A simple Christmas gift may be Buchanan Moncure’s key to open a literary door.
The Roanoke Rapids native decided to self publish his first work of short stories but in doing it this way launched a home based publishing company to help others like himself.
Pre-orders for his work — This Was Supposed to be Simple — have been going well for the Johnson & Wale University student. “I haven't gotten a ton of orders, but I have gotten some — and I'm really thankful for that,” he said in response to email questions from rrspin.com. “I'm including some really cool gifts with each pre-order, and the price is also a little bit cheaper than it will be once the book comes out — so hopefully people will continue to order so that they can take advantage of these things. I've also started a contest, where each person who pre-orders is entered to win a pony. Everyone loves ponies.”
While Moncure had the opportunity to meet with a local publisher in Charlotte, he decided against it. “Since this is my first book I really want to have complete control. So, my original plan was to self publish using Lulu.com.”
This month, however, he announced the launch of his own publishing company: Lost & Found Fiction House. “It's a very small operation that I'm running out of my bedroom but I'm using it to release this book as well as to give other artists a way to get their work out there without having to sign away artistic freedom.”
He also plans to release an independent literary magazine on Lost & Found later this summer.
A Christmas gift
This was Supposed to be Simple started as a Christmas gift for family and friends. “Last Christmas was my first Christmas away from Roanoke Rapids. I had only had a job for about a month and things had been very hard financially.
“I've always written and I had never really shared my work with my family. I didn't want to come home empty handed so I made a small package of stories to give as a gift to my friends and family.”
That was the only gift he was able to give last Christmas but it was well received. “I got a lot of great response from it, so I kept writing and decided to turn it into a full book. So, this book was supposed to be simple, it was just a couple of pages of fiction printed out for my family. When I started I had no idea it would take off in the way that it did.”
Moncure gets inspiration from everywhere. “While everything I write is fiction I would be lying if I said events in my life hadn't influenced some stories. Usually, though, my own life is much more boring — so I take something that has happened to me and give it new meaning.”
Sometimes it can be as simple as friend saying they bought a shirt they were telling him about. “There was nothing special about that moment but for some reason, even that inspired me — so I have a story that starts with that line. Everything after that point is all completely made up. I try and make my characters very easy for the reader to relate to, which is why I often don't give them names or weigh them down with lots of physical descriptions. So, I'd like my readers to put themselves in the shoes of the characters, and take away what each character does from what happens in the story.”
From Roanoke Rapids to Charlotte
Moncure moved to Charlotte to go to Johnson & Wales thinking of getting a degree in food and restaurant management. “Then I realized that I don't want to spend the rest of my life working in food service. It's all I've done ever done, really, and I know it well — but that's no reason to settle for something.”
He then thought marketing would strike him but it didn’t and he plans to search for another school in the fall.
Now, he says, “I just want to share what I've created with the world and see what doors it opens for me. My goal is to go on a small tour with this book, and once that's over continue to write and help other people publish their own work with Lost & Found. I hope that these experiences will help me figure out what is it I want to be doing 10 years from now.”
Charlotte is typically thought of a financial center, not a literary or artistic center, but Moncure has found a place that inspires himself and other artists where they read their work.
The Evening Muse is one of them. “I was going through a rough patch and really needed to get out of the house — and I'm so glad that I did. Almost all of the close friends I have in Charlotte are people that I met at the Muse.”
He goes most Mondays and reads a short story, usually what he has written that week and has also found another literary home — Acoustic Garden. He reads stories between sets of his friend’s band — Albert Strawn and the Walking Abominations. “The mood of their music fits the tone of my stories so well, I'm actually going to be bringing them on the tour with me for my book.”
The district
The neighborhood Moncure lives and works in is called NoDa, and it's the arts district. “So, the rest of the city might not be very artistic or progressive, but NoDa is a great area. Charlotte has a lot of talent, and that's where most of it lives. I've come across a lot of great writers, musicians and artists of every kind here in Charlotte, and everyone is very supportive and enthusiastic about each other's work.”
Moncure enjoys the works of Miranda July who wrote a book called No One Belongs Here More Than You, his favorite book which is a collection of short stories. “Her writing style could bring me to tears if I let it. Another author that I love is Erica Schreiner. Like me she self published a collection of short stories, and I've been a huge fan since I read it about a year ago. We've actually become friends, and she has shown me the ropes when it comes to self publishing.
“I'm so lucky to know someone who has been where I am before. I'm inspired by both of these women. I'm inspired that they had something to say and they said it, and if I hadn't read those books I probably would have never written my own. Erica is probably going to be working with Lost & Found in the near future, I couldn't be more excited.”
Moncure is still trying to figure where he will go with his writing and doesn’t plan to quit the craft. “I will keep writing constantly. I hope to eventually figure out what it is I want to do with school. I'm hoping that eventually my writing will be at a place where I have the patience to write longer fiction, but if not I'd love to release more collections of short writings in the future.”
As far as his hometown, Moncure says, “When I lived in Roanoke Rapids all I wanted was to be somewhere else. I guess that comes with being young. Looking back, Roanoke Rapids is just like any other place in the world — you can move as much as you want but your life only changes so much.
“I have a lot more resources at my disposal in Charlotte, but at the end of the day when I get in bed and go to sleep it doesn't really matter where in the world I am — but I'm glad I'm in Charlotte. Some of my characters have my mentality of wanting to get out of their hometowns — some of them are just more extreme and fake their own deaths.”
For more information go to www.buchananmoncure.net or www.lostandfoundfiction.net
