Ask the Author: Donn E. Taylor
Answered Questions (8)
Donn E. Taylor
The mysteries in my life are the mystery of salvation (indwelling of the Holy Spirit) and the mystery of married love. Both of those are good material for a pot for a novel, but not for a genre (whodunit) mystery.
Donn E. Taylor
I don't know if you can call it inspiration, but as long as I can remember I've felt driven to create things. In my middle teens it was music, mostly classical in style. At age 18, I discovered literature and wrote some bad poetry and worse short stories. After college, work requirements pushed creative endeavors aside, though I always felt driven to create. In retirement, I am still driven, and the years of experience have given me things to write about. Again, I don't know if you can call that inspiration, but it's what makes me tick. I expect to remain driven until the Lord promotes me.
Donn E. Taylor
As a member of the National Association of Scholars for more than twenty years, I've been kept well posted on the problems of higher education. (Too often it's neither higher nor education.) I used this knowledge to create an environment for the novel and academic problems for the professor/protagonist to solve. But the book is mainly a murder mystery. I worked out the details of that from basic forensics.
Donn E. Taylor
Once in a long while I get an idea that I'm really enthusiastic about. Usually, though, I don't get inspired. I just sit down and start writing. My experience is that hard and consistent work is worth a lot more than inspirations. While I'm writing, something good usually happens.
Donn E. Taylor
I'm working on Book 4 of the Preston Barclay Mysteries and thinking about another suspense novel after that.
Donn E. Taylor
I have two suggestions: 1. Don't be too proud to study out the basics of correct grammar and punctuation. 2. Be patient and stay at it. Everything about writing is going to take at least twice as much time as you thought it would.
Donn E. Taylor
For me, the best thing about being a writer is simply knowing that I have done it. With poetry, though, I like to come back to certain poems once in a while and enjoy going through them and seeing how they work.
Donn E. Taylor
I just sit down and start writing. Sometimes it comes up baloney, but oftentimes something usable results.
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