Ask the Author: Lea Beall
Answered Questions (7)
Lea Beall
I like Mr. Knightley and Elizabeth Bennet.
Lea Beall
I have always loved reading animal stories from "Peter Rabbit" to Hank the Cowdog to James Herriot's Veterinarian stories. I like movies like The Incredible Journey where the animals are the characters.
A recent, five year illness caused me to spend some time writing. I felt my children needed more of me as I was bed-ridden most days. Writing funny stories about our dog Patches, who kept me company, allowed me an opportunity to share something happy with my children.
I decided to write a story with Patches as the narrator. I thought my kids would enjoy reading about their own dog and I included the kids in the stories. They loved it so I wrote more stories and drew some illustrations for them. Patches does love odors and frequently comes home stinky which we all think is funny. So most of the story about THE STINKAROO DOG is true. Some of Patches adventures are real, some part real, and some totally fiction! My kids and our dogs and pets offer me plenty of material. We live on acreage in the Tennessee hills, so we are always experiencing something new. I do have some kids who are budding comedians and wits (or they think so), but kids say the funniest things anyway. They keep me laughing and are happy to offer me ideas if I run dry.
A recent, five year illness caused me to spend some time writing. I felt my children needed more of me as I was bed-ridden most days. Writing funny stories about our dog Patches, who kept me company, allowed me an opportunity to share something happy with my children.
I decided to write a story with Patches as the narrator. I thought my kids would enjoy reading about their own dog and I included the kids in the stories. They loved it so I wrote more stories and drew some illustrations for them. Patches does love odors and frequently comes home stinky which we all think is funny. So most of the story about THE STINKAROO DOG is true. Some of Patches adventures are real, some part real, and some totally fiction! My kids and our dogs and pets offer me plenty of material. We live on acreage in the Tennessee hills, so we are always experiencing something new. I do have some kids who are budding comedians and wits (or they think so), but kids say the funniest things anyway. They keep me laughing and are happy to offer me ideas if I run dry.
Lea Beall
I think writer's block for me comes from a fear of writing or having no material with which to work. Coming up with an idea out of the blue is hard. So for college students, I really feel for you. You don't always have the luxury of waiting for inspiration. I've been there. The important thing is not to feel that your first sentence has to be perfect. If you know your subject just start writing what you know about it. Don't organize your thoughts necessarily. Just start writing whatever you know as if you were taking an essay test and the question was, what do you know about such and such. You can pick it apart later and organize your sentences and paragraphs later. You might also realize what you don't know this way and you can look it up.
Or brainstorm and just write words or phrases about your topic as you think of them.
I write all the time. I keep a notebook by my bed and take one with me even when I'm going to the dentist. I write down everything that's cute or amazing or funny that I think of or see. Sometimes I just think of a phrase or a name of a character or a scene or a line, or two words that I like that rhyme for a poem. (Yes, I write rhyming poetry and it's pretty good). So I always have that notebook to fall back on if I need an idea.
It's much easier to write when there isn't a blank slate in front of you.
Sometimes I just write a scene between 2 characters and that's all. But it's in my notebook to give me inspiration another time.
I would say if you have nothing and that blank slate is staring at you. Go sit in a public park and watch people. Ask yourself what the ducks are saying to each other. What kind of character would drive that weird looking car over there? What kind of situation did that officer just come from? (Say a prayer for him or her). The world is full of wonderful things, but there is nothing new under the sun.
Or brainstorm and just write words or phrases about your topic as you think of them.
I write all the time. I keep a notebook by my bed and take one with me even when I'm going to the dentist. I write down everything that's cute or amazing or funny that I think of or see. Sometimes I just think of a phrase or a name of a character or a scene or a line, or two words that I like that rhyme for a poem. (Yes, I write rhyming poetry and it's pretty good). So I always have that notebook to fall back on if I need an idea.
It's much easier to write when there isn't a blank slate in front of you.
Sometimes I just write a scene between 2 characters and that's all. But it's in my notebook to give me inspiration another time.
I would say if you have nothing and that blank slate is staring at you. Go sit in a public park and watch people. Ask yourself what the ducks are saying to each other. What kind of character would drive that weird looking car over there? What kind of situation did that officer just come from? (Say a prayer for him or her). The world is full of wonderful things, but there is nothing new under the sun.
Lea Beall
My family and my pets and memories give me plenty of material for my children's books.
When I write poetry or stories or music I usually hear a line in my head or even in my sleep, that repeats, or I'm thinking of something and I can suddenly see a rhythm in the words.
When I write poetry or stories or music I usually hear a line in my head or even in my sleep, that repeats, or I'm thinking of something and I can suddenly see a rhythm in the words.
Lea Beall
Write with your heart and don't be afraid of critics. Don't be too harsh with yourself or take yourself too seriously.
(That doesn't mean you don't need an editor)!!
Write because you love it and don't take advantage of your reader. He might not pick up your next book!
I think a writer should be trying to share something important, even if it's a laugh, or creating an escape from the world for a moment.
I think fantasy is vital to the human spirit. It is a temporary escape. I think that's why God gave us dreams.
That's not to say that writing cannot be didactic and we certainly need historians that can recount biographies accurately. That is an art in itself.
Now Patches is probably not in the accurate historian department. You might even call him an unreliable narrator!
But I love the character I created in him: a rather overconfident persona, who thinks he can't err and yet does so regularly! A dog who loves and tolerates his owners in spite of their failure to understand true nature of doghood.
I think an author should understand and love his characters, as if he knows them personally. Of course, a writer can create an evil character, but he should love the creating of the character. If I don't know my character, the character won't, um, stay in character!
(That doesn't mean you don't need an editor)!!
Write because you love it and don't take advantage of your reader. He might not pick up your next book!
I think a writer should be trying to share something important, even if it's a laugh, or creating an escape from the world for a moment.
I think fantasy is vital to the human spirit. It is a temporary escape. I think that's why God gave us dreams.
That's not to say that writing cannot be didactic and we certainly need historians that can recount biographies accurately. That is an art in itself.
Now Patches is probably not in the accurate historian department. You might even call him an unreliable narrator!
But I love the character I created in him: a rather overconfident persona, who thinks he can't err and yet does so regularly! A dog who loves and tolerates his owners in spite of their failure to understand true nature of doghood.
I think an author should understand and love his characters, as if he knows them personally. Of course, a writer can create an evil character, but he should love the creating of the character. If I don't know my character, the character won't, um, stay in character!
Lea Beall
I think the best thing about being a writer is seeing everything come together in the final compilation. Feeling that satisfaction and having someone enjoy it.
Or, maybe it's living the story as I write it and create it.
I love working with words. Crafting them into a story or poem satisfies me.
Writing is my expression of my heart felt thoughts. It is a way of giving.
Or, maybe it's living the story as I write it and create it.
I love working with words. Crafting them into a story or poem satisfies me.
Writing is my expression of my heart felt thoughts. It is a way of giving.
Lea Beall
I'm currently working on illustrations for two new books. One book is a Christmas story with Patches, Santa, and two troublesome cats, and also some goldfish and mice, who pose for the nativity. The other story, featuring Patches again, I think I will call "The Wicked Wizard and the Voracious Omnivore." That features the family as snowbound and Patches is wondering at the cause. He doesn't think he is guilty, but maybe those cats have caused a curse to fall on the family or maybe they are is cahoots with that snow wizard Mom mentioned .....
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