Ask the Author: Winona Kent
Answered Questions (6)
Winona Kent
I don't think I've had a proper writer's block in a long time. I always know what I want to write. But if I'm ever in doubt, I always leave the last thing I've written a bit unfinished, with careful notes about what I want to come next. That way I always have something to work on and somewhere to go with the story the next time I'm sitting down at the computer. For true writer's block, I recommend what I learned at film school: sit down with a blank piece of paper and write out whatever is at the top of your head. It doesn't matter if it's utter nonsense. Just freeflow the writing and keep it up for two minutes, even if it's the word "nothing" written 100 times. It'll free your mind and you'll be surprised how it'll get you writing again.
Winona Kent
I get such an amazingly good feeling when I'm writing - it's the best feelgood drug there is. I love it when I can entertain a reader, and they tell me they've enjoyed what I've written and they can't wait for the next book.
Winona Kent
Don't talk about writing a novel, just sit down and write it. And make time every day to do it, whether you feel like it or not. If nothing will come, write out whatever's at the top of your head for two minutes. It's an amazing exercise I learned at film school. It frees your mind. If you don't know where to begin, just pretend you're telling yourself the story. Begin wherever you feel like it. This is only your first draft! You can go back and change it later. If you can, work with an outline. It makes things so much easier if you know where the story's going when you start out. You can always change that as well. Your first draft is never your final draft. And this isn't the first and last book you'll ever write. Just do it.
Winona Kent
I'm currently writing the third novel in The Memory Books series. The first was Persistence of Memory, which is available now. The second is In Loving Memory, which will be published by Diversion Books in July 2016. The third book in the series will tentatively be called Marianne's Memory, and it'll be set in London in 1964... which is a time I actually remember! The Swinging Sixties. I plan to have lots of fun with it.
Winona Kent
I don't really need an inspiration! I need time! I work full time and so I'm always writing on weekends and at night.... I always know what I want to write, so I send emails to myself whenever I get a further inspiration or thought. It's more discipline than anything else. Plus, I also know myself quite well... and I know if I don't do any fiction writing, I get very bad-tempered!
Winona Kent
I got the idea for Persistence of Memory while I was researching my family tree. I came across a great grandfather who stumped me - there was absolutely nothing about him prior to the 1891 census... I didn't know who his parents were, who is family was, where he was born... nothing... And all of a sudden I started wondering, what would it be like to travel back in time and actually meet the man of mystery... and discover who he really was! So that's how my accidental time travelling story came to be...and how it turned into the first of, I hope, many more to come in the series I've called The Memory Books.
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