Ask the Author: Tracy L. Carbone
Answered Questions (5)
Tracy L. Carbone
I'm constantly inspired by all that I see but mostly by people watching and once in a while reading or watching the news. There's nothing so inspiring or disturbing as watching the nightly news for story ideas.
Tracy L. Carbone
I just relocated cross country so haven't written in a couple of months. I am however planning to try NANOWRIMO (National Novel Writing Month) in November and see if I can crank out the first draft of a novella. It will be a sci-fi time travel novel. Not straight sci-fi but more like Time Traveler's Wife, a real time story with a thriller/time travel element. Let's see if I can pull it off.
Tracy L. Carbone
Read as much as you can by everyone in your genre, and in other genres. Read all those books with writing advice. They're not all good but most offer something you may not have thought of. Go to conferences, and if you can't afford it join online groups that talk about writing. Some of my long term best friends are people I met on writing boards. Write from the heart and don't censor yourself. You can do that when you edit. And DO edit. Several times.
Tracy L. Carbone
That I see EVERYTHING and notice EVERYTHING and that I'm never bored as a result. When I'm walking around or better yet when I'm a passenger in a car, my eyes are always scanning everything and taking it in. Later, I am never short of ideas or things to keep my brain busy. It's pretty noisy in my mind, with images and ideas continually vying for attention and to be written into a story, but it's fun. I like the fact I'm always entertained even if I'm sitting in a quiet room. To me, there is no such thing as quiet.
Tracy L. Carbone
I have a stack of old black and white photos I took of random things years ago. I also peruse my idea notebook, where I write down every image I can think of at the end of the day. Mainly though, I wait for something to get under my skin and I feel compelled to "Write it out of me." When that fails though, and I need to write for a deadline, I dredge up ideas from the sources above and also from a kit called, "The Writer's Toolbox."
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