Ask the Author: Chris Westphal
Answered Questions (8)
Chris Westphal
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Chris Westphal
The central premise for The Pyongyang Paradox evolved over dozens of false starts and fruitless tangents. I started with the main character, Tom Huttle, a failed writer, who's determined to write a novel, but is entirely unequipped to do so. His grandiose ambitions and delusions propel the narrative. Eventually, I came up with the idea that Tom would switch places with his fictional creation, a swashbuckling secret agent named Buck Samson. Buck also switches places with Tom, so I had two fish out of water stories. It was very fun, once I figured out what I was doing, but probably wrote six hundred pages of material that I will never use.
Chris Westphal
If I'm getting paid, I'm inspired by the promises I've made, and the deadlines I have ahead of me. If I'm writing on spec, at the end of the day, I try to leave the book when something exciting is about to happen, so I'm propelled into the next scene. I want to find out what's going to happen!
Chris Westphal
Rewriting a regional detective story, set in the Pacific Northwest, featuring the editor of a struggling small-town newspaper. A noir thriller. I absolutely love writing the main character, Jack Teller. He's smart, a bit snarky, determined, and takes risks because he's trying to compensate for failures in his life. Or things that he perceives as failures.
Chris Westphal
Seek and consider productive feedback from trusted and accomplished outsiders. Feedback is not, "Oh! I loved it!" as your mother might say, or "I hated it," as you might hear from a friend who's always been oddly competitive with you. Useful feedback is thoughtful; along the lines of, "I didn't understand why the character was so angry in this scene," or "the character's casual behavior seemed out of place here, because he/she is in danger, and should recognize it." Explaining is futile, unless you plan to explain to every reader. Often, you can solve a problem of a plot development being unlikely by having a character point if out. "That seems impossible! But it happened."
Chris Westphal
Getting so immersed in the story that the characters seem to act of their own accord and pull the narrative along. Also, coming up with a funny situation or conflict and really honing it until it's perfect, beat by beat.
Chris Westphal
After drinking several cups of coffee, tidying up the kitchen, and sharpening pencils to a needle-like point, I sit down at the keyboard and if I'm really stuck I write, "I don't have anything to write," or something similar, and then write "If I had anything to write, it would be something like this..." Fill in the blank. After a while; maybe a few false-starts, I'm off and running. Or writing, in this case.
Chris Westphal
Lenin, by Robert Service; Lake Success, by Gary Schteyngart, The Bastard Brigade, by Same Kean... and a whole stack of others on my nightstand.
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