Ask the Author: Sarah Anne Johnson
Answered Questions (3)
Sarah Anne Johnson
Read, read, read, and sit in your chair at your desk and writ. Commit to a certain amount of time each day and stay in your chair. Author Ron Carlson has said that if you hit a roadblock in your writing, sit with it for twenty minutes. Don't get up to get a cup of coffee or check the mail. Don't go on the Internet. Just sit with it. Every time I've tried this, I've been able to write through my snag. Sitting is half the work of writing. So just sit there.
Sarah Anne Johnson
Inspiration comes when you're in the chair, writing. I have a schedule that starts in the morning when I get out of bed. I have a cup of coffee and sit right down at the computer.
Still, a lot of the writing happens when I'm not at the computer - I ruminate on the characters and the images that are tugging at me in the novel…this tug pulls me back to the work each morning.
Reading also generates a lot of inspiration for me. I read constantly and consume many many books, all of which teach me how to accomplish something in my own work that I may be struggling with.
But at the end of the day, it all comes down to sitting in the chair and writing - that's when the inspiration comes!
Still, a lot of the writing happens when I'm not at the computer - I ruminate on the characters and the images that are tugging at me in the novel…this tug pulls me back to the work each morning.
Reading also generates a lot of inspiration for me. I read constantly and consume many many books, all of which teach me how to accomplish something in my own work that I may be struggling with.
But at the end of the day, it all comes down to sitting in the chair and writing - that's when the inspiration comes!
Sarah Anne Johnson
I got the idea for Hannah Snow, the main character of The Lightkeeper's Wife, when I visited the Highland House Museum in Truro, MA. I saw a print of Grace Darling, a lighthouse keeper's daughter in the UK, rowing into a storm to save a shipwrecked sailor.
I did research about women lighthouse keeper's and it turns out many of them were known for daring rescues.
From there Hannah Snow began to make her way onto the page.
I did research about women lighthouse keeper's and it turns out many of them were known for daring rescues.
From there Hannah Snow began to make her way onto the page.
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