Ask the Author: Jennifer Carson
Answered Questions (4)
Jennifer Carson
Currently, I'm working on my bachelor's capstone paper, which will compare John Dos Passos's "The 42nd Parallel" to Neil Gaiman's "American Gods." As soon as that's over, I'll be working on the sequel to "The Exile."
Jennifer Carson
Read and write. All the time. The best people in their field - the Lionel Messis and the Michael Jordans - didn't get there by FaceBooking and daydreaming about playing soccer and basketball all day.
If you want to produce good art, you have to know what that looks like. Study good authors and bad ones, and figure out how to tell the difference. When you put down your book for a quick break, pick up your pen. Write some dialogue. Describe the scene outside your front door. Write down the dream you had as though it was part of a book. Practice. Not every scene or bit of dialogue will be a novel, but one might turn into one.
And for the love of Pete, read Stephen King's book, "On Writing."
If you want to produce good art, you have to know what that looks like. Study good authors and bad ones, and figure out how to tell the difference. When you put down your book for a quick break, pick up your pen. Write some dialogue. Describe the scene outside your front door. Write down the dream you had as though it was part of a book. Practice. Not every scene or bit of dialogue will be a novel, but one might turn into one.
And for the love of Pete, read Stephen King's book, "On Writing."
Jennifer Carson
I woke up in a sweat. I was in an alley, among rubble. On one end of the alley were wizards, lightning flashing from their fingertips, fire flying from their hands. On the other end of the alley were cyborgs and robots, firing bullets and lasers back at the wizards. The battle was fierce. What would become of me, a mere human in the midst of all that?
So I wandered in my (waking) mind. What would become of the humans? How would they survive? What would happen to the war - a decisive victory, or a slow fizzling? That's where "The Exile" came from.
So I wandered in my (waking) mind. What would become of the humans? How would they survive? What would happen to the war - a decisive victory, or a slow fizzling? That's where "The Exile" came from.
Jennifer Carson
I don't believe in writer's block. I believe writing is hard. I believe that sometimes you have to put an idea away for a bit and let it age like wine (and hope it's not vinegar when you get back). I believe that if your idea just won't come, you should write around it. Interview your characters and write their answers down. Write an ending. Scrap it and write another. Start a side-story in the same universe. When your writing is stuck, write something else. Write in a journal. Re-write your day with you in the role of super-hero. Whatever. Just write.
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