Ask the Author: Rachel Jackson
Answered Questions (4)
Rachel Jackson
It's incredibly cliched, but I have no other advice but to write! Even if you have no ideas, even if you think you're not good, even if you think no one will read it, write! Write anyway! No one's first draft is any good, and sometimes it will take way longer than you want to even develop a voice, but you'll find it. Be observant; look everywhere around you for ideas. They can come from the smallest things you'd never expect, so pay attention, ask questions, and go home and write down everything you think about. (Especially those crazy 3 a.m. thoughts or things you think about in the shower: those seem to be some of the most creative ideas for me and many others.)
Rachel Jackson
When I get stuck with writer's block, I come to one of two solutions: I either read, or I write. It might sound contradictory, but as long as I'm writing something I feel inspired, so it might not have to be a story, per se, but if I journal my thoughts out or write a letter to a friend or draw a silly comic strip, I feel way better. Failing that, I'll break out a good book to try to inspire me again — if the writer's block doesn't go away immediately, at least the reading will help calm me and make me not so annoyed that I can't write anything!
Rachel Jackson
I got the inspiration for "The Priest" from talking to a friend about religion. I'd wanted to write a story about embezzlement for a long time, but I never found a good way to do it. As we were talking, I put two and two together and decided it would make a fun, complex story.
Rachel Jackson
Learning! The stories I tell often require lots of research, and consequently when I'm looking something up to fact-check my stories, I get lost in the wide world of knowledge that's available out there. I love learning new things all the time, and I hope that my readers have a similar insatiable desire to gain knowledge. Whether you read fiction, nonfiction, poetry or any or all of the above, there is tons to learn from other people's work, and I love being a part of that process for myself.
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