FAQ

SOME FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS AND THEIR ANSWERS

Why did you become a writer?

I really didn't want to do anything else. Since I was 12 I knew I wanted to be a writer and a creator of things in a larger sense. I didn't have a drive to get a "real job" or be an "office monkey" like many of my peers. I discovered, much to my delight, that I wasn't too bad at making stories up... it was making them good stories others would want to read that became the ongoing struggle.
I guess in a simple sense, I love to create. The easiest way to do this is to make your own world in which you control things and have the ability to share events as they develop. I wasn't and still haven't been able to find any other endeavor on earth that lets me do this other than writing. So that's why I do what I do.

Where do you get your ideas?

I think it was Marvel Comics that once had a comic series called "What If?" The premise was you had this germ of an idea: "What if Peter Parker didn't use his powers for good?" and then you had the story for that issue unfold from there.   For me, and many other authors, getting ideas is just a simple matter of asking: "What if?" What if monkeys dominated man? What if the world suddenly reversed its magnetic poles? This is the seed of the idea that eventually becomes a story. However, it is also true for me (and many other writers as well, I would imagine) that I have a lot of ideas spring up from the cooking pot of my mind without too much coaxing.  Writers are very observant folk. Whether they know it or not they’re soaking things in like a sponge. The daily news, the weather, the way a person acts or speaks, these and a myriad more things are all soaked up into their heads and mix around for a while. This stew bubbles up in time and spits some things out. Sometimes they're not quite done yet and have to go back in the pot and sometimes they're just right.   I still use the What if question on these bits of stew, seeing where the idea goes and develops, if it goes anywhere at all. It's an ongoing process that never really ends because there are always ideas coming into and out of the pot and a lot of new ones stretched and created by asking "What if?"  Of course, being a Christian I believe God has a hand in sending ideas my way and even shaping them in the process of development. I'd be lying if I didn't give him credit in the process as well.

Any advice for new writers?
Look at the material on The Writer’s Desk, for more information. That’s where I put what I think will be the most helpful.

Will you read my manuscript and tell me what you think?

This is a tough question because I would like to read peoples work if able, but it puts me in an awkward position as well. First off, there is the whole issue of reading a work and then possibly subconsciously "lifting" something from the material and putting it into my own work which could cause some legal trouble down the road. There is also the whole issue of time. To really give it a fair shake I'd have to spend a good amount of time on the work to give any feedback. With a full writing plate as it is the possibility of doing this review process for other folks makes the available hours in the day just shrink to minuscule amounts, if any at all.
Regrettably, I have to turn down any offers to look at scripts and manuscripts for the above mentioned reasons. This doesn't mean you can't find some good folks to give you a fair review. Often times friends and family members give a great starting point to feedback and there are many places you can take your work, such as a local college English or Literature Professor, as well as swapping the work with local authors for their own critique. Often there is at least one writing group in the area that you could join or at least see if they might be willing to give some feedback on your work. Also, many community centers and/or colleges offer writing workshops or creative writing courses which could not only help to hone some skills, but also provide an audience to evaluate your work.
Finally, I think it’s also important to remember that while it might seem helpful if a "famous" or "established" author critiqued your work, what you're really getting, aside from a few grammatical critiques (and every published writer is far from grammatically perfect–that's why God gave us editors) you're really just getting a person's opinion. Sure, you might get some comments on pacing, or dialogue or some such matter, but the rest of it is really just an opinion. If you want a "celeb" opinion that's fine, but it's still an opinion nonetheless and there are many folks out there with opinions of their own who are far more accessible to you than "established" writers.

Could you help me get published/find a publisher/agent, etc?

Unfortunately, no. I can, though, point you to Aspirations Media (my publisher). As far as I know, they are one of the most open publishers right now on the market. By "open" I mean they don't require you to have an agent or previous publishing credits to get in the door for consideration. This doesn't mean that you're guaranteed publication, but that you would at least get a fair consideration.
Like most writers, you're going to have to do a lot of work to get your story out there. That's the other side of the coin of writing, that hard work beyond the endless hours of rewrites and revisions and the other various components that mix together into this wonderful job. However, if you don't give up, the chances of you getting something out there are much better than simply letting it all slide after the wall of discouragement and tedious hoop jumping start to come against you.
Please feel free, however, to check out the links section on The Writer’s Desk page. There are some helpful connections to resources that may be of some use in your quest for publication.

Do you write/have you ever written anything else besides novels/fiction?

Yes, I have written comic scripts before, even working with an indie comic company a while back for a brief stint of time. However, nothing I worked on was ever published. I'm working on getting some series work and a graphic novel or two into print in the near future, having one graphic novel to my published credits as well.
As to non-fiction, I have and do write it from time to time. I'm currently playing around with an idea for a non-fiction work. Though it will be some time before it gets finalized in my head. As much as I like fiction I do like to romp around on the non-fiction side of the literary fence from time to time.

Do you have a favorite author and if so, who?

I guess the one author who I continue to learn from is Robert E. Howard, though I also have an assortment of others who have contributed to helping me develop and hone my own writing over the years. Stephen King, Tracy Hickman, Margaret Weis, Tom Robbins, H.P. Lovecraft, Anne Rice, Timothy Zahn, Neil Gaiman and many more alongside many comic book and classical writers have all had a hand in helping me develop and improve as a writer. Some of these authors I no longer read but when I was first starting out they really helped my get a grasp on what exactly it was I wanted to do and not do with my writing.

What do you want people to get out of your work?

Well, I guess I'd have to say a sense of value. I'd like people to be able to buy something I've written/created and think their money was well spent. I'd like to think as well that many would find the tales I tell good enough to maybe read again as I have done with some of my own favorite writers.
I suppose in the long run, however, I'll like them to be able to get something insightful from my work as well. Some kernel of greater inkling, a great new idea for something of their own invention or just a sensation that I had and still have reading the old comic books, favored tales, and watching cartoons from my youth: a gentle peace that inspires us more than we know and helps reveal to us some eternal and deeper truths that never get old or weaken the more years we tread this planet.

Welcome to the Frequently Asked Questions Page.

Here you’ll find the collection of the common questions asked of Chad and the common answer he gives for them. If you have any more questions you care to ask him that aren’t on this list feel free to drop him a line at: chad@chadcorrie.com.

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