Mission Possible: Ethan Hunt writes a novel

Clueless Hack on Writing interviews a real-life Ethan Hunt

The CHOW interview is a look into the minds of independent writers, whose books haven’t been optioned for Netflix, but are finding ways to be shared with the world. These writers are booktrepreneurs who are hustling to get one small bit of attention for their books and trying to make a business out of it. If you like the specific genre, I encourage you to find it and buy. I’ll tell you, they’ll know and celebrate your purchase.

Independent Author Ethan Hunt is a person who likes to try new things. He’s written and created his own album and his novel, Gone to the Movies, was another creative itch that needed to be scratched, Proud husband, father, and dog lover, Ethan Hunt works in high tech during the day, and writes animal fiction and stories of family life on weekends. A child of the nineties, fan of geeky pop-culture, and lifelong resident of California, his creative side has finally pushed him to tell stories with the written word.

Welcome, Ethan. Thanks so much for joining me on the CHOW, otherwise known as the Clueless Hack on Writing. 

Thank you! You know I appreciate hanging out with other authors and talking about this stuff. I’m really enjoying your newsletter so far, by the way. 
 

Thanks Ethan. I’m loving this process here too. Ethan, you come from a tech background, which uses a different skill set than putting words to the page. Has writing always been a part of your life? 

I remember being excited about rhyming at a young age. I think I can thank my elementary school library and Shel Silverstein for driving that interest. But I never had anyone encourage me to write until high school when Mr. Furnas encouraged me to take Journalism and join the school paper. He saw something in my writing in his English class that made him do that. I didn’t take it seriously though. Typical lack of maturity stuff. 

Fast forward to my twenties, and I really wanted to make music. So, the rhyming was back. I actually have a full length industrial rap album I released in 2007. 

I thought about writing comic books many times over the past 15 years but could never motivate myself to sit down and patiently do the work. Career, wife, child, home…all of that stuff has to come first, and making time to write is still a grind to this day. 

So, short answer is yes…but it was off and on and in disparate pockets of my life, in different interest areas. 
 

Tell us a little bit about your book? 

Gone to the Movies pulls from a lot of my own life experience. Various small things that have happened to me, blown up…or magnified, to create a story that was so vivid in my head, I had to tell it. At first, I thought about writing it as a screenplay, and still may do that, but creating a book seemed more accessible and I could get the story out there to see if it resonates with people. 

I learned a lot about writing while working on it, which was one of my top goals with the project. I’m honestly not sure if I would have completed it without the pandemic and having so many more hours to myself on the weekends, but I suppose there were worse ways to use my time! 

My other main goal was to bring attention to the way mental health can affect a family, especially in a pre-internet world. This is continued in the prequel I am working on right now. 

It's a story about a boy, a father, a dog and a drive-in. What was the inspiration that put that kernel of an idea in your head? 

The parallels with my own life are obvious in the book. I have an adopted son. I’ve always been a dog person, and as an adult I recognize the healing power of dogs and pets in general. 

But it was the song “Gone to the Movies” by Semisonic that provided the glue for the various themes I had swimming around in my head. I have a short commute to work and do a lot of thinking during that alone time. Just listening to this song on my way to work one day…a song I’ve loved for more than twenty years by the way…and the story just popped into my head as clear as day. 

As a writer, you probably know how this is…you start obsessing over it. It’s like solving a puzzle, and you have to show the final picture to someone, somehow. So, the writing begins. 

Of course I explain this quite a bit more in my blog at ethanhuntwriter.com. 
 

As your first novel, you're diving into the unknown and all you have is this idea. What pulled you through? 

The discipline of sitting down to write on a regular basis is what kept me going. Sometimes you write thousands of words in a sitting…sometimes you start daydreaming about how to market it, looking up photos of old drive-in theaters, and write almost nothing. But the discipline and the process stay consistent and it eventually all comes together. 

And, again, just that obsession with getting the story out of my head so I can share it with someone else. 

And I really knew next to nothing about writing a novel. Almost embarrassed to say this, but I didn’t read prose novels outside of work prior to publishing Gone. I’ve read thousands of comic books, which I think informs how I see a story in my head, but not 280-page novels. I’ve read many, including yours, since then, and this will obviously help me as I go forward and write more projects. 
 

What was the hardest part to write? The beginning, the middle, or the end? 

I think it was the end. Not the final story arc, but the literal last few pages. And I’ve had people tell me it is a bit abrupt. I didn’t realize it at that the time, but I basically set up a follow-up story I hope to work on someday. But the story was meant to be about Dustin, his son, and the dog, and the book tells the story of them during that time in their life; so the ending is fitting in that regard. 
 

Why did you decide to publish independently? 

Impatience. *laughing* 

Again, the compulsion to share the story. I learned about what it is like getting an agent and waiting years to publish, and that is not why I did this project. I have a great career. I don’t need a new income stream or whatever; so self-publishing felt right. Plus, I could maintain full control of the story and writing style. I think that will serve me better in the long term. 
 

You worked with a service to help put out your book? How was that process and what did you learn from it? 

Yeah. When I released my album fifteen years ago, I worked with a company named CD Baby. I knew they had other self-publishing services and gave BookBaby a try. It was a bit pricey, but I really didn’t have to worry about anything. I worked through them for editing, cover design, formatting, and piping the book into the retailers. They literally do it all. 

I think on my next project, I’ve met enough people I can partner with to do these things independently. But, given my impatience and lack of experience, it was the best thing I could have done because I paid attention to how they work and learned how I can do a lot of it myself next time. 
 

What was the biggest eye-opener about the business of independent publishing? 

Marketing and advertising. This is far more time-consuming than writing. And it’s not my favorite thing to do! I learned the same hard lesson when I released music into the world. You have to be ready to do the marketing yourself. Something catching fire through word of mouth is incredibly rare, and nobody will know your book exists if you don’t find ways to put it in front of them! 
 

What genre do you like to read? And what is the most inspiring book you've read in the last year? 

Again, funny to answer because I didn’t even know what book genres there were prior to publishing. But I’ve learned that Literary Fiction seems to be my cup of tea. This is what I’ve gravitated to when choosing the many indy books I’ve read in the past two years. Part of that is there are so many sub-genres within that. As an example, I consider Gone to the Movies to be Animal Fiction. It’s not an official genre, but it should be! *laughing* 

But, yeah, “slice of life” seems to be my sweet spot. 

In the last year? Friends in Low Places, of course! No joke. It hit all the marks in my sweet spot for a story. Plus, as you know, it takes place in an area I spent a lot of time in growing up! I’ve also watched you promote it and learned a lot from you. 

I read a bunch of novellas this year too. I’ll put in a quick plug for Nevada Noir by David Arrowsmith. Very gritty crime stories. I like his vision. 
 

You share a name with an infamous character in a major movie franchise. What did you first think when the first Mission Impossible came out in 1996? 

Man…I can’t tell you how weird it is to hear your name on TV in a commercial. Especially when the video game was released later. The commercial was like, “You are Ethan Hunt,” this and that. Freaked me out the first time I heard that in my parents’ living room! 

But, I did ditch class the day the first movie came out so I could see it with my friends! Senior year…good times. 
 

What Tom Cruise stunt as Ethan Hunt would you like to try? 

I don’t think you know this yet! I’ve already done stunts like Ethan Hunt! I am in a Mission Impossible commercial for the release of the Rogue Nation Blue Ray. 

 

Got to skydive, learn how to stunt drive, and fly in a Blackhawk helicopter! 

I think if I was going to do anything else, I would like to try hang-gliding. Not sure if that’s a stunt, but it looks awesome. 
 

Thank you again for joining me today. 

Thank you! 

Next Week: A Special Announcement!