If you’re in the Arlington Tech program, chances are you’ve had Mr. Hines for English. Along with teaching, he’s also an avid Dungeons & Dragons fan and a baker. But did you know that he’s also an author?
The God of Make Believe is a “fantasy murder mystery, like a combination of Ninth House and Miyazaki’s Spirited Away” and his first published work. The first book in the series, His Unfinished Kingdoms, is now on Amazon as of December 2. You can read the prologue here and the first four chapters here.
He began writing The God of Make Believe because he’s a huge fantasy nerd, and he read a lot growing up. Since he spends every day teaching about books, he thought it might be a fun hobby, and eventually, he had enough material to write a full book.
Mr. Hines began to be interested in writing as a senior in high school when his creative writing teacher Mr. Flannigan sparked a love for stories. Since then, his favorite part of the writing process has always been just that: writing. He says it’s “super fun,” to come up with and share ideas, as well as writing being a nice stress reliever.
“Once a day, I write 2 pages, and I feel better because, you know, I’ve accomplished something creative,” he told us.
However, not everything about being an author is fun and calming. Mr. Hines also shared with us that all the “business stuff” – meaning money, time, and anything regarding emails – is annoying and stressful.
Mr. Hines’ favorite character in his story is Marlowe, a sentient, ghostly, truth-detecting flower. He compares Marlowe to R2-D2, the short, lovable robot in Star Wars. Marlowe, similarly to R2-D2, doesn’t speak, but still helps the main characters and provides some adorable comedy.
Besides writing, Mr. Hines also bakes “mean cookies,” and has apparently “perfected the phenomenon known as a chocolate chip cookie.” He enjoys making snickerdoodles as well.
He packs several classrooms full every Thursday afternoon as the teacher sponsor for the D&D club at ACC, which is a hobby that started over 6 years ago. In college, he stumbled upon Adventure Zone, a D&D podcast featuring three brothers and their dad. Since then, he’s had weekly D&D sessions with his friends.
Of course, writing, baking, and D&D are fun, but Mr. Hines is a teacher first. His favorite part about teaching is working with students since they make him laugh. Not to their faces, of course. He laughs after they’ve left. Laughter helps him deal with the fact that he’s been stuck in the trailers for 6 years. In that time, he has decorated his room with past students’ work, vinyl dots (to cover up scratches), and of course, foam swords, which he got from Dr. Van Lare.
Lastly, Mr. Hines gave us some words of wisdom for aspiring writers. “Write every day. It doesn’t have to be good, rewriting is the fun part. It’s ok to be bad.” It took Mr. Hines 5 years to write this book, considering he “didn’t know what [he] was doing.” Now, he’s writing something new, and he already has 60 pages written.
The God of Make Believe is out now, $5 on Kindle and $15 for paperback. Even the Book Club is taking an interest, so stay tuned during the Winter Bazaar! If you read the book, make sure to stop by Room 503 to let Mr. Hines know how much you enjoyed it!
