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The FAQ

As promised, here's a general FAQ for your perusal:


1. What inspires you?

Anything from my own imagination to fairytales and dreams. Sometimes I just sit around thinking "What if?" As I've said before, I have a vivid imagination so sometimes I can picture things happening and it's just a matter of translating that image from my head to the written word. Every writer is inspired by different things. Oftentimes it's just every day life.


2. What Do You Write?

I gave a longer answer in a previous post, but the short answer is Fantasy or Paranormal Romance. Yes, I'm a sucker for romance and I love making up my own worlds.


3. Did You Always Want To Be A Writer?

I don't know about "always", but it's been a long time dream of mine to write, publish and share my imagination with others. It started out with me playing make-believe as a little girl and morphed into having to write down what's in my head onto paper (or type it up on the computer). I wrote a lot of poetry (and song lyrics) growing up--particularly in high school--but even in high school I was already starting to write novels. My first "finished" one wasn't very good; but it did get me started and I got some excellent feedback from my Sophomore year English teacher. Junior year my English teacher kept telling me to go for it. When I entered my 20's I took a writing class from The Writer's Digest School (check out the magazine, "Writer's Digest" here for more information). I learned a lot from that class, but even then, I was still trying to find my "niche". After reading this one novel I realized that I always loved writing paranormal and fantasy romance best, so then I knew that's where I belonged.


4. What Do You Do About "Writers' Block"?

It depends on why or when it hits. If it's just that I'm having trouble finding my way to finishing up a chapter, I'll push forward until something hits. I mean, it's not like I can't go back and re-write if it's really bad (and I probably will do that anyway). When it's that I can't figure out the story line at all I'll work on something else and sometimes back and see if there's something to be done about it. Sometimes I'll read books that inspired me in the first place and see if any techniques jump out at me. And sometimes, if I'm really "clogged up" I'll take a "vacation" from writing novels altogether. (I did that earlier this year, about a week or so I just didn't really write my novels).


5. Are You Published?

As of 2010, not yet. I hope to have my novel(s) published in the future. One of my manuscripts has started to be sent out. In the meantime, I'm working on some other manuscripts so I have more than one thing available.
6. Any Tips/Suggestions?

The suggestions I've gotten from other writers are: "Write what you want to read. Chances are if you want to read it, someone else will, too." (Stephenie Meyer is one author who has said that). I've taken that to heart. And it's helped my writing. The other thing is, don't let fear or doubts rule you. That was a debilitating thing for me for many years, that is to say I shied away from the idea of publishing for a long time because of fear and doubt. Now when those same fears and doubts pop up I say to myself "Well, every writer gets rejection slips, and it didn't stop them. Shouldn't stop me either." You have to love to write. If it's just a hobby, then you have to decide if you're willing to spend more time on it to be published. You have to be willing to make it a part of your every day life. Some authors have to balance being parents and having other life besides their writing; but they still have to make time to write. Deadlines are in the writing world. It's a business. You have to treat it that way (been told that in many things I've read about writing and publishing).


A couple of good places to go for some information is Writer Beware and Preditors & Editors.


But make sure you pick up books on publishing and writing...magazines and such. There's a lot of good information out there such as Jeff Herman's books and The Writer's Digest Magazine and others like it. The Writer's Digest often has a lot information for writers; and book suggestions to read for help.

Comments

Regina Quentin said…
I missed this great post yesterday (work conference, blah!). I love your tips section, any new writer should find their way to this advice that you have compiled here. I realized that I absolutely love to read cozy mysteries. LOVE, LOVE. I also love to read business and how to stuff. All I've been writing is non-fiction for a while to make money, but I'm starting to branch out now and I love it. Thanks for the great post.
Bethany said…
Regina,

If you like "Cozy mysteries" then you might like Laura Childs. I think she's awesome (and a really nice person to boot--I correspond with her sometimes through email). I love her "Tea Shop Mysteries" but she has 2 other series out, too.

And thanks for all the nice comments! I really appreciate them.

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