Interview Chris: Today, I’m very excited to be interviewing myself, author of soon to be released debut novel, A Search For Songs. Thanks for taking the time to meet with yourself.
Author Chris: My pleasure, thanks for having you.
Interview Chris: Tell us a little about yourself and your background.
Author Chris: Well, I’m still relatively new to the writing scene. It started with a blog a few years ago. Little snippets of thoughts and random articles. Now with this first book, it feels like I’ve gone from babysitting to parenthood all in two or three years. The office jobs and daily meetings aren’t anything in comparison to the freedom of sitting down in front of a computer and writing something in which you truly believe.
Interview Chris: What were you like in school? Good at English?
Author Chris: I mean, I was OKAY. I did enough to get by with what I had. I’ve always been a reader and I think for the most part, that has helped the most in developing my writing. Over time, you start to read books with a new eye. What would you do different with certain characters or certain scenes? So from that, I’ve taken snippets from old English classes and grammar lessons and applied them to my writing.
Interview Chris: A Search For Songs is obviously your first book. How did that idea come about?
Author Chris: I quit my job in October of 2014 and did a lot of traveling between New Orleans and New York. I knew NaNoWriMo was right around the corner and it was something I’d always wanted to do. After coming up with idea after idea that more deserved to be in the bottom of a trash can than on paper, the story of an out-of-towner trying to fit in with a community that’s so close to one another just stuck out. By the time November 1st rolled around, I was ready to go.
Interview Chris: Most of your blog posts are pretty short, more like extended Twitter posts than articles. Even your short stories tend to stay under 1,000 words which is more flash fiction. What was it like coming up with enough words to complete an entire first draft?
Author Chris: It was a struggle almost everyday. I had a general outline of where I wanted the story to go, but by the time I got into the meat of everything, the characters would take me in a completely different direction. It’s very easy to lock yourself in a room, turn your brain off and write whatever comes to mind. But more often than not, it doesn’t lead to very coherent sentences and makes the rewriting process much longer. While I tried to take my time with the first draft, at some point you have to get out of your own way and let the characters figure it out for themselves. When that doesn’t work, turn off wifi and duct tape your hands to the keyboard.
Interview Chris: So you’re not exactly a plotter. More of a pantser?
Author Chris: I’m a plotter in almost everything in life except when it comes to writing. I’m a horrible plotter. When I want the story to go one way, I find out an hour or so later the story has taken three or four different side roads. You just hope that the new destination is as good as what you originally hoped for.
Interview Chris: Your main character, Mike, sets off on this little quest and doesn’t really know what he’s getting himself into.
Author Chris: No, he certainly doesn’t. At the beginning of this trip in trying to find this missing musician, Mike thinks it’ll just be a quick meet and greet and he’ll be on his way. But not everything turns out like that. A lot of responsibility is thrown into his face and he tries to deal with it in his own way.
Interview Chris: Who did you like writing more, Mike or Lucy?
Author Chris: Mike was fun because some his wit and his ability to be a smart ass was really amusing to play around with and how he interacted with the locals. But Lucy turned out to be my favorite because she doesn’t take shit from anybody, stranger or friend or even family. She stands up for herself with a soft fierceness to her.
Interview Chris: And we can’t forget about Savvy, can we?
Author Chris: Haha, no we certainly can’t. And I don’t think he’d let you forget about him. He’s a big, dumb teddy bear and if it were up to him, the story would be focused on him instead of Mike.
Interview Chris: Well, the book comes out September 30th. Just paperback copies?
Author Chris: It’s actually available for pre-order for paperback and Kindle over on Amazon.
Interview Chris: That’s fantastic. Anything else in the works for us?
Author Chris: Currently finishing up a novella – a bit different feel to it than A Search For Songs, but something that can be a nice, quick read if you can find some downtime from the family over the holiday season.
Interview Chris: Chris, thanks so much for taking the time to meet with yourself.
Author Chris: Thank you, self.
Pre-order A Search For Songs here and have it delivered automatically to your Kindle on September 30th!
chris dykes 
Your interview was interesting Very cleaver. When you are famous it will go down as your first interview
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