Avoiding Writing!
When I started my creative writing journey, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. It began during my college years when I was trying to obtain sixty credits to coach high school basketball. Who knew where it would lead? The irony was that I tried to avoid English classes. I am not kidding. After a few semesters, my guidance counselor said, “You can’t avoid it any longer. You must take an English class.”
I was dreading it. I was a returning adult who hadn’t written a paper in years. However, I was surprised when my first English professor stated, “In this class, we get to enjoy stories.” I thought, Wow! I have never heard that before. That was his opening line.
He went on to talk about how English classes had gotten a bad rap and how they could be very enjoyable if students would keep an open mind. I decided to give it a try, although I didn’t have a choice. I knew something was happening when I began choosing English classes and rewriting sentences non-stop. But I didn’t have a clue as to what lay ahead as my writing was about to head in a different direction.
Choosing Writing!
The new challenge arrived at exactly the right moment. I was approaching sixty credits and was contemplating leaving school with my associate’s degree. At that time, I was attending “Weekend College” at Dominican College (now a university) in New York, and each weekend class required an independent component that accounted for a significant number of hours outside of the classroom. I signed up for a children’s literature class, hoping it would be easy.
For that class, one of the independent choices was to write a children’s book. Right away, I knew I wanted to write a book. Some of my classmates thought I was crazy. “Write a whole book!” one said with a laugh. “You’re crazy!” I grinned. I’ve heard that most writers are.
About halfway through the semester, I had not written one word for my book. What I hoped would be easy was becoming very difficult. I thought about switching components, but I just felt something was guiding me to try this. I couldn’t explain it, but I kept the faith and kept looking for the words to start the story. A few days later, I was still stumped and getting very nervous.
The BIG Idea Hits – But Now What?
When I least expected it, an idea arrived while I was watching a documentary about elephants with my daughters. During the documentary, a baby elephant became stranded in a mud pit. Her entire herd abandoned her. Being a fan of the Disney movie The Lion King, I felt there was something there with an animal story about elephants. I had my starting point, but what was next, I wondered.
Research Keeps the Words Flowing!
I started researching elephants and learned that African elephants differed from Asian ones. I decided to use African elephants for my characters. The amazing and famous Serengeti became my setting. I kept researching all the animals in that region and learned a lot about their behaviors and many of the issues they faced.
While I had an idea for a cute story about an elephant trying to find her family and could add lots of fun facts, I wasn’t confident about my main plot. I kept researching and digging for something unique. When I discovered how mice are considered a delicacy in Africa and are hunted and sold, I made an immediate connection to the pig in Charlotte’s Web. The idea for saving a mouse popped into my mind, and so did the idea of an unlikely friendship between the baby elephant and a mouse.
Toward the end of the story, I found another key piece of information through relentless research. Because poachers and pirates both play huge roles in the story, I didn’t want to have two different sets of antagonists. Fortunately, I found a few articles that mentioned some pirates were also poachers in eastern Africa. This information allowed me to keep the same characters for both the poachers and pirates.
From that class and endless research, my children’s chapter book, Savanna’s Treasure, was born. A few years later, Savanna’s Treasure earned the Silver Medal in the 2015 Moonbeam Awards for Chapter Book/Early Reader. It finished ahead of Wiley Blevins and RJ Alley and was featured in the prestigious Booklist magazine. The story has been praised by Kirkus, BlueInk Reviews, Indie BRAG, The Children’s Book Review, Pacific Book Review, and Hollywood Book Reviews!
My Short Stories – Loved by Lorian Hemingway
Research played a key role in two of my short stories that were praised by Lorian Hemingway. The first story, The Paladin, was about a real event turned into fiction. As the story took shape, I felt something was missing, so I started researching the definition of a Paladin. Again, I found what I needed, and adding what a Paladin stands for brought the entire story together!
My second story, The Counselor, is fiction and based on real events. For this story, I researched art and psychology and included facts from famous artists and theories from psychology.
New Children’s Book 2024 – Alexander Hamilton’s Wish for Battlefield Glory
My newest children’s book about Alexander Hamilton included a ton of research. Although it was a lot of work, I enjoyed every second of it and created two full picture book texts from the research. The first manuscript was a full biography with a timeline at the end. I had researched the genre before creating it and felt there was a need for a full picture book biography about Alexander.
I began the query process and received great feedback but no offers. While I was querying, I was also working full time, coaching high school basketball, and raising my daughters. As I continued to query, a work opportunity sent me to Rutgers at night. As a result, querying and coaching stopped, but I hoped I could get back to both in the future.
A few years later, I received an unexpected email from Jim Whiting. Jim is a well-published children’s author who edited my first book. In his email, Jim asked if I was working on anything. Without hesitation, I sent him my biography of Hamilton. He liked it and offered to edit it.
Although I was still very busy with work and life, COVID had shut things down, so I figured I could find some time to work on it. I researched the genre and quickly saw that a few picture book biographies about Hamilton had been published recently. I kept researching and learned that I could use a focal point of a historical figure to create a new picture book.
With that in mind, I reread my notes and buzzed through the research material. Then, I went back to the drawing board, as they say, and a new story began to emerge. The second version focused on Hamilton’s childhood wish for a war. This book received the indie BRAG Medallion in early January of 2025. It received multiple 5-star reviews from Readers’ Favorite and a glowing review from Midwest Book Reviews!
An educator’s guide is being created by acclaimed author Marcie Colleen. Marcie’s guide will be available in April 2025. I will share signing events and other news via social media and my website: https://cbauthor.com. Readers are encouraged to follow me on Facebook, Linked In, Instagram, and Goodreads. I can be contacted via social media or by email: behrenscb32@aol.com
2025 – New Book Coming
I even used research for some of my poems. One of my poems received an award from Writer’s Digest in 2023 and is in the process of becoming a children’s picture book, releasing in 2025. Research, research, and more research! J Home Court, A Basketballer’s Ditty is the title.
Author Bio
Hard work and perseverance helped C. (Chris) Behrens graduate Magna Cum Laude from Dominican College (now University) in New York. He graduated with Honors in English and received the Mother Lawrence Marie Award for Academic Excellence! In 2017, Behrens earned a Public Works Management Certificate from Rutgers for his position with the Borough of Woodcliff Lake. He considers watching his daughters play high school softball the best time of his life. In his spare time, Behrens loves to read, draw, and paint.
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The last topic I read about extensively was the history of slavery, out of curiosity, since it’s such a hot topic & I wanted to understand it better.