Ask the Author: Marian Blue
Answered Questions (4)
Marian Blue
I'm always intrigued by the "road not taken." I think everyone mentally explores the "what if" in the idea of how things would be different, how things would be changed. Of course, movies have even been made out of the idea, but I think the potential for a person delving into what they would have to give up is always interesting. In one sense, that's behind many of the magic realist stories I like to read and write (some are included in my most recent book, Sailing Off the Hook.
Marian Blue
I admire those writers who can answer this question with a clear, crisp statement. I usually have several projects going at once, and I usually have a few I'm not yet writing that are trying to more clearly manifest in my thoughts.
What I'm working on is also not all the same genre. For instance, I'm working on a memoir that is focused on nature. I'm working on a poetry book on Florida in collaboration with a photographer. I'm working on a mystery novel. And I'm preparing to work on a sequel to Quantum Consequences, my last book.
Do blogs and individual short stories count? I'm doing some of that, too.
My idea has always been that keeping multiple projects going allows for me to set something down if it gets congested, to completely avoid writer's block (there's always something else burning its way through my thoughts). In fact, I don't remember ever having had writer's block unless you compare the process to that of freeway commutes when all the congestion keeps everything moving slowly.
What I'm working on is also not all the same genre. For instance, I'm working on a memoir that is focused on nature. I'm working on a poetry book on Florida in collaboration with a photographer. I'm working on a mystery novel. And I'm preparing to work on a sequel to Quantum Consequences, my last book.
Do blogs and individual short stories count? I'm doing some of that, too.
My idea has always been that keeping multiple projects going allows for me to set something down if it gets congested, to completely avoid writer's block (there's always something else burning its way through my thoughts). In fact, I don't remember ever having had writer's block unless you compare the process to that of freeway commutes when all the congestion keeps everything moving slowly.
Marian Blue
Years ago in a workshop, someone asked Harlan Ellison that question and he said he wrote to a business in Schenectady and for $5, they'd send ideas. I wish it were that simple.
Quantum Consequences was a fantasy idea that lodged in my mind some 15 years ago. As a short story. I was mostly writing magical realism at the time and I was also teaching, so the story lay dormant. It popped into my head while reading (ideas often come while I'm reading) stories about elves leaving changelings. What would happen, I wondered, if a changeling were left with a contemporary family and grew up thinking she were human?
In 2017, I agreed to do the fundraising event Write-a-thon to provide for writing scholarships. I decided to write that story.
The story took a sudden turn as I waded more deeply into science instead of fantasy, science that explained not only who elves really are but also where the myths about elves and dwarfs originated.
During Write-a-thon, the story grew and developed. New characters emerged. In five weeks I had 150,000 words that then needed more than a year of revision, editing, and polishing.
In essences, ideas come from the act of paying attention to the world and asking that always essential question: What if ...?
Quantum Consequences was a fantasy idea that lodged in my mind some 15 years ago. As a short story. I was mostly writing magical realism at the time and I was also teaching, so the story lay dormant. It popped into my head while reading (ideas often come while I'm reading) stories about elves leaving changelings. What would happen, I wondered, if a changeling were left with a contemporary family and grew up thinking she were human?
In 2017, I agreed to do the fundraising event Write-a-thon to provide for writing scholarships. I decided to write that story.
The story took a sudden turn as I waded more deeply into science instead of fantasy, science that explained not only who elves really are but also where the myths about elves and dwarfs originated.
During Write-a-thon, the story grew and developed. New characters emerged. In five weeks I had 150,000 words that then needed more than a year of revision, editing, and polishing.
In essences, ideas come from the act of paying attention to the world and asking that always essential question: What if ...?
Marian Blue
The flippant answer to this, and one I heard many times myself, was "Write!" Although the answer is flippant, it is valid in the sense that if you don't write, you'll never be "a writer."
The advice to write every day can be overwhelming. For that reason, I suggest that aspiring writers limit their writing time to begin. If they don't, they're apt to write for 3-4 hours one day; then they feel burned out the next day or decide they're covered for a day or two. If they limit the writing to 15 minutes, even ending in the middle of a sentence if necessary, then the next day, they're eager to get back to it. This process also keeps the material fresh in their minds, so even when they aren't writing, they are.
The advice to write every day can be overwhelming. For that reason, I suggest that aspiring writers limit their writing time to begin. If they don't, they're apt to write for 3-4 hours one day; then they feel burned out the next day or decide they're covered for a day or two. If they limit the writing to 15 minutes, even ending in the middle of a sentence if necessary, then the next day, they're eager to get back to it. This process also keeps the material fresh in their minds, so even when they aren't writing, they are.
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