Heather Marie Adkins's Blog

IWU Blog Tour #2 - Christopher M. Thompson

Christopher M. Thompson

Today, I am hosting a hilarious Indie author named Christopher M. Thompson.

From your blog's About the Author page: a "thermonuclear family"? You must elaborate, I'm intrigued…What has this kind of life done for your writing?

Well, not to spread any dirt around, I was raised by my biological mom and the only guy on the planet that I call Dad. It wasn't until I was in my teens when I discovered that Dad and I didn't share DNA. I grew up with one sister and, for most of my life that is all that I knew. In 2008, a co-worker of mine, who had grown up in what used to be termed a "nuclear family" (original bio-parents married with 2 kids, one boy one girl, etc.) was completely baffled at the fact that I had never looked up my bio-dad or even been the slight bit curious. I did have a name, an old photograph, and some info, so I went searching. When I found him, it was like looking at an age-progression picture of myself.

I met him, my family and I stayed with him for a bit, and I got to know him and my other siblings pretty well, going from the oldest of two to the oldest of seven. I often joke (although the sibs don't find it as funny) that since I have three half-sisters and three half brothers, technically I have one brother, one sister, and a hermaphrodite as siblings. My bio-dad passed away in 2010.

We are a pretty wacky bunch at times, all of my siblings and I, and they are sometimes a source of inspiration for my writing, mostly as a springboard to creating characters who - in the end - don't resemble them at all.

Is there a story behind "The Book of Chaophim" the name of your blog?

Actually, there is, and it ties in with my upcoming "Gardener of Eden" trilogy. The main character is a Chaophim - which is both a 'race' of angel as well as a rank. The name is pseudo-Greek, a play off of the title Seraphim (the burning ones), etc. Many of the angelic ranks end with the suffix of -phim or -bim and since Aerin is basically an angel of chaos (more on that later) I lopped off the 's' and tried the -phim suffix on for size, enjoying the edgy feel that 'chaophim' had on my tongue.

When naming the blog, I looked at all of my works in progress, etc., and thought to myself "Since 'Gardener of Eden' is what I consider to be my magnum opus, it should have something to do with that." I had just written a scene for book 2 (I never write my stuff in order - I write it as it comes) where Aerin was trying to explain to someone how the prophet Enoch had cataloged all of the angels but Aerin was left out due to obscurity. The other character, dubious, joked "The Lost Book of Chaophim…" Again, I liked the sound of it, except for the 'lost' part and it stuck. To add more weight to the "Gardener of Eden" theme, I added one of the four pictures that I have composited of Aerin and myself in the header.

Parker Jesus and how awful he is in 100 words or less…

That would be fairly easy if I were the type to use profanity in an interview as I am ex-Navy and have the juvenile hobby of picking up profanity in other languages. Granted, it wouldn't make a lot of sense, but I do have 100+ choice words to describe Parker Jesus that way. Here we go with the 'clean & makes sense' attempt though: "It all boils down to me growing up a geek and being bullied. When I came out of my shell and learned to fight back, I kept my hatred of bullies. H. A. Parker is a bully."

Tell me about your writing process. Do you set time aside each day? What are your biggest distractions?

My writing process makes sense to me (and to a lot of women, which is understandable because my muse is female and I am her bit…err…her 'keyboard monkey') but overwhelms and confuses many others. I write for whatever mood I am in at the time on any of eleven current works in progress which include three screenplays, six novels, a children's book, and a non-fiction writer's guide about my process and other tidbits.

I do set aside time each day for dedicated writing, usually from 8:00pm or 9 (the children's bedtime) and midnight (my bedtime) although it is an easier schedule to keep when school is in session as my little weasels tend to wear me out during a full day.

My biggest distractions are Facebook and real life, the latter more than the former as I am a single father, currently lacking transportation, and split my time between parenting, housekeeping, and looking for 'work from home' opportunities that don't involve telemarketing or going out to party in order to blog bout the town's nightlife, etc.

What authors influence you the most?

I would have to say that, novel-wise, it's "the four Wills"… William Shakespeare, William Gibson, William C. Dietz, and Walter Jon Williams.

Self-Publishing your first book: any big surprises along the way? Has your experience with Breakfast Anytime been an enlightening one?

Actually, the fact that I *could* self-publish was the biggest shock of them all. I knew that I wanted to get "Gardener of Eden", which was just one book at the time, in print and was working hard on it, taking the traditional route of waiting until I was nearly done (still not quite at that point yet) to start shopping it around. My oldest sister, the one I had grown up with, mentioned that her college professor had self-published on Smashwords. After checking into it, I saw a chance to go ahead and get my name out there without the ulcer of some publisher saying "Poetry doesn't sell, especially poetry loaded with f-bombs and such" (not all of them have that, by the way, and I did publish a censored version as well) and so I snagged up all of my poems, formatted them, and submitted.

I don't remember much about the night that I lost my sexual virginity, but I can tell you exactly what I was wearing and how big I was smiling when I lost my publishing virginity. It felt SO good to delete the word 'aspiring writer' off of my hobbies and put "Author of the poetry anthology Breakfast Anytime" on my resume. Yes, it has been very enlightening as far as self-publication and marketing goes and is greasing the tracks for other works to come along right behind it.

The best part of being published as an indie though, is the inspiration it has sparked off in my daughter who is compiling copies of her poems and drawings (still trying to get the concept of 'copyright' through her head on that one as her argument is "But I *did* draw these, daddy!") so that she can publish her own book (under my account) and earn a tiny allowance if she decides not to just give it away free. She also works on short stories, so I'm glad that even with my personal life as strained as it is now with going through my second divorce, I am still a role model for her and her 'hero'.

The big question of the post: the Indie movement - your thoughts? Will it continue to grow and prosper? Will more and more authors choose this route and be able to make a living off it? What do you really want to tell the world about self-publishing?

Ask Pandora…lol I think there is going to be no putting the Indie movement back into the box, and neither do the stores, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and others all clamoring to suckle at the Indie teat as writers dig themselves out of mountains of rejection letters and self-publish. The Big Six had their day in the sun and will still get clients, to be sure, but now that Print-On-Demand has been stirred into the mix and Indies have discovered niche jobs like cover designers, etc., about the only thing that the Big Six will soon be able to offer are advance checks and some PR that you don't have to do yourself.

The days of lying awake at night with nightmares of an expensive agent trying to dig your work out of a publishers "Important! Must read now!" wastebasket are nearing an end, I think. That means that more Indies, and not less, will probably be picked up by the Big Six as the Big Six's influx of submissions (and the paychecks that come with them) begin to dwindle, forcing them to go on the hunt instead of having authors hunting them out.

To finish up, I love the relationship you have with Aerin, the character you've created over a lifetime. I also feel like my girls are mine. Who is Aerin, and when will we be able to meet her? (also known as, what are you working on and when can we expect to see you published again?)

Yeah - both ex-wives had a love-hate relationship with Aerin since I talked about her incessantly and often even dreamed about her - to them, it was like being in a polygamous relationship except neither could choke the life out of the other woman. In fact, she is such a big part of my life that I have had her tattooed on my left leg and given her her own Facebook page, setting the two of us in an "It's complicated" relationship status.

I am trying to finish up the edits on one of my screenplays (a romantic comedy about a 'normal' trying to infiltrate the 'geek' subculture) and I have limited my work within the past month at getting "Gardener of Eden: Sowing the Seed" on virtual bookshelves hopefully by August or September, pushing all of my other WIPs to the back of the virtual bookshelf. The lovely Ms. Seleratus is a fickle bi…err…muse though, and likes to toss ideas for the other stuff at me randomly despite my wishes, but I *am* trying to focus…hehehe

Thank you very much for the interview, and I had a blast answering the questions.

Last note from Heather: This indie has one of the funniest blogs I follow. I can not wait to see his Gardener of Eden series come to life (nor can I wait to read it!) He is surely one to keep an eye on.

Find "Breakfast Anytime":