Interview with Rachel Starr Thomson

Do you ever base characters on real people you have known?

Never fully. People I know may spark ideas or backstory or character traits, but ultimately, every character is his or her own entity. And I rarely set out to “base” characters on anything—they just come together on their own terms.

If you met an alien from another planet and were asked to recommend one or two books to him/her/it that would summarize humanity, which books would you choose?

The Bible. And that pretty much covers it. Besides being the major cultural shaping force for much of the world as we know it, it’s also the most brutally honest book about human nature out there.

Was it difficult to get your first book published?

I published my own first book way back in 2004 or 2005, going indie before everyone else was doing it.  I used Lulu to put a small collection of essays in print practically overnight. Of course, I did it all wrong and had to totally relearn publishing before I came out with anything else, so in that sense, yes, it was hard. But indie publishing has always been a fun challenge.

Name a book that you'd be embarrassed to be seen reading.

Anything with a trashy romance cover on it. But actually, I don’t embarrass very easily.

What was the book that most influenced your life and why?

The Bible number one, because I'm a Christian and it informs pretty much about me. I read and study it on a daily basis. Other than that it’s very hard to isolate a single influence. As a kid I read hundreds and hundreds of books in every genre there is, almost, and they all sort of blurred together into a single, powerful literary force.

If you had a book club, what would it be reading and why?

We might be reading Lars Walker, an author I recently discovered, because his books are so wacky and wild and profound. They’re also spec-fic (fantasy/historical fiction/spiritual) and my book club would definitely be reading that.

What is the greatest challenge you have had to overcome in your writing career?

Surprisingly, writer’s block. And I never, never would have said that two years ago. And I don’t believe that writer’s block can’t be overcome with some discipline and good writing habits. But my life for the past several years has been so full and so brain-draining that it’s become unexpectedly hard to create.

What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

Write. Make time to think and breathe and daydream, because those things are your fuel. And listen to writing advice, but don’t lock yourself into any framework for writing or creativity or storytelling that is too rigid. There are lots of people trying to push the way to write a book, and there’s no such way. There’s just the way you write.

What are some of your favorite books from your childhood?

Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles, C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia, Little Women, an out-of-print-and-almost-impossible-to-find story called The Forgotten Kingdom, The Sword of Shannara, The Jungle Books, lots of others. And though it’s not a single book, X-Men.

Do you find it difficult to sit down and write for weeks, months, or years on the same book?

I never write for years on the same book. One book typically takes me three to six months, depending on how well the first draft works. And that I do not find difficult.

If you could be any character in fiction, who would you be?

Myself, with the ability to hop worlds.