{"id":1904,"date":"2011-07-20T16:49:24","date_gmt":"2011-07-20T21:49:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=1904"},"modified":"2011-07-20T16:49:24","modified_gmt":"2011-07-20T21:49:24","slug":"interview-with-chris-hanna-author-of-in-a-flash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=1904","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Chris Hanna – author of In A Flash"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I had the chance recently to sit down and speak with Chris Hanna, fellow Writer’s Ink member and author of In A Flash.<\/p>\n

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In my early teens I really started to read a lot of books. I fell in love with science fiction and read every sci-fi novel I could get my hands on. Since my family did not have much money we usually picked up books second hand at flea markets or yard sales for a quarter each. Due to the age of the books I mainly read from the golden age of science fiction; Isaac Asimov, Frank Herbert and Robert A. Heinlein.<\/p>\n

Loving to read such fascinating and thought provoking speculative literature eventually led to the idea that I could do it myself. It was a decade later before I actually took the first step to do what it takes to be a writer, write.<\/p>\n

What genres do you write in?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I thought I wanted to be a science fiction writer. In actuality I am a speculative fiction writer. The difference being that instead of creating a story around the science, you write about people and a ‘what if?’ scenario to advance the plot. For example; Robert A. Heinlein asked what if a human child was raised by martians? Would that person in fact be human since their thoughts would inherently be alien? The result was \u201cStranger In A Strange Land.\u201d Probably the most recognized Heinlein novel. I’m afraid I am not educated enough to write hard science-fiction so I am more comfortable writing speculatively.<\/p>\n

I realized long ago that my writing is innately morbid. Because I have a proclivity for the morose I have tried my hand at horror writing. It is fun because I do not have to try and hide the darkness. I can let it run free!<\/p>\n

What is your favourite?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Speculative fiction, definitely. It is my first love.<\/p>\n

What made you decide to self-publish your collection of flash-fiction<\/strong> and poetry?<\/strong><\/p>\n

To test the waters. The work was sitting in my folder gathering dust and was probably never going to be used in a regular market. Flash-fiction is a growing trend in Internet story telling and I wanted to try self-publishing. The hardest part was figuring out how to create the document. After much research and lots of trial-and-error \u201cIn A Flash\u201d finally came to be.<\/p>\n

You mentioned being approached by a publishing company for your short stories after seeing some of your posts on FB… how did that work out for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I find out today (July 20th, 2011) if McGraw-Hill Ryerson will be sending me a contract. I am just waiting to hear from the editor if the education committee is happy with my submissions.<\/p>\n

I understand you belong to a writers’ group. What can you say about the helpfulness and support from being involved with other writers?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think I would have given up if it were not for the group. They are there when I need that extra push to keep going when the journey seems futile. I am very self-critical and I find I can ease up on myself when I receive such positive feedback and support from my peers.<\/p>\n

Do you have any advice for writers who might be contemplating the self-publishing route?<\/strong><\/p>\n

My only advice would be to work hard at self-promotion. No matter how brilliant your self-published book may be, it is not going to sell itself. This entails a learning curve for folks such as myself who may be too humble for their own good.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I had the chance recently to sit down and speak with Chris Hanna, fellow Writer’s Ink member and author of In A Flash. When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer? In my early teens I really started to read a lot of books. I fell in love with science fiction and … Continue reading Interview with Chris Hanna – author of In A Flash<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,13,15,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-authors","category-interviews","category-publishing","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"\nInterview with Chris Hanna - author of In A Flash - Celtic Connexions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=1904\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Interview with Chris Hanna - author of In A Flash - Celtic Connexions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I had the chance recently to sit down and speak with Chris Hanna, fellow Writer’s Ink member and author of In A Flash. 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