Ask the Author: Christian Kang Bachini
Answered Questions (5)
Christian Kang Bachini
Freedom. Being a writer gives you an incredible amount of freedom to put your ideas on the page exactly as you see them. As a filmmaker, I’ve always had people with opinions about what should change in a script, and the same thing happened when I started working with literary agents. I listened, did many rewrites, and took the notes I thought were right. But at one point, when I went back and looked at some of those scripts—and even at Haunting Skies—I barely recognized them anymore. They didn’t sound like me.
As much as I wanted to walk through those open doors, I also realized that, as an artist, there are certain things I want to say in my own way. I write first because I love the stories I’m writing. Of course I hope people connect with them, but that can’t be a necessity. I’m not writing for everybody to like what I do, and I’m not writing to make the big bucks.
I write so that when I have nothing else I want to read, I can read the stories I wanted someone to write.
As much as I wanted to walk through those open doors, I also realized that, as an artist, there are certain things I want to say in my own way. I write first because I love the stories I’m writing. Of course I hope people connect with them, but that can’t be a necessity. I’m not writing for everybody to like what I do, and I’m not writing to make the big bucks.
I write so that when I have nothing else I want to read, I can read the stories I wanted someone to write.
Christian Kang Bachini
I was watching an episode of The X-Files with a dear friend. We started talking, and I said something like, “What if a bunch of evil aliens abducted a human who was possessed by a demon?” And there it was. A simple idea eventually transformed into what I started calling the Star Wars of Horror. It took me years, but it’s finally out in the wild.
Christian Kang Bachini
I don’t really need inspiration. I just have these ideas, sit down, and write. Sometimes half a page, sometimes ten pages. I just go with the momentum and the excitement. If for a week I feel like taking a break from writing, I simply do, until the need to write comes back.
Christian Kang Bachini
Haunting Skies Part 2. I’m finishing up the last edits, then polishing my other novels, We Are the Ghostmeisters and Hesyl: This Town Is Hungry. Then it’s on to Haunting Skies Part 3.
Christian Kang Bachini
Write, rewrite, and have people read your work. Don’t be naive—take criticism and notes seriously and apply the ones you feel are right. Don’t accept everything blindly, but at the same time, don’t let your ego get in the way. Haunting Skies came out the same way. I protected my work, but whenever I felt a note or suggested change was right—even if it meant cutting huge chunks—I listened. As Stephen King says, I killed many of my darlings.
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