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INTERVIEW
BLOG
TOUR via GODDESS FISH
Celebrating
the release of MIND SECRETS by CHRIS REYNOLDS
STOP: July
31st, Rogue’s Angels
1. What or who inspired you to start writing?
Bad writing is what inspired me to put pen to paper
myself. Just the frustrating feeling of reading a book or watching a television
programme and being annoyed at the way the plot turned. Why does the hero have
to get away from the bad guy every
time? Why can’t he catch him once in a while? How can the main character have
been so upset about his best friend being killed last week and this week act as
if nothing has happened? Why are they wasting all this time kissing each other
when they should be getting on with the rest of the story?
I would imagine in my own head how I wanted the plot
to turn out. Just before I went to sleep, I would play out all the scenarios
and have a great time re-inventing other people’s work. Then I started making
up totally new stories with new characters and situations. Eventually, I wrote
them down.
I
wanted to write about teenagers with special powers. In all the years I’d been
writing, this was the one idea which didn’t go away. But it was also the one I
was a little afraid of because I knew it had to be right. Finally, I felt I was
a good enough writer to do it justice.
I
wanted them to have powers that seemed plausible. I wasn’t writing a superhero
comic, I was writing urban fantasy and I wanted my teenagers to be different,
but not so powerful that would never be in danger. So I gave them the power to
sense other people’s thoughts and feelings. It seemed to me that the things we
hold inside are minds are so strong that one day it might be possible for
people to eavesdrop on them.
Once I
had a situation, I needed a plot and a character to take the reader through the
story. I chose an outsider, Michael. He joins up with a gang of Perceivers (teenagers
with special powers) who he hopes can look into his head and retrieve the
memories which have been stolen from him. But, instead, he ends up helping them
in their struggle for survival against an adult population who want to destroy
them. As he does so, he uncovers a conspiracy surrounding Perception and a link
to the secrets of his hidden past.
3. As far as your writing goes, what are your future
plans?
It kind of depends on how Mind Secrets goes. I would love to write a sequel, and I know some
readers have been asking me about one, but I made sure it was also a standalone
book so if a sequel doesn’t happen people won’t be too disappointed (I hate
novels that end in the middle of the story just because the author/publisher
wants you buy the next one — I think that’s cheating the reader). I have a time
travel idea which I’ve sketched out, which will be a series of books, and I
also really want to do that. I want to write some more short stories, and have
some thoughts about a collection of stories featuring the characters of Mind Secrets. So it’s all a bit up in
the air at the moment. Of course, now that Mind
Secrets is out and I’m talking about it more, I’m getting excited all over
again, so the sequel idea is on the top of the list at the moment. As I say, it
partly depends on sales and reader reaction for Mind Secrets. Either way, I’ll be sitting down to write in the autumn
once another couple of projects with deadlines are out of the way. So many
ideas, so little time!
4. Can you give us a sneak peek into this book?
In this passage, Michael has contacted a Perceiver
called Jennifer and asked her to look into his mind to see if she can retrieve
his lost memories:-
Her
stare was intense. She looked into his eyes. Deep. Penetrating. Probing.
Through the cornea, past the iris and beyond the pupil. Until she was inside
his mind. He couldn’t feel her, but he knew she had to be in there. The
subtlety in her stare showed she was thinking about everything she perceived.
Like a tiny flashing light on a computer, each bite of information sent a
flicker across her eyes. Her breath shallow in concentration. Body absorbed in
stillness. Her singular perception, sharp and focussed, stretching out the
seconds into minutes.
Until
her eyes softened and she withdrew. Back through the pupil, the iris, the
cornea. Her breathing deepened. She blinked her mascaraed eyelids and their
connection was severed. She leant back against the door and her body relaxed.
A
mixture of nerves and excitement trembled inside him. ‘Well?’ said Michael.
‘Strange,’
said Jennifer. She seemed distracted, not quite there. Like a person emerging
from a dream. ‘There’s so little of you. Like ’ceiving a baby.’
‘Did
you see anything? Do you know who I
am? Where I live?’
‘No,
I’m sorry,’ said Jennifer. ‘There’s a nothingness inside of you. Like someone
sucked out your memories.’
5. Do you belong to a critique group? If so how does this
help or hinder your writing?
I’ve been part of several writing groups down the
years, but most recently I was a member of the T-Party (nothing to do with the
American political movement of a similar name) which was full of published
writers and people with a professional attitude. I learnt a lot from them and
improved my writing no end.
A couple of years back, I realised if you get too
involved with one group, you can end up writing for the group not your readers
as a whole, so I dropped out. I also started a part time job on Saturdays when
the group meets, so couldn’t make it anyway. I miss it, especially the social
aspect and keep meaning to go back. The occasional feedback is always useful,
as long as you don’t beat yourself up over the one person who hates your stuff
— and there’s always going to be one person.
6. When did you first decide to submit your work? Please
tell us what or who encouraged you to take this big step?
My dad. I was twelve and I had just finished my first
‘novel’. It was typed out using an old typewriter we had hanging around the
house on orange paper (yes, orange!) because we were given a pile of it by
someone clearing out an office. Some of the pages were twice as long as the
others because I’d added passages by sticking bits of paper to the bottom.
Anyway, I finished my ‘novel’ and rushed out in the
garden to tell my dad. “Are you going to get it published?” he said. Well, I
had never thought about that before. I was just writing a story to please
myself. But the idea of having my book ‘published’ was thrilling. So I sent my
manuscript — badly typed on orange paper — to a series of publishers.
God bless some of those editors who opened my
envelope, because they replied with encouraging letters. After that, I set
about learning how to do it properly.
7. What is the best and worst advice you ever received?
(regarding writing or publishing)
The worst advice I ever had was from a TV executive I
once met when I was writing for a television magazine. At the time, I was dabbling
with TV scripts and I asked if he would read a script I’d written. He very
kindly did and when I phoned him to find out what he thought he was gushing in
his praise and said it was a “super story” with “super characters.” Foolishly,
I believed him. I don’t know if he actually read the script or was just being
nice, but it sent me down the wrong path for a long time. I sent the script out
to several places who, naturally, rejected it. When I would have been so much
better if he had been a little more honest.
It’s funny how those bad bits of advice stick in the
brain, isn’t it? Which brings me onto the best bit of advice I ever had, which
was from Kristine Kathryn Rusch. She’d observed, over the years, that writers
always remembered the bad stuff people said about their writing. You could get
ten glowing reviews for your novel, but the one you remember is the person who
hated it. It’s the same with someone critiquing your story. When you’re in that
situation, you’re so often looking for the nuggets of wisdom which will make
your writing better. You make a note of them all and so when you get to review
those notes you might have something along the lines of: “the beginning doesn’t
work, your character changes hair colour from blonde to brown on page 3, and
the ending is a bit of a damp squib”. Whereas the critics also said “I think
it’s a brilliant idea, I was turning the pages to find out what happened, and
your descriptions really sparkle”.
Kris said I should write down all the good things and
not just the bad things. And she is so right. It makes them stick in your mind
much easier when you do that. Then you can build on them and make yourself a
better writer.
8. Do you outline your books or just start writing?
I always outline. I do this because I once wrote a
novel that became so hopelessly bogged down in a plot going nowhere that I had
to abandon it. I started it in the white heat of excitement which burnt out
after a month or so. I was only going to make that mistake once.
So now I write down the things that excite me using
old fashioned pen and paper and tease out the story from there.
9. How do you maintain your creativity?
I’m going to answer this question on the assumption
that I both have creativity and maintain it. I mean, I just write stuff and
hope other people enjoy it.
Here’s what I do to keep going.
a)
Write regularly. Easy to say, not always easy to do. Like
any skill, writing gets better with practice. To keep your creative brain
engaged, you have to turn it on regularly or it will wither.
b)
Exercise. I’ve really got into running this year and I
find getting out there gives me time away from the keyboard to refresh my mind.
It keeps me healthy(er) and that helps my brain to work more efficiently.
c)
Avoid depression. This is something which, sadly,
afflicts writers too much. Something to do with sitting at home all day with
only a computer for company, most probably. A couple of years ago I was pretty
down about life, to the point of the doctor giving me pills, and it was
difficult to be creative when I was in that head space. I was depressed so I
wasn’t writing much which made me more depressed. Since recovering from that
dark time, I keep a careful watch for the black dog.
10. Who is your favourite character in the book. Can you
tell us why?
This is going to
sound odd because she’s a peripheral character, really, but I have a soft spot
for Doctor Page. When we first meet her, she’s working in a cure clinic which
is taking powers away from young Perceivers, so appears to be a bad guy. But
then she seems to have a history with Michael and helps him escape, so her
motives appear blurred. She returns in the story at the most unexpected place
and, again, it’s difficult to know whether Michael and the others should trust
her. There’s a big revelation in the middle of the book involving Page which,
in reality, is all to do with Michael’s past and the origin of Perception,
which she reveals while bleeding from a gunshot wound in a hotel room… I can’t
say any more without giving the plot away, but it’s one of my favourite moments
in the book.
11. Anything else you might want to add?
Thanks very much
for interviewing me — I had fun. Why not come say hi at my website?
http://www.chrisreynolds-writer.co.uk
Mind Secrets
by Chris Reynolds
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
On the run and without his memories, Michael escapes from a man
called Carter onto the unfamiliar streets of London. There, he meets a gang of
teenagers with the power to sense the thoughts and feelings of others. They
live in fear of ‘the cure’, a mysterious process which takes away their power
and, some believe, destroys their personality. Suspecting the cure caused his
memory loss, Michael goes undercover to investigate the truth behind the doctors
of the cure clinic. What he discovers leads him to a conspiracy that runs to
the heart of government and reveals the shocking reality of his own past.
Mind Secrets is a compelling thriller set in a contemporary world
and will appeal to anyone who's ever wondered what it's like to have mind
powers.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt
Her
stare was intense. She looked into his eyes. Deep. Penetrating. Probing.
Through the cornea, past the iris and beyond the pupil. Until she was inside
his mind. He couldn’t feel her, but he knew she had to be in there. The
subtlety in her stare showed she was thinking about everything she perceived.
Like a tiny flashing light on a computer, each bite of information sent a flicker
across her eyes. Her breath shallow in concentration. Body absorbed in
stillness. Her singular perception, sharp and focussed, stretching out the
seconds into minutes.
Until
her eyes softened and she withdrew. Back through the pupil, the iris, the cornea.
Her breathing deepened. She blinked her mascaraed eyelids and their connection
was severed. She leant back against the door and her body relaxed.
A
mixture of nerves and excitement trembled inside him. ‘Well?’ said Michael.
‘Strange,’
said Jennifer. She seemed distracted, not quite there. Like a person emerging
from a dream. ‘There’s so little of you. Like ‘ceiving a baby.’
‘But
did you see my memories? Do you know who I am? Where I live?’
‘No.’
Michael
deflated. His legs hardly had the strength to keep him upright any more. He
staggered backwards and felt his bum hit the rim of a sink. He perched on it.
‘God!’ he cursed. He turned and kicked at the wall. Plaster came away from the
brickwork and scattered to the floor in pieces. He kicked them to the other
side of the room. ‘God! God! God!’
His
face was hot with frustration. He turned on the cold tap with such force that
it sent water spraying onto his trousers. He cupped his hands and splashed it
onto his face until his skin, his hair, sleeves and jumper were dripping wet.
‘I’m
sorry,’ said Jennifer. ‘There’s a nothingness inside of you. Like someone
sucked out your memories.’
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and
Links:
Chris Reynolds is a lover of adventure stories. Chris spent
her time growing up avidly reading them, watching them on TV and writing them
in her school exercise books. She was often frustrated that stories written by
other people didn’t go the way she wanted them to, so she decided to write her
own. In the interim, she has worked for the BBC and independent radio as a
journalist, written for magazines and some published non-fiction books. Now her
stories are available for all to read, following the release of her acclaimed
debut novel “Mind Secrets”.
Chris lives among the Chiltern Hills, north of London.
LINKS
http://www.chrisreynolds-writer.co.uk
http://www.facebook.com/ChrisReynolds01
Twitter: ChrisReynolds_1
