Ask the Author: Andy Lang
Answered Questions (10)
Andy Lang
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe from the Douglas Adams sequel. Dining and watching the natural phenomena/spectacle.
Andy Lang
This summer, my wife and will be on a cruise in the Mediterranean Sea. This said the bible is going to be the main book on the list. Complementing will be PHAROS, Studies to the Greco-Roman ancient history, Volume 36: Original Titel: Pascal Warnking’s “Der römische Seehandel in seiner Blütezeit; Rahmenbedingungen, Seerouten, Wirtschaftlichkeit“; Verlag Marie Leidorf GmbH Rahden/Westf. 2015). (or in English: “The Roman seatrade in its blossoming days; determining factors, seafaring routes, economic efficiency”).
Andy Lang
My life is a plot, an act, just written with invisible ink.
Andy Lang
I do not have a favorite fictional couple. - I take my observations rather from real life, as this is by far more interesting. Real Life writes the best stories, even though they are hardly ever correctly reported.
I find my thrill in finding out the true basis/records in real people's relationships, because we live in their midst, and thus, are daily challenged by our interaction with them.
I find my thrill in finding out the true basis/records in real people's relationships, because we live in their midst, and thus, are daily challenged by our interaction with them.
Andy Lang
There is two main routes of inspiration:
a) I write down stuff for myself if I am trying to digest some events in my own life.
b) When I see a perverted or helpless situation around me, and I take it, that this is an issue needing to be dealt with publicly. Writing is one of the means available to release ideas into or thought processes into our society.
a) I write down stuff for myself if I am trying to digest some events in my own life.
b) When I see a perverted or helpless situation around me, and I take it, that this is an issue needing to be dealt with publicly. Writing is one of the means available to release ideas into or thought processes into our society.
Andy Lang
I take it for granted that this is one of the central points to overcome by any writer, who has something valuable to share. It has hit me numerous times while writing this book. Be it shocking real-world distractions like death or sickness of family members or friends, be it just plain confusion if you will ever get to the end, or be it the frustration, that I was sometimes purely incapable of recording the myriades of thoughts, leads and ideas that spinned in my mind and heart so much faster than I was able to write it down.
A selected few tips from the numerous that helped me:
a) Let it happen. Accept, that we are not yet at the point, where all is automatically recordable to be reviewed and glanced at again later, whatever our brains just deal with. (I guess I would be among the first ones interested to purchase such a great tool! - Some of the most brilliant ideas I ever had, they were so much fun, so enlightening, so full of force and power, I forgot immediately once I sat down and tried to hold them in writing...)
b) Change the scenery, and do something else. Maybe its just not writing time, but quality time with family and friends, or doing some down-to-earth things like shopping, eating, shaving to make my wife's day a bit better, going for a walk or just enjoying the free time.
c) I had gotten stuck in a dead-end. - Thinking about the context of the chapter helped (or forced me...) to rearrange whole sections of the book multiple times, throwing away chapters or sections, voiding what was unnecessary, or just putting them into the correct train of thought to be free again.
d) Pray for revelation. Sometimes it just helps to reconsider in your own heart, honestly to yourself, why you are inspired to write and what this is supposed to perform in the audiences lives. It helps one-self to discern, if what I write is just plain frustration, a cry for help, or if it is truly something other persons could profit from. Be it just for fun, for leaving the real life for a moment, or just to avoid meddling about some of our own misery we feel we are in at times. My inspirations rarely fit my pre-arranged time-schedule.
e) Write down the whole frustrations that make you explode, unable to cope with going on with what you have set yourself to achieve on a different sheet of paper. - Read it afterwards carefully and seek for the base-drivers, that produce the frustration as a result. - Then, think about how to address the base-driver issue. Sometimes this results in just plain awareness, that other important aspects in our real lives have a higher priority right now.
f) I had moments of block during the whole day, and, after the whole frustration, shortly after I went to sleep, woke up in the middle of the night, feeling the urge to get-up and start writing for the rest of the night. - Follow that inspiration and resist the thought you need that sleep. It is definitely not that I am forcing the inspiration, but that inspiration tempts me to flirt! - After all, I guess you would not be able to have sweet dreams if you try to keep inspiration out when she is in the right mood ... My wife would give me hell if I would ignore her when she had something exciting to share. I take it the same goes with inspiration.
A selected few tips from the numerous that helped me:
a) Let it happen. Accept, that we are not yet at the point, where all is automatically recordable to be reviewed and glanced at again later, whatever our brains just deal with. (I guess I would be among the first ones interested to purchase such a great tool! - Some of the most brilliant ideas I ever had, they were so much fun, so enlightening, so full of force and power, I forgot immediately once I sat down and tried to hold them in writing...)
b) Change the scenery, and do something else. Maybe its just not writing time, but quality time with family and friends, or doing some down-to-earth things like shopping, eating, shaving to make my wife's day a bit better, going for a walk or just enjoying the free time.
c) I had gotten stuck in a dead-end. - Thinking about the context of the chapter helped (or forced me...) to rearrange whole sections of the book multiple times, throwing away chapters or sections, voiding what was unnecessary, or just putting them into the correct train of thought to be free again.
d) Pray for revelation. Sometimes it just helps to reconsider in your own heart, honestly to yourself, why you are inspired to write and what this is supposed to perform in the audiences lives. It helps one-self to discern, if what I write is just plain frustration, a cry for help, or if it is truly something other persons could profit from. Be it just for fun, for leaving the real life for a moment, or just to avoid meddling about some of our own misery we feel we are in at times. My inspirations rarely fit my pre-arranged time-schedule.
e) Write down the whole frustrations that make you explode, unable to cope with going on with what you have set yourself to achieve on a different sheet of paper. - Read it afterwards carefully and seek for the base-drivers, that produce the frustration as a result. - Then, think about how to address the base-driver issue. Sometimes this results in just plain awareness, that other important aspects in our real lives have a higher priority right now.
f) I had moments of block during the whole day, and, after the whole frustration, shortly after I went to sleep, woke up in the middle of the night, feeling the urge to get-up and start writing for the rest of the night. - Follow that inspiration and resist the thought you need that sleep. It is definitely not that I am forcing the inspiration, but that inspiration tempts me to flirt! - After all, I guess you would not be able to have sweet dreams if you try to keep inspiration out when she is in the right mood ... My wife would give me hell if I would ignore her when she had something exciting to share. I take it the same goes with inspiration.
Andy Lang
It makes you reflect on what you are trying to communicate. You need to concentrate on how unknown people cope with your train-of-thoughts, and adapt the findings to their train-of-thoughts. You start becoming much more aware of what other people's needs are. Although sometimes maybe frustrating, I think this helps me to better general conversation skills, by listening more to other people's needs than to my own.
Andy Lang
Set-up for the book to be easily found by interested parties
Andy Lang
I was shocked about numerous questions and statements of people I thought to be trivial. Realizing, that what I thought everybody would know for sure, was in fact, the exact opposite. When inspired to write this book, I wanted the people to get applicable answers to their everyday challenges.
Andy Lang
Do not despair if you need to rearrange whole sections or chapters of your book numerous times. - Once in a while, ask a friend to review one or two pages to see if the flow of thoughts is reaching the reader.
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