YOU’D be hard-pressed to find a 22-year-old with four published books under his belt and another two (or three) in the wings.
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But that’s exactly the credentials Chris Foster can lay claim to.
The creative young man started his life here in the Shoalhaven, moving interstate to Western Australia during primary and high school years.
“We were very much travellers,” he said of his family which has recently moved back to the area permanently.
“But coming back here was like coming home. The stars are like nowhere else, the farmland is stunning.”
Having just launched his books, Chris was looking for a change.
“[The Shoalhaven] is a good place to write,” he said.
It was around 10 years ago Chris discovered his talents for prose – poetry in particular.
“I was doing an assignment and I’d never written poetry before but I had a go,” he said.
It brought his teacher to tears and she entered his work in an Asia-Pacific competition.
It won. Chris was just 13.
“It was so freeing to put emotions into words,” Chris said.
His work took him to the Festival of Golden Words in Beaconsfield, Tasmania in 2014 where he performed alongside the likes of Julian Burnside, Stephen Dando-Collins, Andy Griffiths, Wendy Harmer, Gretel Killen and Fiona O’Loughlin.
He since also turned his pen to fantasy – around the time a writer going by JK Rowling came on the scene.
“Harry Potter was popular – but there weren’t a lot of good stories for children,” Chris said.
Intuitively identifying a gap in the market, he started writing children’s fantasy fiction for his mother’s school class.
“It took longer than expected,” Chris said.
The tale ended up 90,000 words long – and took Chris a couple of years to complete.
Along the way he’d think of a new character – but they wouldn’t quite fit into the story.
“So I would start another story and then end up with 20-30,000 words on some other story,” he said.
“I’m a little more disciplined now and I write one at a time.”
I challenge anyone to listen to that and not imagine an adventure.
- Chris Foster, author
Chris’s story ended up becoming the first in a series and is called the Adventures of Antonio Swift.
He had significant interest from major publishing houses, but for various reasons ended up self-publishing.
“My main focus is writing fantasy for children without adult themes – many parents want that,” Chris said.
He cites Australian author Emily Rodda as a strong influence on his fantasy writing, as well as US fantasy fiction author Raymond E. Feist.
His inspiration can be anything and everything.
“I get inspired by everything – looking at nature generally,” Chris said.
He finds he writes faster in silence, but did listen to a lot of Classical Gas while writing his first novel.
“I challenge anyone to listen to that and not imagine an adventure,” he said.
Of course not all of his role models are authors – Chris cites his mother as one of the biggest influences on his writing and credits her with encouraging him to work hard, set goals and be passionate about his writing.
For now Chris has deferred a place at university where he is considering studying information technology (IT), his other passion.
In the immediate future Chris is working on a few projects, and intends to have two more books out this year, possibly a third.
Adventures of Antonio Swift: Aimed at the upper primary/lower high school audience, it is an adventure story similar to The Ranger’s Apprentice, Deltora Quest, Sinbad and Eragon. The first book in The Casse Lands series, it is a standalone story. It has received praise and great reviews from readers across a broad spectrum of ages. Contains monsters (similar to Sinbad opposed to Goosebumps,) epic battles and no swearing.
Realm of Silence: Book two in The Casse Lands series, this volume explores a new area of the world where music has been outlawed. Appealing to fans of The Ranger’s Apprentice and The Spook’s Apprentice, this story is a coming of age journey that is set in a misty, dark world.
Seasons of the Soul: An anthology of Foster’s early work, including the multinational award winning poem Seasons. It has been hugely successful with mature readers, male and female alike, who have enjoyed the fresh voice in Australian poetry. The book is divided into four sections, each focusing on a particular topic; love, war, nature, the individual.
Antediluvian Man: An overarching story divided into several smaller poems that collectively explores growing up from the torments of being a teenager to the wilderness of adulthood with a quirky sense of humour.