I had the dinner with world famous, YA fiction author, Chris Morphew, the other night. I took the chance to interview him for the blog. I must say, it was an inspiring experience. Here is some of Chris’ wisdom for the world.
On healthy eating
Do you know the food pyramid? I kinda reimagined it and I follow what’s called the food cube. It’s carbs, that’s the bottom layer, and the top layer is meat. And that’s the cube.
On his hair and beard stylings
People say [I look like] Paddle-Pop Lion and Jesus. Those are my two heroes, so it works out quite well.
On fame, being an author and his recent tour of the United States
It’s about who you are and not what you do. A situation that came up that made me realise that it was much more about character and who I am, than what I produce was when I was at a school. I spoke to the kids, then afterwards all these kids came down and wanted to get selfies because they’ve all got Instagram and stuff. And after every school I would check my Instagram followers and watch them pick up and think about how great it was to be a big shot famous author. And then this photo came up and it was me and some girl who had taken a selfie and it said “Life made! Selfie with an Aussie!” So from that I took away that it’s a lot more about my identity as a whole person rather than just the work that I output. I don’t think that any of them had, or will, read my books, but they were very impressed with my accent and the fact that I was from a different country to them.
Advice for aspiring authors
Be Australian. Or if you can’t do that, find the country where your accent is a novelty. I feel like if you’re anywhere but America, go there, but if you’re American, go to New Zealand maybe? I feel like that would work.
Advice to me for getting married
I’ve heard good things. My observations [of marriage] are mixed but I think just be you. You said that your fiancé is Lebanese, so maybe if you play up your accent maybe she’d be impressed by that. I mean, I met her, and she sounds pretty Aussie so it won’t be a total novelty for her but if we can transfer what I’ve learnt about writing to what I’ve learnt about marriage, and I think we can, that would be my tip. Play up the Aussie larrikin. And, I don’t know, do some dishes?
On what he learned watching “The Equalizer” staring Denzel Washington
I learned that there’s murder, and then there’s “art-murder”. It would have been much more efficient for Denzel to kill people with greater precision with a gun, rather than with a quickly rigged up barbed wire noose, or a drill, or explosives in the microwave, but that’s his art and I don’t want to devalue his art.
You can buy Chris’ books The Phoenix Files in all good book stores (hopefully). He’s also working on some other books and you’ll be able to buy them at some point too. Also you can follow him on Instagram @crispywords.
