Ask the Author: Delaney Green
Answered Questions (7)
Delaney Green
How can I pick just one world? Okay, okay--I'll go with my gut response: Buckkeep, Robin Hobb's world. I'd prowl around the castle and the town, travel on foot to the Mountain Kingdom, see if I could travel through the mountains to Kelsingra, travel down the Rain Wild River, then take ship in Bingtown and sail around the Pirate Isles, around Clerres, and up to the OutIslands.
Delaney Green
I open my eyes and ears. I take walks. I go to events. I people-watch. I read. I listen. Mostly, it boils down to one thing: I PAY ATTENTION, which is a classic win-win that makes life a joy for anybody, writer or not.
Delaney Green
What sparked Jem’s story was a classroom discussion about the American War of Independence. I asked my students to discuss whether the war might have been averted if Britain and America had gotten along better. Out of that conversation Jem was born, although her story goes in a different direction from the one inspired by my students because Jem insisted I write her story the way she wanted it told--and she’s not done talking yet.
Delaney Green
Jem, a Fugitive from London, the second novel in the JEM saga and the last set in London.
Delaney Green
I answered this question with one word, but my one-word answer was rejected, so I am writing this longer answer. My one-word answer to "What's the best thing about being a writer?" is "THAT."
Delaney Green
I don't get writer's block, although I do get mentally weary after I write for eight or nine hours, so I usually have to stop and rest my brain. But when I sit down to write, words are there. Always. I think the sheer act of picking up a pen and putting it to paper SUMMONS words. As far as JEM is concerned, the entire saga of seven books came loud and clear and strong. Jem starts out as a child, but I saw her story from the beginning clear through to the end. I WILL say that sometimes I get to a point in the story where I can feel that it needs to bubble away on its own in my unconscious for a while, so then I work on something else: a story, a poem, my garden, my house. In addition, I've got another book in another genre that I'd really like to get to soon. (Remember the King under a spell in "Once Upon a Mattress" who can't talk? The spell gets broken, and somebody says "THE KING TALKS!" The King says, "And I've got a lot to say!" I didn't give myself time to write for many years, but now that my dry spell is done, I'VE got a lot to say.)
Delaney Green
A writer writes. So, write. If you don't have time, make time, even if it's only half an hour. Read, too. Read for fun, read widely, read classics, read popular fiction. Read poetry. Close your eyes at the library and reach out and grab a book. Read that. Experiment. I read an essay recently that said if a person doesn't form optimal neurological connections in the brain early-on, he or she is less likely to become a writer. We know world-class athletes start training very young, so this idea of starting young makes sense. As soon as I could read, I read all the time. One of my favorite places to go was the library. As soon as I could write, I wanted to write and illustrate stories. When I got older, though, I set writing aside for many years because, well, life got in the way (I'm certain you know what I mean). Now I wish I'd followed my own advice and allowed myself that half an hour a day. I guess I'm saying a writer needs to be a little selfish, too, at least about making time to write.
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