Ask the Author: Chris McKinney
Answered Questions (6)
Chris McKinney
My version of writer's block occurs when I'm done with a project and have no idea what I'm going to write about next. I haven't figured out a way to generate good story ideas through sheer will. However, once I do have a story idea, I rely on discipline. Every weekday morning, after the kids are at school, I sit and write for at least an hour, maximum four. Sometimes two hours may yield just three paragraphs. Sometimes one hour equals four pages. Either way, I make sure that I sit and write just about every single weekday. Even if I produce just a paragraph, it's a victory.
Chris McKinney
Maybe being forced to learn and observe. I can walk around the same block a dozen times and see something new each time because I have to. When it comes to research, I'm constantly forced to learn new things in order for my books to be credible. I enjoy this aspect of it. Being a writer is also a great excuse to travel.
Chris McKinney
Read a lot. Write a lot. Identify your voice and embrace everything that makes you, well, you. Once you know your voice, you'll be writing stuff that only you can write. Sometimes it will be good, and sometimes it will be bad, but you'll begin to tell stories in a way that only you can tell them.
Chris McKinney
I'm currently working on books two and three of the Water City trilogy.
Chris McKinney
I think, for me, writing comes more from compulsion than inspiration. I just feel like I need to do it. I feel frustrated if I'm not doing it for an extended period of time. Besides playing computer games, which I had to cut back on over the years, writing is when I feel in flow the most.
Chris McKinney
I think I was inspired by my environment at the time. I was spending time on the Big Island and watched as the controversy over building the Thirty Meter Telescope intensified. I was also living in a condo unit and wondered what it'd be like if all these new high-rises were flipped upside down and dropped into the deep end of the ocean.
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