Author Interview: Chris Well

<Bio: Chris Well is a novelist and magazine editor. His first novel, the crime thriller Forgiving Solomon Long, was published January 2005. His next novel, the quirky crime drama Deliver Us From Evelyn, will be published March 2006. By day, he is the editor for Homecoming Magazine and a contributing editor for CCM Magazine. Chris is a member of International Thriller Writers, Inc. He and his wife make their home in Nashville, Tennessee. Find him online at www.StudioWell.com, or at his blog www.chriswellnovelist.blogspot.com.

Plug time. What book or project is coming out or has come out that you’d like to tell us about?

My debut novel is Forgiving Solomon Long (Harvest House), a crime thriller that some have compared to the works of Ted Dekker, Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiassen. It was recently named one of the year’s 10 Best Christian Novels by Booklist (American Library Association).
My second novel, Deliver Us From Evelyn, comes out March 2006. It is about a Martha Stewart-type media queen who is inconvenienced when her media baron husband disappears.
And then, of course, under my pen name of “Max Lucado,” I have a new book every six weeks. (Of course, I’m kidding. My pen name is “Stephen King,” and it’s a book every eight weeks.)

Tell us about your journey to publication. How long had you been writing before you got the call you had a contract, how you heard and what went through your head.

I have been writing since I was a kid, at least as far back as the first grade. All through school, I wrote short stories and serials and comic books and plays. Somewhere around high school, I started writing for the local newspaper, which led to my spending the last 20 years working in newspapers and magazines as a writer and editor.

A few years ago, through one of the magazines, I became acquainted with some of the fine folks at Harvest House. One of them remarked one time, “You should try writing a novel—I think it would be funny.”

We talked about the possibility off and on for years, but I was always too busy to seriously work on anything extracurricular. Then, in April 2002, I was laid off from my job—as a newlywed, married only six weeks—and suddenly had some time to work on a novel. I submitted three or four different one-sentence ideas; he picked the one he liked best, and I began to work on a synopsis and sample chapters of what eventually became Forgiving Solomon Long.

By that fall, I was employed again and also working on an assortment of freelance projects—in addition to the novel. It took another year, an updated synopsis and more sample chapters before my editor felt like he had something to present to the board. They liked what they saw and initially asked for two books.

I turned in Forgiving Solomon Long June 2004, and it was published January 2005.

I always feel a little self-conscious about the part of the equation where “I knew a guy,” because I remember being the wannabe on the outside looking in. (And, in some markets, I am still that guy.)

So I want to make clear that my contacts were made as a result of 20 years of being faithful with the opportunities presented to me—writing everywhere I could, for the school paper, for the local newspaper, for the small magazines, working my way up. It was because of all that experience that I even met these people—and also the reason they believed I had something to offer.

If you as a writer are not willing to pay your dues, not willing to earn that next rung on the ladder, you will probably never get anywhere. And I have not even hit the big time yet—so I still need to be faithful with what I have now if I ever expect to get any further.


Do you still experience self-doubts regarding your work?

That’s a good question. I don’t generally have time to have doubts. I am anxious to see how people respond to Deliver Us From Evelyn when it comes out in March, but I am already busy writing a bunch of other stuff, including Kansas City Blues Novel #3, which is due at the publisher next summer. I also keep a full schedule as a full-time employee of Salem Publishing, serving as editor of one magazine and contributing editor to another magazine.

When the reviews and comments were coming in for Forgiving Solomon Long, there were only a couple that were frustrating. (Heck, even the lady who said it was “vomit inducing” said it was “well written.”)

But there were some constructive things various people said that I thought were fair; I tried to apply those suggestions in the course of writing Deliver Us From Evelyn.

Another thing is that, most of the time, I'm just writing for myself. Many have remarked how unusual my novels are for the Christian market—some say I invented a whole new genre—but these stories are just a product of me writing the kind of stuff I like to read.


What’s the best advice you’ve heard on writing/publication?

A college instructor at Lewis & Clark Community College, for one of my radio production classes: “Something is better than nothing.” If you put together something that is not quite right, you can always fix it. But if you don’t do anything, you have nothing to fix.

A TV instructor at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville gave me the best piece of editing advice I ever heard: “When you cut out the good stuff, it leaves you with the great stuff.” I have seen way too many writers over the years who do not understand that you have to push past your target word count, so that you can cut out all the fat and still have enough story left.


What’s the worst piece of writing advice you’ve heard?

I can’t really think of anything. You take all the advice with a grain of salt; what works for one person does not necessarily work for the next. So you use what works for you, and forget the rest.


What’s something you wish you’d known earlier that might have saved you some time/frustration in the publishing business?

All the “time/frustration” it took me to get to this place is part of who I am and part of how I got here. I don’t believe there is any wasted writing.


Do you have a scripture or quote that has been speaking to you lately?

I keep mentioning this all over the place, but it is such great, great wisdom:

Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will serve before kings; he will not
serve before obscure men. (Proverbs 22:29)

Over the years, I have worked with a lot of different kinds of artists—in music, in radio, all over the place—who do not put much effort into their craft, claiming they will do better after their “big break.” But what I have always seen—and, as the Bible says—is that the big break comes after you learn your craft.

Even after I had an “in” at Harvest House, I still needed to prove myself before they offered me a contract. I had been writing and editing for almost 20 years by that point.


Is there a particularly difficult set back that you’ve gone through in your writing career you are willing to share?

I am still heartbroken over Mammoth City Messengers. It was this awesome multimedia audio drama/comic book project—seven-and-a-half comic books, dramatized on three CDs—for which I co-plotted and wrote all the scripts. MCM was the brainchild of producer/songwriters Matt Bronleewe and Jeremy Bose, who wrote all the songs, co-plotted the main story and directed and produced the dramatization.

Early response was great, but around the time the first CD came out, the project fell through the cracks when the record label was caught up in restructuring. I don’t think any of the same employees are even there any more.

Ironically, a weekly serial prequel was syndicated on the radio (and, as of this writing, is still available online at www.MammothCityMessengers.com) and a multi-part sequel is available as Sunday school curriculum. But the actual story itself—which, in fact, explains how they actually become the “Mammoth City Messengers”—is this big, unfinished, unpublished project.

So that still smarts. (It was a really cool story.)
But I got some great friends out of the experience. So that’s something.


What are a few of your favorite books? (Not written by you.)

Full Tilt, Creston Mapes; The Hot Kid (well, just about anything by Elmore Leonard); Kafka On The Shore and Sputnik Sister, Haruki Murakami; The Great Divorce and the “Space Trilogy,” C.S. Lewis; Showcase Presents: Jonah Hex, various; The Thin Man, Dashiell Hammett; The Jesus I Never Knew, Phillip Yancey; L.A. Confidential and American Tabloid, James Ellroy; Showdown, Ted Dekker;The Frumious Bandersnatch and Fat Ollie’s Book, Ed McBain; Astonishing X-Men, Joss Whedon and John Cassady; How Then Shall We Live, Francis Schaeffer; Needful Things, Stephen King. And I am sure a bunch of other books I’ll remember later and kick myself for not mentioning.


If your authorial self was a character from The Wizard of Oz, which one would you be and why?

Probably the wizard. I just like to be left alone so I can write. (And watch DVDs.)


What piece of writing have you done that you’re particularly proud of and why?

I feel really good about Deliver Us From Evelyn. It touches on the style that people liked about Forgiving Solomon Long, yet gives readers a new experience. Of course, what I’m really excited about is the book that comes after that …


Do you have a pet peeve having to do with this biz?

To be continued...