Ask the Author: Gillian Chan
Answered Questions (7)
Gillian Chan
Believe it or not, this was based on my own experiences when I taught high school. We had a student teacher with us for a month who had no idea how much many of the older girls liked him. He did receive a note from a student asking him out and brought it to me (I was the deputy head of the English Department). I told him to ignore it.
Gillian Chan
This latest one was inspired by my husband's family who lived through the battle for Hong Kong in 1941. I knew that story, but when I realized that two Canadian battalions - the Winnipeg Grenadiers and the Royal Rifles of Canada - had fought in it, less than a month after being sent there, I knew I had to write something about it.
Gillian Chan
Anything can trigger a story for me. In the past, books have come out of dreams, songs, family history, my own interests.
Gillian Chan
I have just finished a book in Scholastic's I am Canada series: Defend or Die. So I am now pulling together research for a book about the Norse voyages of exploration to North America.
Gillian Chan
Read constantly and also write whenever you can. Think of how an athlete or craftsman practise. As a writer you need to follow the same training regime, remembering that your writing doesn't have to be perfect.
Gillian Chan
If you have an active imagination, as most writers do, you are never bored.
Gillian Chan
The longest period I had of writer's block was almost a year. My then two year old son had been very sick and in hospital for a month. I abandoned a book I was writing during that time and couldn't get back into it once he was well again. It bothered me at first, but I decided not to even try to write. That worked for me as I eventually found myself wanting to write. So, when it happens I just do other things that I enjoy, read, go to the cinema, walk etc. Without fail, something will interest me to the extent that I want to write about it.
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