Ask the Author: W.A. Schwartz
Answered Questions (7)
W.A. Schwartz
My most recent book, The Weight of Water is based on the disaster Katrina that hit the Southeast in August 2005. I was no longer living in Louisiana at the time but my family and I had been hit by a flood in New Orleans while living there in 1998. Our house was destroyed and, after wading through floodwaters, we were temporarily trapped with our baby daughters on the second floor of our home. The experience was terrifying but very brief and never life-threatening. Years later, watching the nightmare of Katrina on television, I was stunned by the devastation made so much worse by the lack of response. I've always wanted to write about it and about the courageous people that battled that storm.
W.A. Schwartz
I lower my standards.
W.A. Schwartz
A project more related to biographical fiction than specifically psychological suspense although the story is truly astonishing and, although mostly true, hard to believe.
W.A. Schwartz
I read. Generally, I read all sorts of things by all sorts of authors but I find I am most inspired by writers who have found a way to most exquisitely express the human condition. Hemingway, McCarthy, Oates, Plath, Carver. The right words in the right quantity and the right order. No small challenge.
W.A. Schwartz
Down the rabbit hole. Most definitely right down the rabbit hole.
W.A. Schwartz
Decide whether or not you believe in your own writing. You, not other people. It doesn't matter what other people think. Writing is subjective. But, If you're not sure then don't do it. Or at least, wait until you are sure. Writing and I mean writing for publication, involves too much serious pain to take it on if you aren't one hundred percent certain what you put on paper is worth other people taking the time to read. Just start a journal instead. But if you do believe in your writing then do it. Absolutely do it and never quit. Never. No matter what.
W.A. Schwartz
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. Overstory by Richard Powers. And I'm working through both volumes of The Letters of Sylvia Plath which is quite a task!
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