Heather’s Bookshelf: Author Interview with David Churcher-Muria

Book Title: Inspiration

Released:  10/23/23

Genre:  Adult SciFi

Interview by Heather L. Barksdale

What inspired you to write “Inspiration”?

Churcher-Muria: It's been over twenty years since I wrote my first novel. That one will probably never be published (even self-published), it's awful. Since I wrote that, I've built up piles and piles (metaphorically speaking, they're digital files) of drafts and unfinished stories. Some of them might see the light of day eventually, but my block was always feeling confident enough with anything to let it out into the world. Inspiration (the story) was based on a dream - an anxious stress dream about fire-fighting problems on a spaceship, surrounded by people who couldn't, or wouldn't, help. People always say 'write what you know'. and I definitely know what it's like to have a difficult job that you're good at. I'm not a great delegator. 

How did you come up with the names of your main characters?

Churcher-Muria: I always wanted the main character's name to be a bit of a lame joke. An anti-climax. To build it up like a mystery only to reveal it was never a mystery in the first place. Their name was just 'Bob', or 'Claire' or something, and it didn't matter at all. I got almost all the way through writing the book, unable to decide on a name that was lame but not too silly, before I realised I'd played the joke on myself. I'd already given them their name in the first draft, and it lent itself to too many stupid little jokes for me to change it.

The other characters all have semi-meaningful names. The inspiration, even more than most other places in the far-future galaxy, is supposed to be a mixture of weirdos from anywhere and everywhere. I picked names from different cultures, that maybe tell you something about their heritage, their personality, or their part in the story. Sometimes I mixed the spelling up a bit. After all, if the name 'Yohannan' has become so many different variants around the world over the last few thousand years, there will probably be some extra variations of 'Carmen' across the galaxy in another thousand.

Is there anything that you want readers to know about you, your writing process or your book?

Churcher-Muria: If you've been to a craft fair, fantasy festival, or comicon in the south of England in the past few years, you may have met me. I was the wizard selling hand-crafted wands and magic supplies from my stall. Sadly, you probably won't see me again any time soon. I've moved myself, my life, and my workshop to a town in Catalunya near my wife's family. The weather here is marginally better, but it'll take me a while to get my businesses back up and running again.

If "Inspiration" was adapted into a movie, who would you like to see cast to play your lead characters?

Churcher-Muria: I had John Bradley (Sam Tully from Game of Thrones) occasionally in mind when writing Marcus. I feel like he could really put the right level of over-drama into completely normal conversations.

I don't know if anyone remembers the show 'The Good Wife', but there was a character there called Kalinda (played by Archie Panjabi). She was a fun secondary character, written to often (deliberately?) break the 'show, don't tell' rule. Kalinda often apparently, off-screen, used her completely overwhelming and irresistable sexuality to get access or information the plot needed. That would have been annoying, if the actress didn't sell her lines and delivery so well that I actually started to believe her. Anyway, my point is that I think Panjabi could really sell Shara's character.

The Captain is Tilda Swinton. Possibly actually literally 1000-year-old Tilda Swinton.

When you encounter writer’s block, what do you do to break yourself out of it?

Churcher-Muria: That's an easy one. Best advice I was ever given, not specifically about writing but it certainly applies, was that if you can't make progress on something, then do something else. If I can't figure out where a chapter is going, I leave it and move on to another chapter (or another book). That probably doesn't contribute well to finishing projects, but at least I have something to show for my time!

Are there any tips that you would like to share with other aspiring authors?

Churcher-Muria: Write however works for you. I don't think there's one 'right' way. Except learn how to do speech tags correctly before your first draft, so you don't have to go back and fix them all after you're done.

What is your favorite genre, book, and/or author?

Churcher-Muria: Sci-fi and Fantasy, forever. I have always, always, from before I can even remember, loved reading, but the first book that ever completely captured me was 'Dragonmage of Mystara' by Thorarinn Gunnarsson. The third in a trilogy of Dungeons & Dragons tie-in novels from the '90s. I'd not even read the first two, but I'd never even considered that a book didn't have to be about normal, boring people. After that, my dad got me into Terry Pratchett and Peter Hamilton, and I never looked back, reading everything my local library's science fiction and fantasy section had to offer.

My favourite book is probably currently 'The Name of the Wind' by Patrick Rothfuss. I hope one day we'll get a conclusion to the series!

What are you working on next?

Churcher-Muria: I'm currently about half-way through the first draft of a fantasy novel (working title 'Seeds of Magic'). It's set in an alternate modern-day England, where magic has been creeping into the world since the 1980s. It draws from the locations and history that I've grown up with, inserting the sorts of adventures that I imagined as that fantasy-obsessed kid. I've also just finished the outline for the sequel to 'Inspiration', hesitantly called 'Experience'. Feedback I've gotten about the first book was to give the characters more time to shine, so hopefully I can manage to bring a few of them more vividly to live through this story.

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