Ask the Author: Susan Russell
Answered Questions (8)
Susan Russell
The birthday has been & gone, so I'm now a member of 'the perennials' as an older friend remarked! Thanks for the good wishes. At some point, yet to be fixed, I'll be doing an on-line interview on The Authors Show (U.S.) so if you're interested in my book you could look out for that. All the best, Susan.
Susan Russell
She opened her eyes. It was still there.
Susan Russell
There's no one answer to this. It could be an over-heard snippet of conversation between strangers, something beautiful in nature, a bit of my world view that I wish to share, or an emotion that I want to explore through weaving it into a story
Susan Russell
I don't acknowledge it. If I don't feel like writing, if nothing is coming forth, I simply do other things until the urge and ability return. I can still jot down notes, muse things over while walking the dog etc - it's all part of allowing the subconscious to knit things together. I would hate the stress of having to write to a tight deadline.
Susan Russell
Getting lost in the lives of your characters, in a world that you have created, and often being taken by surprise by the things that they do and say.
Susan Russell
1) Have a notebook to jot down all of those ideas and observations from daily life, because much as you think you will remember them, you probably won't.
2) Just write - get everything down as it flows from you - then put it away for at least a week before looking it over and working on it.
3) Join a good writing group where you can share work for sensitive and constructive criticism - it also helps you to develop a thicker skin!
4) Lastly, don't expect it to be easy. It's a lot of hard work.
2) Just write - get everything down as it flows from you - then put it away for at least a week before looking it over and working on it.
3) Join a good writing group where you can share work for sensitive and constructive criticism - it also helps you to develop a thicker skin!
4) Lastly, don't expect it to be easy. It's a lot of hard work.
Susan Russell
The idea for this story initially came to me a few years ago, while doing a writing exercise with the Black Dog Writing Group in Lyme Regis, and then grew organically. Each of us is moulded by the experiences and people that cross our paths, and even very young children can carry deep unhappiness locked inside after encountering one of Life’s knocks. Having met such children, I wanted to write a story where the anger and sadness blighting the life of one such child, seven-year-old Alex, is gradually transformed into an acceptance that enables him to step happily into his future. I believe that Nature is a great healer, so Alex is taken from his London home to spend a year in rural Cornwall with a distant relative, his Great Aunt Mary. My decision to set the story in the 1950s was a combination of the story needing an era when children had more freedom to play outside, and a bit of self-indulgence involving some of my own childhood memories. I love to contemplate the magical ‘unseen’ World around us, so a mysterious little girl and an ancient oak tree, the Gnarly Man, also play important parts in Alex’s story.
Susan Russell
I'm doing a last check through of a Fantasy Adventure novel for children - Dilly Drops In - and working on illustrations for an early chapter book for younger readers, Smelly Ellie
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