Ask the Author: Amber Gabriel
Answered Questions (5)
Amber Gabriel
It's strange, but I don't know if I ever thought about publishing a book until after I had written one. My aunt, grandmother, and father are published authors, and one of my teachers told me I would write a book one day, but all I ever wanted to be was an artist and/or missionary. I taught overseas and went to Bible College, I have painted several large, public murals and other works of art, and I am now a 4th grade math and science teacher. However, I have always told myself stories to go to sleep. After a long struggle with insomnia, I eventually started writing the stories down and ended up with a full-length novel. Only when I finished it did I wonder, "What do I do with it now?"!
Amber Gabriel
So far, all of my novels are low-fantasy, though I have written a couple of short story blog posts about my dogs and various nonfiction social media posts and opinions. I am working on a YA fantasy series and an elementary chapter book, but even that has elements of fantasy. It would be hard to write a story with no fantastical elements whatsoever. But I do have a nonfiction book about the myth of boredom knocking around in my brain, which I may or may not get around to writing. I'll probably never be bored enough to write it.
Amber Gabriel
I enjoy writing fantasy because I can employ my imagination in every aspect of it. Though I do a lot of research, I do not have to stick to recorded history or our world's language etymology or sequence of scientific discovery. The story can go anywhere I want it to go!
Amber Gabriel
Lighting crackled spectacularly outside the bay window, and thunder crashed with a resounding boom. The lights flickered and died, plunging the kitchen into complete darkness just as I reached out my finger to start the coffeemaker.
Amber Gabriel
Writer's block is a myth! There actually is no such thing. You have to sit down at your keyboard with the mindset that your rough draft is just that: your ROUGH draft. It doesn't have to be perfect the first time. It can be horrible. Terrible. The worst thing you have ever read. Then you revise and edit.
I sit down to the keyboard and I just type. If I have my characters fully developed in my mind, then I put them in a room together, let them loose and see what happens. Sometimes I have to stop because I don't know enough about a particular item or situation and I have to do some research. The information is often found through a quick internet search, but whenever possible I try to talk to an expert. When I have the data I need, I go back to typing.
Occasionally I find myself unsure how I want to phrase something, but instead of sitting there mulling it over in my mind, I type it out so I don't lose momentum. I can always come back to it later. I read a great book in college about this called "Thinking on Paper." I highly recommend it.
Once in a while, I just sit there staring at the screen. I have realized that this is because I am bored with the scene. If I am bored, the reader will be bored, so I try to inject something exciting, or summarize what needs to happen so I can move on to the action more quickly. Sometimes I skip ahead to another chapter, if I have an outline already, and come back to the sticky part later. Having a plan helps you keep moving.
As a fantasy writer, trying to think of new names for people and places can be difficult. I will often leave blanks and add the names after the first draft is finished.
Writing one thousand words a day is not an impossible goal. I do it in the evening after work and still get to bed on time. I just stopped watching television.
Writing is like doing the dishes. You can avoid washing them all day, but if you just go do it, it's over in five minutes!
I sit down to the keyboard and I just type. If I have my characters fully developed in my mind, then I put them in a room together, let them loose and see what happens. Sometimes I have to stop because I don't know enough about a particular item or situation and I have to do some research. The information is often found through a quick internet search, but whenever possible I try to talk to an expert. When I have the data I need, I go back to typing.
Occasionally I find myself unsure how I want to phrase something, but instead of sitting there mulling it over in my mind, I type it out so I don't lose momentum. I can always come back to it later. I read a great book in college about this called "Thinking on Paper." I highly recommend it.
Once in a while, I just sit there staring at the screen. I have realized that this is because I am bored with the scene. If I am bored, the reader will be bored, so I try to inject something exciting, or summarize what needs to happen so I can move on to the action more quickly. Sometimes I skip ahead to another chapter, if I have an outline already, and come back to the sticky part later. Having a plan helps you keep moving.
As a fantasy writer, trying to think of new names for people and places can be difficult. I will often leave blanks and add the names after the first draft is finished.
Writing one thousand words a day is not an impossible goal. I do it in the evening after work and still get to bed on time. I just stopped watching television.
Writing is like doing the dishes. You can avoid washing them all day, but if you just go do it, it's over in five minutes!
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