A Conversation with author/screenwriter Christian Mitchell: Part One

By: Jacob Elyachar

One author that is about to take a ride in the fast lane is Christian Mitchell.

While he was growing up in Kansas City, Christian started to write different narratives that ranged from short stories to poetry on events that shaped his life.

He slowly began to build up his stories and they evolved into full-length novels that are ready to engage audiences across the country.   Christian is getting ready to publish his first book: Wings of Abby.

I had the chance to interview him for a two-part special event that will show off how he dived into the world of writing that eventually will lead him to publishing and eventually having his work being adapted for the Silver Screen.

Jacob Elyachar: What got you interested in writing?

Christian Mitchell: I’ll be honest with you.  I have been writing since I was a seventh grader not books per se but writing in  notebooks. I have been doing it for a long time and I make sure to do it every single day.   My mom got me a journal when I was a seventh grader attending Harmony Middle School in Overland Park, KS and I was like: “Cool! Let me actually write in here and when I am 40-years-old, I can look back in all of the stuff I am going through and to see how it is.”   When I was attending Harmony Middle School, I had dozens of girlfriends, tons of friends and a lot was going on.

While I enjoyed doing it, what really turned me around and shaped my decision to become an author was when my friend died and that’s what inspired me to write the book Arianna, the Goddess of Dawn.   That book and the events that surrounded it made me think: “Why don’t I become a writer for a living?” and it has paid off.

JE: Can you describe what your first published story was about?

CM: My first published story was not a story at all.  It was a poem that I wrote and I actually recited the poem in my senior year at my high school (Blue Valley Northwest High School) where there was an open mic night at their Little Theatre and I just got up and performed it.    Honestly, I have been writing since seventh grade and it was the pinnacle of everything that I had written at that point in time and I thought that I would never forget this poem because it was so significant in my life.  I recited the poem again while I was in college as well and that poem will be featured in my upcoming book.

JE: Who are your literary influences?

CM: I have several literary influences and a lot of them you would think would be considered old school.  One of my influences is Catcher in the Rye authorJ.D. Salinger.  I started reading his books back in high school and his writing style inspired me.    But I have other literary influences geared towards a new school-like market or a new school type of feel as fiction or non-fiction goes.   One author that I am very inspired by is Joyce Maynard.    I was inspired to read her novel not just based on the minuet screenplay that we are writing for the first book but also the director recommended that I read her other book Labor Day which will be made into a movie starring Josh Brolin and Kate Winslet and will be coming out soon.

Two other authors that inspire me are J.K. Rowling and Suzanne Collins.  No matter what anybody has to say about it, both of these women literally created these worlds and that even fascinates me as an author that they are so talented that they can create a world from scratch and while the idea intimidates me now, I could do it if I put my mind to it.

One final author that fascinates me is Jay-Z.   I know people will read this and say “Jay-Z?” I like him not just because of his music but his book: Decoded.    I really liked the way he actually portrayed himself from the very beginning to how he started rapping and how he got to become the owner of the Brooklyn Nets and his journey that started out with nothing to that landed him to become an icon.

JE: Can you please share with my readers your writing process?

CM: My writing process is not just sitting down in front of a computer and just saying, “Cool! Let’s get to work.”  It involves headphones (points at his headphones) and whole lot of artists including J. Cole, Drake, Kanye West, Norah Jones, Bob Marley, Jill Scott, Robin Thicke and Justin Timberlake.    I am not talking about a Pandora playlist; I literally have my playlist on iTunes that play the same songs in the same order every time and the reason for it is that it helps me be in tune so I can write from the heart.  If I write from the heart, I am never going to have writer’s block.

Another part of my writing process is that I like having the T.V. on mute, have lots of lights in my area plus I always need to have a glass of water and Gatorade while listening to music constantly.  The first artist I listen to is J. Cole and I do not know why but there is something that influences me while I listen to him.   He is around my age and they are rapping about similar situations and it helps me listen to what they say and that helps me focus on my writing and makes sure that it flows.

I like to write at night because I do not like writing during the daytime because it does not work for me.  I like to switch it up a little bit as things go on and keep it a little interesting especially when I go on a book tour that will hit 63 cities and still try to make sure that I write because it will be hard for me because I will be living in hotels and be in new places and I really want to go out and explore these places I have never seen and meet new people but I admit that I am going to have a hard time trying to figure out how I am going to find that time for me to write but I think I guess I am looking forward to seeing the ocean because I love it but I am California Dreamin’ right now.

JE: Let’s talk about your first book: Wings of Abby.  How long did it take you to write that book?

CM: The first original title for this book was Arianna, Goddess of Dawn and is based on my friend, Abigail, who was killed and her parents did not like the title.  But I was very firm with that title because it was Arianna, Goddess of Dawn for the last three years.   However, I ended up changing the title of the book to Wings of Abby.   It took me nine days to write the book and what happened was I originally started writing it by hand and I will never do it again because it took me so long to transcribe everything that I wrote to an actual word document and it took me nine months to transcribe it.  (JE: Nine months?) I wrote the book in January 21^st to January 30^th, 2009 but it took me nine months to actually have it all typed out.

What happened with that whole process was while I was writing, I began to ad-lib because my thoughts were triggering memories and bring events back and it started to flow.  So I went off the track and could not find the way back to my path on writing the book and I will never do that again, from now on when I write a book, it will not take nine days to write and nine months to transcribe it.

Part two of my conversation with Christian will take place on my Examiner.com column: http://www.examiner.com/reality-tv-in-kansas-city/jacob-elyachar

To connect with Christian, visit his Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Christian-Mitchell/190278751818