This week, we're talking with Matthew Rockwood about his new book SCHOOLED!.
Tell me a little about yourself.
I’m a native New Yorker – born and raised on the Upper West Side of Manhattan where I continue to reside along with my wife and two sons. I am a graduate of the Writing Seminars program at Johns Hopkins University and I received my Juris Doctor from Boston University School of Law. After a brief career as an attorney, I realized the profession wa
sn’t for me, so I decided to change careers and become a teacher while also pursuing my passion for writing. My novel SCHOOLED!is based, in part, on my real-life experiences teaching in an inner-city public high school.
Your book SCHOOLED! is a novel. Why not write a memoir if it is based on your real-life experiences?
I considered that approach but realized that, apart from having some ethical concerns about includ
ing actual students and teachers in a published work, I wanted to write a story that said more about American values and American society than I could in a memoir. I have always admired writers who tell compelling stories while also making their readers think. SCHOOLED!is best categorized as autobiographical fiction in the tradition of books like The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, The Things They Carried, and David Copperfield.
What parts of SCHOOLED! are real and what parts are fictional?
Nearly all of the events in the book are events that happened to me personally. A few are events that I am aware happened to other teachers in the program or at other schools around the country, and a few, particularly to do with the main character’s arc, are fictionalized to make for a better story. All of the characters, without exception, are completely fictionalized. The students are composite characters made up from pieces the characters of many students I’ve taught over the years – which helps create an authentic experience for the reader – but which also serves to protect student privacy.
Matthew Rockwood
How did you get started as a writer? I see you’ve had some formal training at Johns Hopkins. Would you recommend formal training to an aspiring writer?
The program at Hopkins was wonderful – but I would say the most important thing for aspiring writers is to live life and have experiences that take you outside your comfort zone. Study people and expose yourself to persons from all walks of life, all political persuasions, and from as many different cultures as you can. If you don’t do this, your characters will likely be flat and uninteresting and you will probably have a tendency to see life from just one perspective which will limit you as a writer.
How do you deal with writer’s block?
Write every day, even if what you write doesn’t end up being very good. I would also say that exercise works for me – some of my best ideas have come swimming laps.
What are you working on now?
I’m working on three novels simultaneously. I’ve never done that before, but I’m finding that it is very productive. One is historical fiction, the second is turning out to be more of a thriller, and the third is a political science fiction story I have wanted to write for some time.
It seems that your writing often takes a political tone. Do you think it is important that writers are political?
It depends what you mean by that. I think it is important that writers – and all artists – are people who think about the human condition and who have something to say about it. I think all great art is compelling on many different levels. In writing, one level is that the story you are telling is interesting, well-paced, and well structured. Another is that the characters you have created are authentic and likable – even if they are scoundrels. But without more, you have an enjoyable read you will forget in a week. I think the best writers take their works to another level – one that says something important about the human condition – something the reader will take with them long after they put down the book.
What do you do when you aren’t writing?
I am a Professor of English at LaGuardia Community College in New York City. I love to swim and I am an avid Poker Player.
