Award-winning author Christine Amsden has written stories since she was eight, always with a touch of the strange or unusual. She became a “serious” writer in 2003, after attending a boot camp with Orson Scott Card. She finished Touch of Fate shortly afterward, then penned The Immortality Virus, which won two awards.
Christine Amsden has been writing science fiction and fantasy for as long as she can remember. She loves to write and it is her dream that others will be inspired by this love and by her stories. Speculative fiction is fun, magical, and imaginative but great speculative fiction is about real people defining themselves through extraordinary situations. Christine writes primarily about people and it is in this way that she strives to make science fiction and fantasy meaningful for everyone.
At the age of 16, Christine was diagnosed with Stargardt’s Disease, a condition that effects the retina and causes a loss of central vision. She is now legally blind, but has not let this slow her down or get in the way of her dreams. (You can learn more here.)
In addition to writing, Christine teaches workshops on writing at Savvy Authors. She also does some freelance editing work.
Christine currently lives in the Kansas City area with her husband, Austin, who has been her biggest fan and the key to her success. They have two beautiful children, Drake and Celeste.
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Q) What inspired you to write this story?
Cassie herself inspired me to write this book. She was someone whose story wasn’t being told – that of the powerless person in a world of magic. It’s a disability of sorts, one that affects her deeply though she tries to play it off. Yet she has value. Fantasy sometimes narrowly defines heroes as the biggest and the strongest, the one with the destiny to fulfill, but normal people can make a difference. That was important to me. This is not the story of someone who comes into power, it is the story of someone who discovers there is more than one kind of power.
Q) How long did it take you to write?
The first draft spilled out in about 2 months. Revisions and all the rest took a few more. It was actually pretty quick, or would have been if I hadn't decided to do another revision after I finished drafting the entire series.
Q) What is your favorite thing about writing?
Forging an emotional connection with the characters. It's my favorite thing about reading, too. Sometimes, though, if you want to do something right you have to do it yourself!
Q) What is your least favorite thing about writing?
Copy editing. Tedious work. And somehow I never seem to catch everything.
Q) If you could be any famous person for one day, who would you be and why?
I'd be one of The Doctor's companions because that's an awesome show and I bet it would be fun to film, too.
Q) What is the oldest thing in your fridge and how old is it?
Probably one of my bottles of salad dressing, although none of them would be beyond the expiration date. I'm into cooking from scratch and that's hard to do in a yucky kitchen. I won't pretend my fridge is immaculate, but I take everything out and thoroughly clean it about every 2-3 months.
Q) What can readers expect from you in the future?
Secrets and Lies (Cassie Scot #2) will be out in November. Check out my website for more information on that one. Mind Games (Cassie Scot #3) and Dreamer (Cassie Scot #4) are under contract and scheduled for release in 2014. After that... a couple of characters demanded spin-offs so I'm working on those right now!
Thank you so much for having me here. It was a pleasure.
