Christina Wallace is an author of Middle-Grade, YA, & Romance novels. She has been a lifelong writer, but didn’t enter the world of publishing until 2023. Wallace grew up in a military family and has lived in many places. During her own time in the U.S. Navy, she was deployed to Afghanistan and the Philippines, where she met her husband, who was stationed with another unit. Even during her Navy career, she worked tirelessly on her writing.
The idea for Wallace’s novel, The Light Keeper, first appeared during NaNoWriMo 2017, and from there, it was developed into a novel and eventually grew into a series.
Now, Christina enjoys sharing her stories far and wide, while also inspiring children to explore their creative side and to follow their dreams. She lives in Florida with her husband, two children, a dog, and a cat.
Q: When did you first catch the writing bug? What drove you to persist?
A: I began writing obsessively when I was in Middle School, about 22 years ago! I’d always had a very active imagination, my friends and I role-played our favorite shows all of the time. In the middle of 7th grade we moved and I didn’t make friends easily. So, I poured myself into writing. The characters I wrote all had tight friend groups, and it made me feel less lonely. The more I wrote, the more I knew sharing stories was what I was made to do.
Q: Does writing energize or exhaust you?
A: Writing energizes me, its editing I find exhausting. I get especially amped when a new realization about my book dawns on me and I have to keep writing so I can input the new thing I learned.
Q: Do you ever try to write to the latest trends? Why or why not?
A: I don’t do trends. I know a lot authors find success more easily by writing to market, but that just isn’t the way my mind works. Most of the time I’m not 100% of the specific sub-genre or tropes my story will include. I let the characters speak through me. If it happens to match with the market, cool, if not, I’m not going to sit on it and wait around for my subject to become popular. Somebody has to kick off the latest trend, maybe that’ll be me.
Q: Do you prefer to write stand-alone novels or series? Do you make connections between non-connected books?
A: I love a good series. When writing a book, as the author you become attached to your characters, you have to learn so much about them. What a shame it would be to say goodbye after only one book. I think that’s why I prefer Middle-Grade and YA, because growing up plays an important role, and I get to explore my characters in new settings and scenarios.
I don’t tend to reference non-connected books, but I have considered the extended universe where the story is completely different, but it’s the same universe as an already existing series, so magic follows the same rules and whatnot.
Q: If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?
A: Don’t let people scare you away from writing by telling you how unlikely it is that you will find success. If you have a story to share, you deserve to share it. Be open to criticism, always aim to improve, but don’t hold out for perfection.
Q: What was the best money you ever spent on your writing career?
A: My enrollment at the Institute for Children’s Literature and their publishing course. That one-on-one feedback helped me grow so much as a writer, and it is the only reason The Light Keeper exists—it was my final project.
Q: What is your favorite genre to read? Do you write in that genre? Has that always been your favorite genre, or has your taste evolved as you have grown as a writer?
A: YA Fantasy and yes, that is mostly what I write. In my earlier days, I wanted to be a jack-of-all-trades and I wrote every genre except historical. I have other projects that aren’t fantasy, but they don’t consume my mind in the way fantasy does.
Q: How many unpublished and/or half-finished books have you written?
A: Gosh, I have a three-book series that has completed first drafts, I have a series that was on Kindle Vella that I plan to break down into a smaller collection of novellas at some point, I have a four-book series that has been on the back burner for almost a decade, another written two different ways and I can’t decide which I like more… and then I have concepts for stories I’ve yet to begin, oh, and a Christmas Novella I want to extend into a full-length book.
Q: What does “literary success” or success as an author look like for you?
A: Success would be that when someone mentions my name or book on social media, several people know of me/it. For me, I have big dreams, and I will call myself successful when I can sustain the household on my author income.
Q: In your experience,what has been the best way to market your books? Where have you found the greatest return on your investment (whether it be time or money invested?)
A: I tend to do well at in-person events when I can explain things about my books and answer questions.
Q: What kind of research do you do as part of your planning process, and how much time do you spend researching before beginning a new book project?
A: It honestly varies and comes into play more often than I would have thought. I’ve spent hours researching the rulers of the biggest countries in the year 1608, the flora and fauna of the jungles in Uganda and Vietnam, and a lot of math. I’m always worried about a kid way smarter than I am fact-checking me. But I don’t do it before I begin a project, just when I come across a potential problem, and even then, I’ll save it for the second draft and just leave a note about what I need to know.
Q: What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters of the opposite sex?
A: I don’t find writing opposite genders any more challenging than a character of my gender. I would struggle more to write people of different cultures and ethnic backgrounds. Writing boys and men, for me, is about making sure they are more than just a stereotype. I’ve been friends with guys my whole life and I was in the military, so I’ve seen a lot. Any character just needs to be authentic and true to the values you give them
Q: What kind of music or sounds do you like to listen to as you write, or do you prefer complete silence?
A: SILENCE. I don’t know how I used to be able to write in noisy cafeterias and classrooms. Even white noise drives me nuts these days. I need to be alone in the quiet so I can hear my characters and see the movie in my mind
Q: How many hours a day do you write?
A: 4-6 on my writing days, depending on errands I need to run. On working days, usually about an hour, more if I’m lucky.
Q: What period of your own life do you find you write about most often? (childhood, teen, young adult, etc.)
A: Primarily my teenage years influence most of my writing, mostly because I write Middle-Grade and YA.
Q: How do you select names for your characters?
A: For the most part, they just come to me. Other times, I’ll look up names by meaning and then I’ll adapt the spelling to fit the vibes of my book. Sometimes, I’ll combine names.
Q: Do you read your book reviews? How do you handle those reviews, whether good or bad?
A: I do, but I have such a small amount right now, it’s easy to keep up with. If I had thousands, I’d let them be. The four and five stars reviews are validating for me and help with imposter syndrome. It’s the one-stars with a review that I just don’t understand. How are you going hate on a book but not say why? I tell myself not every book is going to be for every person, and its okay. The majority of people really like my books.
Q: Do you hide any secrets or “Easter eggs” in your books that only a few people will find? Examples?
A: I put easter eggs on all of my hard covers beneath the dust jacket. For instance, on book 2, the ball of glass is cracked, hinting that a faerie will be released. There are roses in the corners to represent a character often associated with roses. On book 3’s cover, there is a small video game controller because the Wish World acts like a video game. And of course, there are clues to hint at several large reveals to come in later books, but if I tell you, that’d be a spoiler.
Q: What was your hardest scene to write?
A: It’s not published yet, but it’s a character death and not only does a friend of my MC die, but also the antagonist is there drilling into his mind about what a failure he is. I cried a lot writing that scene to just sit there in that emotion with my MC character and then to think about the horrible things being said to him when he already has the weight of the world on his shoulders.
Q: What is your favorite book from your childhood?
A: Faerie Wars by Herbie Brennan. It was a completely new take on faeries I’d never seen before and it inspired me that I could make faeries to be whatever I wanted. He blends science with magic and even demons play a role. I like the way that there would be three plots happening individually and then he’d bring them all together at the end. So well done.
Q: How long (on average) does it take you to write a book?
A: From idea to publication, about 9 months, but there is a lot of waiting during that time because the book sits with my dev editor for 3-4 weeks, then beta readers for 2-3 weeks, then it goes out for line edit and that takes 3-4 weeks, then it’s proofreading that’s another 2-3 weeks. Not to mention I have to re-read my book after each round of editing as well, and I’m not a fast reader!
To get each draft done, it takes me about 4-6 weeks, and that is for appx an 80,000 word project. On my non-work days, I write about 5,000 words.
Q: Do you believe in writer’s block? If so, how do you break through it and begin writing again?
A: I believe in a lack of inspiration. I don’t force myself to write when I am uninspired because it will be garbage anyway. I like to listen to music that reminds me of my book or the scene I’m on and just picture the characters. Sometimes walking or driving helps too.
If my issue is that I’ve put my character into a situation and now I don’t know how to get them out of it, I’ll sometimes do a character interview. I’ll ask different questions about the scene and write answers from the character’s perspective and sometimes taking the focus off writing a scene and just writing answers can get me the information I need.
Q: Why did you choose to write in your genre? If you write in more than one, how do you balance them?
A: I enjoy fantasy and magic and these creatures that are more than human. I live in our world, I want to escape to something else. That being said I like to write other genres with a romance subgenre, like dystopian, and a little contemporary as well. I don’t tend to write multiple things simultaneously. When I send one book off for editing, then I’ll work on a new project, whatever genre it might be. I prioritize though. I know what pub date I want and then I make sure I hit I it, even if that means a project I was working on needs to go on the back burner for a while.
Q: What did you enjoy most about writing your most recent book?
A: My most recently published book, The Light Keeper and the Worst Wish was a lot of fun to explore the Wish World. Due to the rules of the alternate universe, my MMC gets “reset” several times, and so I got to write multiple versions of him where a different personality trait is more prominent than his “true” self. It also allowed me to put my FMC in the position of doer (versus planner) and I think readers will love getting to understand her better.
Q: Are there misconceptions that people have about your book? If so, explain.
A: I sometimes use Harry Potter as a comparison for my book, mostly the friendship/attitude of the main characters and not the plot. I have to explain sometimes that there is no casting of spells or witchcraft in the books and that while it is magic, it is written on Christian principles.
Q: What is the biggest thing that people THINK they know about your subject/genre, that isn’t true?
A: That we make everything up. I’ve heard people say fantasy is easy because you don’t have to follow the rules or research anything because it can be whatever you want. That’s only partially true, because any work of fiction needs some truth to it in order to be believable. I’ve seen people begging authors to consider the care horses need during long journeys, because things like that can pull people out of a story. So I’ll research how long a horse can go without breaks, or how far a person can reasonably walk in a day. And if I say they were in the faerie world for 3.8 days and that was equal to 6 weeks and 4 days in the human world, you’d better believe I checked my math to keep it consistent throughout the series. The details matter.
Q: What is your favorite trope from the genre in which you write? How do you make that trope your own when incorporating it into your work?
A: I really like the “chosen one” trope. I think there are a variety of reasons why someone could be chosen and its not always about potential for skill, but it can be heart. I like my chosen ones to be flawed people who don’t understand why anyone would choose them for this because I think a lot us struggle to believe we are destined for great things. So my characters overcoming their own flaws and doubts to become to hero they were chosen to be feels very special to me and I always hope readers will connect with it and see themselves and their own potential in my characters.
Q: What inspires you to keep writing?
A: I had such big dreams for myself for a long time, and then I let the world make me small and those dreams began to seem out of reach. My husband encouraged me to try to pursue them. My kids are 10 and 5 and they know their Mama is an author, and they see me putting in the hours at my desk, and setting up booths, talking to people for hours. I want them to see that are dreams are worth pursuing and I promise you, they won’t see me quit because I don’t want to ever have to tell them I stopped believing in myself.
Q: What did you find most useful in learning to write? What was the least useful or most destructive advice you have been given? Did you ask for the advice, or did it come to you unsolicited?
A: Working one-on-one with a writing instructor showed me specifically how to improve my writing versus generalized advice. The most destructive was from a beta reader, and they wrote such long, in-depth answers explaining everything wrong with my story and my main character’s mindset. I felt so crummy afterward. I walked away from their “report” and waited for the rest of my beta readers to respond, no one else said anything close to what the negative one did. I re-read their answers to see if there was anything I thought was worth looking into and then I deleted it. It was hard for me, because I also saw said reader, who is also an author, boasting about how helpful they were by giving harsh but true criticism and I sincerely hope, they didn’t crush another author as they did me.
Q: Are you a full-time or part-time writer? How does that affect your writing?
A: I was full-time but not because I was making a high income. This year I’ve gone back to work part time, but luckily my schedule is my decision so I’m able to take days off when I need them to finish different things.
Q: What are some day jobs that you have held? If any of them impacted your writing, share an example.
A: McDonald’s, Texas Roadhouse (Hostess, Food Runner, Expo), Waitress at two restaurants, department store, US Navy (with 2 deployments), military school admin. I don’t really use them in my writing because it doesn’t tend to come up
Q: What process did you go through to get your book published?
A: I am independently published. I try to go through all of the official steps, like the multiple rounds of editing, getting professional covers, nice formatting with pictures, registering ISBNs, and then I publish wide, so I get my book setup on IngramSpark, Draft2Digital, and Amazon. It’s a lot work, and staying on top of everything can be a challenge. A checklist is definitely helpful.
Q: What makes your book stand out from the crowd?
A: There are a lot of books about faeries, trickster faeries, and other creatures, but not a lot of books about magically-gifted people who trap those faeries. You also don’t tend to see a male MC in books about faeries.
Q: How do you find or make time to write?
A: It took time to change my mindset, but I’ve just made it a non-negotiable. It’s the first thing I do on my writing days, and I have a word count target. I don’t quit until I hit it, unless the entire day just fell apart. I take breaks, and I try to work cleaning the house into my schedule when possible, but writing is the priority. If I do nothing else, my writing will get done. The kids have to go to school, my husband has to go to work, and I have to go to work, too.
Q: Do you write more by logic or intuition, or some combination of the two? Summarize your writing process.
A: Mostly intuition. I don’t write with an outline. I start with an idea and a few checkpoints I need to hit and I just see what happens. The first draft is very messy. I’ll go through it and find the major plot holes, and look at the scenes I need to expand more, see where I have too much empty space and I’ll write draft 2 from scratch. My first draft becomes a detailed outline to remind me of where I was trying to go.
Q: What projects are you working on at the present?
A: Book 4 for my Light Keeper series, a novella for an anthology, and I’m working on my prequel mini stories for my series as well.
Q: What do your plans for future projects include?
A: Finishing the Light Keeper series, with 6 books and 12 mini stories, bringing my YA fantasy series back to life, and publishing the stories I’d had on Kindle Vella.
Author Links
Now available in print and on Kindle!
While you’re here, don’t forget to check out my latest suspense novel, It Had to Happen, now available in print and on Kindle!
Book Summary
When Jack Utley loses his daughter just as his business is about to soar, it seems he’s traded financial gain for Callie’s life. After an encounter with a mysterious woman on the eve of Callie’s funeral, Jack wakes up to find that time has somehow rewound to the morning of Callie’s accident. Jack gets an opportunity that most grieving parents can only dream of – he saves his daughter’s life.
Now that Jack has been forced to reflect on everything he has to lose, he resolves to do better. He’s determined to spend more time at home with his family and repair the relationships that have suffered over the years while he’s been so focused on work. But as Callie’s behavior becomes increasingly bizarre, Jack realizes he has a lot more room to improve than he realized – and it might be too late to save his daughter after all.
For fans of We Need to Talk About Kevin, The Push, and Baby Teeth.
Are you enjoying this content? Please consider leaving a tip! You can buy me a cup of coffee or donate a larger amount to help me “make a living” writing so I can quit my day job!
Become a regular patron of my art by signing up to contribute a set monthly dollar amount to help me make a living with my writing!
You can also make an annual contribution to my writing. Select an amount below!
Choose an amount
Or enter a custom amount
Your contribution is appreciated.
Your contribution is appreciated.
Your contribution is appreciated.
Write on the World 