Interview with Cinda Williams Chima

www.cindachima.com

When did you first know that you wanted to be a writer?

I struggled in early elementary school. They wanted to hold me back in first grade. I think I was entirely too focused on the stories going on in my own head. In third grade I wrote a poem about science and my teacher matted it and posted it at the science fair. It was one of my first positive experiences in school. So I thought, maybe I’ll be a writer. I’ve been writing ever since.

Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publishing?

I have a degree in philosophy and a post-bacc and master’s in nutrition. I worked as a dietitian in health care for years, and more recently as a college professor. I made several paroxysmal attempts at seeking publication in college and early adulthood, but I was thinner-skinned then. One or two rejections and I left the field to lick my wounds.

When my sons were born, I began writing personal essays about parenting and published a number of them in newspapers and magazines. I followed with feature articles and a freelance nutrition column for a time. Though it was a different kind of writing, it taught me a lot about mastering rejection, responding to editors, meeting a word count, and the like.

I began writing fiction in junior high school, and returned to it sporadically as an adult. When my sons were 13 and 16 I decided to write a book that they would enjoy reading—a young adult fantasy. I wrote The Warrior Heir. After four years of rejections and revisions, I found an agent and subsequently a publisher. In that time I also wrote three more novels.

Tell us a little bit about either your latest or upcoming release. If you could only tell your readers one thing about the story that had to convince us to buy the book, what would it be?

Currently, I’m working on the Seven Realms fantasy series. The Demon King was released in fall, 2009 and The Exiled Queen in September, 2010. A thief with a mysterious magical heritage crosses paths with a rebellious crown princess in a queendom torn by war, magic, and vicious politics. All of my stories are about transformations—magical and otherwise.

What, or who, has been the greatest inspiration for your stories?

My greatest influence as a writer was my mother, who was a storyteller and avid reader. My Heir Chronicles series was contemporary fantasy, set in a small town in the Midwest, a landscape I know well. My goal with the Seven Realms series is to make high fantasy just as accessible.

Let’s hear about your family, who I’m sure are thrilled to have a published author among them!

I have two sons, Eric and Keith, who are now in their early 20s. They continue to be among my first readers. My husband is an aerospace engineer, so we are the classic right brain-left brain match-up.

Now for some fun facts. What’s your greatest comfort food?

Popcorn. I love, love, love it. It was always a family tradition to eat popcorn on Sunday nights. It always stretched out the weekend a little bit. We still follow that tradition at my house.

In some books, have you noticed, the characters never eat. In my books, they are always eating. In fact, my first agent advised me to cut back on the descriptions of food. It’s my nutrition background coming through.

What are the first three things you do when you wake up in the morning?

I ride a stationary bike every morning for an hour. I go about 13 miles or so in an hour. I read while I bike, which means I get in an hour of reading (usually fiction) every day. It also helps me forget I am working out. Then I work out with free weights and crunches. Then breakfast and coffee!!

If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what’s the one thing that would surprise me the most?

The huge weaving loom, wrapped up with a project half-finished. It’s been that way for four years, since writing nudged weaving out of the way. I’m still trying to get back to it.

Everyone asks the question about “if you could be a tree, which tree would you be?” so I want to know: If you could be a color, which color would it be, and why?

Vermilion, because it is brilliant. Also there’s a river near here by that name. I always imagined the river running red with blood after some long-ago battle, but it was actually named for the red clay along its banks that was used by the Ottawa Indians for warpaint.

Who is your favorite cartoon character?

Dilbert.

Which cartoon character is most like you?

Betty Boop. No, not really.

If you could beam yourself to anywhere in the world (“Beam me up, Scotty!”), during any time in history, where and when would it be—and why?

Tudor England—but I want would to have a means to make a quick getaway when I got into trouble.

So what’s your favorite type of music to listen to? Favorite musical artists? Do you listen to music while you’re writing?

I trend to folk, blues, bluegrass, and country. Right now I’m liking Alison Krauss, Jakob Dylan, Lucinda Williams, Greg Brown, and Patti Griffin.

I do listen to music when I write. I didn’t used to—either I listened to music or I wrote—one or the other. But I often go to cafes to write, and the music blots out the noise around me. Otherwise I eavesdrop on other people’s conversations and make up stories about them.

Do you have any favorite T.V. shows? Movies you watch over and over again? What was the last movie you saw at the theater?

I don’t watch much TV. I don’t have anything against it—it’s something else that got cut out when I was working full-time and writing during every spare minute. Now that I’m a full-time writer, I haven’t gotten back into the habit.

The most recent movies I saw at the theatre were Avatar, Eclipse and Toy Story III. I watch the Lord of the Rings movies over and over, and used to watch Star Wars over and over.

You have the chance to give one piece of advice to your teen readers. What would it be?

When I was a teen, and my heart was broken, I used to tell myself, “How important is this--in the history of the world?” Somehow that was helpful. I still use it today.

One last question. What stories can we look forward to from you in the future?

I’m finishing up the last two books in the Seven Realms series, tentative titles, The Sword of Hanalea and The Gray Wolf Throne. Then I am contracted to write two more Heir books. I am a contributor to an anthology called The Way of the Wizard edited by John Joseph Adams out from Prime Books in November.

Again, thanks so much for joining us at TeensReadToo.com!