Ask the Author: Paul Maunder
Answered Questions (5)
Paul Maunder
The hours. The sense of total vocation that exists outside any financial contract or renumeration. The knowledge that I will always write, always.
Paul Maunder
So hard to answer. Sometimes the ideas come naturally, sometimes they need coaxing, and often they seem so exciting then a few days later are dead in the water... it's also hard to be strict with yourself not to go too off-piste in terms of what kind of writer I am. As you get older and try different things you get to know your limits, and what you're best at.
Paul Maunder
I'm editing my next book, which is called The Wind at your Back, and is a memoir about landscape and cycling and creativity. I'm also working on a novel about a remote nuclear power station in the 50s - trying to encourage myself to weird it up as much as poss!
Paul Maunder
Just get something down. Start, don't over-think it, keep going, don't look back until you get at least a third of a first draft done. Books are made in the rewriting, but you need something to rewrite first!
Paul Maunder
Walking usually works, particularly around central London. There's something in the rhythm of walking that frees the writing brain. Sleep too - go to bed on a problem and in the morning it may be at least partially solved. Fortunately I've never had long-term writer's block, though of course confidence does ebb and flow, which is a different problem...
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