Ask the Author: Christopher Clark
Answered Questions (9)
Christopher Clark
Currently "Twelve Kings in Sharakhai" and "Twenty-Six Seconds."
Christopher Clark
When I was a boy, my legs once swelled up and turned purple for several hours. The doctors could not determine the reason, and I am not allergic to anything.
Christopher Clark
Ugh. It's tough. Traditional couples really bug the crap out of me, especially in fantasy. Either he's a man's man and she's always in peril, or she's a tomboy with no time for love and he's a well-meaning idiot, or they are tragically fated to never work it out. Barf.
So, I think my answer has to be Elminster and the Simbul. No amount of either character has ever been traditional. When Elminster was stranded in Hell, it was the Simbul who brought him home. Halaster and the Mad Mage could not accomplish it, but Alassra, with love channeled into unbridled rage, helped Elminster defeat a Prince and return to the Prime Material. That's the cool stuff that a real relationship is made of: literally walking through hell to bring your love back from the brink.
So, I think my answer has to be Elminster and the Simbul. No amount of either character has ever been traditional. When Elminster was stranded in Hell, it was the Simbul who brought him home. Halaster and the Mad Mage could not accomplish it, but Alassra, with love channeled into unbridled rage, helped Elminster defeat a Prince and return to the Prime Material. That's the cool stuff that a real relationship is made of: literally walking through hell to bring your love back from the brink.
Christopher Clark
I have a two-pronged approach. First, I almost always listen to music while I write. It has to be something a little heavy, with a droning, grinding beat that keeps my mind pushing forward. When that fails me, I will often read backwards in order to refresh my mind on goings-on so far and edit what I've already written. These two things tend to get me moving forward again.
It's also important to me to never try to force myself. If I am really, truly struggling to make headway, I'll honestly just take a break for 30 minutes and clear my head. If I try to force it, even if I do make progress I tend to rewrite it later because it's not very good.
It's also important to me to never try to force myself. If I am really, truly struggling to make headway, I'll honestly just take a break for 30 minutes and clear my head. If I try to force it, even if I do make progress I tend to rewrite it later because it's not very good.
Christopher Clark
It tends to get me into a lot of really interesting conversations, which I appreciate. It's also a badge of honor - having an idea for a story, writing 30 pages, writing 75% of a book - all of that is meaningless. But completing a novel, publishing it, selling it, working toward something - that's something that will always exist and will forever remain a part of my legacy.
Christopher Clark
My advice is to write. Even if you think it's terrible, even if you find it derivative or trivial or just can't think of a beautiful way to say what you want to say... just write.
Christopher Clark
The Humming Blade deserves a sequel, so that's definitely at the top of my list. I'm also working on another project with a very different feel, which currently carries the working title "In The Grasp of His Mechanical Hand." That might change. Maybe. Probably?
Christopher Clark
I genuinely have no idea. Things just fall out of me. I get excited about an idea and new ideas compound on top of it.
Christopher Clark
It's actually an idea that has been stewing in my head for a long time. I tend to find inspiration in abstract, individual things; this book that I'm working on stems from the image of a lighthouse perched atop a barren rock, standing strong even as waves crash against it.
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