Ask the Author: Leah Evert-Burks
Answered Questions (4)
Leah Evert-Burks
I have a place to put my imagination; to meet characters that truly mean something to me; share something of myself that I wouldn't ordinarily share as a shy/introvert.
Leah Evert-Burks
I don't really suffer from writer's block (happy to say!), but if a part of the story is just not working I allow myself to skip around in the story to where it is working. Accordingly I describe my writing as a bit schizophrenic. Sometimes doing clean-up editing of formatting actually helps to move me out of the stall and start writing the actual story again!
Leah Evert-Burks
Oh so many inspirations Karen... But I’ll focus on a few here. First John Gardner, who is not only one of my favorite novelists, he’s one of my favorite teachers. When I was allowing myself to consider whether I could actually write a novel I turned to his book, “On Becoming a Novelist.” Not once but multiple times. A devout curmudgeon in his too short of life, he was an absolute encourager of young writers. He provided so many lessons within that text; one of which I carry with me as a measuring stick for my own writing. Gardner talked about sustaining the “continuous dream” when writing; meaning that if you do something through language, in a plot line or an insincerity to a character’s character, you pop the reader out of the “dream.” This dream is essential in good literature. Breaking that dream, to Gardner was the highest of crimes and I agree.
Another writer I have to mention here is Fannie Flagg. She is to me one of the greatest storytellers of our time. A dyslexic actress, she develops the most memorable of characters and stories. She takes you to places and circumstances you might think, “I won’t get this,” but you do and embrace the inhabitants of her stories with compassion and yes, laughter.
Anne Tyler. When asked this question on panels I have said and I stand by this - I could sit in a room with her characters and do nothing but listen to them. I don’t need action. Her prose and her dialogue would carry any day.
For more-check out who I list as my influences in my profile.
Another writer I have to mention here is Fannie Flagg. She is to me one of the greatest storytellers of our time. A dyslexic actress, she develops the most memorable of characters and stories. She takes you to places and circumstances you might think, “I won’t get this,” but you do and embrace the inhabitants of her stories with compassion and yes, laughter.
Anne Tyler. When asked this question on panels I have said and I stand by this - I could sit in a room with her characters and do nothing but listen to them. I don’t need action. Her prose and her dialogue would carry any day.
For more-check out who I list as my influences in my profile.
Leah Evert-Burks
Both my novels are character-inspired by my maternal grandfather. The latest, Slices of Sky, is also location and situation-inspired. I spent a few summers in Central Montana with my grandfather in a small community along the Judith River called Sapphire Village. As a suburban kid the unusual draw of this place always fascinated me, as did my grandfather’s love for Yogo Sapphires. But the novel also provided the opportunity to examine the dynamics of a small rural community and as with my first novel, the strength of cross-generational friendships both which provide the guideposts for the story. I also used music as an enhancement to the storytelling, which I found quite fun and a different way of laying out circumstances happening in the novel.
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