Robert Midgett

Seventeen-year-old author, Robert Midgett, has been writing since third grade. After his teacher ripped his story up in front of him, stating it was too violent, he had a little rebellion kick in. At 11, he wrote a screenplay that he would rather no one ever read. Lessons were learned and at 13, he began writing his first published novel. ‘Vagabonds’ was born and it took two years to grow into the Science Fiction novel that movies are made from.

From Bradbury to Lovecraft to Twain to McKim, his writing influences are wide-spread. Robert decided, early-on, that he would give back by donating 10% of his profit from his novel to St. Jude Children’s Hospital, showing that his heart is as big as his imagination. All the way from the small town of Mount Juliet, Tennessee, meet Robert Midgett.

Robert is an author with Same Old Story Publishing. At 15, he finished his first published novel, Vagabonds. His second novel, Praxis, is coming out in early May. Robert has hosted and been a part of several panels. He has also been interviewed by several media outlets, such as Fox 17 News, Wave 3 in Louisville, KY, The Chris Top Show and various newspapers.

Robert Midgett‘s love for literature began at age 2. His mom was taking a literature class and so, to save time, she read him the stories she was assigned for class. Beowulf and Sir Gawain and The Green Knight are not typical bedtime stories by any means. But the classic literature stories sparked his interest in reading and writing.

Before Kindergarten, he was an avid reader. By Third Grade, he had a college reading level. At age eleven, he had written his first screenplay. It is no wonder that this 15-year-old has published his first full-length novel. Midgett comes from a creative family and has been encouraged to read and write anything that interests him.

“At age Eleven. I wanted to be a screenplay writer, actually. I had a superhero story I wanted to develop on called “Darklord.” The premise was stupid, now that I look back on it, but live and learn, right? I eventually went on to bigger things.” he reflects.

Robert is a sophomore in high school at Wilson Central High School in Mount Juliet. He says that it is a challenge juggling school work, writing and a social life. Luckily, friends and educators in his life have had a big influence on his writing process.

“Well, there was my third grade teacher who ripped up the first story I ever wrote. I don’t qualify that as writing now, but back then I was proud of it. She tore it up, said it was too violent, and made me feel a bit rebellious. Since then, there’s been some taboo in my stories. More recently, my Freshman year English teacher, Mr. Mauthe, and I used to have long discussions about literature, I told him some of what happened in my stories and whatnot and he generally helped me keep my faith in literature,” he adds.

Writers who have influenced him include classic authors and newer authors. He names Doug McKim, his publisher from Same Old Story Productions, as his mentor.

About his influences, Robert says, “Ray Bradbury is a major influence. Fahrenheit 451, specifically, is one of my favorites. Mark Twain and his ‘Sympathy for the Devil’ feelings to his stories. Dan Abnet is good, too, with the Warhammer novels. I think, most of all, my writing comes from history. I’ve always loved studying history, no matter the time period, and taking writing influence from it. I also take influence from everyday things. When writing Vagabonds, I would stare at a peaceful, beautiful area and say, “What if we were Alkin?” I would then proceed to imagine it being blown to hell by warships.” says Robert. ”Though he isn’t my greatest influence, I absolutely adore the work of H.P. Lovecraft. His ability to craft godlike entities that drive men off the edge and into a realm of insanity and suicide was amazing. He knew how to horrify audiences with the unthinkable, and for that, I thank him.”

Robert’s first novel, Vagabonds, is set to be released on October 15th, 2013. The cover art was created by Joseph Goforth and it is published by Same Old Story Productions.

The novel took two years to complete. He was thirteen when the idea started to take form. Robert saw the book about a group of wanderers, so Vagabonds was a fitting title.

“A Regina Spektor song called ‘Blue Lips.’ inspired this book. The story was originally going to star Zeph as the hero. I wanted to write a science fiction story and it slowly evolved into a tale of chaos, misfortune and generally horrible events. That isn’t to say that only bad things happen in my stories. I actually wanted to write a children’s book at one point called ‘Charlie the Warrior Prince’. It was going to be an adventurous, heart-felt story. Maybe I’ll pick up on it again one day,” says Robert.

The characters in his book are very real according to Robert. “Apart from the genetically modified multicolored people and the space travel, I tried to make quite a bit of it realistic. I wrote the protagonists how I thought young teenagers would act. I tried to keep the brutality of war as well. I looked into history for inspiration. World War II, Vietnam, the French invasion of Algeria and several other historical wars and events had part in the creation of this story. The heroes WEREN’T heroes. They were some poor, dumb kids who got in over their heads in a war and it ended up drowning most of them.”

Robert says that the hardest part of writing the novel would have to be the epic-scale battle scenes and getting them right. And what he has learned the most from writing Vagabonds is that he still has a lot to learn about writing.

There are several messages in Vagabonds. He says, “There are a lot of lessons to be learned. Don’t be a hero. Don’t think that just because you’re you and you have the will to accomplish great things that you can do something so powerful as stop a war. Don’t jump in front of the barrel of a gun for a man who won’t appreciate it. Just because someone calls you a coward, don’t try to prove them wrong in some stupid way; you are who you are, so you should be happy with yourself. Respect someone’s choices. Even if you aren’t the hero of the tale, don’t lose hope.”

He is currently promoting his book release for Praxis, upcoming book tour and working on his third book.

He says that just finding the strength to continue is a challenge. “A lot of the time, I feel like I’m wasting my effort. I think, “who will this effect?” and I have a few mental breakdowns. Then I get right back to it.” Despite the fact that writing has its challenges, Robert sees writing as a career and says anyone who discourages that is wasting their breath.

As advice to aspiring writers, Robert says to stay true to yourself. “Do whatever you feel is best. If you want to write a cannibalistic erotica novel, go for it. I mean, I’m not saying I’m going to read it and I’m sure as hell not saying I’d support the message of it, but like I said, write what you want. The worst thing someone can do is tell a writer what they should and shouldn’t write.”

He believes in giving back. St Jude Children’s Hospital will receive 10% of all the profit from Robert’s book sales. “There are plenty of worthy charities, I just felt that children deserve the chance to lead healthy lives. St. Jude works hard to make that possible by doing research to find cures to pediatric cancer and giving every child an equal chance.”

A message from Robert Midgett to his fans:

“Thank you. Thanks to anyone who’s taken time out of their busy schedules to read my work.”

For more on Robert Midgett or Vagabonds, go to www.robertmidgett.com