Ask the Author: Christian Piatt
Answered Questions (6)
Christian Piatt
I'm both blessed and cursed in this regard. Despite my constant, nagging fear that I'll run out of ideas, I never have. Now, with nine published books and four more under contract and/or underway, I'm starting to trust that my compulsion to create through words will never abandon me.
That said, sometimes, it would be a more peaceful existence if I could turn it off or attenuate. For some, writing as a daily discipline is a necessary practice. For me, it's a pressure release valve, a way to keep things, ideas, emotions, from building up to an intolerable level, and to stay connected with the rest of the world.
It sounds mobbed, but I fear sometimes that, if I stopped writing, I'd disappear or even die. It's not that I write from this fear; rather, it's simply that essential to my being. To me, having writer's block would be like waking up with crippling asthma.
But then again, I'm a compulsive creative type, so if that's not your reality, then meditate, sit in silence, walk, observe, listen. Be ready when the muse descends and trust she always will come back.
That said, sometimes, it would be a more peaceful existence if I could turn it off or attenuate. For some, writing as a daily discipline is a necessary practice. For me, it's a pressure release valve, a way to keep things, ideas, emotions, from building up to an intolerable level, and to stay connected with the rest of the world.
It sounds mobbed, but I fear sometimes that, if I stopped writing, I'd disappear or even die. It's not that I write from this fear; rather, it's simply that essential to my being. To me, having writer's block would be like waking up with crippling asthma.
But then again, I'm a compulsive creative type, so if that's not your reality, then meditate, sit in silence, walk, observe, listen. Be ready when the muse descends and trust she always will come back.
Christian Piatt
Connecting with people in a deep and meaningful way. If you're like me, typical social conventions are challenging, or even fall short sometimes. But to share something you made as previous as a story or a book with someone who resonates with it on a deep level is the most intimate of human experiences. It's sacred.
Christian Piatt
If you enjoy writing, do it for fun; don't try to make a career of it. Like anything, if you make what you love your job, it becomes a "have to" in addition to being a "want to."
On the other hand, if you feel like you can't not write, like putting words to pages is as essential as breathing and that you're incomplete without it every day, then do it. Every day. Do it for the love of the craft, for the sake of personal improvement and in honor of a timeless craft.
If you're meant to be a professional author, that's nearly incidental to fulfilling your unquenchable need to create, to give life, to unburden yourself of the weight of ideas, longing to be birthed.
On the other hand, if you feel like you can't not write, like putting words to pages is as essential as breathing and that you're incomplete without it every day, then do it. Every day. Do it for the love of the craft, for the sake of personal improvement and in honor of a timeless craft.
If you're meant to be a professional author, that's nearly incidental to fulfilling your unquenchable need to create, to give life, to unburden yourself of the weight of ideas, longing to be birthed.
Christian Piatt
Working on the second book in my BLOOD DOCTRINE fiction trilogy, and I'm on book one in my three-book lectionary series for Fortress Press.
Christian Piatt
If I get an idea that wakes me up at night, distracts me from daily life and more or less haunts me, I know there's probably a book in it. I write down lots of ideas, but only a handful make it to book form. Keep track, pay attention, and you'll know when you can't not write about something.
Christian Piatt
I had a Bible thrown at me at age 17 for asking too many questions in church. Though I've not walked away from the life and teaching of Jesus as a guide for my life, I have stepped back from much of the dogmatism and religiosity that has alienated to many, and causes them to cringe at the word "Christian."
If Jesus is our example, how come so few of us seem to be more like him? And can it be true that, at least sometimes, calling ourselves Christians can lead to even worse behavior? Sounds like something to change, so I wrote about it, and had a lot of fun with it while doing it.
If Jesus is our example, how come so few of us seem to be more like him? And can it be true that, at least sometimes, calling ourselves Christians can lead to even worse behavior? Sounds like something to change, so I wrote about it, and had a lot of fun with it while doing it.
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