A Self Interview — Chris McClain Johnson

In August 2023, life here in Memphis got a lovely swirl-about when my debut novella Three Guesses won the 2023 Fugere Book Prize Recognizing Finely Crafted Novellas. Thank you Regal House Publishing!

Pre-order THREE GUESSES

While awaiting its release in June 2025, I’ve plunged headlong into preparing for the launch. In this crazy process, unlike any experience I’ve ever had before, others in the book world advised me to get a head start on studying author questions for interviews. Since those are a few months away, here is a self interview about my book, my inspiration, and what I enjoy most about writing fiction. Enjoy!

What inspired the idea for your book and your characters?

Way back in the early 1990s, I visited the Outer Banks of North Carolina for the first time. I’d never seen or felt anything like it. Standing on the raw stretch of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore took my breath away, and the salty cleansing wind blew right into my soul.

A story came to me immediately, as stories do 24/7, about three strangers in different parts of the country with no prior connection, and very different personalities, who engage in a years-long correspondence by letters only. No visits. No phone calls. They start with sharing small bits of themselves then open up as time passes and reveal even more intimate details over the years, becoming so enmeshed in each other’s long-distance worlds that their mail-only pact begins to crumble as each face twisty turning points in their lives.

Sam was the first to appear while I stood on that Atlantic shore. She’s a restless young woman in Memphis, Tennessee, with no vision of what her life is supposed to be but destined to succeed in her soulful and sometimes reckless search to find where she belongs. She kicks off this crazy tale by sneaking a personal letter into a formal letter from the fundraising agency she temps for, and introduces Pete Wren (a conflicted, edgy artist in New York City who donated his painting Three Guesses to the agency) and Richard Mabry (a somewhat high-brow researcher in Phoenix, Arizona, who won the bid for the painting at an auction).

Pete’s name comes from a road sign I’ve seen a million times - Pete Wren Rd - along Highway 45 near Bradford, Tennessee, on my trips between Memphis and my hometown of Mayfield, Kentucky. I think readers will love the stories and poems Pete weaves into his letters, and I’m pretty sure he has no idea how much of himself he exposes in them.

Richard balances out the trio with his sarcastic humor, bits of philosophy and a touch of old-world smugness. He’s probably the story’s MVP since his openness in his response to Sam’s initial letter perpetuates this extraordinary correspondence. If he hadn’t written back, the whole thing might have flopped face first.

Back to the original source of inspiration, the Hatteras area of the Outer Banks is something of a character, too, as a place is. I wasn’t sure how or when, but I knew this crew would get there eventually. I had the chance to visit in April and had a wonderful bookish adventure Traveling the OBX Bookstore Trail.

In the beginning, when Three Guesses was more of a whimsical, flighty tale, I had no idea how deep the roots would reach for our grownup pen pals or how their sharing would shape and change the course of their lives and mine. I’m so inspired by their stories, their bond, their evolution. I am wholly in love with them, and I’m forever grateful for Jaynie Royal, Pam van Dyk, and the Regal House team for giving them the wind to fly.

(By the way, fugere is Latin for fly, along with flee and escape, all fitting for SB, Richard and Pete as each of them dabble with running away at some point in some way. I’m delighted they stuck around, magical muses who arrived long ago and stayed.)

What inspired you to become a writer?

This is quite a laundry list, but along with inspirations from my childhood growing up on farms, I must give Scholastic Books some primary credit. I could hardly breathe when the teacher passed out the little booklets in elementary school. I was the kid who poured over every title and description, drawing stars beside almost everything in it, gasping at the total of everything I wanted to order. I can’t remember if I had an allowance or if my parents gave me book money, but I’m pretty sure I had a limit, which was, of course, heartbreaking.

Then there was the beloved Bookmobile. Don’t even get me started…I would have lived inside it if I could!

And, of course for that era, I discovered Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie series along with Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys. I imagine these gems emboldened many, many writers.

I read books multiple times, made up my own endings, added characters and scenes, created my own story lines, which I shared daily with my attentive stuffed animal staff. I don’t remember all the author names, but they definitely inspired my love of reading and writing.

What do you enjoy most about writing fiction?

It’s. So. Much. Fun! The freedom to make up people, places, things and endless situations is complete joy.

I’m convinced I’m a muse magnet because stories never stop coming. There’s rarely a moment of writer’s block. I have something more akin to writer’s chock - full to the limit, crammed - with so many ideas going on at once, so many muses swarming and wanting all of my attention. Sometimes I capture their stories and sometimes I can’t grab on fast enough, like dreams we get split-second glimpses of before they disappear.

I enjoy weaving in factual details, philosophical meanderings and human ponderings about purpose and propensities, clever wit and smooth humor, sarcasm and relational discomfort, kind gestures and the glorious sense of belonging, love lost and found, music and poetry that feeds our souls, redemption and recipes. A bit of a cockamamie list, but this is only a small sampling.

I love writing from different perspectives - female, male, child, animal, inanimate objects like a pencil or a vacuum cleaner or a house, intangible things like the day Tuesday or the hour of noon or the whisper of a breeze. Wouldn’t it be wicked fun to have all of those characters in one story? I should probably go now and get that one started.

Thanks for spending a little time here. I look forward to sharing updates along this crazy exciting journey of getting Three Guesses and other stories out into the world.

Take care and read something wonderful every single day!