Ask the Author: Jenny Milchman
Answered Questions (9)
Jenny Milchman
I wish I knew how to tag someone here--or loop him in...Let me write to him on Facebook and try and ask him over here. Christopher Lawson so you recognize his name if I manage to do this right :) Have a great day, Cousins...
Jenny Milchman
Ha, we can all be clueless together :) I don't either really. There's someone I might be able to draw in, who knows GoodReads pretty well. I wonder if I should introduce him to the Cousins' Book Club?
Hope you both are enjoying your Sunday!
Hope you both are enjoying your Sunday!
Jenny Milchman
The Cousins are here! So happy to see you! True confession, though...I am stumbling around here on Goodreads, don't know it well at all. So let's do something fun! What if we got a virtual book party going? There could be a new, interesting Question every week, and we could discuss, and even draw in other people from the community (How?) Then, because I happen to have an overload of books at the moment, each month, someone gets a new read, which I would mail out...I don't know, am just thinking aloud, but I would love to turn this place into a party :) And as you know, I <3 book clubs, especially The Cousins'. Have a terrific day, ladies!
Jenny Milchman
At a book event in Surprise, Arizona, I looked down the signing line, and there was a sudden dip in the row of heads. A child was on line--and at that time especially, I did not write children's books (there's a teen heroine in my latest novel, As Night Falls, but that wasn't out yet when I visited Surprise). I knew I was going to write a book where the protagonist is an author, she encounters a child at a bookstore...and something crazy happens.
Jenny Milchman
Stories are everywhere. They're in the strange guy who follows a little too close behind when you walk down the street. They're in the little girl you see who has strangely sad eyes. Once one of those stories grips me by the throat tightly enough, I get inspired to sit right down and write.
Jenny Milchman
I'm on book tour now, but when I get home, I'll be revising the novel I just finished before I left, and getting to start a whole new tale. If you saw me right now, I'd be smiling and rubbing my hands together in glee. This is the fun part!
Jenny Milchman
My #1 tip is to understand that all writing needs other sets of eyes, many other sets of eyes, and more revision that we would ever guess at the outset. That's okay--it's true for everyone. One of my favorite authors, Michael Koryta, spoke at a book event we did together recently about how he trashed 300 pages of a novel that weren't working. Now that's a brave writer.
My next tip follows from the one above. Never give up. Never stop writing. Not if you love it as much as I do. The stories will find you, and eventually, the right audience will too.
My next tip follows from the one above. Never give up. Never stop writing. Not if you love it as much as I do. The stories will find you, and eventually, the right audience will too.
Jenny Milchman
We get to make up stories, go to other worlds--and interact with readers like the ones here.
Jenny Milchman
I feel extremely lucky that writing my novels--the first draft anyway--is the fun part, the easy part, the sheer bliss. It's like jumping into a whitewater river for me. Now revising...that's when the pain comes in.
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