Ask the Author: Caryl Hallberg
Answered Questions (6)
Caryl Hallberg
I never really have writer’s block. I have procrastination, avoidance, and getting stuck in my own plot. For instance, something I am working on right now has been sitting unattended because I put a bunch of people in a small room, and I really need to get some of them out of that room. It is really crowded, and the scene has become very confusing as a result. I haven’t been able to figure out how to clear out the space. Instead of uninviting a character, I work on other stories. edit, coach writers. At some point I need to deal with this scene, but my avoidance skills are very refined.
My clients, who I work with as a writing coach or development editor, sometimes do get writer’s block. We will set aside their project and just do some 10- or 15-minute writing exercises. That often helps them get out of their own way and back to the project. Other times we might spend some time talking about a character. Sometimes when a story takes an unexpected turn, it is a character trying to tell the author something. If you can remember who that character is in the bio you created, you can maybe figure out what they are trying to tell you with their unexpected behavior in a story.
My clients, who I work with as a writing coach or development editor, sometimes do get writer’s block. We will set aside their project and just do some 10- or 15-minute writing exercises. That often helps them get out of their own way and back to the project. Other times we might spend some time talking about a character. Sometimes when a story takes an unexpected turn, it is a character trying to tell the author something. If you can remember who that character is in the bio you created, you can maybe figure out what they are trying to tell you with their unexpected behavior in a story.
Caryl Hallberg
Usually, some comment or a quirky news story will get my mind going in story mode. I still have an articles from the 1970's in my files about ants moving entire buildings in an English village, and about another English village with a frog emergency road service.
In my mind there are tiny, tiny ambulances rushing to the scene of a frog squished by a passing car. It is placed on a tiny stretcher and lifted into the ambulance to be rushed to the frog emergency room at a hospital. I'm sure there is something about saving a frog's legs in the story somewhere.
These will likely never become more than personal fantasy stories in my mind, but that is where my sparks originate.
My next novel, that I have already begun work on, is about a third generation American witch, inspired by a real life friend of mine who gave me her journals.
In my mind there are tiny, tiny ambulances rushing to the scene of a frog squished by a passing car. It is placed on a tiny stretcher and lifted into the ambulance to be rushed to the frog emergency room at a hospital. I'm sure there is something about saving a frog's legs in the story somewhere.
These will likely never become more than personal fantasy stories in my mind, but that is where my sparks originate.
My next novel, that I have already begun work on, is about a third generation American witch, inspired by a real life friend of mine who gave me her journals.
Caryl Hallberg
I have revived a manuscript from 2002 and am completing the rewrite now. It will go to a copyeditor and then beta readers in March. I hope to have it published in 2024.
This is a real departure for me. In the past, I have written fantasy and a few romance novels under a pseudonym.
This novel is a literary novel containing themes of psychological suspense mystery, and surrealism. It is a character driven piece. The title is A Brush With Mortality. I am pretty excited about publishing this under my own name.
This is a real departure for me. In the past, I have written fantasy and a few romance novels under a pseudonym.
This novel is a literary novel containing themes of psychological suspense mystery, and surrealism. It is a character driven piece. The title is A Brush With Mortality. I am pretty excited about publishing this under my own name.
Caryl Hallberg
The Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden
It makes me cold just thinking about this world. However, the magic of the cojoined mythologies from the bitter environment of the Russian winters is stunningly beautiful and seems full of magic worth exploring.
It makes me cold just thinking about this world. However, the magic of the cojoined mythologies from the bitter environment of the Russian winters is stunningly beautiful and seems full of magic worth exploring.
Caryl Hallberg
The young woman couldn’t rise from the dead and crawl out of her grave. She was buried too deep, and she wasn’t dead.
Caryl Hallberg
Honestly, my conception, birth, and childhood story are unique and seems like a novel to anyone that knows the story. I myself didn’t know the truth of myself until I was 50 years old. I’ve always known I was adopted. What I didn’t know is that my adoptive father was also my biological father! I am the product of a brief liaison between my father who was serving as a MASH unit doctor in Korea and my adoptive mother’s (father’s wife) best high school friend, both o who were in Japan at the same moment.
My father returned home to his practice just in time to be the attending physician at my birth, which occurred on my parent’s wedding anniversary. My adoptive mother (his wife) was present at my birth, and he handed me to her as an anniversary present.
My adoptive mother, the only mom I ever knew, resented me from the beginning and directed her feeling of betrayal and anger at me. My birth mother would visit once a year after traveling to the most remote spots on earth and ring me back hand-crafted dolls from ever culture.
My father adored me and was my refuge in the storm that was my adoptive mother. That is until his death when I was 12, for which my older brother and mother both blamed me. To this day my brother, who is currently 81 years old, blames me for our father’s death. This would make me the most powerful psychic 12-year-old who ever lived, which I assure you I wasn’t and am not.
My father returned home to his practice just in time to be the attending physician at my birth, which occurred on my parent’s wedding anniversary. My adoptive mother (his wife) was present at my birth, and he handed me to her as an anniversary present.
My adoptive mother, the only mom I ever knew, resented me from the beginning and directed her feeling of betrayal and anger at me. My birth mother would visit once a year after traveling to the most remote spots on earth and ring me back hand-crafted dolls from ever culture.
My father adored me and was my refuge in the storm that was my adoptive mother. That is until his death when I was 12, for which my older brother and mother both blamed me. To this day my brother, who is currently 81 years old, blames me for our father’s death. This would make me the most powerful psychic 12-year-old who ever lived, which I assure you I wasn’t and am not.
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