? It all comes down to storytelling. Songwriting is really storytelling at its heart. For most songs, I have a picture in my head of what’s going on…like a video that no one will ever see. It’s been exactly the same for me in novel writing. But there is one huge difference… You can write a song in a day, but a novel takes A LOT LONGER!  Any talk of an Illuminated screenplay and film?
I’m lucky to have screenwriting talent right in my own family – my sister and brother-in-law Emily and Josh Pardy (look for their reviews on INFUZE!) wrote a screenplay for Illuminated that I’m really excited about. As for plans for a movie, we’ve been talking to a few people, but I don’t have any big announcements yet. I want to make sure to get the RIGHT TEAM to make the RIGHT MOVIE. When something happens, I’m sure INFUZE! will be the first to know! Talk about the next novel, House of Wolves. Will we see more of Illuminated’s characters? Is it a sequel? I am so excited for people to read this book! If Illuminated was a thrill ride, then House of Wolves is a freaking nuclear explosion. All your favorite characters from Illuminated will be in House of Wolves. Well, maybe not all of them. A few of them didn’t make it out of the last book alive! The plot is bigger, the stakes are greater, and you’re going to learn a lot more about each of the characters. Of course, everyone keeps asking me if August and April are going to get back together… READ HOUSE OF WOLVES AND FIND OUT! Where is it set? How are you researching it? What can you tell us about it? House of Wolves has two main settings: New York City on the hottest day of the year…and the frosty winter-wonderland of Antarctica. I can’t explain the connection between the two quite yet, but I will tell you that House of Wolves is a totally new adventure, involving another ancient book and another secret society. Only a few people have had a chance to read my first draft, but they all assured me that it’s a big step forward. I’m going to keep you up all night reading this one! You have five novels under contract with Thomas Nelson publishers. Anything you can share about the novels? And, are you ready to talk more about the novel you’ve described as a “spin-off into some rather dangerous territory?” Sounds intriguing. Right now, I’m planning for all five novels to follow the adventures of Illuminated’s rare book hunter, August Adams, along with his ex-wife April, and their son Charlie. Funny enough, it looks like each new hardback novel will release in the month of August, with every paperback version releasing eight months later in April! It couldn’t have worked out better! The spin-off is still in the works. I can’t tell you all the details, but in short, my young hero Charlie is going to have a series of his own! I’ll have more news in the months to come, but I will guarantee you that the series will have all the action and mystery you’ve come to expect from Illuminated. You’ve invited Illuminated readers to go further on the journey of discovery with you and research its history for themselves. What do you hope they’ll discover? Do you have some tips and resources to help them begin?  Illuminated was a journey of discovery for me. I used to think history was stale and boring. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The things I learned about Gutenberg, his infamous Bible, and the mysteries that surrounded both of them fascinated me. I hope people can get just a TASTE of what I found. Wikipedia is a good start, but it only grazes the surface. Libraries and museums are a wealth of knowledge. Places like the Morgan Library in NYC and the Library of Congress in Washington, DC are awe-inspiring. But don’t forget your local libraries and museums as well. You’d be surprised how many secrets are lurking close by…hidden in the pages and artifacts of the past.Any news that you’d like to share with Infuze! readers that we haven’t touched on? I’m happy to report that Illuminated is in its third printing! THANKS TO ALL OF YOU who have helped make it a hit! A lot of people have been asking about the upcoming releases, so here’s the schedule:
PEACE.
|
|
| Next > |
|---|