Ask the Author: Gail Ingram
Answered Questions (4)
Gail Ingram
To nail not only that image you have in your head in words but all the layers of that experience you wanted to capture. And the funny thing is that often when I start writing I'm not sure what it is I'm trying to say. It's the process of writing that lets me find out what was inside all along. It's such a mystery and so invigorating, as well as being frustrating, hard work and lonely too. When I'm not writing, though, I'm irritated and irritable. I don't seem to have a choice; I have to write!
Gail Ingram
To read, to live, to feel, to write every day, to join a critique group and get feedback on your work, to help others with their work, to keep writing!
Gail Ingram
Most often I am inspired by other great writing. If I'm stuck about what to write, I'll pick up one of my poetry books and read poems until I find one that throws me off balance. I'll use a word, image, sound or some aspect of the structure of that poem to set me off in my own direction.
Gail Ingram
I was inspired by a street-art exhibition in Christchurch called "Oi You: Spectrum Street Art" in 2015. The exhibition featured local and international artists. Street Art had started appearing all over Christchurch in the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquakes in 2011. I thought about how art (and in a larger sense, writing) seemed like such a legitimate response to trauma, how it helps us to understand and process it. This turns out to be one of the bigger themes in my book.
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