Ask the Author: Robin Antalek
Answered Questions (6)
Robin Antalek
Thanks so much, Caroline. I love the cover as well. The talented designers at HarperCollins/William Morrow, especially Julia Gang, really created a thing of beauty! The hidden garden nook does speak to possibilities - a party about to happen, perhaps, an intimate gathering of friends. When I first saw this particular cover I wanted to step right in - and while there were other equally beautiful contenders, I knew this would be the one. As far as genre goes - I suppose The Grown Ups would fall into literary fiction or women's fiction. Again, thanks for asking. Happy reading!
Robin Antalek
I had just shelved a novel I had been working on for two years. I was sort of aimless, a little down that all that work had been for nothing. I just couldn't make it work. I was in the used book shop of my local library, sitting on the floor, surrounded by books I was planning to purchase and also eavesdropping on the conversation between the two elderly volunteers in my defense it's a really small space) when one of the women said to the other 'It was the summer all the children in the neighborhood caught a virus.' There was something about that sentence that made me write it down on the inside of one of the books. I couldn't stop thinking about it. Before long I had a neighborhood, a group of kids, a family very publicly imploding, a box of provocative photographs and two friends sharing a first kiss. The Grown Ups was born.
Robin Antalek
I'm not a journal keeper - but I do obsessively tear photos or articles or obituaries from newspapers and magazines. I keep them all in a pretty ragged collection of notebooks -maybe with a few questions or comments written along the edges. When I'm looking for something and I don't know what - I might peruse these clippings to see if something sparks my curiosity.
Robin Antalek
Write. Write and read. A good writer is a reader first. You learn plot, pacing, story, character development and structure. And stop self-editing. If you get to a place in your writing where you are squirming in your chair you've probably hit a nerve. That means you've gotten to the honest stuff. Keep going.
Robin Antalek
The best thing about being a writer is creating a world and characters for readers to love. Oh, and the going to work everyday in yoga pants.
Robin Antalek
I have trained myself to sit at my desk same time each day from the days when my daughters were school age. I'd get them to school each morning and come back and ignore the chaos of breakfast dishes and laundry and go to my desk. I wrote whether I felt like it or not and yes, some days were better than others. But after a while I began to see the pages pile up. My daughters are now off working and in college and I still do the same thing every single morning. So, I guess that's my way of saying I don't believe in writer's block.
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