Interview: ChrisWell
Author of "Nursing a Grudge: An Earl Walker Mystery."
What can we call you (name)?
Chris is fine.
Where are you from?
Originally from Illinois, but now my wife and I live in Tennessee. For those reading this who are outside the United States - Wattpad has a huge international audience - Illinois is around the middle of the U.S., and Tennessee is like the middle south. (In fact, the locals call it the “Mid-South.”)
What is your favorite hobby (besides writing)?
Most of my activities keep me indoors - reading, writing, watching TV and movies.
Coffee or tea?
Coffee. My doctor told me to stop drinking so much coffee, but it’s hard to give up.
Interesting Fact?
When I was a little boy, I thought I could grow up to work as Batman. I thought that “Batman” was a job, like “fire fighter” or “postal worker.”
What book(s) are you reading now?
As of this interview, I’m about eleven books into the Parker series by Donald Westlake, written under the name Richard Stark. They’re these lean, mean crime novels about a career thief who’ll do whatever it takes to get what he wants. The series started in the 1960s and there’s 20-something books altogether. So far, every one of them has some great moment that makes me want to be Donald Westlake when I grow up.
I’m also reading the series of mysteries starring burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr by Lawrence Block, which are a hoot. Other recent reads include the spy novel ‘The Ipcress File’ by Len Deighton, and ‘The Fame Thief’ by Timothy Hallinan.
Who are your favorite Wattpad authors?
This may sound like a cheat, but I love that I can read classics from Bram Stoker, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Agatha Christie on my Wattpad app. You can’t do better than that.
When and why did you start writing?
I’ve been writing since I was very small. Somewhere around high school I began writing for the local newspaper, which led to my spending my whole adult professional life working in the media.
As for fiction, I returned to that around 10 years ago at the suggestions of a friend in publishing.
Why do I write? I have all these ideas in my head swirling around, and I have to write them down to get them out of my head.
Is there a specific genre that you like to read/write?
Primarily crime fiction—ranging from mysteries to suspense to crime stories to espionage. I read them the most, and so far that’s what I’ve been writing.
What or who inspires you in your work?
I gravitate toward authors who write crime fiction with quirky characters - such as Elmore Leonard, Carl Hiaasen, and Christopher Fowler, as well as the aforementioned Lawrence Block and Donald Westlake. Like them, I also write characters that are a little (or a lot) off-center. Some of my novels have been traditional mysteries, some have been crime thrillers, but they all have these oddball characters who somehow keep making everything worse.
Can you tell us a bit about your current story and why people would want to read it?
My brand-new novel is TOO BAD TO BE TRUMAN. It stars an out-of-work crime reporter who is mistakenly hired as a hit man – and, instead of doing the smart thing and going right to the police, decides to “investigate” it and gets in way over his head.
Meanwhile, my most recent novel on Wattpad is TRIBULATION HOUSE, one of my early books. That one is about a man who mistakenly believes he knows the date of the end of the world, so thinks it would be safe to borrow some money from the mob. When the world fails to end on schedule, he finds that the mob is in no mood to discuss end-times theology.
TRIBULATION HOUSE is an ensemble novel (lots of characters and subplots). The version being posted on Wattpad was revised just this year – so this is the 2013 edition, “Tribulation House: Reloaded.”
Is there a message for your readers in your work?
Maybe something like: “We should listen to people more. If we all could just talk to each other and stop jumping to conclusions, the world would be a better place.” Other than that, my novels are really just for the readers to enjoy. Have fun!
Do you have any advice for other writers?
Do the work. Anything worth doing takes work.
Is there anything else you would like add?
Wattpad audiences are the best audiences in the world!
