Ask the Author: Michel Zohar Ben-Dor
Answered Questions (5)
Michel Zohar Ben-Dor
To answer this question, I will split the answer into two:
The first thing is to check what happens when there is writer's block. Have I sat down in front of the computer or the blank page and things just don't come even after a while? Or am I simply repeatedly putting off sitting on the text?
If I find myself putting off sitting down with the text because "things aren't coming" or they aren't arranged in my head yet, it's not writer's block but an internal fear or resistance, or some internal barrier that stops me. The answer to this is to simply sit down to write. As soon as I'm in front of the page, things will already come.
The second problem is when I'm already in front of the page, and things don't come or the writing doesn't flow. To this I say change of place changes luck.
I find that trips (and preferably abroad) really open things up for me, the different atmosphere, the other language, the smells and tastes, this departure from the familiar to the foreign does something in my thoughts.
sport. It is definitely something that can refresh the chakras, even a walk of about an hour. The open air, the endorphins that are released and the feeling of freedom that the sport gives even for a moment, shakes the gray cells.
Listening to the podcast. Every time I go for a walk, I listen to a podcast. Usually this is the professional field in which I am engaged, but it can be in any field. I never come back from a walk without one or two ideas, just from what I heard on the podcast.
Inspirational stories. Today there are quite a few docu-films about people who did things, who changed the world, who changed their lives and all of these inspire. Personally when I watch stories like this, my imagination goes wild.
meditation. Some people are really into it and it helps them to be calm, or creative, recently I also started meditating and I can say that everything they said about it is true.
music. There is music that makes me dive into it and fills me with inspiration, such as Pink Floyd's "The Wall". No matter how many times I hear it, it's like walking into something magical. The talent that lies in making music, the way of presentation and the sounds themselves blow my mind.
reading. There is something in reading that no other medium has and that is the ability to activate the imagination. And that's why I don't like watching movies based on books because it destroys everything I built in my imagination when I read the book. The more books I read, the more my imagination works overtime and the more likely my writing block will be released.
The most important thing is not to let writer's block paralyze us. First of all check why it happens, is it our judgment that paralyzes us? Maybe the topic we chose to talk about is not really something that interests us in the end? Maybe there are things that bother us on a daily basis and take over our thoughts?
There are quite a few reasons why not to sit down now and why to postpone writing until later, but the most important thing is to fight them with all your might.
The first thing is to check what happens when there is writer's block. Have I sat down in front of the computer or the blank page and things just don't come even after a while? Or am I simply repeatedly putting off sitting on the text?
If I find myself putting off sitting down with the text because "things aren't coming" or they aren't arranged in my head yet, it's not writer's block but an internal fear or resistance, or some internal barrier that stops me. The answer to this is to simply sit down to write. As soon as I'm in front of the page, things will already come.
The second problem is when I'm already in front of the page, and things don't come or the writing doesn't flow. To this I say change of place changes luck.
I find that trips (and preferably abroad) really open things up for me, the different atmosphere, the other language, the smells and tastes, this departure from the familiar to the foreign does something in my thoughts.
sport. It is definitely something that can refresh the chakras, even a walk of about an hour. The open air, the endorphins that are released and the feeling of freedom that the sport gives even for a moment, shakes the gray cells.
Listening to the podcast. Every time I go for a walk, I listen to a podcast. Usually this is the professional field in which I am engaged, but it can be in any field. I never come back from a walk without one or two ideas, just from what I heard on the podcast.
Inspirational stories. Today there are quite a few docu-films about people who did things, who changed the world, who changed their lives and all of these inspire. Personally when I watch stories like this, my imagination goes wild.
meditation. Some people are really into it and it helps them to be calm, or creative, recently I also started meditating and I can say that everything they said about it is true.
music. There is music that makes me dive into it and fills me with inspiration, such as Pink Floyd's "The Wall". No matter how many times I hear it, it's like walking into something magical. The talent that lies in making music, the way of presentation and the sounds themselves blow my mind.
reading. There is something in reading that no other medium has and that is the ability to activate the imagination. And that's why I don't like watching movies based on books because it destroys everything I built in my imagination when I read the book. The more books I read, the more my imagination works overtime and the more likely my writing block will be released.
The most important thing is not to let writer's block paralyze us. First of all check why it happens, is it our judgment that paralyzes us? Maybe the topic we chose to talk about is not really something that interests us in the end? Maybe there are things that bother us on a daily basis and take over our thoughts?
There are quite a few reasons why not to sit down now and why to postpone writing until later, but the most important thing is to fight them with all your might.
Michel Zohar Ben-Dor
The best thing about being a writer is the possibility to jump between different worlds, create reality and live in different characters.
Michel Zohar Ben-Dor
These days I am in the editing stages of my second book dealing with the theme "Be careful what you wish for." This question came to me following repeated dreams about my father coming back, that he hadn't died all these years (he died when I was 14). I found myself dealing with the question, what if he really came back, what if my dream came true. And this is the question at the center of the second book. This is not a historical book, this is a story that takes place here and now.
Michel Zohar Ben-Dor
Since I was a young girl, I have been involved in all kinds of creations. I feel that without art my life is incomplete. Writing is one of the forms of creation and it comes from the same place where my works have always come from. But, in order to create regularly, what is important is to simply sit down and write. The inspiration comes from the very act of writing, the fact that I dedicate the proper time to it and also, from the fact that I enter the story in a way that I can feel it, be the characters, and give them the respect they deserve. Of course it doesn't hurt that my studio is a tree house and from the window of the studio you can see a view of vineyards.
Michel Zohar Ben-Dor
It all started when I happened to discover one of my characters (Rachel) in a non-fiction book I was reading, she fascinated me because of the dissonance between the interesting life and the achievements she reached when her outstanding achievement - the literary salon in her home that hosted the best intellectuals of Germany, and the fact that she was a Jewish woman at a time when Jews did not had rights and certainly women too. So I set out to do some research on her and discovered a fascinating world.
From the moment I met Rachel Levine (One of the characters in the book) I fell in love with her and couldn't put her down. I felt compelled to research her life, and through my research found more and more intriguing characters - and the fascinating story of their lives and the period of time they lived through.
From the moment I met Rachel Levine (One of the characters in the book) I fell in love with her and couldn't put her down. I felt compelled to research her life, and through my research found more and more intriguing characters - and the fascinating story of their lives and the period of time they lived through.
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