Interview: Chatting with Michael Michel

Hey Michael, thanks so much for sitting down to do this interview! Wanna start it off by giving a small pitch for Way of the Wizard or Price of Power?

No! And you’re lucky I don’t answer these interview questions in wing dings!

But if I must… let’s go with Way of the Wizard since TPoP will have so much attention in the Fall.

Way of the Wizard is like Harry Potter if he went to the School of Hard Knocks instead of Hogwarts. If that’s too vague, it’s like A Wizard of Earthsea mixed with the feral survivalism of Lord of the Flies. Pretty much, a bunch of wizard gangs in the wilderness backstabbing and one-upping each other in order to achieve greater power. But also, Voldemort already won and lives nearby. The MC has no identifiable gender–that’s a thing.

Between the Price of Power series, Way of the Wizard, and Sing no Suns, Sing the Night, you’ve had an exceptionally busy 2024. What do you get up to when you’re not writing? 

Doing stuff with my kiddos, weightlifting, going on walks, and playing Warhammer: Age of Sigmar are my staples activities.
I just got a PS5, so that’s a fun one in the winter/spring, but now that it’s nice out, I started paddleboarding.

And I’ll be at Burning Man this year. The wife and I love dancing, so we try to find that on occasion when we get a chance.

How’s life been since the release of Way of the Wizard? 

Chaos. I can barely remember what’s happened since and that should say everything. I’ve been embroiled in the next steps for the everythingness of being an indie author: interviews, SPFBOX, writing Banners of Wrath (that’s book three of The Price of Power), getting a new pc, and getting a new cover artist. Lots!

Would you rather have $1,000 or ASOIAF finished?

OPTION 3: I’d rather someone pay me 1,000,000 to finish ASOIAF. I’d have it done in 5 years, easy.

If you could go back in time to the day when the first draft of Price of Power was finished and give yourself one piece of advice, what would it be?

Oof. Great Q. Honestly, not much. Of course, most authors have things they’d change about their first book–I’m no exception–but I feel like I did most everything I wanted to by the end of the first draft, including cutting out two MC storylines (70k words) and moving them into book two.

The things I missed throughout subsequent drafts were: cutting back on adjectives, adding a dramatis personae, and a map. Still undecided if I should keep that prologue though…

I’m going to rapid fire a few categories, gimme the first word you think of when you hear them:

• Wizard - Gandalf. Belgarath.

• Knight - Ritter (the German word for knight).

• Assassin - Hassassin (the origins of assassins being a sect of loyal killers from the middle east. Eventually, the Mongols got them, but the word survived and became ubiquitous).

• GOAT - Me.

• Tragic - Writing. Lol.

• Funnest - Burning Man.

• Michael Michel - Douchebag.

We’ve talked about how the movie Unforgiven has influenced Barodane in Price of Power, have any other movies had a major influence on your works? 

Oh yes, and I must say, I LOVE this question. Brace yourself…

In the morass of subconsciousness, all movies, shows, and entertainment combine to make the creative soup I draw from, but I’ll do my best to be specific!

Tarantino films for the dialogue. Masterful demonstration of the ability to sidetrack without sidetracking. Characters can discuss almost anything, and if it gives you a sense of the character’s motivations, fears, view on life, etc, it STILL MOVES THE PLOT FORWARD, because plot is character and character is plot. That’s my personal philosophy anyway. So having a conversation about the types of fruit grown in different regions of the world isn’t a waste of storytelling space–unless it is. But if done right, it could enhance the story.

Villains: movie villains have always been an obsession of mine. I find what drives a person to do evil more compelling than doing good. Perhaps because those “twists” of the soul that happen along the way in a villain’s life are darker and more tragic, whereas all the heroes I watched growing up were cardboard cutouts of humans. I’ve always had a preference for authenticity in whatever I interact with. Even if it’s fantasy, it should FEEL real. Otherwise, it doesn’t feel honest to me.

The boom in popularity of shows in the last two decades has also had a major impact on my writing because of the depth and change they offer characters.

Here are my top 3 with the best writing:

1) The Wire - Everyone is morally gray and 100% authentic.
2) Dark - I love when something can connect the dots, and boy does it. Besides amazing acting performances, this is the tightest script I’ve ever seen unfold.
3) Scavenger’s Reign - Incredible world-building, character backstories, and a satisfying end to a horrifying journey. That kind of bittersweetness strikes the perfect tone, and it’s the same one I aim for in my own work.

So much more to say about this and so little time! I could do a whole dissertation on films that didn’t work just as easily and how they influenced me.

During your interview with The Fantasy Reviewer you said that Barodane was the POV that was easiest to sink into and flow with. Who's been the hardest to write?

Ishoa is consistently the most difficult. If you haven’t noticed, I’m not a teen girl. So capturing her voice is a challenge. Not only that, but the largest political machinations of the world are observed through her lens. With each POV, I try to do three things–sometimes on a chapter-by-chapter basis. 1) Reveal some aspect of worldbuilding. 2) Reveal some aspect of plot. 3) Reveal some aspect of emotion/motivation/internal growth. In book one, I laid this out at the top of each chapter, but I don’t anymore now that it’s flowing along.

So add that to the largest cast of characters by triple the amount of anyone else, and the struggle of striking the right balance of her being frustrating/annoying and empowered/badass, and it’s a big challenge for me.

Besides her, Zadani is also tough. So much scheming and spy work is a lot track. Working out one motivation is tough enough with each character, but mapping out false motivations that contend against each other while keeping mind true motivations, and the chess match that ensues without giving anything away or making it too obvious is TOUGH.

Between Storm Lords, Cloudbreakers, and Grim Shields, your ear for creating badass titles for groups is top notch. Do you have a favorite? Do you remember the inspirations for any of them?

Would it be weird to say I probably know the inspiration, if not the very moment I came up with the majority of things I do for my books?

I follow a naming principle in that I see it as marketing. If I’m marketing a soap product to middle-aged mothers, I wouldn’t call it, “Body Brogue,” but I might call it “Elarium.” If I’m marketing it to middle-aged men, I’d switch it up.

So a name, without any description, should convey something close to the product people are getting. In fact, when I was like 6 or 7, I’d come up with characters on long car rides with my family and my parents love to tell the story of how I’d say, “Hey, I need a name for this character,” and they’d all offer names while I sat there and proceeded to reject all of them. Ha!

I really love the Voar. Cool concept, scary name, feels close to boar, so it’s got that primal or full-bodied feel. Genetically engineered giants in a fantasy book? Hell yeah. Also, my daughter helped with this one, so that’s a bonus.

Death Bards are cool. Cloudbreakers is great too since it’s Omatuu’s cabal and he has the unique ability to call lightning, ie, break clouds.

Humungalor is also a fave. You know what it is just hearing it, don’t you?

Since you partly compare the power system in Price of Power to X-Men, who is your favorite X-Man?

Pfff. Magneto, hands down. He’s that villain you think could be right, or at least, you can easily see why he thinks he’s right based on his backstory (family killed by the nazis during the holocaust). He’s got a perfect backstory, a sick power, and an excellent foil relationship to one of the main protagonists.

Beyond that, he’s super dedicated to his cause, highly intelligent, and willing to do what he must in the name of good. Well, his view of it anyway.

I’ve also always loved Nightcrawler and Apocalypse. Does anyone else think teleportation somehow gets made into a WAY less dominating power than it is? Because I do.

What’s next for Michael Michel?

A Graveyard for Heroes - Fall 2024
Path of the Prime- Summer 2025 (hopefully)
Banners of Wrath - Fall 2025

I might say fuck it to one of these and delay in order to write a continuation novella to War Song that takes place in that 9 year gap that follows.

I’ve got two other projects I’m really excited about too. They seem like one-offs though.

Anything you want to leave the audience with? Tell them about your Discord, threaten to burn their homes down, etc? 

Join my Discord or I’ll burn down your home!

But seriously, I intend to have swag soon and I’ll be offering it in a giveaway to those folk participating in the Discord in the near future, so no better time than now to get on it.

Or you could have your home burned. Your choice.

Michael Michel lives in Bend, Oregon with the love of his life and their two children. When he isn’t obsessively writing, editing, or doing publishing work, he can be found coaching leaders in the corporate world, exercising, and dancing his butt off at festivals like Burning Man. His favorite TV shows are Dark, The Wire, Arcane, and Arrested Development. He loves nature and deep conversations with (anyone really), and few things bring him more joy than a couple of hours playing table tennis.