Ask the Author: Marnie Olson
Answered Questions (7)
Marnie Olson
The book I'm working on now actually did come from a mystery in my own life. I lived in a place in Austin that was really spooky. Weird, inexplicable things happened there. So I'm working on a ghost story. Which I'm hoping will be way more interesting than my real life.
Marnie Olson
I’m currently working on a ghost story. It’s loosely based on true events, but is gradually unfolding to be much more.
Marnie Olson
First of all, never let the Inner Critic stop you from starting. The voice that tells you you’re not good enough, have nothing to say, or that no one cares is one you have to tell right away to shut up. Second, really let your characters help you. If something feels inauthentic, it probably is. When a character really wants to tell his story, he will. The best writing I’ve done (in my opinion) is writing which felt easier, because the characters did most of the work. They told me the story.
Marnie Olson
The best thing about being a writer… is… um… well, it sounds really romantic. As Dorothy Parker once said, “I hate writing; I love having written.” Sometimes, I really do love writing. But often, it makes me crazy. But it’s less embarrassing than being an actress, and I can do it in my pajamas.
Marnie Olson
Oh god. I don’t. I don’t deal well with this at all. Mostly I take a step back, and just work on something else. There are stories that just flow out of me so easily. Others, the labor is much more intense. Sometimes I have to just move away from it for a while. Write something else. Or paint some furniture. Or clean the bathroom. If the story wants to be told badly enough, eventually it will come out and play.
Marnie Olson
I don’t think there is a “how” – for me, anyway. It just happens. It usually just hits me. Or it presents itself as a path out of my current circumstances. I’ve been writing so long, I think more than anything else it is a coping mechanism for me.
Marnie Olson
I’ve always written poetry and plays, but Grateful came to me as a novel. The idea came from my own despair. It sounds so melodramatic now, but at the time, my life was in ruins. I was heartbroken in every possible sense of the word. I was beyond depressed. I was consumed by fantasies of my own demise. I wanted to die, but not by my own hand. I didn’t want that kind of responsibility. Grace began to take form as that voice for me. She represented my despair and depression. Kent became my disillusionment with love, and Erin my deep need for justice. These characters carried me through one of the darkest times in my life.
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