Ask the Author: Chris Stead
Answered Questions (8)
Chris Stead
Where is the remote.
Chris Stead
Asterix and Obelix - maybe not a couple couple, but an odd couple. My son just started school and the same school I went to as a child. The librarian remembered me and how I used to always take out the Asterix and Obelix books!!! Brought back very fond memories.
Chris Stead
I don't really get writer's block. I just get over it. The screen. The desk. In which case I just go for a surf or do some exercise. If I really get stuck or feel flat, I just stop thinking... and pretty much straight away another idea leaps into the gap and takes me somewhere.
Chris Stead
Having an avenue for expression. I can't dance and I can't draw and I can't sing, but I can write. And that at least allows me to get what's inside, outside - something I cannot living without. Plus, now I can use writing as a way of sharing myself with my children, which is something very cool that I am only just starting to explore and enjoy.
Chris Stead
I come from a different school than many writers I suspect. I studied to be a molecular biologist, but ended up falling into journalism simply by writing fan articles that got noticed by a magazine editor. I then climbed the ladder and learnt how to be a journalist and a content marketer and a website builder and a sales rep all these things on the battlefield as the war was being fought.
Eventually I got to a point where I was doing everything - writing, designing, selling, editing, coding - and giving a huge piece of the profits to publishers. So for me, it's all about owning what you do. Everything I do I own - it's slower sourcing artists and doing all the design and code work yourself, but at the end of the day I feel if you are going to be a creator, then you want to get the lion's share of whatever your creation earns.
So my advice would be to take control - learn as much as you can about all the things around writing that take it from a word doc to someone's eyeballs on the other side of the world.
Eventually I got to a point where I was doing everything - writing, designing, selling, editing, coding - and giving a huge piece of the profits to publishers. So for me, it's all about owning what you do. Everything I do I own - it's slower sourcing artists and doing all the design and code work yourself, but at the end of the day I feel if you are going to be a creator, then you want to get the lion's share of whatever your creation earns.
So my advice would be to take control - learn as much as you can about all the things around writing that take it from a word doc to someone's eyeballs on the other side of the world.
Chris Stead
I'm finalising the second book in the Willy Nilly series, which is created now and I am just waiting for two final bits of art to be tweaked. I have another three books half done, with the art being produced as we speak. I have a third Willy Nilly book written and the art for that will start in January. I have another two books written I am hunting artists for as well. I also need to convert my cookbook into mobile friendly form for the Kindle so I can get that published. I'd also like to get some physical copies made of the existing books.
Outside of that I'm still involved in five gaming publications on a daily basis, and working on magazines for places like the University of New South Wales and MCV. I just had my third child, too, so that is keeping me busy.
Outside of that I'm still involved in five gaming publications on a daily basis, and working on magazines for places like the University of New South Wales and MCV. I just had my third child, too, so that is keeping me busy.
Chris Stead
I've been writing my entire life. For twenty years I have now worked as an entertainment journalist and within that I have run some busy websites, so coming up with new ideas and being creative with concepts in short amounts of time is something I'm well-practiced at. Unfortunately I cannot get the books out as quickly as I can write them.
Chris Stead
The ideas always start with a life experience. It could be something really simple like getting some cake out of the fridge. Or spill over from a conversation with my kids. I do find that the harder I work to force a concept into a book idea, the less it works - it just needs to come out of the ether all of a sudden. Then my imagination takes it on a journey and I begin to visualise the images and story in my head. Then I just need to make them connect in a way that looks good, feels right and entertains.
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