Ask the Author: Kaela Rachels
Answered Questions (6)
Kaela Rachels
Get away from it for a while.
When I say away, it is good to get away from it physically and just take care of things in your life you deal with all the time, and that can help but what really knocks things loose is going or doing something you've never done before. It doesn't have to be a trip to Europe, (though if that can't inspire you, I can't help you), go hiking somewhere you've never been, try salsa dancing for the first time, take public transit for the first time, go to a museum you've never been too, look in the newspaper (yes newspaper) and find an event going on in your own neighborhood that sounds kind of interesting. There's nothing like experiencing the unknown, to inspire and see life with new possibilities.
I mentioned this before, don't box yourself in.
Inspiration sometimes just hits, and you have no control of timing or direction. You might desperately need it to finish Toy Story, but suddenly you have A Bug's Life, Wallee, and The Incredibles popping out on paper. Are you really going to ignore that and push it to the side because it's not Toy Story? No! You need to write it as it comes to you. If it's this exciting and noisy in your head, then it is something interesting, that you will come back to later, refine later. Get as much down as possible and then see if you can go back to Toy Story.
Guess what, sometimes just getting away from it even that much lets you see what the problems were that were staring you in the face. I'll say it again, sometimes alcohol can help (don't turn it into something where that is the only way words get on paper), alcohol is simply being used as a tool in this case to stop yourself from editing out the crazy before it hits paper. Guess what, it's okay to get those things out, refine and work with them, it might not be as crazy as it seemed. It might actually be brilliant.
When I say away, it is good to get away from it physically and just take care of things in your life you deal with all the time, and that can help but what really knocks things loose is going or doing something you've never done before. It doesn't have to be a trip to Europe, (though if that can't inspire you, I can't help you), go hiking somewhere you've never been, try salsa dancing for the first time, take public transit for the first time, go to a museum you've never been too, look in the newspaper (yes newspaper) and find an event going on in your own neighborhood that sounds kind of interesting. There's nothing like experiencing the unknown, to inspire and see life with new possibilities.
I mentioned this before, don't box yourself in.
Inspiration sometimes just hits, and you have no control of timing or direction. You might desperately need it to finish Toy Story, but suddenly you have A Bug's Life, Wallee, and The Incredibles popping out on paper. Are you really going to ignore that and push it to the side because it's not Toy Story? No! You need to write it as it comes to you. If it's this exciting and noisy in your head, then it is something interesting, that you will come back to later, refine later. Get as much down as possible and then see if you can go back to Toy Story.
Guess what, sometimes just getting away from it even that much lets you see what the problems were that were staring you in the face. I'll say it again, sometimes alcohol can help (don't turn it into something where that is the only way words get on paper), alcohol is simply being used as a tool in this case to stop yourself from editing out the crazy before it hits paper. Guess what, it's okay to get those things out, refine and work with them, it might not be as crazy as it seemed. It might actually be brilliant.
Kaela Rachels
The possibilities.
Kaela Rachels
Don't box yourself in.
Inspiration doesn't come when you ask, it doesn't simply focus on what you tell it too (this is how I have almost finished a 2nd and 3rd book in a series and barely started a 1st). Let yourself flow with it. That means if you are stuck, okay you're stuck. Go hiking, go to a movie, go to a seminar on something you can't pronounce just because. You will be amazed how quickly ideas follow when you aren't trying or bored out of your mind. Also you might just need a drink (I'm not saying get drunk or use this as a regular handicap) but sometimes you just can't stop editing your thoughts, and you need something to push you just past that point of self doubt and criticism.
Sometimes you need to work backwards.
"That's crazy, that would never happen", if that thought pops into your head, squash it as soon as it happens. Just write it down, then think backwards - what would cause this to happen, as unlikely as it is? It's not final, there is no one there to judge you but your future self, and she might thank you for your brilliance!
Write everything down.
It might not make sense right now for your story but it might be the basis of the next one. If it interested your mind enough to stand up and say hey I just had a thought, then more than likely it will interest you further down the line. So write it down. Write down your dreams, what you can remember, good, bad or confusing. It's strange the places those fragments can lead.
Don't forget why you are writing.
Whatever the reason is. If you forget it, your stories show it and you start loosing the special thing that makes people want to share your world for a bit.
Inspiration doesn't come when you ask, it doesn't simply focus on what you tell it too (this is how I have almost finished a 2nd and 3rd book in a series and barely started a 1st). Let yourself flow with it. That means if you are stuck, okay you're stuck. Go hiking, go to a movie, go to a seminar on something you can't pronounce just because. You will be amazed how quickly ideas follow when you aren't trying or bored out of your mind. Also you might just need a drink (I'm not saying get drunk or use this as a regular handicap) but sometimes you just can't stop editing your thoughts, and you need something to push you just past that point of self doubt and criticism.
Sometimes you need to work backwards.
"That's crazy, that would never happen", if that thought pops into your head, squash it as soon as it happens. Just write it down, then think backwards - what would cause this to happen, as unlikely as it is? It's not final, there is no one there to judge you but your future self, and she might thank you for your brilliance!
Write everything down.
It might not make sense right now for your story but it might be the basis of the next one. If it interested your mind enough to stand up and say hey I just had a thought, then more than likely it will interest you further down the line. So write it down. Write down your dreams, what you can remember, good, bad or confusing. It's strange the places those fragments can lead.
Don't forget why you are writing.
Whatever the reason is. If you forget it, your stories show it and you start loosing the special thing that makes people want to share your world for a bit.
Kaela Rachels
So, the book I currently have published has a few to follow that are in the works. There are at least three more in that series that have detailed outlines, if not working almost books.
I am also working on a second series, that has more of a paranormal feel to it, with shape shifters. I have an outline of the first book, and weirdly enough have almost finished the second and third book of that series (sometimes that happens with inspiration), so I'm planning to finish those two books soonly and focus on that first one.
I am also working on a second series, that has more of a paranormal feel to it, with shape shifters. I have an outline of the first book, and weirdly enough have almost finished the second and third book of that series (sometimes that happens with inspiration), so I'm planning to finish those two books soonly and focus on that first one.
Kaela Rachels
Oh, that one is hard. I am a little neurotic about keeping pens or scrap paper or notebooks near me because there is nothing worse than going about my day and suddenly having an idea that completely solves a problem I have beating my head against for weeks...but I'm hours away from paper and I JUST KNOW I'm going to forget it, or at least the fluidity of how it currently is.
That being said, my inspiration to write comes from life. The everyday things, the extraordinary things, the heartbreaking things, all of it. I have to get out and be a part of life to write about life, to have conversations with characters I haven't met yet.
So live life.
Also, I need to quite simply sit down and have the time and space with limited distractions to spend a couple hours just doing it. That part requires discipline and scheduling, but often the act of doing it will bring out the words.
Sometimes looking at it differently helps too. If I started writing on a computer, I'll print it and go over it the old fashioned way with a pen and write between lines and back of the page then move all that back to my computer, and go over it again on the computer. I catch editing, I catch inconsistencies in the story, wrong placement in timeline, I also seem to just write more, moving back and forth between digital and print.
That being said, my inspiration to write comes from life. The everyday things, the extraordinary things, the heartbreaking things, all of it. I have to get out and be a part of life to write about life, to have conversations with characters I haven't met yet.
So live life.
Also, I need to quite simply sit down and have the time and space with limited distractions to spend a couple hours just doing it. That part requires discipline and scheduling, but often the act of doing it will bring out the words.
Sometimes looking at it differently helps too. If I started writing on a computer, I'll print it and go over it the old fashioned way with a pen and write between lines and back of the page then move all that back to my computer, and go over it again on the computer. I catch editing, I catch inconsistencies in the story, wrong placement in timeline, I also seem to just write more, moving back and forth between digital and print.
Kaela Rachels
I got the idea for this book from a lot of places. It took years to write, I kept leaving it and coming back to it, at one point I had to rewrite a very important early section after I thought it was done that was very early on in the story and it ended up changing the rest of the book significantly, causing me to rewrite most of it. But it was better for it. With all that time, inspiration was coming from conversations with friends, family, and strangers, living and working in certain places, movies and tv shows that I really connected with. Sometimes the book just wrote itself too, I had a strong sense of characters so sometimes I had no idea what was going to happen until it came out but it made more sense for that character than anything I could have planned.
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