Ask the Author: Catherine Wallace Hope
Answered Questions (2)
Catherine Wallace Hope
Writer's block is no fun! The tactic for defeating it depends on which kind it is. There is more than one! You can have the kind of writer's block you get when you're trying to reach for something you have no source for. Some sources for material are memory, imagination, and research. So if you can't remember ever going through anything similar to what you're trying to write about, you're going to need to combine imagination and research until the words begin to come together. You can also have a block based in fear of other people's reactions. But it can help to remember that readers love complex characters. The tactic here is to write what you have to write and be sure it's human and truthful and that it serves the story. Then let the words fall where they may. Editing comes later. Another type of writer's block is the kind you get when you're exhausted and discouraged and you cannot figure out how to keep going but you refuse to surrender. The answer to this one is Yes. Yes, you're tired. Yes, it seems so hard. Yes, you're right—you must never give up. And, yes, you will find a way.
Catherine Wallace Hope
Thank you, and thanks for this question. The story's starting point was a dream I had, and when I began looking into how to make it into a novel, I knew I had to contend with the linear concept of irreversible time. I’m from Colorado, and I was aware that some of the most precise time technology on the globe was developed in Boulder at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. That’s where I found the earliest pieces of the puzzle. As I worked on the story, I kept reading about quantum mechanics—A LOT. :) There were some beautiful moments of synchronicity when facts dropped into view, small golden nuggets that I wouldn’t have known to look for otherwise. I think the astrophysicist whose writing meant the most to me was Carlo Rovelli; his passionate and lyrical work is the basis for the time science in the novel. Fortunately for me, both my agent and my editor encouraged me to make the concepts translate more readily, to emphasize the parallel between what Zac observes and what happens to Erin—and, in the end, what could conceivably happen to any of us.
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more