Writer’s Block: Matthew Heiti

Screenwriter, playwright, novelist. Matthew Heiti is a writer of many disciplines. On the occasion of the publication of his new young adult play, Black Dog: 4 vs the wrld by Playwrights Canada Press, we asked him to share some of his creative process.* * *Which (playwrights) have influenced you or had the most impact on your own writing?The “Greats” are there glowering from the shadows, for sure. You have to read them, and you’re better for it. But I’m more inspired by new movements and techniques. Theatre has to evolve to stay vital.My focus for the past decade has been on the dramatic culture of my home: Canada at large, and Northern Ontario specifically. I think in Canada we’re finally reaching a period of both where sophistication innovation in our dramatic literature. We’ve had a very short history of writing our own work. We have an even shorter history of writing good work.I could give you a list a mile long of Canadian playwrights I admire. I’ll settle for a kilometer.I think it’s hard to be writing for the theatre in this country and not be excited by the work of Hannah Moscovitch and Jordan Tannahill, who are smashing boundaries of form and leading a charge of other fantastic young playwrights. Mansel Robinson and Jean-Marc Dalpé inspire me to bring the North alive. Kevin Kerr bends my mind in ways it longs to be bent. Joan MacLeod mixes myth and poetry like no other. Outside Canada, I would really like to hang out with Annie Baker, David Greig and Marina Carr. Mark O’Rowe could come, too. And the ghost of Lorca, I guess. All of these people, and more, are better writers than me.

Matthew’s own advice for other writersWhat do you enjoy reading?I don’t really have time to read plays for enjoyment. (This would be a completely different answer if we were talking about fiction. While I’m writing fiction, I read authors or work that inspire me. I still make time to read as enjoyment, even if it’s just 15 minutes in the morning!)When I’m working on theatre, plays are toolboxes I’m searching through. I think drama is much more connected to myth than literature, in the sense that you’re searching for deep pathways you can connect to very immediately. The connection is brief, but the potential for impact is great. Every play I pick up I consider research. It’s not to say I don’t enjoy the plays I read, it’s just I’m reading them analytically. Ultimately, plays are intended to be seen, experienced, and it’s when I have a chance to go to a performance that it really lives for me as a work of art.Describe your perfect writing day.Roll out of bed at daybreak. Observe the dawn. Write. Write some more. Phone explodes, email implodes, social networks disintegrate and I’m in a black hole where no one can reach me, except for the cat on my lap. And I write. And write. Break for a gin & pickle martini and a board game. How was your day? Good, how was yours? Good. Good. Write a little more. Write the right words. Write the wrongs. Bed before midnight.

Matthew’s writing spaceHave you ever experienced writer’s block? What did you do about it?I don’t believe in writers’ block. You don’t see the carpenter dropping the hammer or a doctor walking out of surgery. Because writing isn’t tactile, we squirm out of finishing things. Procrastination is the archenemy of any creative person. We complain about not being inspired. I get it. Inspiration is fun. It’s easy. It’s like a party. Writing is work. It’s the cleaning up you have to do when the party’s gone.If I’m having trouble seeing my way through something, I go for a walk. Writing is so sedentary, and getting feet to pavement always frees things up for me. It’s a reminder that you’re part of the world. That there are things to connect to. Then it’s back to the keys, kicking and screaming, if you have to, but don’t give yourself the out of being ‘blocked.’ That patient is waiting to be stitched up, the finishing nails need to go in the baseboards.It’s possible to be exhausted, to lose faith in the work or even interest, but I think being blocked is an indulgence. It’s not necessary. I feel like I’m the only thing standing in the way of the next line.But then again, I usually blame myself for everything.What are you working on now?I’m writing a play about a cozy radio personality who has a road show, dragging himself from one small town to the next, setting up in old community halls, reading a series of stories about small town Canada that would make Leacock blush with their divine maple syrupy sentimentality.I’m interested in taking one of those personalities we’ve let in our homes, we’ve come to love and trust, and having them unravel in front of us, on the air. There’s something of the vampiric myth in that. So, what I’m writing is this person’s last show… only he doesn’t know it yet. But as he goes, he kills off all of the characters he’s been writing about for decades and burns this quaint fictional small town to the ground. Right now, I’m trying to puzzle through what’s left in those ashes.* * *About Matthew

Matthew was born in a crater and now lives in half a house with three cats and a human bean. He doesn’t drive but he has two bikes. He spends most every day writing and most any other day working. If he has spare time, he would like to play Commodore 64 with you. He likes old things. He’s a vegetarian but it doesn’t bother him if you aren’t. No matter what he’s doing, he’d rather be at camp, which is the Northern Ontario way of saying “Cottage.”He published his first novel The City Still Breathing with Coach House Books in 2013 and wrote this bio this morning, before showering. He writes at harkback.org and explores new work in strange places at crestfallentheatre.com.Twitter: @hark_back* * *Thank you to Matthew for answering our questions, and to Rabiya at Playwrights Canada Press for making the connection. For more Writer’s Block, click here.