Ask the Author: Amanda Hampson
Answered Questions (6)
Amanda Hampson
I had been playing with the idea of an unworldly single woman caught in a drama between more sophisticated and manipulative people for some time—imagining a sort of late in life ‘bildungsroman’. I had the sense of the premise and character journey but not the setting.
Early in 2014, I set off on a solo journey to walk the Camino de Santiago, 800km across Spain. As often happens when you have time to think, you think about nothing on the surface but the sub-conscious is running in the background. On the 39th day of the 40 day journey, the idea behind 'The French Perfumer' came to me.
Early in 2014, I set off on a solo journey to walk the Camino de Santiago, 800km across Spain. As often happens when you have time to think, you think about nothing on the surface but the sub-conscious is running in the background. On the 39th day of the 40 day journey, the idea behind 'The French Perfumer' came to me.
Amanda Hampson
Curiosity. Often it's several ideas that distil into a scenario/premise that I know I can build a story around.
Amanda Hampson
My next novel 'Madame Mathilde' which is set in an expat community in rural France.
Amanda Hampson
Think about why you want to write. If it's for fame, glory, recognition - money?! - forget it. Those things will not sustain you through the hundreds of hours involved.
Be prepared to write a horrible draft (to be destroyed in the event of an accident) and then craft and hone it until it is as good as it can possibly be.
You read about people who lock themselves away and write their masterpiece but family and friends are important too. Ideally, you can incorporate writing into a normal well-rounded existence - not easy!
Be prepared to write a horrible draft (to be destroyed in the event of an accident) and then craft and hone it until it is as good as it can possibly be.
You read about people who lock themselves away and write their masterpiece but family and friends are important too. Ideally, you can incorporate writing into a normal well-rounded existence - not easy!
Amanda Hampson
The challenge of transporting a reader into another world with words alone. And getting to work in bed.
Amanda Hampson
I make myself write 500 words a day. It's a habit that overcomes strenuous resistance - it just has to be done. Even if my mind is completely blank and nothing worth writing presents itself, one little seed may sprout. Actually, sometimes a kind of creative starvation occurs that forces the brain to pull out something unexpected.
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