Ask the Author: Eilidh Miller
Answered Questions (9)
Eilidh Miller
I can't actually think of a specific thing which inspired The Watchers. I remember driving home from work one day, taking one of the canyon routes and winding through the hills. The idea just sort of appeared and took shape, though it wasn't what hit the page by the time I got home. When I sat down and put my fingers on the keys, the idea had shifted into what The Watchers became.
Eilidh Miller
Music inspires me 100% of the time. It will generate some sort of feeling in me, and an idea for a plot point or a chapter surfaces.
Eilidh Miller
I'm working on second drafting Book 4 of The Watchers, but I'm also getting distracted by ideas for Book 14, so that's fun.
Eilidh Miller
Just write. Get it out of your head. Don't worry about editing yourself as you go, that's what second drafts are for. Persist, don't give up, tell your story. Don't worry about whether other people will like it, what matters is that YOU do. Write the book YOU want to read. You have to love it first, be passionate about it. That love, that passion? It transcends into the work, people can feel it. If you don't like what you've written in the first draft, revise until you do -- and I mean plot, since I don't know a writer who doesn't find something to change every, single time they read their own stuff. It's the only way you'll have the stamina to champion your own work and sell it to others.
Eilidh Miller
It's just something I love to do and always have. I love to use words to create pictures, to create people and words and situations. I love that what I've written stirs up strong emotions in people.
Eilidh Miller
Oddly, this hasn't really been a problem I've faced. The block I run into is not having enough time in the day to write. Some days, if I sit down to write, I fall asleep at the keyboard before getting out more than a few words. That being said, the things I would try are listening to some music, taking a walk, letting your mind wander. Imagine your characters there with you and let them tell you where to go in the story.
Eilidh Miller
This one is really hard, because there are so many! The teenaged me would love to go hang out with Louis and Lestat for a bit. Adult me would really enjoy time spent in various historical fiction books. Oh! Travelling to hang out with Wesley and Buttercup would be rad, too. Hogwarts? When you're a voracious reader you want to go to them ALL. Except maybe Stephen King worlds because I like being alive.
I would, of course, like to actually hang out in mine, too. Kicking it with The Council would be amazing.
I would, of course, like to actually hang out in mine, too. Kicking it with The Council would be amazing.
Eilidh Miller
If I ever stop writing, you mean? Actually, there are a few on my list that I just haven't gotten around to reading yet. Anne Rice's new book "Ramses the Damned" has been sitting on my shelf, staring at me mournfully. I have several books by friend and fellow author Mary Wine that I need to catch up on -- have you read her? If you like romance novels you should So good. -- there are some ebooks, some audiobooks, stuff like that.
Eilidh Miller
"Mommy, look! Crayon! Come see pictures!"
And that is when she realized that her child held a Sharpie with a missing cap.
And that is when she realized that her child held a Sharpie with a missing cap.
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