Ask the Author: Erin Bomboy
Answered Questions (5)
Erin Bomboy
Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara thanks to their crackling chemistry, witty banter, clashing personalities, and a romance that unfolds against the backdrop of the Civil War and Reconstruction.
Erin Bomboy
I'm working on a 21st-century retelling of the ballet Giselle, which will premiere on June 28, 2017, 176 years after the original production (I got the idea on the 175th anniversary but was too involved with The Winner: A Ballroom Dance Novel to do more than jot down the idea). My overarching goal is to preserve the integrity of the original production through scenes and choreography while making it believable and relevant to our contemporary world.
For instance, I'm reworking the motifs from Adolphe Adam's score into cell phone rings. Rhineland in the Middle Ages is now current-day Williamsburg, Brooklyn. As for Giselle, Hilarion, and Albrecht, you'll have to see how I refashioned them for the modern world. (Spoiler alert: Giselle still loves to dance.) And those Wilis, well, watch out, two-timing men. They're coming for you.
For instance, I'm reworking the motifs from Adolphe Adam's score into cell phone rings. Rhineland in the Middle Ages is now current-day Williamsburg, Brooklyn. As for Giselle, Hilarion, and Albrecht, you'll have to see how I refashioned them for the modern world. (Spoiler alert: Giselle still loves to dance.) And those Wilis, well, watch out, two-timing men. They're coming for you.
Erin Bomboy
Writing, whether it's fiction or journalism, is a craft. You must learn the fundamentals. When I started writing fiction in the summer of 2014, I thought writing pretty sentences was enough. But writing pretty sentences is easy. Writing a compelling story with believable characters is hard. Writing something unique yet readable is hard. Writing something that is educational and entertaining is hard.
Fortunately, tons of tools, many free to cheap, are available. I've read and applied many of them, and I'll keep reading and applying. Skill is a moving target, and my goal is to shoot bullseyes every time.
Fortunately, tons of tools, many free to cheap, are available. I've read and applied many of them, and I'll keep reading and applying. Skill is a moving target, and my goal is to shoot bullseyes every time.
Erin Bomboy
Writing allows me to live many lives that, thanks to that whole space/time thing, I wouldn't have the opportunity to live otherwise. As a dance writer, I can write stories and criticism that to do what most dances can't: live beyond the moment. Lastly, writing allows me to present my version and my prescription for the world in which we live.
Erin Bomboy
By pushing through! While drinking wine! In all seriousness, I don't suffer from writer's block. First drafts can be fraught, but rewriting and editing are such pleasures that I force words on the page because I know I can change all of them later down the road.
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