Brett Armstrong, author of the award-winning novel,
Destitutio Quod
Remissio, started writing stories at age nine, penning a tale of revenge
and ambition set in the last days of the Aztec Empire. Twenty years
later, he is still telling stories though admittedly his philosophy has
deepened with his Christian faith and a master’s degree in creative
writing. His goal with every work is to be like a brush in the Master
artist’s hand and his hope is the finished composition always reflects the
design God had in mind. He feels writing should be engaging, immersive,
entertaining, and always purposeful. Continually busy at work with one or
more new novels to come, he also enjoys drawing, gardening, and playing with
his beautiful wife and son.
His latest book is
Day
Moon (Tomorrow’s Edge Book 1).
WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:
What’s inside the mind of a Christian
author?
It depends on the time of day. Life always
interdicts, but I'm the type who fairly easily slips into daydreams and that
usually leads to writing a story mentally, that I eventually try to get typed
up. I don't really hold to any one genre in my writing. I try to seek out
stories worth telling, whatever genre they fall in. When I say stories
worth telling, I mean those that I feel like the Lord is leading me to, the kind
that hold a kernel of insight that might benefit readers of the story as much
as it would benefit me to uncover in the writing process. So at various times
my mind is fixated on 4th Century AD Rome. Other times its in 2039 with the
characters of my latest novel Day Moon. Then still other times it's roving into
Renaissance era fantasy world of a work in progress I have. Then there are the
handful of short story ideas or novel ideas that aren't fully formed yet that I
pop in and out of at any given time.
What is so great about being an author?
First it's a tremendous honor to have
people feel like your thoughts are worth reading and to trust you to guide them
through an unknown landscape safely and to their good. I think the most
rewarding part of being an author happens when someone reads the book and then
tells you it really made an impact on him or her. A couple people who read my
first book told me they wanted someone they each cared about to read the
book, because they thought it would help those persons. That's really special
and makes any struggle along the way worthwhile.
When do you hate it?
Whenever it comes time to do anything that
looks like salesmanship. I'm not a very business-minded person and I don't like
viewing books in terms of their bottom lines or how to boost sales and so on.
It's not why I write and I try to think as little about it as possible while
writing. I know that isn't the wisest way to do things if you want to get a
book on the New York Times Bestseller's list, but I can't help it. I want the
books to be more than a product or subject of a monetary transaction, so any
time I feel like I'm starting to become a
"Buy this!" advertisement I feel awful.
What is a regular writing day like for
you?
A regular day consists of me going to work
full time as the web designer and infectious disease data manager at the
state health department. During breaks and lunch I try to do writing and
writerly reading/activities. When I get off, I head home and run circles around
the house playing with my little boy, who is growing up way too fast, while
trying to cook dinner and help keep the house in some semblance of order.
After our little one is off to bed, my wife and I catch up on each other's days
and usually watch part of a movie or something on Netflix to relax. When my
wife goes to sleep, that's my pure writing time and I try to dive deep into it
when I can. That usually consists of about two hours of solid writing, though
on weekends I tend to do much better.
How do you handle negative reviews?
Rather poorly for about the first day or
two after. I'm the type of person who wanted not just straight A's but A+'s on
assignments I really cared about in school and take it very personally whenever
someone doesn't like some aspect of a book I've written. Once I get past the
initial shell-shock and self-deprecation and doubt, then I try to read the
reviews again and glean from them something positive and something constructive
to work on in the future. Then I just try not to read the reviews again, because
it really just pokes at mostly healed wound at that point. Though even bad
reviews are still something. Sometimes I get suspicious if I see all positive
reviews for something and honestly, if you're saying something that is
intended to make a deep impact on someone's life, you really can't help but
have some people reject that irrespective of writing quality, which people have
preferences and preconceived notions they bring along as well.
How do you handle positive reviews?
Probably equally poorly. I bounce up and
down for a couple hours and re-read the review a few times. After I remember
it's not about me in the first place, I get over myself and try to comb through
the review for lessons to apply to writing in the future and sentiments
that might be in common across other reviews, because those tell you something
about what consistently comes through in your writing to those who are most
likely to be an audience for the writing. Like negative reviews, I try not to
re-read the review at that point, because it's a bit like staring at a bunch of
ribbons or trophies. It's looking into the past and no one wins an event by
obsessing over the past. Not to mention spiritually, you want to throw any
laurel, however big or small, at Christ's feet, so it's really
about pressing on and keeping things in perspective whether a review is
good or bad.
What is the usual response when you tell a
new acquaintance that you’re an author?
Like most writers, it's most
often one of two very different responses. The first being, "Oh! I'm
so proud of you!" where the person seems to think you've done something
utterly stupendous and special (which a writer has in a sense). The second is
more akin to, "Yeah. So?" where the person then begins to list
everyone they've ever known with the intention of writing a book, because it is
such an achievable and common thing (which it is in a sense). Usually it's
other writers who have an in-between reaction that balances the two extremes.
What do you do on those days you don’t
feel like writing? Do you force it or take a break?
It really depends on how sleepy I am. In
all seriousness, if I'm just at an absolute road block and I don't feel the
thrum of the story anymore then I take a break. I'd really have to have lost a
grip on the story though for that to happen. If it is just a hard passage to
write, I'll try to write around it or push through, because it's very easy once
you pick up a new story that's interesting to let the one I was stymied by fall
by the way side. More recently I've been trying to write several stories at the
same time, so I don't leave any one fallow too long, but give myself some
needed breaks to let fresh ideas work into the mix. And I do that to varying
levels of success on a week-by-week basis.
Any writing quirks?
I'm awful about having a single notebook
that has fragments of like five different stories scattered throughout it in a
very haphazard way. I try handwrite from time to time to force myself to revise
as I draft, but like I said I write more than one story at a time so a notebook
quickly becomes a little hard to navigate. I'm trying to break myself of the
habit by having a stack of notebooks to switch between, but even then, it gets
messy.
What would you do if people around you
didn’t take your writing seriously or see it as a hobby?
I'm very blessed in that I do have
incredibly supportive people around me. Though to answer the question, since
for so much of my life writing was a hobby (I've been writing stories since age
nine) I would probably just keep at it. It's really hard for me to not talk
about what I'm writing about, because for me writing a novel is a lot like
reading it. When I get to a part that is exciting or unexpected, I want to tell
someone! Currently my wife and mom catch all that excited chatter, but if they
just quit I might have to reach out to readers who have expressed particular
appreciation for my work and share with them. I think I would also work very
hard to justify writing as something more than a hobby to my family by the
writing I produce and letting the reception of the writing be evidence that it
is meaningful.
Some authors seem to have a love-hate
relationship to writing. Can you relate?
For me it's really been almost exclusively
love. Of course there are things related to writing that I wish were different.
For instance the amount of time I have to do. If I could add about five more
hours to each day then I think I would be set. I also, as mentioned
before, do not really take to the business side of being a published author.
Writing for me is an art form and a craft, but it is also an incredibly open
art form that requires the participation of readers to really make it fully
meaningful. The avenue by which readers join in on the artistic process,
unfortunately, requires a lot of business-like activity. I get through
it, but if I could remove one aspect of writing, it would be to tone that part
of publishing way down.
Do you think success as an author must be
linked to money?
Not at all. A great many
"classics" of Western literature were financial failures. Some of
them were critical failures in their day. Some even the authors felt were a
colossal disappointment. I think the only real metric for whether an author is
successful or not is in the lives that are touched by the writing. If your
writing affects people and makes them think and feel and then relate that to
reality, then you've been quite successful. Of course everyone wants to have
the financial boom and critical acclaim, but I try very hard to not fixate on
that and I hope I never do however "successful" my writing becomes.
Books are about writers and readers taking a journey together and so long as
that happens, that is success for me.
What has writing taught you?
Patience and humility stand out to me. So
often I want to have a manuscript done at a particular date and time. I want to
be able send it to an agent or editor and then have it in print on my schedule,
but it's not like that. You can't rush art and sometimes a story takes a long
time to be properly represented by a manuscript. I have a fantasy series I've
been working on for ten years now that is incredibly near and dear to me, but
I've only just begun to get the manuscript for the first story into a form that
I think it is truly ready to share. And being humble enough to realize
you aren't the only writer out there. The only voice or storyteller worth
hearing has been good for me. With so many other writers out there that I'm
suddenly aware of, I think I approach writing with the idea of how special it
is for a reader to choose to pick up something I've worked on with much greater
clarity. The idea that what I'm typing will be read by someone else, that
they're giving their time and interest to something I've written is really
incredible to consider.
Leave us with some words of wisdom.
I suppose when it comes to words of
wisdom, I'll turn to a man much wiser than me: "Trust in the LORD and do
not lean on your own understanding and He will make straight your paths."
That's what King Solomon of Israel wrote as recorded in the book of Proverbs. Ultimately
as a reader and a writer you have to have a purpose. Why am I reading and why
am I writing respectively. 1924 Olympic gold medalist Eric Liddell is
credited with saying, "God made me fast. And when I run, I feel His
pleasure." It's like that for me and writing, and so long as I feel the
Lord leading there, I'll happily follow that path. Everyone needs to resolve
that question of where and what is my purpose?
