Author Christian Mitchell poses with his wife, Irina, while taking a break from writing his book: “Wings of Abby.” (Photo property of Christian Mitchell and Darcia Mundson Photography)
By: Jacob Elyachar
If you have not had the chance to read part one of my interview with Christian, click here: https://www.jakes-take.com/2012/09/26/a-conversation-with-authorscreenwriter-christian-mitchell-part-one/
In part two of my interview with author Christian Mitchell, we talked about the most difficult parts of writing his soon-to-be published book Wings of Abby, his plans for the remainder of 2012 and which best-selling author gave him his words of advice for aspiring writers.
Jacob Elyachar: What was the most difficult part of writing Wings of Abby?
Christian Mitchell: I would say the most difficult part of writing Wings of Abby for me was accepting the reality of what had happened. Granted that it had been two years (since my friend’s death) but I had a difficult time dealing with the fact that I am not going to see my friend again.
The man who killed her told me that he was going to do it and when I told her what he told me, she did not believe it and not because she thought I was lying to her because she thought that he was not the type of person that would ever try to harm her. For me, I think that the reality of accepting that I really lost my friend at this point and there is no way someone could bring her back. At that point, all of my friends who lived with me at the dorms drifted apart from me.
I know everyone has a way of dealing with things and we all went our separate ways after that event. Writing this book has helped me deal with it because I really did not have a lot of people who really understand that. I don’t know too many people who say “I am going to kill this person,” tell you that they are going to commit the crime and try to warn that person before the crime actually takes place. I never knew someone else in my life that has gone through that and really understand what it feels like.
When I originally wrote this, it was going to be a journal entry and I was going to tuck it way along with my other 40 journals that I wrote since seventh grade and it ended up becoming a story that I thought it could help people.
JE: What were the easiest parts of writing this book?
CM: The easiest parts for me to write were actually the saddest parts for me as well and I guess it sometimes coincides with what you are writing about. It was remembering the fun times I had with my friends and all the times that we shared, laughed and how she and I became friends, which is a key part in the story.
It was not like a typical friendship like “Hey! My name is Chris. Nice to meet you” and all of a sudden we’re just friends. She and I actually hooked up and that’s how our relationship started. I saw something in her that I do not think that she saw in herself and I wanted to break her and her boyfriend up.
JE: Really?
CM: (nods head) That’s what I wanted and that’s how bad I wanted her. “I want you to be with me and not with anyone else.” That did not happen…she just me down. But in her shutting me down, we developed a friendship that I will never forget it.
JE: To be honest with you, when I was reading a preview of your book to prep for this interview…. I found a lot of profanity. Will your future novels be laced with profanity?
CM: (Laughs) It’s funny that you asked that question, I will say this: it is not that they will be filled with profanity because I am sure that as time goes on and I have books in mind that I want to write that do not involve so much profanity, it is just so happens that the first six chapters that I sent you were filled of profanity because of those characters.
Darlene and Patrick (two characters in Wings of Abby) have a big underline story of their own that takes place in the book that is hinted a little bit in the first six chapters but it does not conclude until Darlene finishes the book that she finds (in one of the early chapters) if that makes any sense. When the couple finds that body, Darlene and Patrick are going through some personal problems in their relationship that they are trying to work on and that’s where the profanity comes into place.
But I will be honest and state that they are not all going to be like that. However, I can say that I want to speak the voice of certain characters and when I can imagine a woman who has been abused or has been cheated on and is still trying to work on that relationship with that young man or the boyfriend, I can only imagine the choice of words that she will use. Yes, they are definitely adult books and not for a high school curriculum.
However, I do not think it would hurt a high school student to read the book especially if they are a mature reader.
JE: What are your next plans for the remainder of the year?
CM: I am going to be traveling to L.A. and going back and forth between Toronto where my agent is and as soon as the book tour starts which we are looking between January and February 2013, things are going to get crazy.
Right now, I am trying to stay as grounded as I can and enjoy the time that I can with my family, my nephew and my son because my life will be changing and I want to make sure that I have that quality time with them that I am not going to get necessarily with them while I am on the book tour. In addition, who knows to expect I have not been in this position before and as exciting as it is for me, I need to make sure that I am the same person when I wrote the book: just a regular person like anyone else.
JE: What is the biggest piece of advice that you have for aspiring authors?
CM: The biggest piece of advice that I have for aspiring authors is that I am going to give you the same piece of advice that E.L. James, the author of 50 Shades of Grey, actually gave me: “Write from your heart” and “If you are going to write a trilogy, put all three books out at the same time.”
I also asked her for advice being a new author and she added, “Write what you want to write” and “Don’t let it be influenced by what other people tell you to write.”
To learn more about Christian Mitchell, visit his Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Christian-Mitchell/190278751818
