Ask the Author: Christopher C. Starr
Answered Questions (6)
Christopher C. Starr
The best part about being a writer is when someone is touched by what you wrote. We like to say that writing is this solitary endeavor but we write for the reader. And we LOVE when someone says they liked the book or a character touched them or they felt something. Making an impression on someone else is the best part of this whole thing.
Christopher C. Starr
My experience with writer's block wasn't ever about not being able to write; i was always about needing to say something that I didn't want to say. It was about honesty for me. So the quickest cure for it was just writing the thing I didn't want to write and accepting it.
Then I faced writer's block for a year on my current book. I couldn't hear anything, I couldn't see any scenes, I had no idea where the story needed to go. I had nothing. So that is what I wrote: I wrote Michael the Archangel being lost, not hearing the Father, not seeing where he was supposed to go. Leaning into that feeling, into Michael's perspective, made the story begin to happen. It's still hard, to be honest, but it's moving.
Then I faced writer's block for a year on my current book. I couldn't hear anything, I couldn't see any scenes, I had no idea where the story needed to go. I had nothing. So that is what I wrote: I wrote Michael the Archangel being lost, not hearing the Father, not seeing where he was supposed to go. Leaning into that feeling, into Michael's perspective, made the story begin to happen. It's still hard, to be honest, but it's moving.
Christopher C. Starr
Damned If I Do is the third book in the Heaven Falls series and, aside from just moving the narrative and catching up with the characters, I had a question (there's always a question)--actually 2 questions:
1. If an angel loses faith in God, how would they get it back?
2. What would it be like for an angel to possess someone? We always hear about demons doing the possession; what stops an angel from doing it? And why would it happen?
1. If an angel loses faith in God, how would they get it back?
2. What would it be like for an angel to possess someone? We always hear about demons doing the possession; what stops an angel from doing it? And why would it happen?
Christopher C. Starr
My best ideas always come from the shower, playing with my dogs, or satisfying my Lego obsession - something that doesn't require a lot of thought. Once I can hear or see the scene I need to work on (I usually have to see it in my head like a movie), I can write it out. I find a quiet place, early in the morning or late at night, get some Earl Gray (thanks Captain Picard), and close my eyes so I can relive the scene. That's the deal.
Christopher C. Starr
I have 3 things that I'm doing related to the Heaven Falls series: choosing the narrator for the audiobook of The Road to Hell (Book 1); working with the designer for Come Hell or High Water (Book 2) and getting ready for its release in December; and actively writing the screenplay for Book 3: Damned If I Do. I always start with a screenplay as Draft 1 just to figure out what the story is gonna be. So that's where I am.
Christopher C. Starr
Stop trying to write it and just write it. Doubt is the biggest obstacle for new writers: we don't believe we can do it or we don't think we can do it right. It's you telling your story, the story you've been given. You can't do it wrong. And you can edit anything except a blank page.
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