Ask the Author: Kate Preston
Answered Questions (6)
Kate Preston
I love reading The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron when I have writer's block. She has all kinds of great suggestions for dealing with it and getting you back on track. A lot of her ideas get you out of your comfort zone (like a weekly artist's date). I like to do different things, leave my usual surroundings and neighbourhood and go explore somewhere I don't usually go. Getting a different perspective on things can help you form new ideas for stories.
I volunteer for different events around the city and get behind the scenes look at operations.
I volunteer for different events around the city and get behind the scenes look at operations.
Kate Preston
What I love most about writing is creating wonderful characters and putting them into situations that are challenging for them and seeing how they will react.
Kate Preston
Writing is by far the hardest thing I've ever done. Excellent writers make it look easy, so they fool you into thinking it is easy! The only thing I can say is that my experience has been that you need to practice as often as you can. Cut yourself some slack though: don't say "I'm going to write for an hour every day!" There are some days you won't feel like it and you'll be more discouraged if you're sitting staring at a screen (or paper) thinking you could be doing something else. But you should make an effort to write for about 10 minutes every day -- and when you can, leave yourself time in case you feel like writing longer.
Also, join a writer's group, take some classes or read some books on writing -- preferably do all three if you're new to the craft.
Also, join a writer's group, take some classes or read some books on writing -- preferably do all three if you're new to the craft.
Kate Preston
Rewriting a few older stories that I had written a few years back. I haven't decided if any of them are good enough to continue, but fresh eyes on old work will help me decide.
Kate Preston
Ideas come to me at the oddest times -- usually when I'm not trying to think of a plot, but about something completely different. Sometimes I link together bits and pieces of information from random conversations I've had or articles I've read and suddenly a story idea starts. I'll explore the ideas for a little while to see if the story's got legs. Sometimes it does, often I go back to the drawing board.
Kate Preston
The book is based on the premise: "What happens to super star athletes after they retire?" Most athletes retire when they're still young because of the beating the sport takes on their bodies. Tennis is a sport I know and follow so it was a good one for me to write about. So I invented a character who, at the top of his game was ranked #1 for three weeks. In tennis terms, it wouldn't make him "one of the greats" but it's enough that he would be well recognized. We meet him eight years into retirement, now out of the lime light. What has he been doing? Where is he going? How has he dealt with no longer being "the star"?
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