Ask the Author: Tracey Shearer
Answered Questions (6)
Tracey Shearer
My first ever short story won first place in the PNWA Literary contest and I'm currently working on expanding it into a novel. The response to just 8 pages was so incredible and everyone wanted more. Plus, I have an agent interested in the expanded novel, which is a great incentive to get moving on it. Now that the launch of my third book, Threshold, is done, i can focus on the new work.
Tracey Shearer
Great question! I have two suggestions. The first applies to all writers. You should do something else for a bit. Take a walk, talk to your friends, read a book, clean a room, whatever it is that gives you a bit of a breather from writing. When we try to force things, it can stifle the creative spark. I often find walks help me with fight scenes. Having the blood course through my veins, my heart beating faster, feeling sweat on my skin, puts me in the mindset to craft the scenes.
The second suggestion is for fiction writers. If you find you are stuck in a scene and just aren't feeling it to write further, I suggest you go back and rewrite the scene from another viewpoint. Sometimes a different POV is what you need to get things moving. If you're already writing first person, then switch up what happens in the scene. Is there something else you can observe first? Is there a different emotion you can put into the scene? Could it begin at a different point? Play around with things and see if it nudges that block to the side and let's your creativity flow again.
The second suggestion is for fiction writers. If you find you are stuck in a scene and just aren't feeling it to write further, I suggest you go back and rewrite the scene from another viewpoint. Sometimes a different POV is what you need to get things moving. If you're already writing first person, then switch up what happens in the scene. Is there something else you can observe first? Is there a different emotion you can put into the scene? Could it begin at a different point? Play around with things and see if it nudges that block to the side and let's your creativity flow again.
Tracey Shearer
There are a lot of great things about being a writer, but I think the best one would be having the ability to create worlds out of nothing. Building something from scratch, even if it's our current world, but through my lens, is an incredible feeling. And when readers get lost in my books, it means I've done my job. I've swept them away. I've made them care about characters who were born in my mind. And maybe, just maybe, I've made them think about things a bit differently because they connected with my words.
Tracey Shearer
I've always had a large imagination. But I find asking questions such as "what if" and "why" really help get my inspiration going. Some examples from my inspiration for Entwine would be:
What if someone saw ghosts but didn't want to anymore?
Why would they turn their back on their gifts?
What if that choice was challenged?
What if someone fell in love with a ghost?
Just asking questions about a potential story can get your creative faucet flowing!
What if someone saw ghosts but didn't want to anymore?
Why would they turn their back on their gifts?
What if that choice was challenged?
What if someone fell in love with a ghost?
Just asking questions about a potential story can get your creative faucet flowing!
Tracey Shearer
The three women in the trilogy are all aspects of me. For this final book, I got to focus on Beth, who represents my damage. Damage I've healed over the years, but it's still relevant and relatable to others. We all have walls up at times. Protecting ourselves, while many times a good thing, can become a way of life. And it can hurt us. There is strength in vulnerability and I wanted to have that as one of the main plot points in Threshold. I knew that there would be an incredible inner journey with Beth.
Tracey Shearer
Don't give up. Writing a book is a marathon, not a sprint. You'll feel like throwing in the towel over the course of your journey, but it's important you keep going. Someone is waiting for your story. You're going to change someone's life with your words.
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