Ask the Author: Ren Benton
Answered Questions (6)
Ren Benton
The first couple that comes to mind is Colin and Savi from Meljean Brook's Demon Moon, mostly because I adore Colin enough for ten characters. Usually when a romantic hero is that close to my heart, no heroine is worthy of him, but Savi brought out his nobility without destroying the obnoxious, bratty qualities that made him fun rather than merely tortured, so she earned my blessing.
Ren Benton
Nope. They are completely unrelated stories. Read in the order of your choosing.
Ren Benton
The next book is tentatively scheduled for release on November 1, 2016.
It's about lousy marriage proposals, the horrors of wedding dress shopping, a duchess, and an enchilada.
It's about a one-night stand that turns into just a fling that escalates like a dumpster fire into a situation all parties agreed from the beginning was not the desired outcome.
It's about being trapped by an image of your own making and being set free when one person is able to see you differently.
It's about other things, as well, but you'll have to wait to find out what they are.
It's about lousy marriage proposals, the horrors of wedding dress shopping, a duchess, and an enchilada.
It's about a one-night stand that turns into just a fling that escalates like a dumpster fire into a situation all parties agreed from the beginning was not the desired outcome.
It's about being trapped by an image of your own making and being set free when one person is able to see you differently.
It's about other things, as well, but you'll have to wait to find out what they are.
Ren Benton
I'm rarely blocked to the extent I can't produce any words at all. If I choke on my primary project, I switch to a secondary story or make some notes on a different idea or write something silly that no one will ever see, so there's no pressure to be perfect. ("I don't know how to make it perfect" is the usual cause of paralysis for me.)
At some phases of development, I don't like to distract myself from The Book even if the words aren't flowing, so I work on things like interior layout, cover design, the description, and ad copy. Sometimes approaching from a non-writing angle pinpoints an area in the story I can exploit better and gives me more words to write.
On the days I'm just burned out and absolutely resistant, I blow off writing entirely and bake.
At some phases of development, I don't like to distract myself from The Book even if the words aren't flowing, so I work on things like interior layout, cover design, the description, and ad copy. Sometimes approaching from a non-writing angle pinpoints an area in the story I can exploit better and gives me more words to write.
On the days I'm just burned out and absolutely resistant, I blow off writing entirely and bake.
Ren Benton
Day to day, it's not a matter of inspiration but one of inherent preference. Given a chunk of time that's not otherwise spoken for, we all have to choose what to do with it. I'm a storyteller, so mostly I choose to tell stories. If I'm doing someone else's choice of activity, I'm thinking about how to use it in a story. That's just how my brain is wired, as opposed to a gardener who can't walk past a plant without checking it out or a musician who seems half deaf all the time because the sound in his head is competing for attention or a skateboarder who looks at everything as a potential ramp. Whatever you are, it's on all the time, no inspiration required.
Clever ideas and brilliant solutions to tough problems generate a lot of excitement that fuels manic writing marathons, but those don't happen every day (or week or month or sometimes year). Most days, writing is not exciting. It's my comfort zone, and 99% of the work gets done in that quiet, uninspired state because I chose to be there.
Clever ideas and brilliant solutions to tough problems generate a lot of excitement that fuels manic writing marathons, but those don't happen every day (or week or month or sometimes year). Most days, writing is not exciting. It's my comfort zone, and 99% of the work gets done in that quiet, uninspired state because I chose to be there.
Ren Benton
I have two projects at the moment: a horror story and the first portion of my next romance novel, which is a story in and of itself structurally. If I run into a wall with one, I can switch to the other, which requires a totally different mindset, and get far away from whatever problem I don't yet have enough information to solve. My subconscious will figure out the solution if given enough quiet time alone to contemplate, at which times it's helpful to have a shiny new toy to distract my conscious mind from berating its better half for sitting and staring instead of producing measurable accomplishments.
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