Ask the Author: Chad-Michael Simon
Answered Questions (6)
Chad-Michael Simon
The drip continued. No matter where she went, no matter how she scrubbed, no matter how they screamed, the drip continued.
Chad-Michael Simon
When a character makes me feel something that seems to have come from them instead of me. Those are the zen moments, the muse moments. That's when I know the writing is true and inedlible. This can happen at any point during the process, too. During the final revision of Yellowstone: The Bears of Caldera, I needed to add a moment between two characters whom I felt didn't have enough interaction. At this point, I was already well inside their heads, so I simply opened a conversation and let them talk to each other. Now, I know that it's coming from me, but when I'm fully in that place, the zone, the characters speak for themselves and surprise me. It ended with a line from Arthur the tarantula that made me laugh out loud. The little spider cracked me up. "This is it," I thought. "I don't know where this came from, but this is pure."
Chad-Michael Simon
Never stop writing and never stop absorbing, whether that's through reading, watching great television and films, or observing the world around you. Borrow liberally from everyday experiences. Most of all, never ascribe to the concept of writer's block. Set time aside every day for writing, establish a routine and simply write about anything — your day, your friends, your cat, what's on the news, a whacky idea that you think won't go anywhere — and keep the wheels turning.
Chad-Michael Simon
I'm currently working on the next book in the Dark Matter Spectrum series, of which Yellowstone: The Bears of Caldera is the first. I'm following John, Millicent, and Miriam on their next adventure, and I think readers will be surprised by where the story goes!
Chad-Michael Simon
Being an artist has always been a boon to my writing. Many scenes, lines, and moments in Yellowstone: The Bears of Caldera came directly from sketches. I love the concept of in medias res drawings, vignettes that appear plucked from the middle of a story that hasn't been written. Several key scenes were born this way, when I'd draw something and think, "I need to write about this!"
Chad-Michael Simon
I've been an artist and storyteller my whole life. In my early 20s, I was enamored by comic strip artists like Bill Watterson and Berkeley Breathed and wanted to develop a strip of my own. One evening, on a page of doodles of character ideas and faces, I drew a odd-looking girl with curly pigtails and a defiant pout, and I wrote the name Millicent next to her. I drew another girl named Miriam and knew at once that they were sisters. I added an older brother and a grizzly bear, and Yellowstone was born as a comic strip. Over the years, the story evolved into an idea for a graphic novel and then an actual novel. I wrote the first draft in 2005, and it's been with me ever since.
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