Ask the Author: Robert Downs
Answered Questions (2)
Robert Downs
You're welcome Debby. Hope you enjoy it!
I had the image of a bride in a white wedding dress driving a pickup truck based on a writing prompt in either Writer's Digest or The Writer as a story idea for probably a year or two before I wrote the first draft. The first draft was written for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) in November 2014. I turned in The Bridal Chase to my publisher Black Opal Books in 2016 and received a contract for it later that same year. We did a couple rounds of edits, and it hit the shelves on May 12, 2018.
So if you look at the entire process from start to finish, it's roughly three and a half years. I worked on other projects as I waited for the next stage of the process to begin, and there was a lot of waiting, so I had ample opportunity to work on other books. I took advantage of it. If I had to venture a guess, I'd say there were five or six drafts before we went final, and approximately four months or so that were solely dedicated to this book.
I had the image of a bride in a white wedding dress driving a pickup truck based on a writing prompt in either Writer's Digest or The Writer as a story idea for probably a year or two before I wrote the first draft. The first draft was written for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) in November 2014. I turned in The Bridal Chase to my publisher Black Opal Books in 2016 and received a contract for it later that same year. We did a couple rounds of edits, and it hit the shelves on May 12, 2018.
So if you look at the entire process from start to finish, it's roughly three and a half years. I worked on other projects as I waited for the next stage of the process to begin, and there was a lot of waiting, so I had ample opportunity to work on other books. I took advantage of it. If I had to venture a guess, I'd say there were five or six drafts before we went final, and approximately four months or so that were solely dedicated to this book.
Robert Downs
Since I had to look up the term to fully grasp its meaning, that should tell you I don't plan to use it anytime soon in my writing. On the other hand, I do like challenging both my writing and myself, so I won't say I'll never use it.
In order for gallows humor to work for me, though, I'd have to find the right character who looks at death in a lighthearted manner, and I haven't found him or her just yet.
In order for gallows humor to work for me, though, I'd have to find the right character who looks at death in a lighthearted manner, and I haven't found him or her just yet.
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