Interview with Mike Minicky

Indie Author Spotlight: Christine Marshall

“I find you to be one of the most brilliant fantasy writers of our time.“
— Mike Minicky
https://mikeminicky.allauthor.com/
Author Mike Minicky | Patreon

Thanks for joining me on this episode of Indie Author Spotlight. Today, I had the pleasure of interviewing one of my favorite authors, Christine Marshall. She is an Indie Fantasy Author that writes very clean stories for all ages. Some of her books are, Final Lock, Becoming Cinder, and much more. You can find these on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited.

1. As a writer, I usually refrain from introducing a lot of characters in my books. I don’t feel I personally could keep track and do them justice. One thing I admire about you is that not only do you introduce so many wonderful characters, but you make them come to life in such a vibrant way. Do you ever find it difficult to keep track of so many characters and the roles they will play?

Yes! It is difficult to keep track of all the characters when my books have a lot of them. I keep extensive notes in a separate document with details about each character’s physical appearance, personality, and history. When I draft the first round, I focus on the main character(s), and then during one of my editing rounds I spend a lot of time making sure all the secondary characters get their fair share of “page time,” check for consistency, and develop their characters even further. Writing books with fewer characters, like Promised Beauty, goes a lot faster since I don’t have to spend as much time on a full cast of characters like White As Snow- two main characters and seven secondary characters of equal importance; or the Charlie and the Giants series which has six “main” characters by the end!

2. You have quite a few books under your name. Out of all those stories, which character do you most identify with and why?

This is a great question! In the Charlie and the Giants series, I based all the main characters off my children’s personalities. But the others were original characters that I didn’t base off of anyone I know in real life. Out of all of the characters, I probably identify the most with Sariah in Forever Sleeping. She’s a young married woman and is separated from her husband when a villain takes her from her home. She has the special ability to communicate with him in dreams, and so we get to see their relationship remain strong throughout their separation.

3.Most writers are inspired by something to begin their journey in storytelling. What inspired you? Was it a book, a person, or something else all together?

My family was my inspiration. As my daughters grew into young teenagers they wanted to read clean fantasy stories, which can be difficult to find. Sometimes they would start a book and then choose not to finish it because of language or scenes that made them uncomfortable. I decided to write books that they could read over and over! It has grown into 13 books and counting!

4.I find you to be one of the most brilliant fantasy writers of our time. If you had to write another genre, what would it be and why?

My favorite genre to read is sci fi fantasy and space opera style books- think Star Wars! I have notes for my own sci fi fantasy series, but I don’t know if I’ll ever get to it. The world that I’ve created with my books now has so many more stories that need to be told. It will be years before I finish them. Hopefully someday I’ll get to that sci fi story living in my head!

5.Your family is extremely talented. Both you and your daughter are Authors and your husband is an amazing artist. What would be another talent that you have, that maybe your readers don’t know about?

This may not come as a surprise, but I can read really fast, and type really fast, too. It comes in handy as an author for sure!
I also love cooking food from around the world. We rarely go out to eat because I cook epic meals at home for my family and friends.
And I enjoy gardening. I haven’t had a vegetable garden for a few years, but it’s something that I thoroughly enjoy when I can!