Ask the Author: Sharon Plumb
Answered Questions (5)
Sharon Plumb
If I can't seem to write, it is often because I need more information. So I write down my questions. Why is this character not speaking to me? What does he need to know that he doesn't? What does this place look like, and what does he hear and smell and feel when he is there? What advice is there for people who feel like the character does? Then I do some research. Sometimes the answers aren't where I think, so I cast a wide net and just see what I find.
Sharon Plumb
The best thing about being a writer is being able to explore ideas, places, and characters that intrigue you. My writing helps me figure out what I think about things and issues that concern me. It also helps me explore what it would be like to be a different kind of person, or how I would deal with a hypothetical situation I hope will never actually come up. Maybe the best thing is that when I write something down, I feel *heard*, even if it's only by my piece of paper. And I can edit what I write until it says exactly what I want to say, which I can't do when I'm speaking.
Sharon Plumb
Read a lot and write a lot. Find a supportive writing critique group, and keep on learning the craft. There is always more to know, and your books will only get better as you apply what you learn.
Sharon Plumb
There are some gorgeous line drawings in my Kohlrabi book, and I would like to put them into a coloring and activity book as a companion to the novel. Besides that project, I am in the middle of the next book in my Dragon Planet series.
Sharon Plumb
My middle grade novel *The Mystery of the Giant Kohlrabi* began as a picture book I wrote for a creative writing class, and grew from there. I wrote the first draft of the long version as a campfire story to read to a group of Scouts on a week long camping trip. It's set in a garden of house-sized vegetables on a remote part of the Canadian prairies, where I live. Part of my research was to get down on the ground and study my garden plants *really* close up. They're a lot more scary than you think!
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