When we think of publishing a book, most of us think about traditional publishing. Traditional publishing is the kind of book publishing we often see portrayed in other types of media. This is where an author will have an agent who will pitch your manuscript to probably a handful of imprints within the Big Five publishing houses. These giant institutions have been around for many decades and make up a large portion of legacy media. In recent years, however, many alternative publishing paths have emerged making publishing and reading books more accessible, one of those being Wattpad. Today I have the immense honor to speak with Matthew Dawkins, a Watty award winning author and poet, whose works have been read over 380 thousand times.

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Until We Break by Matthew Dawkins

Naomi Morgan, the only black dancer at her ballet school, sacrifices everything to pursue her dream until she joins the Guise and realizes what she's missing.

🔎 Thriller 🎂 Coming of Age ✒️ Debut Author ❤️‍🩹 Trauma and Healing

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• Genre: Contemporary, Young Adult

Interview with Matthew Dawkins

Amanda: Thank you for joining us at Bookish Brews! Please introduce yourself and tell us a little about your book Until We Break. 

Matthew: Thank you so much for having me! I’m Matthew Dawkins, author of Until We Break, which is my debut novel. The book also holds a dear place in my heart because while I was drafting, the protagonist and I were the same age so the themes in the story are similar to ones I was going through in my own life. I was thinking a lot about what it means to ‘come of age’ and what starting over could look like as a young adult. On the other side of those concerns, and by the end of the novel, I was able to explore the resolutions. As I grew older I was able to realize and live the answers to the questions my protagonists were dealing with, the biggest one: “How do I matter in this world as a young person with so much life ahead of me?”

Amanda: As a writer of both poetry and prose, how do each of these forms of writing inform the other in your work? Does your prose inform your poetry and vise versa? How? 

Matthew: They certainly do inform each other. Poetry teaches me a lot about sound and diction and it forces me to be succinct and direct. Prose offers me more opportunities to think about narrative and how I’m taking the reader from ‘Point A’ to ‘Point B’. I think being a student of both genres helps me incorporate the learning from one into the other, but it also helps me distinguish the two. So, when I write poetry I’m grateful for those elements that are unique to poetry and I’m able to better use them and vice versa for prose.

Amanda: One of your goals is to fill the gap in modern works to include more Black writers and Black protagonists. What keeps you inspired? How do you hope filling that gap contributes to our culture as a whole? 

Matthew: Through my writing, I deliberately try to get a deeper understanding of current times so I can use literary tools to help landscape our ideas and unique conversations. Contributing to the culture goes hand in hand with that idea. We’re already having a lot of pressing and important conversations, and as a writer, I oftentimes feel the need to contribute to these discussions differently. I’m hoping that by changing the language or perspective we might use to discuss a topic I can come at the conversation sideways. That approach is what I hope will broaden the scope of our discourse and make room for folks who weren’t included before.

Amanda: I’ve been told your writing style helps connect your readers to the intricate details of your characters and the deeper meanings of your stories. How do you feel your writing style helps us get to know your characters? And what deeper meaning are you hoping to convey through your stories? 

Matthew: Well, I hope my readers are able to know my characters well through the amount of time I spend with them. This isn’t unique to me or my writing style at all, but I prioritize exploring how my protagonists think about themselves and the world around them. I like to keep them interrogative. In terms of the deeper meaning, in Until We Break we understand how strictly Naomi thinks of herself. She’s designed all these parameters around her life and definitions for what is acceptable for her life. What I hope readers will take away is how destructive that thinking is. Especially for young adults, like I was, I hope the meaning of the novel they latch on to is that they are allowed to change and happiness rarely ever looks like just one thing.

Amanda: You mention how as a writer you feel you need to contribute to current events differently. Can you tell us more about that? How do you approach these conversations differently and how do you feel this approach makes room for folks who weren’t included before? 

Matthew: What literature offers us is perspective. We’re able to create worlds and people that although fictional, are able to speak to our real world and map onto our own lives. In Until We Break, although the museum that Naomi and Saint visit is entirely fictional it confronts the real-world implications of underfunded and neglected Black artistry in predominantly white societies. It tackles how entire peoples can be systematically erased from the ‘idea’ of a place despite living there for years and contributing to the culture and society. That erasure leaves a wound that can often be generational. Until We Break is, in one way, a tool I used to view what happens in the real world and dig deeper, exploring what it means for someone like Naomi. Her particular perspective is not necessarily my own but it is a very real one so I look at these problems and I ask myself and others: what does this mean for someone like her?

Amanda: What drew you to writing and publishing with Wattpad? How does your publishing journey differ from what people might expect?  

Matthew: Publishing on Wattpad came very naturally to me. As a young writer, it often felt like traditional publishing was this massive, locked door I may never find the key for. That was challenging because more than anything, I wanted to create, share my work, and find my community. Wattpad offered all that with the exception of the door. Anyone can make an account on Wattpad and start publishing. That freedom and agency was what really appealed to me, and it’s made my publishing journey feel organic and community-based.

Amanda: You talked earlier about how you were the same age as your protagonist as you were writing them. I imagine that helped you grow a lot as it forces a different kind of introspection. Can you tell us how you’ve grown personally through writing? And what are you most grateful to have learned through your writing journey?

Matthew: My writing has allowed me to understand myself. Writing is often solitary – it’s a lot of sitting with my own thoughts and trying to make them mean something. When I’m done and I read it back, I’m usually looking into a mirror. This has helped me map out my emotions, how I see the world, and examine gaps in my own knowledge, understanding, and emotions. All of these are gaps I try to fill. It’s kind of like journaling except with metaphors, a plot, and copies mass produced for public consumption.

Amanda: Are there any last words you want to leave with our readers at Bookish Brews? Anything that I may have missed? 

Matthew: If I can leave anything with the readers, it would be:

“If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”

― Toni Morrison