Good morning! Welcome to Monday and the next step to your successful future. If you've been here for even a short time, you know I see Mondays as fresh opportunities not as horrible torture.
Today, I'm talking about 7 Answers to the Most Frequently Asked Questions About Writing.
Disclaimer: These are the ones I get asked all the time. So, without further ado, here we go, in the order of frequency from least to greatest.
1. Did you go to school to be a writer?
No. I was a Communication major, with a focus specifically on Theater. English and History were my minors. Seriously, I feel like if I were to go back to school to get a creative writing major now, I wouldn't do well. Commercial writing is so different from the academic setting. I believe it would be more damaging than helpful. My class focuses while in college, however, were invaluable.
2. I have an idea. Will you write it?
No. And please don't tell me about it. Second to this question is: You should write (FILL IN THE BLANK). That comes up a lot.
3. How did you get started?
I frequently tell of writing my first novel when I was in high school, and it's absolutely true. I did this to entertain my biology lab partner. I never really wrote much else until I was about twenty-one. Then I didn't get serious about writing until several years later, though I wrote a lot in those interim years. Truth be told, in high school and then later when I was in my twenties, I wrote from boredom. It entertained me, but the idea of actually publishing wasn't very realistic to me. But more and more, the desire to put my books out in the world grew. That's when I started writing seriously. Even so, it was a good eight years until I was finally published. That was quite the year. It started with an essay published in a parenting magazine. Then I had a short story published in True Story Magazine. Barely a month later, my first book was accepted for publication. (Now, I have to remind you, these were in the years before indie publishing was a big thing. It was pretty much unheard of during that time. It wasn't until much later that indie publishing actually came around)
4. How do you write that much? With the usual follow-up of: I could never write that much.
Short answer... Well, I make a schedule and a skeleton outline for the day, then I sit at my desk and put my hands on the keyboard and type. (see my plotting article for how in depth I actually go)
5. Do you ever use people you know in your books?
No, not really. That would be pretty nerve-wracking. I'd always be worried that they'd find out and not like what I wrote. Plus there's that whole disclaimer at the front of the book, about people and events not being real, yadda yadda yadda. I don't want to lie. That said, there was one time I used a person as my initial model for a character. Then I changed everything about them, and everything that took place in the book was fictional. It's hard to explain, but it was a jumping off point before creating a solely fictional person.
6. Have I ever read anything you've written?
Truly, probably no. Now, you dear readers, likely have. But the people who usually ask this are guys or older women from my church. Plus being an indie author, it's not like my books are in the supermarket. Yet. Many of the people who ask me are ones who don't read on a tablet of some sort, and they only read "big name" authors. And a lot of non-romance.
7. Where do you get your ideas?
This is what I get asked most. Oh, golly. Where don't I get ideas? (I say sparks a lot in here) Everything sparks them. They come from nowhere. They come from article headlines online, in newspapers or in magazines. They come from one-liners about situations I hear about. They come from watching sports. They come from things that spark while listening to a podcast. They come from dreams. They come from research. They come from other stories I've written (most authors will tell you, their stories spark other other stories. I think that's why there are so many series out there). The possibilities of idea sources are infinite. You just have to have your eyes, ears and mind open.
Today, August 5, 2019
Well... All week, I'm bowled under on the final days of my current project. It's going to be heads down, fingers on keyboard all day--except for during my music lesson. So not a lot to say other than I'll be writing four chapters.
Don't forget The Problem With Billionaires comes out on August 15th. You can pre-order it now. Also, Wedding Jitters is FREE right now and will be until Wednes
day. It's also on Kindle Unlimited, so if you miss the free days, you can still pick it up that way once it goes back to $.99.
Have a great day!
~~ Brynn