“The question is, am I going to walk away from the discomfort, or am I going to honor it as the creative impulse that came to me? I opted for the latter.”
Today’s interview brought me so much joy that my mouth is fatigued from smiling. Writer Chris Tebbetts has been a close friend of mine for 30 years (this month), and he is someone I’m thrilled to introduce you to. We share a background in theater, which is how we met, and Chris went on to an extraordinary career that has included middle grade novels, ghost writing, collaborative writing, and teaching. He’s partnered with James Patterson (the Middle School series), Jeff Probst (the Stranded series), Lisa Papademetriou (M or F?), and folks at the Highlights Foundation and R(ev)ise and Shine.
What stands out to me about both Chris and his writing are his understated but terrific sense of humor, his honesty, his passion for the creative process, his self-reflection and commitment to personal growth, and his deep desire for connection and relationship. Chris and I share a fundamental curiosity about human nature and psychology, and this conversation led us to talking about how our inner life often shows up unexpectedly on the page. Here, Chris talks about choices he made in his YA novel, Me, Myself, and Him:
“My father was an amazing, wonderful clown of a man, and I wrote a character who had a difficult relationship with his cold father; I wanted to stay away from too much reality. But [later I realized] I was writing about my mother! I don’t have a cold relationship with her, but the qualities that were hard for me as a kid in her came out through this father character who I had thought I had simply invented. It’s a testament to the psychology of writing and the therapy of writing.”
Something I’m very much looking forward to is Chris’ April workshop at the Highlights Foundation: Theater Camp for Writers. Over a three-day retreat, he and his colleagues will immerse participants in the ways improv and theater can help us as we develop characters, design scenes, think like a director on the page, experiment with dialogue, and connect better when doing readings. No acting experience required; it’s going to be amazing. Check it out here.
Learn more about Chris on his website and follow him on Instagram and Facebook.
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