Indie Author Interview with Christine Marshall – Catie O’Neill
“If you love fairytale retellings check out the Charlie and the Giants series!”
— Catie O’Neill
catiereadsandwrites
Christine writes clean MG and YA fantasy stories based off your favorite fairytales. When she isn’t spinning tales she probably has a book and chocolate chip cookie in hand! She loves reading books of all genres, has moved over 20 times in the past 20 years, and believes that people are more important than things.
She writes YA and MG fantasy and her Published Works Include:
What if not all fairytales end in Happily Ever After? The Charlie and the Giants series.
Books 1-3: Becoming Cinder, White as Snow, Forever Sleeping can be read as prequels or as the beginning of the series.
Books 4-6: Rise of the Giants, Battle of the Giants, Last of the Giants are a standalone trilogy or can be read as the second half of the series. They are based off Alice in Wonderland.
Kindle Vella series The Last Mapmaker: A Series of Intentional Disasters is a character spin-off from the same world. A fantasy adventure appropriate for readers of all ages.
Another side series featuring more side characters and based off Peter Pan is coming later this year.
And so is a stand-alone Beauty and the Beast retelling also with characters from the original series.
Books available on Amazon, free on KU, audio available (or coming soon).
Signed copies, book related art, stickers, bookmarks, and more on CMarshallFantasy Etsy shop. All six books in the series are out and available.
Q: What project are you currently working on and what can you tell us about it?
New fantasy adventure series based off Peter Pan but featuring dwarves as the Lost Boys. Also the ongoing Kindle Vella series The Last Mapmaker: A Series of Intentional Disasters- a funny fantasy adventure for readers of all ages.
Q: How do you come up with your ideas?
Storytelling with husband and kids. Usually starts with something like “What if Cinderella wasn’t such a nice person? What if Snow White didn’t bite the apple, but someone she loves did?” My teen readers always have fantastic ideas to make the stories come to life!
Q: What is your #1 tip for self-editing?
Read out loud! Then have your computer read it to you!
Q: Is writing your full-time job? If yes what does a typical day look like for you? If no, what is your full-time job and how do you balance both?
No! I home school my five kids first. Writing comes on evenings and weekends.
Q: What pulled you to the genre(s) you write?
YA fantasy, especially clean ones, are my favorite reads! And with three teen daughters that are always begging for more clean books to read, I decided to try writing my own!
Q: What do you think makes a good villain?
When you kind of want to like them but know you shouldn’t.
Q: Do you tend to focus more on being character driven or plot driven?
My first three are very character driven but the second three are a good mix of both!
Q: What authors inspired you the most to become or writer or influenced your style?
I love Melanie Celliar and Marissa Meyer. They both wrote retellings but they couldn’t be more opposite!
Q: What do you find to be the hardest part of the writing process?
The hardest part is how long it takes to get the ideas down, edited, and ready to share or publish. I wish I could have a time turner so it can all go faster. I have so many ideas that want to be turned into books! And I also want to read all the amazing books out there too. There aren’t enough hours!!
Q: What is a large inspiration to your world building?
I love researching real environments and then tweaking things to have a bit of magic to them. Like pixies born from blossoms and taking on a personality that relates to the blossom they are born from. For example, a pepper pixie has a wicked hot temper and a fiery personality. And her hair literally catches on fire when she’s angry!
Q: What was your technique to write your book?
The first draft is going to be terrible! But getting the ideas down as quick as possible makes it go faster! Also, typing in comic sans. I know it sounds crazy, but it really works!!
Q: Do you draw off real life people or experiences or tend to use your imagination more?
I definitely draw from real life. All of the main characters in the Alice in Wonderland (books 4-6) retellings are based off my kids!
Q: Do you feel you do your best work by outlining and planning thoroughly or writing off the cuff?
I do a little if both. I write a basic outline and then just let the words flow. Often the story ends up totally different than what I expected!
Q: What has been your favorite response from a reader so far?
A TikTok friend bought the books for their dyslexic teen who wanted to get into reading but struggled. I sent them some books and stickers and bookmarks and it got them excited about it. Now they follow other authors and collect books and swag and love to read!
Q: I know some authors write from imagination and some will actually go live and visit other areas for research purposes. Do you typically do any kind of research in your writing? Can you tell us a little bit about your process or research style/level?
I don’t visualize things like a lot of artists and writers do. So I go places or find pictures of what I think I like and use notes or images to describe settings and people and animals and plants. Then my developmental editor tells me if they can picture the story based off my descriptions and if not, they let me know what I need to add to make it more clear. It’s definitely an interesting process!
For more on my indie author interview series find me on instagram @catiereadsandwrites
Christine Marshall Fantasy Author 