Ask the Author: Susan Kandel
Answered Questions (6)
Susan Kandel
The germ of the new book came from an article I read about Andrew Keegan, the actor who played the hot, mean guy in 10 Things I Hate About You, who left show business and went on to start a New Age church in Venice, CA. I totally loved that concept, and decided I wanted to have a character based on him, and then I literally constructed the second book in the Dreama series around that character.
Susan Kandel
I get a lot of ideas by keeping my ears open. In restaurants, I like to eavesdrop on other people's conversations -- okay, it's a little rude and pathological, but I'm pretty good at being subtle. I literally write down snatches of conversation on my phone and often these make their way into my books almost verbatim.. I am also inspired by the many things I read: newspapers, magazines, websites, other books -- and I keep a file of stories and images that pique my interest. When it's time to start a new book, I page through my file and start a vision board in my office, and that is when the story starts to come together.
Susan Kandel
I am working on the second book in my new mystery series, which is about a third-generation rock n' roll groupie named Dreama Black, whose day job is organizing bespoke, themed tours of Los Angeles. In the first book of the series, DREAM A LITTLE DEATH, she is running a film noir tour, which takes a deadly turn when a legendary rap producer's burlesque dancer fiancée commits suicide (or does she?); in book two, Dreama is working on a tour of spiritual/new age L.A. for a group of yoga mommies, who weren't exactly expecting to step off the tour bus and into a murder case...
Susan Kandel
Read as much as possible in the genre you want to write, and internalize the patterns, tropes, structure, etc. And then, when you feel that you understand how a thriller works, for example, and you are ready to try your hand at writing one, do not read any more thrillers! While you are in the writing phase, DO read, but only in other genres, unless you want to drive yourself absolutely crazy (and take it from one who knows...)
Susan Kandel
There are so many reasons I feel so lucky to get to do what I'm doing. First of all, there is the ability to make your own schedule -- if you're a morning person, you can write in the morning, if you're a night owl, you can write then, and if you're on a deadline, you can write round the clock, which isn't as much fun as it sounds! Seriously, the very best thing about it is the freedom to experiment, use your imagination, indulge your whimsy, and, of course, punish your enemies by killing them off (on the page, of course...)
Susan Kandel
Above all, I do not go on the internet!!! If you start down the distraction hole, there is no escape, and suddenly hours have passed, you feel like you've been productive, but you have no words on the page to show for it. No, internet time has to be treated like dessert: it's a reward if you've eaten all your vegetables! What I do instead is try to take the critical mind out of the equation and just start writing anything, no matter how seemingly unoriginal, dumb, trivial, uninspired, etc. Usually, once the wall goes down, I am able to eventually get to the good stuff. And if not, well, that's what editing's for!
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