Ask the Author: Sarah Phelan
Answered Questions (3)
Sarah Phelan
Answering the "What If" questions. So many of my stories are based on experiences that have gone on in and around my friends and family, and so, the stories become the contingencies - the "well, what if this happened, instead of how it actually worked out." Getting to answer that question, and imagine how it would affect the characters and their lives, and loves, is fun, heartwrenching, and eye-opening. At first, being a writer is creating these characters and their universe and the situations they are in inside that universe, and then you have to just let them go and see what happens. It's quite a ride.
Sarah Phelan
My best advice to writers is to write. Practice what you want to do, over and over again. Write about anything that comes to mind, or if nothing comes, write about the things around you. And then, if you think you have something good, show it to a writer-friend, or a reader-friend, someone who is honest and will give you good feedback, then take that feedback, or some of it, or most of it, or a bit of it, or none of it and write again. All good writing is revised, many, many times - but I don't think writing can ever be perfect. It needs work, but it also needs to be exposed to an audience. So write, show it, write again, and then show it again.
Sarah Phelan
I have a great friend who once said to me, "You have to do whatever scares you most." I took that advice to heart and I approach writer's block as though it is the scariest, most intimidating thing I will ever do, because it well in fact could be. That blank page with its blinking cursor seems very judge-y. So I attack that smarmy little beast with freewriting. I write without any real purpose or goal about anything that may come to mind, loosening up for about five minutes straight. If something comes out of it, great, if not, meh.
I then try to go and read a good story, or watch a movie I've always wanted to watch, see a couple of friends for a night, or go look at art, listen to music, go for a walk in the woods - anything that might sort of fill me up and inspire another thought or two.Then, I go back and try it again.
And if that doesn't work, then I take an idea I have and I set it aside and go on with my life. I know it may sound counter-productive, but I liken it to setting a fuse. Eventually, given some time to really spark in my brain on its own, the idea will explode! I will dream up something so great I will need to run to my computer and type it out as fast as I can, and then that judge-y little cursor can just back off. :)
I then try to go and read a good story, or watch a movie I've always wanted to watch, see a couple of friends for a night, or go look at art, listen to music, go for a walk in the woods - anything that might sort of fill me up and inspire another thought or two.Then, I go back and try it again.
And if that doesn't work, then I take an idea I have and I set it aside and go on with my life. I know it may sound counter-productive, but I liken it to setting a fuse. Eventually, given some time to really spark in my brain on its own, the idea will explode! I will dream up something so great I will need to run to my computer and type it out as fast as I can, and then that judge-y little cursor can just back off. :)
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