Ask the Author: Starla Moore
Answered Questions (7)
Starla Moore
"The mystery of 'Where the heck is my missing sock?'"
Starla Moore
Write. Just write. Add a line, a word, an edit to your existing lines... Either way, you're making progress. Writer's block isn't a disease or an illness. In order to achieve a flow-state, you have to "start" and build momentum. The longer you allow yourself to wait, the harder it becomes... so just write something. You can always edit it later.
Starla Moore
I definitely don't consider myself "a writer". I just happened to "write a book". I'd say the best thing about the experience was sharing pieces of my own struggles with depression and anxiety in an abstract way that might help others. At a point in my life where everything was completely out of my control, I knew that I could control this book, this story, and these characters. They moved under my command, sometimes in ways that even hurt and upset me - but it was still my choice. When my life felt like it was falling out from under me, I knew I could rely on the world I'd built to be exactly as I needed it to be.
Starla Moore
MY biggest piece of advice is to stop googling "How to overcome writers block", as if it's a disease to be cured from. Writers block is a demon that we can choose to feed with distractions, or ignore and push through. Write as much or as little as possible. If you can add ONE line to your book each day, eventually you'll have a story. I have days where I write a chapter. I have days where I add only a few words. Either way, I'm making progress.
Starla Moore
As of right now, I'm working on book #2 of The Channel series, which will be called "Diatomic".
Starla Moore
There are three things that help me to build mental momentum before writing.
1) Going for a drive. It never fails, my best ideas come when I'm driving alone with music on, and I often pull into parking lots to jot down quick notes.
2) Going to the gym. Again, it's a mindless task with a soundtrack of my choosing. I come up with my best ideas when my brain is on auto-pilot.
3) Cleaning the house. This one is crazy, but if I can zone out while mindlessly scrubbing or cleaning something, I can usually come up with a few great ideas to build on.
1) Going for a drive. It never fails, my best ideas come when I'm driving alone with music on, and I often pull into parking lots to jot down quick notes.
2) Going to the gym. Again, it's a mindless task with a soundtrack of my choosing. I come up with my best ideas when my brain is on auto-pilot.
3) Cleaning the house. This one is crazy, but if I can zone out while mindlessly scrubbing or cleaning something, I can usually come up with a few great ideas to build on.
Starla Moore
I actually never planned to publish The Channel. It was a project that I started after the death of my grandmother in 2020 in order to help me navigate through my depression. After several friends read it, I felt confident enough to share it with the world. As for where I came up with the idea - I'll admit. I have absolutely NO idea. I'm not a huge science-fiction fan, gravitating more to medieval style fantasy. But for some reason, I came up with a very loose idea of a "cross dimensional resource management system" one day while at the gym. The rest is history!
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