Ask the Author: Misty Urban
Answered Questions (7)
Misty Urban
I think my favorite fictional couple is Mulan and Moo Shu from the Disney movie Mulan. She's a headstrong, independent, gender-norm-defying girl taking a courageous step to save her family's honor even though she hates war; he's a fast-talking, self-interested family guardian who is first out to exploit her, then nag her, then becomes her fiercest protector and biggest fan. Together, they save their country and their home from invaders and show what the underestimated can accomplish.
But I also loved the Moana-Maui pairing from Disney's Moana, for many of the same reasons. Daring, resourceful, independent girl holds smart-talking demigod accountable for his actions, and wins his friendship, trust, and aid. It's a great combinations, and together they accomplish great things.
(And yes, I do realize that these examples are 100% drawn from Disney animated movies.)
But I also loved the Moana-Maui pairing from Disney's Moana, for many of the same reasons. Daring, resourceful, independent girl holds smart-talking demigod accountable for his actions, and wins his friendship, trust, and aid. It's a great combinations, and together they accomplish great things.
(And yes, I do realize that these examples are 100% drawn from Disney animated movies.)
Misty Urban
A Lesson in Manners is an etiquette book many years in the making. It took deep study and long, close observation before I began to understand what motivated the seemingly illogical and sometimes frankly poor choices of this population group. After that, it took long practice and much trial and error before the stories of these various subjects emerged in ways that allowed me to make sense of the broader patterns in their behavior. While each of the subjects’ worlds is fully imagined and remarkably unique, some rendered in a few pages and some in many, I came to understand that all of them had something in common: all were searching for solace, for refuge, for a reprieve from the aches that haunted them. Where is the self-help manual for that? I decided to write it.
Misty Urban
I'm currently working on a historical novel set in Shropshire, England, in 1832. It's about a squire's daughter who wants to be a mathematician but whose family is very concerned that her ambitions will make her unmarriageable or will spoil her sister's chances to catch the eye of the neighboring baronet's son, a scholar and a classicist, who is returning to the neighborhood after several years away. It's very much a drawing room drama with social critique thrown in, and I've had enormous fun doing the research. The challenge is revising it down to a manageable length - the first draft was 740 pages!
Misty Urban
At some point, you stop writing just for yourself and are writing because you want your words to reach people - you want to say something that matters. When that happens, it's not enough to just pour our your heart onto the page. You need to learn the elements of craft and then apply them however you wish. You need to consider reader feedback (even if you don't choose to accept it). You begin to see your work as a conversation and not just a confessional. It's a big risk.
Misty Urban
Writers are people who make sense of the world through words. We experience our lives by documenting them, by reflecting on them, or by turning them into story. There are two huge benefits to being a writer, I think. The first is that being a writer makes you feel you are truly living an examined life, since virtually every experience, every sensation, every relationship, every fear, every obsession, and every funny joke you hear at some point makes it way into your work. But writers also have the gift of huge empathy. By living so deeply in the worlds of other people (even if they are fictional characters), we learn to identify with and accept experiences very different from our own. We are sensitive to the joys and pains of human life. I guess those are three great things.
Misty Urban
Writers block usually means I'm not finding my way into a scene, not understanding the character's real conflict, or not finding the right language to convey what I want to express. So I leave the page and give it some space to breathe. I take a walk; take a shower; go practice the piano; occupy some other tasks. Usually, as soon as I have my hands full, am covered in soap, or have just left the house to run errands, the answer arises.
Misty Urban
Inspiration is everywhere! My challenge is not finding inspiration but finding time. I seem to find new projects, ideas, characters, story situations floating in the air around me and I keep breathing them in. For instance, I came back from a run this morning with an idea for a book on women in medieval romance, an anthology of essays from women authors about their relationship with Disney movies, and some notes on revision for a current short story I'm working on. Will I have time to complete all these projects in the foreseeable future? No! But the inspiration is there.
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