About Chris Saper:
I'm lucky enough to have had three pretty diverse careers spanning forty years. But solving puzzles has been at the heart of each one.
As a masters prepared health care administrator, I worked as a strategic planner, hospital administrator and implemented the pre-hospital/categorization program in Central Arizona.
A bachelor's degree in fine arts served me well as second career as a commissioned portrait artist. After all, what's a blank canvas except another big puzzle to solve? To date, I've completed nearly 400 commissions nationwide, and authored four books and four DVDs teaching other artists about my craft – and helping them develop their own.
As a voracious fiction reader, a relentless grammar nut, and Scrabble junkie, I love communicating clearly and with the best style I can.
And here we are! My first novel, set in the near future, about corruption and conspiracy within the government's delivery of mental health service to PTSD patients in the VA system.
Sound far-fetched to you? Not to me. I care about this stuff, deeply, and this is one way for me to elevate not only my own concerns, but those of so many of my fellow citizens.
What inspires you to write?
Things in our world, country, society that make me angry or frightened. I suppose it is a way for me to grapple with big issues by telling small stories.
Tell us about your writing process.
Seat of the pants! Outlining (other than what was required in classes) just isn't in my nature. I just started, not knowing who the characters might be, what plot might unfold, or what was around the next paragraph.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
All the time. That being said, because I just invented characters when I got to a point in the story – we couldn't have imaginary dialogue until they were invented. Of course one of the pitfalls of being a 'pantser' is writing yourself into a corner – and having to invent a scene or character to advance the story.
What advice would you give other writers?
I have been a non-fiction writer for decades. Writing a novel, though required me to take online classes, read books on writing and doing a fair amount of studying to try to learn the basics. I hired professional content and copy editors, worth their weight in gold.
My main advice though: keep working it – don't give up. Realize that you might need a range of expert help in areas outside your wheelhouse.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
My decision to self-publish was just simply based on logic. I wasn't interested in spending what might be years in Query Purgatory, followed by a limited commitment for a publisher to stand behind me. Even big publishers expect you to do a lot of your own lifting – so if I have to do that anyway, why not improve my revenue?
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
I think it's a mess. Publishers are consolidating, retailers are closing – although if B &N can get its locale-driven model implemented that might help – but Amazon has become the world's biggest slush pile with a LOT of bad books out there. So I think that sites like Goodreads -and certainly vetted promo sites like yours can help readers sort through and make better choices.
What genres do you write?: fiction, thriler, non-fiction
What formats are your books in?: Both eBook and Print
Website(s)
Chris Saper Home Page Link
Your Social Media Links
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All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.
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