Travis Thrasher Interview

Q:  Your bio tells of a life growing up in many varied settings. What have you taken away from all these changes? How has it impacted you as a writer?
The older I get, the more I realize how much moving impacted me. I grew accustomed to saying goodbye and to change. Moving so much affected who I am and how I see the world.  I was fortunate to be able to meet so many diverse people and spend time in so many fascinating places.

Q: Your books are all very diverse. It would be hard to predict the story line of your next release. This is a compliment, by the way. How do you come up with your story lines?
I take that as a compliment. The last thing I want to be called is predictable. Publishers and retailers like to put authors in a box. Here’s the suspense box. There’s the romance box. It’s easy for them and the consumer.
I have so many stories swirling around in my head, and occasionally I’m able to take one and write it and have it published. Not every idea is a good one, but there are so many that I have. I like taking on a new challenge and get easily bored with doing the same old thing.

Q: I know this is like asking someone to choose their favorite child and as a parent I realize there is no such thing, but I’ll ask anyway. Do you have a favorite among your published books? If not, what do you like best about the last three published?
The most important and personal book that I have written will be coming out this summer. It’s called Sky Blue and it’s simply a beautiful story. I love it. What I’ve come to realize about that book is that it might not be considered my “best” by readers, because readers are so varied. Some love sweet little love stories. Some love mysteries. The beauty in Sky Blue is that it has a little of everything in it-a love story, a mystery, a thriller, comedy.
There is something I love about every book of mine. It might be the  story line or the point of view I used or what I learned when I wrote the story.  Each book has a personality to it, and I can look at it and know what I was thinking and feeling when I wrote it.

Q: One thing I noted in reading your last four titles, is that you have employed various POV’s. The most notable book for this is Blinded where you use second person, a POV not commonly found in fiction. How did you settle on using second person? Was it hard to sell to a publisher?
As I said, I don’t like doing the same old thing. Using third person, multiple character points of view gets boring. It’s harder to try to convey suspense using one POV than using multiple. Think about it. In suspense fiction, you often swing to the villain’s viewpoint to up the suspense. It’s harder to try to keep it suspenseful from one person’s POV.
For Blinded, the second person POV just fit. I remember bouncing it off my editor and he said “Sure, why not try it.” And surprisingly it worked. I had been toying with using second person in some of my other books, but for this story it fit.  Since it’s a shorter and tighter story, the POV works. It was fun to write, and I remember I enjoyed rereading it when the pages came to me for final inspection.

Q: As a follow up, Admission was written with two points of view, first and third person, but in both cases the narrator is Jake Rivers. Why did you choose to vary the points of view?
Again, this seemed to fit. I don’t sit down and say “okay, what haven’t I used. Ah, first person present tense!” It’s more of an intuitive thing. In the case of Admission, I wanted the whole book to be from Jake’s POV. But I wanted to separate the past and present stories and make sure the reader knows the distinction. The device I used was alternating the POV from first to third. The past was done in third person because Jake is looking back on that character almost as if it’s someone else he knew. He does this because the present day Jake is more mature and has learned a lot from his past mistakes.
When you start a project some things just fit and others don’t. It’s not always easy-you have to try different things until something works.

Q: Admission has many references to song titles and bands. Tell us how important music is in your life, how it shaped you, and what you listen to now.
Wow. Music has such a huge influence over me. I love all kinds of music and have always longed to be in a rock group (even though I’ll stick to writing!). Music moves me and affects my mood. Every novel of mine has a soundtrack, and I love picking out tracks that help inspire me to write. It can be background music or rock. I listen to pretty much everything.

Q: In Admission your college scenes are full of drinking and partying. What would you say to Christians who might have trouble reading about these real world party scenes or even think it has no place in Christian fiction?
It’s hard to try to portray the real world in the boundaries of what’s called “Christian fiction.” I always tell people that I’m a novelist trying to write entertaining fiction and that I also happen to be a Christian. It’s not my intent to write “Christian fiction.” I think I fight this label because it’s just that-a label. It’s something that people use to market and promote and put authors and projects in a box. There’s nothing wrong with Christian fiction, but I see my writing not necessarily fitting inside that box.

Q: If your readers could take away only one message from Admission, what would that be?
The choices you make in your life have consequences. A very simple message but one that’s very true. Especially for high school and college students. When you’re young you believe you’re going to be young forever. That you’re invincible and that you can do almost anything. It’s a special time of your life. You should enjoy that time. But also be careful. There are many stupid things you can do, and you have to understand that those mistakes can follow you through life.

Q: I was particularly interested in how the characters in Admission grew in their faith in a non-stereotypical way. Alyssa, who on the surface seemed to have mastered the Christian life in college ends up questioning if her focus had served her well. Jake, who forgoes actively living his faith in college, ends up living his faith and encouraging Alyssa later in life. How did you decide on this path for the two of them?
I thought it’d be an interesting contrast. To show the girl who is strong in her walk and the guy who is messed up and then later to see how their lives have played out. The reality is that Christians fail, that they have broken lives, that sometimes they struggle. Going back to that term “Christian fiction,” I know a lot of people that don’t like this genre because sometimes it’s not authentic. I wanted the irony of Jake helping Alyssa in her Christian walk years later.

Q: What writing project do you have planned next or are you working on now?
I’m starting to write an adventure novel. Yet another new venture for me, another way of getting out of that box. I have a whole list of other projects as well. I wish I got paid for ideas.

Q: When did you start writing and do you now write full time?
I wanted to become a writer in third grade. I wrote my first novel in ninth grade, and even though it was quite terrible, I finished it. I don’t write full time but hope to one day. I work in publishing, so I am constantly inspired by various authors I work around.

Q: What’s God been doing in your life lately?
I’m a first-time father of a little baby girl named Kylie. I think I learn something new every day. I’ve discovered a love I didn’t know or believe I could have for this beautiful creature. All the clichés are true about becoming a parent.

Q: If I had a peek at your bookshelves whose books would I find?
First off, I have every Stephen King hardcover. I’m a fan, not necessarily of the horror genre but because he nails real characters so well. I have all fiction-John Irving, Harry Potter, Oprah picks, classics like Hemingway, Francine Rivers’ entire library. I also have many books on writing.

Q: If you landed on the proverbial deserted island, what book would you wish to wash up on the beach? In a Ziploc, of course ?
I’m assuming outside the Bible. I’d be a bad person if I didn’t say the Bible, right? I think it’s a tossup between A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving and The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy. Both books are dense and have lots to chew on while you’re starving somewhere on a deserted island.

Q: What movies have you seen lately that you’d recommend and why?
I loved The Departed. Lots of language and violence, but it was absolutely riveting. I just rented The Man Who Would Be King with Sean Connery and Michael Caine-a classic adventure.  Also rented The Holiday with Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz and was bored out of my mind. That’s a holiday you don’t want to take.

Q: Any advice for a writer who’s not yet been published?
Keep writing. Pick a project and FINISH IT. Don’t worry about selling it and marketing and collecting all your royalty money. Write because you have something you want to write about. Don’t give up.

Q: Anything else you would like to tell our readers?
Please start buying lots of copies of my books, because diapers are really expensive.

Thanks to Travis Thrasher for this peek into his world.