𝐵𝑒ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑠 (Featuring Many Great Authors)

Author [@Christine Owen]

Welcome, everyone. Today we have the lovely Christine_Owen

A big thank you to her for taking the time to answer these questions.

If you haven't read her books then please do. They're amazing...

Without further ado...

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1. What inspired you to start writing?
I was inspired to start writing after I read most books in the library (I had no TV/internet growing up) and wanted more of the kind I liked. So when I was younger (this started around junior high) I'd write and read my own stories. Never dreamed of publishing anything or having readers though!

2. Did you have any writers' block along the way? how did you get past them?

For some projects, it's effortless (when I wrote The Movie Star, it was a lovely summer with coffee and no stress and the readers literally cheered me on every single step of the way; that book wrote itself) - for other projects, it's been agonizing, lol. Writing The Code was so research-heavy that I was stopped in multiple places. Hard to overcome but sometimes in the research you come across something that sparks a new chapter. Also, rereading your own past chapters helps. But I never force it. If I'm not into the book, I just don't write it! I put it down and go read a bunch of other things. Having fun is the most important thing, you have to remember that this is a hobby!

3. Do you see yourself in any characters and why?

Haha, yes, Blythe in The Movie Star is totally me. I love Science, know barely any stars' names, I grew up without tv and all that. Shy, book-loving, socially awkward. ;)

4. How old are you?

I'm 35! (Cries forever!)

5. How old were you when you started writing?

I think I was around 12 or 13

6. Can you remember what you felt when you first started writing? what did you feel?

The first thing that I remember was this creative writing prompt as if you were a sailor on a famous historical journey. When I described the cold and scurvy for four paragraphs and didn't want to stop. That's the fun of writing! Creating feelings is exhilarating!

7. What's your outside life like?
I'm a mom of three (ages 2, 4, and 7) and I homeschool AND I live in a cold climate. So my outside life is definitely an inside life (haha!) and all centers around my kids. Right now, I love that I can do 100% Science and Math with my first grader. For one week, we just built bridges, again and again, and again out of different materials and designs.

8.where do you get your ideas from?

Ideas! Good question. Sometimes when you have strong leading characters, it just feels like certain things have to happen, there are some basic cause and effect there like with Colt and Blythe (movie star vs physicist). Other than that, I don't know. Inspiration! Not thinking about it sometimes and other times I do have to plan things a little.

9. What do you like to do when you're not writing?

I love to read and paint and rearrange the house (it's an addiction). My latest thing is that I get to teach Science in our homeschool co-op! I'm petitioning to create and lead a dissection class which would be awesome (I used to work in the ER). 

10. What does your family think about your writing?
Some are supportive, some don't care too much. My dad was the proudest when I had a story published - really published - in an anthology. 

11. What do you think makes a good story?

Oooh. Good one. I think engaging characters and fun asides (I started a project-based solely off fun internal stream-of-consciousness high school boy and it was a blast!). Keep it simple and short and give the reader a big payoff!

12. What's your favourite genre? 

I'm a secret fantasy junkie. But as far as writing it, I feel like there's so much saturation now in the post Harry Potter world we live in.

13. Do you write on wattpad or do you use software (like Microsoft word)?
I write exclusively on Wattpad, on my phone!

14. What's the hardest thing to write, for you, and why?
Hands down, a project I'm not interested in. Being made to write what someone else wants. Can't do it. Creativity doesn't work that way! (Also why I could never have a job writing!)

15. Do you work on an outline or just go with the flow?
I'm ashamed to say that I do zero planning. I don't recommend it! But I've learned to like the surprise and twists that it brings. I do have a general idea about things like I'll think "okay then a bunch of cool stuff happens and I need to get this one reveal in somehow" and then I just go! Lol

16. Do you have anything specific you want to say to readers?

Only how much I love them!!!! Readers are literally the only reason I keep writing. The interactive experience makes it all worth it!

17. And lastly, Do you have any advice for new writers.
Hmmm... Read - that would be my advice. Read and read and read. Write one day, read another day. Find things you love reading, things you can't put down. Read Ender's Game. Read Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore. Read anything Tamora Pierce. Read that one book where the girl is locked in a coffin as a trucker's sex slave and gets Stockholm syndrome. Just find something you love and - read!  Aaaah! *Read The Magicians!

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