Ask the Author: Emily Foster

“Ask me a question.” Emily Foster

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Emily Foster Hooray, so I'm glad you liked the first two books and were intrigued by Simon. I was too - he just sort of appeared on the page and I was like, "Who is this cat?" I do indeed have plans for him, but I have two other books to write first, so it'll be a while!
Emily Foster Write. Write every day. Write 500 words every day.

Also read. Reread your favorite books (especially in the genre you're writing) and try to figure out what it is about these books that you love so much.

And read about writing. I've found Donald Maas's "21st Century Fiction" invaluable, along with "Story Engineering" and lots of others. And there are two books about writing that taught me about writing, less because of their actual advice or information, and more because of how they are written: "Bird by Bird" by Ann Lamott and Strunk & White's evergreen "Elements of Style."

Writing is a craft, a skill, as much as an art. No one expects a sculpter to just intuitively *know* how to carve shapes into stone; we know that she will need to be taught, and she will need to practice.

So learn. Learn by explicit lessons; learn by observing the work of masters; and learn by practicing.

Anyway, that's how I do it.
Emily Foster Two things:

(1) A follow-up to the Belhaven series - the story of Simon, Charles's younger brother, who is mentioned in HNTF and whom we meet in HNTLG. It's a sort of "reunited lovers" story, with a twist.

(2) A giant, operatic story of a professor of comparative literature and big honkin' movie star. The plot in once sentence: During his Oscar acceptance speech, Zak Harper blurts out the name of an ex-lover he hasn’t seen for six years… and when the paparazzi find her, Zak discovers why she vanished, and how he can get her back.

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