Ask the Author: Mark J. Donovan
Answered Questions (3)
Mark J. Donovan
I consider myself an aspiring writer. So my advice would be...ask someone else?
Mark J. Donovan
Time. If something isn't working out, I distance myself from the project or story until I am no longer emotionally invested in what I have already written - usually that takes about a month. That way when I go back and look at it, I am doing so through a fresh(er) set of eyes. It allows me to think of new ideas, and fix old problems.
But I am usually not idle in that month: I'm working on something else, to refocus my brain so that it removes itself from the previous, unfinished project.
Ultimately, though, a writer whose work I love once mentioned that sometimes, doing absolutely nothing at all is a necessary part of the writing process. And the entire process is how you get the work done, not just when you're physically writing/typing it down. It's all writing. So sometimes doing nothing works for me, to.
But I am usually not idle in that month: I'm working on something else, to refocus my brain so that it removes itself from the previous, unfinished project.
Ultimately, though, a writer whose work I love once mentioned that sometimes, doing absolutely nothing at all is a necessary part of the writing process. And the entire process is how you get the work done, not just when you're physically writing/typing it down. It's all writing. So sometimes doing nothing works for me, to.
Mark J. Donovan
I am working currently on Book II of the Jade Crown: The Cursed Temple. I also have two books from a planned ten book series "done": they were the first ones I wrote for the Sword of Vathir series, and necessary for me to find the voice for the character and the world, but are not really ready to be published yet. They need to be reworked in a lot of spots to fit them back in to what the world of my books is now, since it didn't exist when I started them. So there's that.
Also, I've got rough outlines for about thirty more short stories I plan on writing. I will probably start with a few more of those once The Cursed Temple is complete.
Also, I've got rough outlines for about thirty more short stories I plan on writing. I will probably start with a few more of those once The Cursed Temple is complete.
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