Ask the Author: Emma Darwin
Answered Questions (6)
Emma Darwin
I remind myself that this doesn't have to be perfect - it doesn't even have to be good, yet; I'm only writing words which will be placeholders until I know what the real words should be.
If that doesn't work, then I step back and try to see if there's something built into the project which means I'm inevitably getting stuck. Then when I've worked out what that is, I can change it, or work out how to avoid it.
If that doesn't work, then I step back and try to see if there's something built into the project which means I'm inevitably getting stuck. Then when I've worked out what that is, I can change it, or work out how to avoid it.
Emma Darwin
Being able to centre my working life on practicing the art and craft of writing.
Emma Darwin
Write your first draft for yourself, to find out what this story is really all about. Write your second draft so that story is as vivid and compelling for your reader as it is in your imagination. Write your third draft so that an agent and publisher will be as keen as you are to sell it.
Emma Darwin
A novel set in the 16th Century on mainland Europe, a life-writing/memoir project, and a couple of short stories.
Emma Darwin
I'll often "see" a person, in a place, and working out the novel will be a matter of discovering why they're there, how they got there, and what is going to happen next. For example, in The Mathematics of Love, I "saw" a soldier near a river, watching a local girl bathing. I knew he was in Wellington's army, and everything grew from there.
Emma Darwin
I was actually asked to write Get Started in Writing Historical Fiction: John Murray Learning had seen my blog This Itch of Writing, and other places where I'd talked about writing historical fiction. I'm working on a novel at the moment, but I'm not saying more that that it's set in the 16th Century, and not in Britain.
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more