Ask the Author: Alexander Kern
Answered Questions (2)
Alexander Kern
Sometimes I think the easiest way to avoid getting writer's block and the feeling of being burned out is to switch to markedly different styles of material or different themes.
For example, my next two projects are quite a bit different from The Picayune Intelligencer. One is a children's book, and the other is a play about family dysfunction.
Though they are definitely polar opposites from each other, and not close to the humor and satire field I normally write in, I think exercising different emotional muscles is important for me so that I don't get overly comfortable and lapse into rehashing the same ideas over and over again.
For example, my next two projects are quite a bit different from The Picayune Intelligencer. One is a children's book, and the other is a play about family dysfunction.
Though they are definitely polar opposites from each other, and not close to the humor and satire field I normally write in, I think exercising different emotional muscles is important for me so that I don't get overly comfortable and lapse into rehashing the same ideas over and over again.
Alexander Kern
I really enjoy satire, but I had never really considered writing it until a friend of mine said she thought that I would be well suited to write articles in the mode of The Onion or The Daily Currant. I wasn't sure, but I gave it shot just to see what would happen.
I found out that it was a lot of fun, and I wanted to make the articles feel more like flash fiction pieces that really make the characters people you might really care about rather than being the vehicles for a joke. I kept writing them until I had enough for a collected edition, and from that The Picayune Intelligencer: Collected Articles 1962-2015 was born.
I found out that it was a lot of fun, and I wanted to make the articles feel more like flash fiction pieces that really make the characters people you might really care about rather than being the vehicles for a joke. I kept writing them until I had enough for a collected edition, and from that The Picayune Intelligencer: Collected Articles 1962-2015 was born.
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