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Five Questions

We asked author Christopher R. Michael about how and why he writes.

When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

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5th grade, Mr. Haviland's class. He used to hand out these ditto sheets weekly, which he called "Squiggles." They had a squiggle mark on the top and we were to draw something from it then write a story based on our picture. Each week, he would pick a few students to read theirs aloud. After reading one that I wrote, the entire class routinely volunteered me to read mine. I was a hit.

What other authors have inspired you?

 

I draw inspiration in various forms. Generally, humor and syntax come from the likes of Douglas Adams and Kurt Vonnegut. Deep-seeded psychological concepts and depictions of the human condition I derive from Ken Kesey, Ernest Hemingway, as well as playwrights Edward Albee and Lee Blessing. For dialogue, I like to take my cues from screenwriters such as the Coen Brothers, Wes Anderson, and without a doubt, Nora Ephron. I'm also a fan of Tolkien, because he's awesome.

How much of your writing is motivated by personal experience?

 

Almost all of my writing is motivated through personal experience in some way. The rest of it tends to be homage to countless television and movies that have etched themselves deep into my psyche.

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What writing tools and techniques are crucial to your process?

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Procrastination from things I should be doing instead of writing is the most effective tool, as well as composition notebooks and smooth-writing, ball-point pens. Also, I recently discovered this technique of placing my creativity outside of myself, kind of like invoking muses, and it seemed to help. I thank Elizabeth Gilbert for that one, as I once heard her talk about it on NPR and I thought I should try it.

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What's your favorite sentence you've written so far?

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"I feel like an insignificant speck of nothing; a dust mite on the unPledged coffee table of some ubiquitous titan who stomps around his living room in his tightie-whities bitching that his pants aren't pressed and ready for the company picnic."

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Christopher Michael

- Hubbub Pub Author -

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