Ask the Author: K.L. Nofziger
Answered Questions (5)
K.L. Nofziger
1. Learn how to write; take online classes, go to lectures, and go to workshops. You'd be surprised how easily available they are (i.e. online depending on preference) and fairly priced, if not free.
2. Brush up on your grammar, punctuation, phonetics, and sentence structure. Style is just as crucial as content.
3. Read, read, for the love of God and all things bookish, READ. Not only is this for your entertainment, this will help you figure out structure and create your own style.
4. Go out and see and do things. Experiences are valuable, not just for the soul but, for record authenticity in fiction. How you feel and react will influence your characters just as much as it did for you. Better yet, experiences can give you pointers on what not to feel or what could have been another reaction.
5. There is no wrong way to tell a story or genre. What begins, continues, and ends, and who or what narrates the story, is up to you. Mechanics like outlining and structure merely organize and simplify what occurs in your story.
6. Inspiration strikes you once, but almost never twice, per manuscript. The inspiration conceptualizes the idea, plot, character, etc. You will be responsible for the figuring out the rest. In my experience, it is extremely difficult to write by this feeling because when you wait for it, it doesn't come back unless to give you a whole new, and totally separate, idea...and sends you down the rabbit hole. Before you know it, you've got several unfinished manuscripts behind. That was my last two years of college.
7. The story could likely not turn out the way you originally planned. And that's okay, even better. Embrace it. While the idea, the exposition, the plot, or even the ending, may still be there, how the story progresses could be far from expectations. But an organic flow could be revolutionary. You'll discover new things right alongside your character(s).
8. Time can be your enemy or your ally; how you use it is up to you.
2. Brush up on your grammar, punctuation, phonetics, and sentence structure. Style is just as crucial as content.
3. Read, read, for the love of God and all things bookish, READ. Not only is this for your entertainment, this will help you figure out structure and create your own style.
4. Go out and see and do things. Experiences are valuable, not just for the soul but, for record authenticity in fiction. How you feel and react will influence your characters just as much as it did for you. Better yet, experiences can give you pointers on what not to feel or what could have been another reaction.
5. There is no wrong way to tell a story or genre. What begins, continues, and ends, and who or what narrates the story, is up to you. Mechanics like outlining and structure merely organize and simplify what occurs in your story.
6. Inspiration strikes you once, but almost never twice, per manuscript. The inspiration conceptualizes the idea, plot, character, etc. You will be responsible for the figuring out the rest. In my experience, it is extremely difficult to write by this feeling because when you wait for it, it doesn't come back unless to give you a whole new, and totally separate, idea...and sends you down the rabbit hole. Before you know it, you've got several unfinished manuscripts behind. That was my last two years of college.
7. The story could likely not turn out the way you originally planned. And that's okay, even better. Embrace it. While the idea, the exposition, the plot, or even the ending, may still be there, how the story progresses could be far from expectations. But an organic flow could be revolutionary. You'll discover new things right alongside your character(s).
8. Time can be your enemy or your ally; how you use it is up to you.
K.L. Nofziger
A Year With December: Part One...
Young assistant professor, Rebecca "Beck" Valens has made great strides in the world of academia. When a scandal leaves her scathed and humiliated, she is given a new teaching opportunity in Boston where she meets enigmatic, tenured Magnus Hjelm. Soon, false allegations arise once more. So, he offers a proposal. Marriage. Husband and wife in public, friends in private. For one year. After all, nothing could actually happen with a twenty-year age gap between them. Or so they thought...
Currently, only available on the Radish App.
Young assistant professor, Rebecca "Beck" Valens has made great strides in the world of academia. When a scandal leaves her scathed and humiliated, she is given a new teaching opportunity in Boston where she meets enigmatic, tenured Magnus Hjelm. Soon, false allegations arise once more. So, he offers a proposal. Marriage. Husband and wife in public, friends in private. For one year. After all, nothing could actually happen with a twenty-year age gap between them. Or so they thought...
Currently, only available on the Radish App.
K.L. Nofziger
Timing. That's it, really. To start a new idea, or continue with a sequel, is a matter of timing. It has to feel right.
For Virago, once I completed it, I set aside working on the sequel to start a new, and entirely separate, project. Like needing a change of scenery, I wanted to work on something more emotionally distant in the sense of POV. Something more contemporary with more humor and smut(t) (if I'm being completely honest) and less high-stakes.
As for writing itself, I don't wait for inspiration to strike to start tapping away at the keys. Nothing would get done or, rather, it would take five times longer to get it done.
For Virago, once I completed it, I set aside working on the sequel to start a new, and entirely separate, project. Like needing a change of scenery, I wanted to work on something more emotionally distant in the sense of POV. Something more contemporary with more humor and smut(t) (if I'm being completely honest) and less high-stakes.
As for writing itself, I don't wait for inspiration to strike to start tapping away at the keys. Nothing would get done or, rather, it would take five times longer to get it done.
K.L. Nofziger
Twistedly enough, by watching the TV series, Hannibal. Far from the cannibalistic serial killer, Dr. Magnus Hjelm is a tenured literature professor at UMass who is cultured, intelligent, charming, foreign, somewhat of a gastronome, and has refined, classic taste.
Sound familiar?
The story manifested on this one realization: If Dr. Hannibal Lecter wasn't an anthropophagus psychopath, he would be the perfect man. Bit of a stretch but no less true in hindsight.
So, here he is in "A Year With December" in the form of Dr. Magnus Hjelm on the Radish App. Though he isn't without some flaws, one of them isn't murdering and eating people because they were 'rude'.
Check it out in episode form! Because, in the near future, it will be taken down so that it may be available for publication in solid book and e-book form.
Sound familiar?
The story manifested on this one realization: If Dr. Hannibal Lecter wasn't an anthropophagus psychopath, he would be the perfect man. Bit of a stretch but no less true in hindsight.
So, here he is in "A Year With December" in the form of Dr. Magnus Hjelm on the Radish App. Though he isn't without some flaws, one of them isn't murdering and eating people because they were 'rude'.
Check it out in episode form! Because, in the near future, it will be taken down so that it may be available for publication in solid book and e-book form.
K.L. Nofziger
This may sound like complete s%@# but I don't get writer's block. Instead, I get enabled by distractions and prone to procrastination (with self-set deadlines). I already have chapter summaries, if not detailed outlines, so I know what's going to happen next. I just don't have the energy or lack the motivation to write at that moment in time.
But for anyone who does suffer from writer's block, I would say read, read, read. Enjoy yourself in another's story. If the story isn't there for you, or the scene or character just isn't working with you, to write down--to the point where you hear crickets--then don't force it. Take a breather. While dedication, research, and discipline are necessary principles for writers, a break every now and then is healthy.
But for anyone who does suffer from writer's block, I would say read, read, read. Enjoy yourself in another's story. If the story isn't there for you, or the scene or character just isn't working with you, to write down--to the point where you hear crickets--then don't force it. Take a breather. While dedication, research, and discipline are necessary principles for writers, a break every now and then is healthy.
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