In the event that you're checking out my writing workshop and are wondering who is this guy and why is he giving a writing workshop . . . well, here's my updated bio.
Travis Thrasher has been writing his whole life.
In third grade, his teacher encouraged him in writing. That combined with reading the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis cemented the dream of becoming a writer.
While living in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, Travis completed his first novel in ninth grade. It was also during this time that he discovered an author that would have an immense impact on his writing: Stephen King.
“I had read many books up ‘til then that inspired me in my writing, but It by Stephen King was the first book I read that I wished I had written,” Travis says.
After living in places as diverse as Munich, Germany, and Sydney, Australia, during his youth, Travis moved to the Chicago area during his junior year of high school. That’s where he has remained.
After graduating from Trinity Christian College, Travis landed a job at Tyndale House Publishers as Author Relations Manager. He worked for over a decade in that position, acting as liaison between the publisher and the authors. But writing always came first, and Travis was fortunate to have his first novel published in 2000. It was The Promise Remains, a sweet love story in the vein of Nicholas Sparks.
“I wrote six or seven dark, ambitious novels that went nowhere,” Travis says. “It was only after writing a simple love story about unrequited love that I got my first break.”
Getting that first book published was a dream come true, but Travis always saw himself having multiple books in print.
“I don’t consider myself the most talented novelist, but I do consider myself one of the most driven. I kept writing, wanting to push myself and not become content to stay in a box a publisher made for me.”
Travis’s drive has allowed him to see a variety of books published: from love stories (The Watermark; Three Roads Home) to suspense (Gun Lake; Admission; Blinded) to drama (The Second Thief; Sky Blue) to even adventure (Out of the Devil’s Mouth).
“I tell people that this is not the way to build a career, but I’m thankful that I’ve been able to build mine the way I wanted to. I want to entertain and surprise readers, and to continue to build a readership that will take journeys with me, whether they’re going to 1929 Brazil or current day Geneva, Illinois.”
Travis’s writing journey came full circle with the publication of Isolation. It was no coincidence that this novel was set high on a mountain in North Carolina or that it was compared to Stephen King in a Publishers Weekly review that said “Thrasher demonstrates a considerable talent for the horror genre.” Many in Travis’s writing circle (his agent, his editors, his mother) said the same thing about Isolation: it was his best novel yet.
“When my first book got published, I was excited and proud of it,” Travis says. “But I never saw myself writing only love stories. Horror and supernatural tales are something that I love reading and watching, so it seems natural that I’m comfortable in that genre.”
In the acknowledgements for Isolation, Travis thanks the author who had the most impact on him as a novelist.
“Stephen King writes to tell all these stories in his head, and that’s what I do too. I have fifty stories that are dying to come out now. I look at King as an influence and inspiration—he simply has to write.”
And that’s what Travis has to do: write. His second book for FaithWords is entitled Ghostwriter and will be released in May, 2009. And it’s right down Mr. King’s alley: It’s about a bestselling horror novelist with writer’s block.
“My desire is to explore flawed and broken people,” Travis says. “The box I get to do this in is supernatural suspense. So along with taking journeys with interesting people, I also get to try and scare the reader.”
