Ask the Author: Malena Watrous
Answered Questions (7)
Malena Watrous
There is a lot of suicide in my family. I would say that any of these could provide the substance of a mystery, since whenever someone ends their life, it presents a mystery as to what factor or factors led that person to that place where this seemed like the only solution.
Malena Watrous
I recently finished a teen novel that I cowrote with the fabulous novelist Helena Echlin. It was a lot of fun, both to have a creative collaborator for 2 years (writing got a lot less lonely) and to get to write a novel in which magical things were possible and happened. But now that it's done, I'm back at work on an adult novel about a ghostwriter with a dangerous proclivity for putting her own (and her family's) stories into the projects she is doing for hire, who finds out things about her family as a result of mining them for material.
Malena Watrous
I don't really believe in writer's block. I think that there can be times when you don't know how to advance in a particular piece of writing, and at those times it's a good idea to write a different part of that story, or perhaps a different story. I think writing itself is usually the answer for all sorts of problems in writing. If you feel anxious that you're not good enough? That means you're doing more thinking than writing, and more thinking about yourself than your characters or the world. The answer (in my humble opinion) is to get over yourself (in a gentle and loving way) by sitting down and writing about someone else, without stressing too much about the quality. Allow it to be "bad" in first draft. The less effort you put in, the more you relax into the writing, the better it often ends up being.
Malena Watrous
Getting to create books that mean something to readers, and being part of that most wonderful of extended conversations.
Malena Watrous
To read extensively and omnivorously; to take in lots of different kinds of art; to pay attention to people and study their tics and speech patterns and try and figure out what motivates them; to keep a notebook and jot down these things and more; to become committed to a layered writing process and the understanding that real writing happens in revision, once you know where the story is going.
Malena Watrous
Reading really inspires me to write. I always read for at least half an hour (usually more) before going to sleep. I'm also inspired by movement. If I'm stuck, I like to go for a run or a walk or a swim, and often by *not* trying to figure out what should happen next, my subconscious frees up and releases some kind of plot answer.
Malena Watrous
I recently finished a manuscript that I co-wrote with a friend--a young adult novel. The original seed for the idea came from a dream I had over and over as a kid. Actually--from what happened after waking up. I'd dream that I was telekinetic, and be so convinced that it was true that when I got up, I'd try moving something with my eyes and feel super disappointed that it had only been a dream. The original scene at the start of the novel had a character waking up and doing this, and then realizing that her sister is missing from her bed. (That part is where the invented portion of the story began).
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