Ask the Author: Elizabeth C. Mock
Answered Questions (6)
Elizabeth C. Mock
Keep at it! This career is a marathon, never a sprint. Drafting is only 10% of the process. 90% is revision and edits. Good writing is rewriting. So, write, write, write. I'm not going to say you need to write every day because you need to live your life to have something to write about. But it's helpful to make writing a habit.
Read widely and in every genre and in every market--fiction and nonfiction, literary and genre, adult and middle grade. And if you want to understand rock solid story structure, read kid lit and watch kids movies. Writing for kids is the hardest writing to do. You will find the best executed storytelling in kids media, and it won't have any gimmicks. Gimmicks don't work on kids.
Find other creatives to be in community with. Writing is a lonely venture. You need other creatives who understand and can push you to improve.
Read widely and in every genre and in every market--fiction and nonfiction, literary and genre, adult and middle grade. And if you want to understand rock solid story structure, read kid lit and watch kids movies. Writing for kids is the hardest writing to do. You will find the best executed storytelling in kids media, and it won't have any gimmicks. Gimmicks don't work on kids.
Find other creatives to be in community with. Writing is a lonely venture. You need other creatives who understand and can push you to improve.
Elizabeth C. Mock
Watching a story emerge like a sculpture. I can't see its form at first, and it feels like it'll never be what's in my head. Then slowly, oh so slowly, it takes shape. Until, after so much work, I can suddenly see it. There it is. The story exists outside my head.
I love when I'm drafting or revising and something takes me by surprise, a sentence which suddenly casts a character or a beat in a light I'd never seen before.
I love that I'm able to use symbols and sounds, which you understand, to create something that didn't exist before. That's magic.
I love when I'm drafting or revising and something takes me by surprise, a sentence which suddenly casts a character or a beat in a light I'd never seen before.
I love that I'm able to use symbols and sounds, which you understand, to create something that didn't exist before. That's magic.
Elizabeth C. Mock
I live my life. I take in and engage in good art. I spend time with people. I go out into nature. But when it's time to write, it isn't about inspiration. It's about dedication and discipline. You just gotta sit and write. Some days every word is pulled out of you like thorns dug in deep, and some days it flows like a waterfall. Neil Gaiman once said about those two kinds of days that you can't tell the difference when you revise. He is absolutely correct. Take time to live your life. Then take the time to write.
Elizabeth C. Mock
1. Therapy and medication. I am not even kidding. Another writer friend once said, writer's block is really life block. She could not have been more accurate. For me, writer's block is either a form of procrastination caused by emotional disregulation (I'm feeling negative emotions I'm not acknowledging which are blocking me from writing), or it's my ADH. Both of these can be dealt with through the combination of my medication and therapy. Therapy gives you the tools to get through what's blocking you.
2. Creating a habit of writing helps with writer's block. Keep showing up and you'll get it done. Even if it's like pulling water from stone, show up and get your words in. I also use implementation intensions. If I finish grading, then I write. I don't choose to write. It's just the next thing I do. What wires together in the brain fires together. Show up for thirty days to create the neural connections of a habit.
3. Sometimes you need to spend a day laying bricks to be able to write what's next. Talk to a critique partner or just a friend or family member about what's blocking you in the story. Those aren't lost days. The story needs to percolate in your brain sometimes, and talking out loud about it can really help.
4. If you're still stuck, sleep on it. This works because of what REM sleep does in your brain. It takes information from your day and makes connections, and you just might wake up with the solution. Don't try to force it. It'll take the time it takes to get through the plot/character problem. Be kind to yourself.
5. Take a day off and live your life. Go do something fun and recharging. Go a museum. Go to a concert. Go out to eat with friends. Read a good book. Just engage in art or connection with other. You can't pour out what you don't have in you.
2. Creating a habit of writing helps with writer's block. Keep showing up and you'll get it done. Even if it's like pulling water from stone, show up and get your words in. I also use implementation intensions. If I finish grading, then I write. I don't choose to write. It's just the next thing I do. What wires together in the brain fires together. Show up for thirty days to create the neural connections of a habit.
3. Sometimes you need to spend a day laying bricks to be able to write what's next. Talk to a critique partner or just a friend or family member about what's blocking you in the story. Those aren't lost days. The story needs to percolate in your brain sometimes, and talking out loud about it can really help.
4. If you're still stuck, sleep on it. This works because of what REM sleep does in your brain. It takes information from your day and makes connections, and you just might wake up with the solution. Don't try to force it. It'll take the time it takes to get through the plot/character problem. Be kind to yourself.
5. Take a day off and live your life. Go do something fun and recharging. Go a museum. Go to a concert. Go out to eat with friends. Read a good book. Just engage in art or connection with other. You can't pour out what you don't have in you.
Elizabeth C. Mock
My most recent book is Forge, the third book in my Children of Man series. This book and series is about unresolved grief and trauma, what a person will do in the name of love, and the messiness of navigating life. How do you know what's the right thing to do? What do you do when good intentions aren't enough? How do you learn to trust yourself and move forward after making so many mistakes? Can a person come back from a life shaped by trauma? Can the world? I wanted to explore these ideas through these characters and their relationships.
Elizabeth C. Mock
I am jumping into revisions for book four in my Children of Man series, Resolve, which is planned for a 2020 release. It's the conclusion of my first epic fantasy series, and I cannot wait for people to see the resolution of all my characters' journeys. It's gonna be a wild ride.
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