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.
Website: http://www.chrisreynolds-writer.co.uk
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/ChrisReynolds_1
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ChrisReynolds01
Interview:
If you could travel in a Time Machine would you go back to the past or into the future?
If you could travel in a Time Machine would you go back to the past or into the future?
The future, without question. I just want to see what
happens. What happens when we run out of oil? Will people ever live on Mars?
Will we ever meet any aliens? Will we avoid the threat of a nuclear war? Will I
ever have a best seller?
There’s so many things that I wonder about and, if
someone doesn’t invent a time machine soon, there are some I may never find out
about.
If you could have any superpower what would you choose?
Teleportation. Definitely. The amount of time we waste
going from one place to another, and getting stuck in traffic, is ridiculous. If
Scotty could just beam me over there, that would be really handy. I mean, on a
day like today [it’s really sunny and hot in England
What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?
Haagen Dazs Pralines and Cream. Ooh, so lovely. I can
taste the oozy toffee and crunch the crunchy bits right now. I have been known
to eat a whole tub of stuff when I’m miserable. Which is not to be recommended,
as it’s very bad for you, full of lots and sugar and fat — but, mmmm…
What inspired you to want to become a writer?
I loved making up stories. All the time, in my head, I
would play over ideas and think of little scenes which would run in my mind
when I was about to go to sleep or had a moment to myself. Then I started
writing them down. It was much later that I realised “a writer” was something
you could be. I was stuck in the rut of thinking you had to pass your exams and
get a proper job — I wish someone had told about this “becoming a writer” thing
earlier.
What's the best advice anyone has ever given you?
Don’t waste your life re-writing the same thing over
and over again. You’ll just write the originality out of it.
What's one piece of advice you would give aspiring
authors?
Make sure you really, really want to be a writer. It’s
not a life for everyone. It can be very unpredictable, financially, and you
have to practice a lot before you get to publishing standard. Most people who
do it don’t make a full-time career out of it and write in their spare time,
which can get in the way of things like relationships and other hobbies. It can
be a lonely life, too.
But if you really, really want to do it, then go for
it and give it your all. Half-hearted writers, on the whole, don’t make it.
Can you see yourself in any of your characters?
Well, I’m in all of them really. I draw on my own life
and my own experiences when I write my characters. Obviously, I can be inspired
by other people too — friends, or work colleagues — but I can never know what’s
going on inside of their heads. So to get inside my characters, I take their
situation and extrapolate what I might do in their situation.
Favorite places to travel?
I went travelling once. Proper travelling, with a
rucksack, a guide book and a round-the-world ticket. I hated it. All that going
from place to place, dragging round countries where people barely speak English
and try to rip you off. No, not for me. I remember when I got to New Zealand
Other than that, I like California Los
Angeles
If you could have a signed copy of any novel what
would it be and why?
Now, you’re going to think I’m weird, but I hate people
writing in my books. I mean, I’ve just spent the best part of a tenner on a
novel, it’s nice and shiny and the pages are all flat and someone wants to
scribble their name inside of it? Good heavens! Most people get out of the
habit of scribbling their names inside of books when they’re a child. Just
because they are the author, it doesn’t give them the right to graffiti my property.
Um, so no one really. I’m not that impressed by fame,
I suppose. Now, meeting an interesting author, sitting down and having a nice
chat with them is something entirely different.
In your wildest dreams, which author would you
love to co-author a book with?
I’m
going to say Terry Pratchett. He’s such a nice guy and he’s got bundles of
imagination. It would be a privilege to be able to see some of that imagination
at work. He’s also co-authored a few books already, so there’s always hope.
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.
I don't typically read government conspiracy books, but this definitely caught my eye. The whole mind/feeling reading angle intrigued me. Isn't it strange, sometimes, how we have to "hide our light to shine?"
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