Look and Listen

Biography

Paul Mark Tag received BS, MS, and PhD degrees in the field of Meteorology from Pennsylvania State University, the last in 1977. He worked for the Naval Research Laboratory as a research scientist for over thirty years before leaving his job to write fiction fulltime. As a scientist, he wrote dozens of technical papers and journal articles, and made numerous conference presentations. In the late 1990s, in preparation for a career in writing, he began writing short stories. Author Arline Chase was (and is) his instructor and mentor. In early 2001, when he made his career change permanent, he spent a year writing short stories only. These stories have been published in StoryBytes, Potpourri, Greens Magazine, and The Storyteller. In 2002, Tag began his first novel, a thriller entitled Category 5, that took advantage of his knowledge of meteorology and weather modification. Prophecy, the sequel to Category 5, was published in July of 2007.

Inspiration

For my entire life, I’ve been fascinated by storytelling. I’ve always loved movies and living in the world of make believe. As a child and teenager, I tried my hand at writing fiction. It wasn’t long, however, before I had to make a career choice. I chose science and ended up going to school at Pennsylvania State University, not far from my home in the state of Pennsylvania. I then began a career as a research scientist with the Naval Research Laboratory. Fast forward about fifteen years when I started a novel, a mystery of sorts. For various reasons, I only got beyond a couple of chapters and gave up. After another ten years, I decided to take storytelling more seriously and enlisted the guidance of Arline Chase, my mentor, who is an author and publisher. Rather than start with something as overwhelming as a full-fledged novel, I began with short stories. When people tell me that they are interested in writing fiction, the first thing I suggest is that they learn the craft of storytelling by writing short stories. Early on, I faced the realization that just because I thought I could write a story didn’t mean that I could generate one that was interesting or worth reading. Going forward another six or so years, when I had the option to retire from my job with the federal government, I made a decision. Although I was doing some of the most fascinating research I had done in my career, I realized that unless I tackled writing fulltime, I would lose my dream. For an entire year following retirement, I wrote short stories exclusively, one a month. I asked one reviewer whether she thought I was ready to tackle a novel. She said (and I realize now how true it is) that putting together a good story in a thousand or so words is actually easier than a long version. What is it someone once said: Sorry! I would have written you a shorter letter but I didn’t have the time. For the next two and a half years, I slaved over my first novel, Category 5. Three years later, I completed Prophecy. Next year I plan to publish a book of those short stories I mentioned above, some of which have already appeared in literary journals. In the meantime, I’ve started my third novel. Although I sometimes wish I had had the opportunity to start this new career much earlier in life, I also realize that I may not have had the skills or the perseverance to do it then. Perhaps my timing was just right.