Ask the Author: Ellen Cooney
Answered Questions (6)
Ellen Cooney
I'm not sure there's even such a thing as writer's block. If I'm in a stretch where something I'm working on isn't coming out right, or if it's not coming at all, it's because something is wrong with the "thing." Maybe I was trying to force a character or a plot toward some development that's all wrong, or maybe I was skimming a surface of something that needed more depth and feeling. Or maybe I was tired and needed to rest, and what could have been defined as a block was actually like, well, writing is like tides, and for me, low tide is presently here. (You just have to believe the tide will change,because that's what tides do.)
Ellen Cooney
That is the easiest question I've ever had to answer. The best thing about being a writer is writing.
Ellen Cooney
Be who you are. Find your own voice and style the hard way (the only way, I think), through trial and error, experimentation and sweat. Don't be afraid to be brave about using your own instincts. Don't fall into a thing of "polishing" your sentences so much, your own storytelling self gets lost.
Ellen Cooney
After I finished "Mountaintop," I thought I'd go back to writing short stories, which I haven't worked on for over ten years. But it seems a new novel is dawning on me. After "Mountaintop," I didn't think I would write another book with dogs. But then, what comes is what comes. Yes the next novel will have dogs again.
Ellen Cooney
My own dogs and how I am with them inspired me with "Mountaintop." But in general, it's not that I'm "inspired to write." To me, that would be like saying, "inspired to eat," or even "inspired to draw my next breath." I've been writing since I was a child and that was quite a while ago. It's who I am and what I do, combined.
Ellen Cooney
"The Mountaintop School for Dogs and Other Second Chances" first came to me literally like a cartoon of a lightbulb suddenly self-illuminating over my head, as I was sitting one day with my adopted rescued dog, Skip, in my lap, patting him and telling him I wasn't ever going to give up on loving him and believing in him, even though he was so screwed up due to his past, and so difficult to teach (and so difficult to "civilize," for he was pretty much feral when he came to me). I knew I wanted to write about teaching and learning and love and keeping one's eyes on the future. How I'd go about it took a while, but once I was in it, I really went with it.
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more