Hello, fellow primates, and thanks for reading my post. I’m Craig Boyack, and I write speculative fiction in my spare time.

That isn’t everything I do, however. I hold down a regular job, have a lovely wife, and three adult children. We also have three pretty cool grandchildren. I like to do outdoors things with a more mellow side. I fish, forage, enjoy hunting for cool rocks, that sort of thing. I’ve panned for gold, and it’s nearly morel mushroom season here in Idaho. I grow my own fruit trees, and keep a thirtyish year old sourdough starter named Tituba.

When it comes to city life, my wife and I still do date night every weekend. We enjoy dinner and a movie, and I really like the whole craft beer movement. We save up for something bigger at least once per year, and it may be a play or a concert. When you look at the big picture, there’s a whole lot of inspiration there.

I don’t read as much as I’d like to, but when I do I want to escape. There are too many real world problems, and so a bit of science fiction or fantasy hits the spot. Which brings me to my writing.

When I write I always include some element we aren’t going to get in real life. Characters might be interacting with extra terrestrials, trying to survive an ancient curse, or living in a fantasy world. I even wrote one where a robot was the main character.

Of course the characters need to face problems, and they have to be problems the reader can relate to. I wrote a science fiction piece once where the antagonist was big insurance. They weaseled themselves into a quasi-governmental agency and dictated more than they ought to be allowed to. This was still science fiction, but I figured there are readers who could relate.

I’ve written a couple of paranormal stories too, and tried to set them in worlds that readers might recognize. I believe readers are willing to suspend disbelief, but we shouldn’t ask too much of them. That’s why I try to give my readers a familiar footing. If I’m going to ask them to believe something incredible, they ought to get something familiar to hang onto.

I always try to include fun characters. It isn’t always my lead character. Sometimes the lead has to be a grouch or stoic personality. In those instances, I always include someone who’s a bit more cheery. I also think it comes across more like real life.

I recently learned that I write a lot of animals into my stories. This came out of the blue, but it’s true. I like animals, pets or otherwise. They can add a special element to a character without having to explain too much. I have a semi-cowboy who winds up with a horse who doesn’t like him. It added a fun element to a dark section of one book.

I always try to set a personal challenge with each novel. These aren’t obvious to the reader, I hope. They help me grow as a writer. Some of mine were: a non-human main character, a buddy story with co-leads, a mildly depressed character, fairytale story structure, and one story in first person POV. It doesn’t hurt to have many tools at your disposal, and the way to learn them is to use them.

My blog is called Entertaining Stories, because that’s the end goal – to entertain. I have no intention of changing the world, or convincing readers to see things my way. I just want them to have fun. My characters make regular appearances on my blog, with dialog and everything. This gives my readers some original tales, and I usually weave in bits about my writing struggles. Is this cheesy? God I hope so. The tone of the blog isn’t always the tone of the novels. They are different things.

I hope to meet some new bloggers and reader’s via Chris’ blog, and appreciate the opportunity to visit here.

Craig Boyack

No man ever wetted clay and then left it, as if there would be bricks by chance and fortune. – Plutarch

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