Interview with Cristian YoungMiller

My latest guest author who has agreed to an interview is Cristian YoungMiller. Cristian is the author of a number of books, including “The First Day After Life“.

How long have you been writing?
My first attempt at writing something for fun was when I was 16. It was a movie for Oprah where I was going to have her character wear only a bra on top because Oprah had admired the courage that Susan Sarandon had to wear one in a movie that she was promoting. This was when Oprah was on the liquid diet and had lost all of that weight. I thought it was a brilliant idea. Ha!

What is the last book you read?
The last book that I read was “The Giver”. It was given to me by a friend and I was told that I had to read it since I grew up in the Bahamas and had missed out on it as required reading.

How many books, and in which genre, have you written?
I have written 5 books. The first book that I wrote, which also happens to be the last book that I published, is in the spiritual genre. All of my other books are adult humor. But the book that I’m working on right now is a romantic comedy.

What inspired you to become a writer?
Nothing really inspired me to become a writer. I feel that I have always been a storyteller. And the way that storytellers tell stories is that they write it down.

What do you most enjoy about writing?
Having written.

What steps do you take in starting a new book?
The first step that I usually take is that I decide what is it that I want to say in the book. After I know what I would like to say, I figure out the best story that would communicate that message.

So for example I wrote a book called, ‘Happiness May Vary’. I started that off by deciding that I wanted to communicate the idea that there is more to being happy in relationships than sexual conquest and sexual techniques. So once I had the moral down, I came up with the story that revolves around a guy who has an alcoholic, verbally abusive penis. I figured that story would allow me to work in the things that I wanted to say, while at the same time being entertaining to read. After that I plotted out the story in my head. Then I started writing.

What are you currently working on writing?
Currently I’m working on something outside of my usual style. It is a book tentatively called, “Fixing Cupid”. Unlike everything else that I’ve written, the purpose of this book is simply to entertain. It’s fun and funny and would best be described as a light, relaxing read.

The way the story came about was that I have had 2 roommates in a row that were immature when they moved in with me, and while living with me they settled down, found the love of their life, and then moved out into a house with their fiancée.

When I told that to a friend she told me that I should turn that into a movie, so I did. But then I figured that it would really work as a fun book, so that is what I’m doing now.

How many drafts do you usually have before deciding it’s done?
I do about 3 drafts of my writing, but usually the last two are light edits. I do a lot of forethought before I write something. So short of cutting out what doesn’t work and typos, there’s not much to redraft.

What issues or challenges do you struggle with the most?
I think that I most struggle with the time it takes to write. In order to crank up my output, I work a low paying part time job and have given up on having a life. I look forward to the time when I can coast on my backlist and actually take a vacation.

© 2019, Steven R. Drennon. All rights reserved.

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