Secrets of the Mind

Please welcome Chris Reynolds author of Mind Secrets

Chris will be awarding a $10 Amazon GC to one randomly drawn commenter during the tour. One randomly drawn host will win a $10 Amazon GC. So don't forget to leave a comment.

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.

2.    How did you come up with your idea for your novel?

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

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