Author Interview with Chloe Paul

Chloe Paul spends her time reading, writing, and watching True Crime documentaries. She likes characters who are unabashedly themselves and one day wants to write a book in 2nd person. She lives with her husband and cats in upstate New York. 

Q: How did you become a writer?

A: In 2022, my hippie mother told me that I had lost my passion in life and had become too corporate. She had just written a book, so I decided to write a book to spite her and show her that I could be passionate and corporate at the same time. Not that I wanted to write. I just wanted to prove to her that I could do it if I wanted!  Well, Mom, you won— I love writing. I’ve written every day since then and don’t ever want to go back.

Q: Do you have a routine you follow when writing?

A: I try to write the “bad” version first. Sometimes, there are many, many bad versions. Once I think I like what I’ve written, I’ll listen to it on text-to-speech, which often sends me into a despair spiral (I’m the worst writer who has ever lived ranked, I use too many commas, what’s the point writing anything while Jeffrey Eugenides is out there, etc). After I have a little snack and pet my cats, I tell myself that I might die tomorrow, and if I do, this story will die with me. That is scary enough to get me to finish writing.

Q: How do you develop your plot and characters?

A: Not to sound dramatic, but I feel constantly inspired by the world around me. Whether it’s books, TV shows, clients at my work. I don’t like to create characters from scratch. I need to pull from something. For example, if there is a line from a song that I find inspiring, I will build a character around it. I work in customer service and people say the absolute craziest things to me, and I like to take bits and pieces for my book.