Ask the Author: Tom Alan
Answered Questions (3)
Tom Alan
I plot my novels, so if I'm going to get 'blocked' it's at this stage. It's the best time to deal with it, as I'm working with notes, not tens of thousands of words of prose. How do I 'clear the blockage'? By trying out different solutions, thinking them through to a conclusion and, if they don't work, trying some more. Writing a novel is like solving a puzzle, while you're making it. And I do enjoy a good puzzle.
Tom Alan
Read and write. Read and write. Read and write.
Read for ideas ref plot, style, language, characters.
Then write the sort of stuff you like to read. That way you'll immerse yourself in your favoured style whether you're reading or writing.
If you don't feel like reading - write.
If you don't feel like writing - read.
If you don't feel like doing either - then take the day off and do something else you enjoy.
Read for ideas ref plot, style, language, characters.
Then write the sort of stuff you like to read. That way you'll immerse yourself in your favoured style whether you're reading or writing.
If you don't feel like reading - write.
If you don't feel like writing - read.
If you don't feel like doing either - then take the day off and do something else you enjoy.
Tom Alan
In relation to Hitting the Jackpot: My mother used to do the football 'Pools' when I was a child. She always put a cross in the 'No Publicity' box, saying we'd get 'begging letters' if we won and failed to cross the box. I guess that's where my interest in keeping a big win a secret began. Later, when National Lottery winners started appearing on the news with big cheques and bottles of bubbly, I was always thinking about the people who'd won - but hadn't agreed to appear in the media. Who were they? Why did they keep their win a secret? And the most intriguing question of all - who DID they trust and tell...?
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