Please introduce yourself, who are you and what do you do?
My name is Christina Johnson, but I am one of the 3 to 50 other authors known as C. S. Johnson. I am an author with a couple of things published, but I am also a full-time teacher, part-time tutor, full-time grad student, and full-time wife and mother. I write mostly young adult literature; my preferred classification is spiritual fantasy and apologetic fiction, but I love fantasy/sci-fi, epics, and satire. Especially satire. I am a certified English teacher, so I am dedicated to writing good books which will be able to be taught in schools. My novel series The Starlight Chronicles is based on the Hero’s Journey, and full of different literary devices.
What first inspired you to start writing?
Probably the most credit here has to go to my childhood. I always wanted to tell people my stories but I had so much competition from my family members (and I wasn’t as loud as the rest of them, so nature had not favored me in that regard) it was hard to communicate. I started writing in school and loved how easy it was for me, and how much I loved getting caught up in my own making-real of my own worlds. I had some really great teachers who also encouraged me to write, saying I would make a great author (shout-out to Diane Vella and Sue Gunsallas!)
What has been the most significant book you have read?
Is that a legitimate question?
I don’t really have one particular book which I could credit as the ‘most significant.’ I do read a lot of C. S. Lewis (one of the reasons I chose ‘C. S.’ for my author initials – even though those are my actual initials) and I would credit him as the first author I truly fell in love with. His Mere Christianity was a turning point in my writing in that it tells truth with a voice so true I can hear it inside my head when I read. I aspire to get there.
Do you have a favourite place to write?
A couple places stick out to me. I love coffee shops (cliché I know) so I like to go there. I also like to write while I’m at home, but I like it best when it is dark and everyone else is asleep.
If you could spend a day with anyone from history, who would it be and why?
Jesus. He was able to love people even though they were awful. And he wasn’t blasé about it, ignoring their bad parts. He really loved them. I have a hard time doing that.
Plus if I could get a review from him, I think it would be a lot easier to sell my novels to people. I also want to ask him if I can work in heaven’s library when I get there.
Where is your happy place?
I have an imaginary happy place in the Canadian forests: a small cabin with internet access and my own coffee bar. My real-world happy place is just being home, with the people I love.
What is your favourite song lyric?
Music has always been a magical element of my life. While I’m not so good at playing, I love listening to it. My favorite lines include one from Sidewalk Prophet, in their song, “You Love Me Anyway” off their album “These Simple Truths.” The lyric is at the beginning, where it says, “Still you call me to walk / on the edge of this world / to spread my dreams and fly.” I also like Stephen Curtis Chapman’s “Remembering You” song, especially at the start, where it goes, “I found you in the most unlikely way / But really it was you who found me / And I found myself in the gifts that you gave.”
What are you working on at the moment?
I am making a move to jump into adult fiction with my work-in-progress novel entitled Soul Dissent. It is a thriller, and my first, but I’ve already gotten some great reviews back from my work. It’s a little scary to me because I like the fluffier topics you get with YA Lit, while adult fiction is practically required to have controversial topics – such as mental health, bullying, LGBT controversies, sex, addictions, drugs, violence, scandals, and political/conspiracy theories. It’s a big jump for me – like going from Cartoon Network to Starz HD. YA Lit is also nicer because I feel like my characters are allowed to make more mistakes; adults SHOULD have most of the basic things figured out, which is one of my problems with romantic comedy movies.
Tell us about your latest work and how we can find out more.
I had my first serial book published in December last year, The Starlight Chronicles: Slumbering. Some of my writer friends and I from Southern New Hampshire University have been working together to write an anthology of heroism which we would sell and give all the proceeds to Sandy Hook. In this, I have a short story interim which is like a Christmas episode between book one and two of the series. It is entitled The Starlight Chronicles: Awakening. The anthology for Sandy Hook will be available on Amazon in a matter of a few weeks. I am also working on just getting more writing out there. I am trying to submit to more magazines, more contests, and more writing blogs. The more you write, the more you have which could lead to something bigger. Just ask James Patterson about that one.
To find out more about my work, there are several places to choose from! There is my Goodreads page, my Amazon Author page, my blog, Twitter, Google+, and Facebook. Twitter and Facebook are the easiest to update. The blog is kind of…a work in progress. I jump around a lot, and I’m very emotionally attached to my writing. I also don’t like the trend where you have to be an expert in something (Isn’t the best thing about being a writer that no experience is wasted? Why settle for focusing when you can have it all?) so I generally have a lot of random topics and pretty much little advice in the way of ‘Do this and you’ll be famous.’ It’s more like ‘DON’T do this and you’ll have better luck.’
Please come follow me on Twitter @C_S_Johnson13, find my Facebook page at facebook.com/thstarlightchroniclesslumbering, my Amazon author page under C S Johnson (no periods), my Goodreads profile at C S Johnson, and my Google+ profile at C. S. Johnson.
The Starlight Chronicles: Slumbering is available from Amazon
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