Featured Author: CG Barrie

Author Chris Barrie has worked as a freelance editor and copywriter in a series of blogs and magazine articles over the last year. His writing is primarily science fiction about the five royal families of Obsidia, long exiled on Earth and dedicated to protecting their adopted home against a mysterious evil who strives to enslave humanity

Are you self-published or published?

I’m self published at the moment but one of my short stories Pure Justice is currently under consideration for publication in a horror anthology, so that’s exciting.

If you are not a full-time writer, do you/have you had a day job?

I work as a freelance writer/editor but I pretty much write full time on my own writing.

What effect has your life had on what you write?

I think I would be naive to think that my life has no impact on my writing but really I just set out to write an exciting adventure novel so I try not to let my real life encroach too much.

Does writing energise you or wipe you out?

My writing has always been a form of escapism from the real world so I would say that my writing definitely energises me.

What’s the most challenging aspect of writing?

The most challenging aspect of writing is not getting disheartened by rejection.

What’s your writing process? Are you an early bird or a night owl?

I don’t have a process as such. I write best when my characters speak to me so that can be any time day or night.

Are you a panster or a planner?

When I first set out writing The Obsidians, I had a beginning, middle and end but everything in between those points came I made up as I went along. I guess that makes me a pantser!!!

What does success look like to you?

Success for me depends on how egomaniacal I am at any one point and can range from one person truly loving my work to Hollywood calling to make it into a sci fi EPIC.

How do you market your books?

Social media has been a really exciting tool for marketing my work. I started with Facebook but it didn’t explode until I discovered the Writing Community on Twitter. From then I was inspired to set up my Youtube Channel where I made videos reading excerpts form my book. My website has also been fun experience and I have even set up a shop with promotional merchandising. That has been a fun and thrilling experience.

Tell us about your latest book

The overall Obsidian Odysseys series is a sci fi treasure hunt about a group of Earth dwelling aliens who need to find the pieces of a dismantled alien device to keep it out of the hands of  a madman determined to use  the device to enslave humanity. The origin is a little long winded but I’ll try to keep it brief. Essentially I had a conversation with a friend about Love Actually and our mutual love of Hugh Grant and Colin Firth, we joked about the fact they don’t do much acting together so I suggested we write something for them. I came up with the idea of a sort of Sherlock Holmes/Brokeback Mountain type tale but that didn’t come to anything although I do use elements of this idea in The Obsidians. Hugh Grant and Colin Firth incidentally would play characters in flashback scenes and SPOLER ALERT Colin Firth is actually the story’s BIG BAD!!!