Author Interview ~ Chuck Holton

Chuck Holton served four years in the Elite 75th Ranger Regiment–the same unit profiled in the movie “Black Hawk Down.” Chuck saw combat in Panama in 1989. After leaving active duty, Chuck flew helicopters in the Wisconsin National Guard while attending the University of Wisconsin.In 2004, after ten years as a stockbroker, Chuck left that profession to pursue full-time writing. At the same time, he began working as the adventure correspondent for CBN.Today, Chuck, Connie, and their five children live on a farm in Appalachia, where Chuck now pursues his varied interests of farming, writing, adventure travel and public speaking, among other things.

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

Island Inferno is my first solo fiction project. It's book two of the Task Force Valor action/adventure series. I'm very excited about it, because I feel like this book has so much of my personal experience in it, which makes for a rich and compelling story.

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.

This is my fifth book overall, and since it's the second in a series, I kinda knew it was coming. the problem with trying to write full time for a living is that one must (at my level, anyway) do so many other things related to the writing to actually make enough money to feed my five children - speaking, traveling, etc. All that leaves little time to actually do the writing.

Do you still experience self-doubts regarding your work?

Always. I find writing, (especially fiction) is like planting a garden...the story has to grow in my head, and until it does, trying to force the words onto paper just doesn't work. Unfortunately, publishers don't usually work that way.

What mistakes have you made while seeking publication?

Thinking I had to write the entire manuscript before seeking a publisher. Rookie mistake.

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

Go to a writer's conference. You can't call yourself serious about doing this for publication if you're not willing to shell out to be with other writers and editors. But make sure it's a reputable conference. I like Mount Hermon.

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

"Christian Fiction readers don't want deep spiritual application in the books they read. It makes the writing too 'preachy'." Tell that to Randy Alcorn. The way I see it, if the stuff I'm writing is simply entertaining and not life-changing, it's not worth my time or yours.

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

It's not healthy to subject oneself to a ridiculous deadline. However long you think it will take you to finish your manuscript, double it. It always takes longer than I think.

Also, working from home doesn't qualify as "spending time with your family" if you are buried in your home office twelve hours a day. What I didn't realize when I quit my job as a stockbroker to work for myself is that my new boss would be such a slave driver. I had to learn to force myself to stop and go wrestle with the kids once in awhile, or take a walk. which incidentally shot my daily word count way up.

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

When you're a professional writer you notice different things about books than you did when you were just a reader. Now I admire books with good sentence structure, creative word pictures, and syntax much more than I did before. Some I really admire are fiction by Jeanette Windle and Randy Alcorn, non-fiction by John Piper and many long-forgotten writers from the early 19th century.

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

I'm proud of a lot of the humorous writing that I've done which never went beyond my blog (www.livefire.us) Most of it has to do with my travels or my farm. It will probably never be published for money, but that writing is some of the most fun because I get to break all the rules.

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

Yes. Deadlines. And I can no longer pass a "Krispy Kreations Katering" or something similar without wanting to jerk my car into a bridge abutment.

Take us through your process of writing a novel briefly—from conception to revision.

What's so hard about fiction is that if you don't do the work to make it as accurate as possible it will end up being fantasy instead. This is true on every level - historically, chronologically, geographically, relationally, technically, and everything else. This is why I will never again try and write about a place I haven't actually visited. It's just too hard to get the details right, even with the magic of the internet.

Do you have a dream for the future of your writing, something you would love to accomplish?

I'd like to get to the point where I can write an entire book free of a deadline and THEN submit it for publication, knowing that on the strength of my previous writing, it will be accepted without question. Mad wish, perhaps, but my dad used to say, "while you're wishing, you might as well wish big!"

Was there ever a time in your writing career you thought of quitting?

I thought of dropping out of a contract. But the publisher was very attentive to my concerns and worked with me until I was satisfied.

What is your favorite and least favorite part of being a writer?

The research is my favorite part. The deadlines are my least favorite. :)

How much marketing/publicity do you do? Any advice in this area?

I don't feel like I do enough, but apparently I do more than most authors. My advice is to seek out creative ways to build your platform and name recognition. I'm not suggesting you chain yourself to Rosie O'donnel, but do what you can to get your name out there, even if it's only in a niche market. I have a website for small farmers which is unrelated to my writing, but it gets 90,000 visitors a day, and that helps my platform a little. And every little bit helps.

Have you received a particularly memorable reader response?

I love hearing from soldiers in combat, who tell me that my book has helped them through a difficult time. That kind of thing makes it all worthwhile.

Parting words?

Um. Horticulture. I've always liked that word. And "behooves." Speaking of which, one of the greatest things about writing fiction is all of the fun you can have placing easter eggs" - inside jokes that only you or your friends will understand - into your novels. I love doing that. Island Inferno is full of them. The whole story is peppered with little subliminal messages that the average reader will never notice, but certain people in my life will read and know I put that event or sentence there just for them. It's a great way to bless the people who support you as you write.