Ask the Author: CD Devincenti
Answered Questions (1)
CD Devincenti
Write every day. Read every day. Read in your genre, read outside your genre. Read the classics, read contemporary stories. Find your favorite authors and listen to the music of their words. Don't plagiarize but find sentences or similes/metaphors that resonate with you and learn to write something equal in your own "voice."
Dana Ross
Friends and family...
My story ideas are usually inspired by, or come from, personal struggle. I wrote my first YA when my daughter was dealing with fitting in/struggles in middle school. My first story came from personal growth.
My first published novel was inspired by a man I met--someone so squeaky clean/kind, I knew I had to create a character based around him. I balanced all his goodness by making my protagonist less desirable of character. She is the female version of my best friend and many of our past conversations are on the pages of the book.
My story ideas are usually inspired by, or come from, personal struggle. I wrote my first YA when my daughter was dealing with fitting in/struggles in middle school. My first story came from personal growth.
My first published novel was inspired by a man I met--someone so squeaky clean/kind, I knew I had to create a character based around him. I balanced all his goodness by making my protagonist less desirable of character. She is the female version of my best friend and many of our past conversations are on the pages of the book.
Dana Ross
I finished the rewrites on the first manuscript I wrote and now I'm bouncing between a story I started about an aspiring singer and a story inspired by a real girl with severe physical handicaps.
Dana Ross
Read! Read in and out of your genre. Read as much as time allows.
Then write. Every day. Even a sentence. Make it as much of a routine as brushing your teeth.
Write hot--when inspiration hits--and don't edit until you've finished.
Add sensory details and dialogue whenever you can so you bring the reader right into the story.
Then write. Every day. Even a sentence. Make it as much of a routine as brushing your teeth.
Write hot--when inspiration hits--and don't edit until you've finished.
Add sensory details and dialogue whenever you can so you bring the reader right into the story.
Dana Ross
Truly, the best part of being a writer (starving artist) is the connection to others. Painters see something inspiring, they paint a picture. Writers paint the scene with words. We bleed/cry/laugh/share our innermost feelings on paper or keypad and then offer it to our loyal fans. It's cathartic.
Dana Ross
As a mom, I get constantly distracted with family life, which in turn, distracts me from waves of creativity. When "Writer's Block" sets in, I usually try to play songs that set the mood of a scene I was trying to work on. If that doesn't help, I'll read, walk my dog, take a bath, or try writing a poem or work in a different genre.
When those fail, I do a chocolate binge. :)
When those fail, I do a chocolate binge. :)
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