Ask the Author: Carper Smith
Answered Questions (10)
Carper Smith
This is a tough one. The truth is, I don’t wait for inspiration to strike. I made a rule for myself that I would write every day (even if it was just a journal entry or bunches of email at work on a really busy day). Since then I have amended the rule to writing six days a week. So, inspired or not, if it’s a writing day, I have to sit down and write. There are times, however, when I get stuck. For me, this is sometimes that I took a story in the wrong direction in which case I have to go back to where it was right and start again from there. Other times, it’s because I'm scared that what I write isn’t going to be good enough in which case, I have learned to give myself permission to suck. Then, after telling myself out loud I have permission to suck, I just write whatever without fear of it being bad or good in order to get through it. (I can always go back and fix it later, and usually it turns out that it isn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be—sometimes, it has even been good.)
Carper Smith
Learn every chance you get and never stop writing.
Carper Smith
For me, it’s getting to have whole worlds of friends in my head come along for the ride without anyone telling me I’m crazy.
Carper Smith
I can tell you my personal horror story in one sentence. Schools continued to shorten summer vacation every year.
Carper Smith
This summer my list includes Save the Cat! Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody, The Assault on Reason by Al Gore, The Seargent and the Voodoo Queen by my good friend, Loucinda McGary, The Tournament series by Bob Mayer, Obsidian by K.F. Breene, a re-read of The Red Prophet by Orson Scott Card, and (another re-read) of In the Jeans by me so I can be in the right frame of mind for working on the second book in the Ryanne Brady series.
Carper Smith
I am absolutely going to one of two worlds created by K.F. Breene. Either I’m going to her Demon Days Vampire Nights series world and getting Reagan to teach me how to kick down doors, or I’m going to her Magical Midlife world to hang out, swear, and be belligerent while throwing rocks at people with Niamh.
Carper Smith
As a teenager, I was told my wisdom teeth were growing in sideways and would have to be pulled in the next few years. Every day of the next year, I took a couple minutes to think that my wisdom teeth were growing straight. At my next year’s dental checkup, I was told my wisdom teeth were growing in perfectly. Based on this, I think there could be a great mystery where things are happening and the responsible person is causing it all with their mind.
Carper Smith
This depends on how blocked I am.
If I'm so blocked, absolutely nothing is coming to my mind to write, I sit down and write description of a place or a person. If I'm blocked because I don't want to write a scene or I'm worried because it's going to be hard to write, I give myself permission to suck (seriously, I tell myself right out loud, "you have permission to suck,"), then I sit down and force my way through the scene without worrying about how very bad the writing is. I am more of a "re-writer" than a "writer" anyhow. I can fix something that's bad. I can't fix what doesn't exist.
If I'm so blocked, absolutely nothing is coming to my mind to write, I sit down and write description of a place or a person. If I'm blocked because I don't want to write a scene or I'm worried because it's going to be hard to write, I give myself permission to suck (seriously, I tell myself right out loud, "you have permission to suck,"), then I sit down and force my way through the scene without worrying about how very bad the writing is. I am more of a "re-writer" than a "writer" anyhow. I can fix something that's bad. I can't fix what doesn't exist.
Carper Smith
I'm presently writing the third book in the Blue Moon trilogy, the first book of which, Blue Moon, I am planning to release in January. Gearing up for that, I am making the final edits on Blue Moon and getting ready to start the cover design process.
Carper Smith
The idea for In The Jeans came while I was walking one day. I don't know if I was thinking about a woman I used to work with who had a granddaughter named Ryanne, but I suddenly heard a female voice in my head say, "My parents named me Ryanne. It's spelled the female way, but pronounced like the male version, Ryan."
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