Chris Philbrook - Vibrant Storytelling, With an Unusual Protagonist

Chris Philbrook was raised by a roving pack of wolves in New England, but has settled in New Hampshire with his own pack of four he made with his wife. He's a full-time, bestselling author of post-apocalyptic horror, fantasy, and science fiction, and often enjoys entertaining the idea that his imposter syndrome is fictional. He also makes gaming dice for funsies and is occasionally mistaken for Dave Bautista in public.

When starting on a new book, what is the first thing you do?

Procrastinate, mostly. It's a crucial step to achieve enough momentum to actually get over the imposter syndrome. Ha, but really I outline. A loose outline that I can twist and pivot from easily. I set up the locations, major characters, and most importantly, the key themes I want to convey, and the critical scenes or conversations I need to do that. After that, I just write the parts between and then I have a book.

Do you have any interesting writing habits? What is an average writing day like for you?

It depends on if the kids are home from school. During the school year, I wake up at 5:30 and check emails and package any orders for merch or signed books. I drop the kids off at school, mail stuff if I need to, and then I come back and sit down to write. I try to write in sprints of 15 minutes on, 15 minutes off to stay focused and prevent getting distracted. I work on one project on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and another project on the other days.

What are you working on right now?

The 3rd novel in my Darkness of Diggory Finch modern Lovecraftian horror series. It's a fun foray into the potential evils lurking in a small New England town.

Where can our readers discover more of your work or interact with you?

Much like air, I'm everywhere. Online I tend to use Facebook and Instagram the most, but I'm posting a lot of content to YouTube now. My personal website is a great place to get reading lists, or how to order signed stuff as well. On almost all platforms I can be found with the @PhilbrookAuthor tag, or by putting my name in.