Ask the Author: Debby Dodds
Answered Questions (13)
Debby Dodds
I don’t know! Boy, that’s frustrating. And I just now saw the question but I can ask my publisher.
Debby Dodds
I'm so inspired by everything. But I'll share an exercise I do with students. I call it "Harriet the Spy."
Take a notebook (old kind or digital) and go to a crowded place like a food court in a mall or a park. Write physical descriptions of people. Try to be minimalist with one person's description. Try to describe every detail with another. Surreptitiously eavesdrop on conversations. Write snippets down. Then imagine and write down the possible circumstances and outcomes of these conversations. Look at body language/movements, interactions, inanimate objects, etc. Write about it all.
What sparks a story?
Take a notebook (old kind or digital) and go to a crowded place like a food court in a mall or a park. Write physical descriptions of people. Try to be minimalist with one person's description. Try to describe every detail with another. Surreptitiously eavesdrop on conversations. Write snippets down. Then imagine and write down the possible circumstances and outcomes of these conversations. Look at body language/movements, interactions, inanimate objects, etc. Write about it all.
What sparks a story?
Debby Dodds
Read. Read more. Make friends with authors you like. Take LOTS of classes. Write. Rewrite. Befriend peers. Join a writing group. Rewrite A LOT. Keep reading.
Debby Dodds
I currently have a ghost who comes around. I'm totally not kidding.
Debby Dodds
I was an actress for years. As an actress you need to audition to get roles. Even if you self-produce, it's all about asking people for things. To be creative as an actress, you need someone else's (sometimes many someone elses') permission.
Writing is more autonomous. I act all the roles/characters and feel all their emotions and am also the director and (obviously) the plot/story creator.
So...CONTROL! Haha! That's what I like! I'm finally beholden to nobody to practice my art.
Writing is more autonomous. I act all the roles/characters and feel all their emotions and am also the director and (obviously) the plot/story creator.
So...CONTROL! Haha! That's what I like! I'm finally beholden to nobody to practice my art.
Debby Dodds
Two books- one is YA and one is New Adult. I like both ideas and am having a hard time picking which to focus on. The first is speculative set in Comic-cons, the other funny and more "chick-lit" set in LA. Which do you think sounds better?
Debby Dodds
As a teen in Lancaster Co, a guy kept flirting with me at an Under-21 club. I gave him my number a few times but he never called. He was older and so cute; I assumed he was a player.
Later, I found out he was Old Order Mennonite. He had no phone. That was the seed of the idea.
Later, I found out he was Old Order Mennonite. He had no phone. That was the seed of the idea.
Debby Dodds
The control you have over the artistic process. You can pursue writing when you want to and your creativity is unfettered by others. While getting an agent or a publisher might be challenging, the actual writing process belongs to you.
When I was an actress, I felt sometimes like auditions were all about trying to get permission to do my art. Of course, actors can produce, write, direct, etc. but if you want to just ACT, you're always looking for your next vehicle. And it's, by nature, collaborative- which can be wonderful sometimes, and not so wonderful others.
Writing is generally a solo pursuit. This can have it's drawbacks, too. But the question was about the "best" thing about being a writer and, in my opinion, that's both the hegemony over the world you created and the ability to exercise your imagination at any time you please.
When I was an actress, I felt sometimes like auditions were all about trying to get permission to do my art. Of course, actors can produce, write, direct, etc. but if you want to just ACT, you're always looking for your next vehicle. And it's, by nature, collaborative- which can be wonderful sometimes, and not so wonderful others.
Writing is generally a solo pursuit. This can have it's drawbacks, too. But the question was about the "best" thing about being a writer and, in my opinion, that's both the hegemony over the world you created and the ability to exercise your imagination at any time you please.
Debby Dodds
Reading authors that I admire helps motivate me.
Honestly, I never lack for ideas. Usually the inspiration for something keeps pestering me so persistently (in the shower, driving around town, in the middle of the night) that I finally give in and start writing it down. Yes, characters speak to me so I guess I hear voices in my head. "Plot ideas" often start with characters telling me about the situation they're in or problems they have.
Honestly, I never lack for ideas. Usually the inspiration for something keeps pestering me so persistently (in the shower, driving around town, in the middle of the night) that I finally give in and start writing it down. Yes, characters speak to me so I guess I hear voices in my head. "Plot ideas" often start with characters telling me about the situation they're in or problems they have.
Debby Dodds
I'm always writing short fiction and essays (particularly first-person accounts of mortifying things that happen to me. Here's an example: http://www.xojane.com/relationships/f...)
As far as novels, I'm currently working on rewriting "Party Girl" (originally creative nonfiction but now I'm fictionalizing it) which would be categorized as Women's Fiction or New Adult. I have another idea for a YA novel, too.
As far as novels, I'm currently working on rewriting "Party Girl" (originally creative nonfiction but now I'm fictionalizing it) which would be categorized as Women's Fiction or New Adult. I have another idea for a YA novel, too.
Debby Dodds
Read. That's obvious but it's true. Read EVERYTHING, too. Try different genres and story lengths. Read prose, poetry, nonfiction. Just read.
If you can afford to buy books, do. If you can't budget for that right now, absolutely go to the library or borrow. But please support authors you like in every way you can (reviews, word of mouth and attending readings are also great.) I must admit, get a bit weary of people with expensive cars, expensive houses, expensive clothes, etc. who refuse to buy books. Vote for what you like with your $$$! Support artists!
On a more practical level, take classes, participate in critique groups, and learn as much as you can. But take everything with a grain of salt; never let anyone's negative energy dissuade you.
If you can afford to buy books, do. If you can't budget for that right now, absolutely go to the library or borrow. But please support authors you like in every way you can (reviews, word of mouth and attending readings are also great.) I must admit, get a bit weary of people with expensive cars, expensive houses, expensive clothes, etc. who refuse to buy books. Vote for what you like with your $$$! Support artists!
On a more practical level, take classes, participate in critique groups, and learn as much as you can. But take everything with a grain of salt; never let anyone's negative energy dissuade you.
Debby Dodds
I have "writer's procrastination" more than "writer's block." I'm always thinking of so many things to write about but I have a hard time making myself sit down to do it.
I don't know why I find the actual sitting down to write so hard to do. I like eating chocolate and I don't put that off!
Sometimes I think the problem is not that I don't want to write but that I like writing so much, especially that feeling when I get into a creative flow state, that when I need to stop to do something else it can be physically painful. I hate being wrenched away; it aches.
So maybe I'm avoiding that inevitable end by not "starting." But how stupid is that? It's like refusing to fall in love so you don't get your heart broken. If you just deny yourself pleasure to avoid pain, you end up with a passionless life, right?
I don't know why I find the actual sitting down to write so hard to do. I like eating chocolate and I don't put that off!
Sometimes I think the problem is not that I don't want to write but that I like writing so much, especially that feeling when I get into a creative flow state, that when I need to stop to do something else it can be physically painful. I hate being wrenched away; it aches.
So maybe I'm avoiding that inevitable end by not "starting." But how stupid is that? It's like refusing to fall in love so you don't get your heart broken. If you just deny yourself pleasure to avoid pain, you end up with a passionless life, right?
Debby Dodds
I moved to Lancaster County at the end of elementary school, after moving around quite a bit on the east coast. To get me excited about moving to Lancaster, my mom, a librarian, took me to research the area. I developed a bit of an obsession with the Amish communities there. I've continued to be fascinated by them for many years.
One of the key events that inspired the book occurred when I was 15 years old. I used to go dancing at an under-21 club that attracted teens from about 12 different high schools, and even some HS grads. One guy who often asked me to dance was rather mysterious. It irked me that he never tried to call me for a date even though I’d given him my phone number at his request. Yet he flirted with me. It was weird and drove me nuts. Finally someone introduced me to his cousin, a nice guy a few years older. When I got him to spill the beans, he admitted that this guy’s family had an Old-Order Mennonite faith.
“They don’t even have a phone in their house!” his cousin told me. I was floored.
So I started with the idea of a love affair between two teens who came from different cultures, each having prejudices and taboos about the other.
The ideas of "shunning," and "shame" in both the Amish culture and the mainstream teen culture also emerged as themes I wanted to explore.
One of the key events that inspired the book occurred when I was 15 years old. I used to go dancing at an under-21 club that attracted teens from about 12 different high schools, and even some HS grads. One guy who often asked me to dance was rather mysterious. It irked me that he never tried to call me for a date even though I’d given him my phone number at his request. Yet he flirted with me. It was weird and drove me nuts. Finally someone introduced me to his cousin, a nice guy a few years older. When I got him to spill the beans, he admitted that this guy’s family had an Old-Order Mennonite faith.
“They don’t even have a phone in their house!” his cousin told me. I was floored.
So I started with the idea of a love affair between two teens who came from different cultures, each having prejudices and taboos about the other.
The ideas of "shunning," and "shame" in both the Amish culture and the mainstream teen culture also emerged as themes I wanted to explore.
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