Ask the Author: Jon Reisfeld
Answered Questions (4)
Jon Reisfeld
My first novel, The Reform Artists, which is a legal-suspense / spy thriller about a man wrongly accused of domestic violence in the run up to his divorce, is about the highly destructive nature of high-conflict divorce tactics and the courts' inability to deal with them in a responsible, constitutional way. Guess where I got the idea for that story? :) Yep, more than a decade ago, I was "that guy" metaphorically speaking. The character and the events are not me and not real. They are fiction. But the opportunity to allow people to experience that particular injustice vicariously, but deeply and intimately, in a way that might cause them to feel, as well as understand the injustice is one of the great transformational powers of writing ... and a great responsibility for authors. (By the way, you can download a free sample of the first 50 pages of that book by going here: http://jonreisfeld.com ).
Jon Reisfeld
In my past, I have gotten writer's block under one of two conditions: either I was extremely anxious about what I was trying to write/say or the subject matter had some sort of deep emotional connection that, literally, was getting my way. I found several strategies effective. In the first case, the block often occurred because I was trying to get into the writing part of the process too soon, before I either had researched the material enough or organized it adequately. So, the answer was to slow everything down, recognize that I was rushing the process and calmly complete the work I had only partially done. (It's really important for writers to understand that the actual 'writing' of the first draft comes toward the middle to the last third of the writing process. Prior to that point, the writer should be gathering, internalizing and organizing the material. Failing to understand this key reality of writing, I'm convinced, is what causes some writers (me included) to get anxious in the first place. Another way to look at this is that the writing -- which should be the "easy" part, follows all the hard work involved in researching, ruminating over and organizing the material. So, when you're engaged in those phases, you not only are 'writing' you're actually doing the hardest part of the work!) Whenever I followed this prescription and went back to the earlier phases in the process, before resuming the 'writing,' I typically found the problem would resolve itself. The other case -- with the deep, emotional issue -- required me to obtain some detachment and distance from the work that was causing me to get blocked. People use all sorts of diversions at this point. Some hit the track or the tennis courts, go walking or seek other physical activity to take the mind away from the issues. Others go to movies, attend sporting events or watch them on TV. The key is to find something so engrossing that you lose yourself in the moment. Until you can relax enough to get your conscious mind off the block, it will not resolve itself. But once you free up your subconscious mind to sort through the issues while your conscious mind is otherwise engaged, things generally progress rather rapidly. Another thing every writer should do to help "cure" themselves of writer's block is to understand how the concsious and subconscious portions of our minds work. The subconscious mind does all of the creative problem solving necessary to come up with the best plot twists, similies and metaphors for driving fiction and nonfiction prose. We get blocked when we forget this and try and force solutions through hyper focusing our conscious minds on the problem. I recommend the book "Psycho Cybernetics" by Maxwell Maltz, as required reading for every author who really wants to rid him or herself of this plague to creativity and productivity.
Jon Reisfeld
The best thing about being a writer? You really want to know the 'best thing?' It's not commuting 10 feet to the office. It's not being able to work all day in your underwear, either. It's not that the work gives you a chance to take an occasional 'nap' for creative reasons. It's not that virtually everything you do, everyone you see, everything that happens to you: the good things, the bad things, the crappy people you must deal with ... and the saints, it's not that all of that is grist for the mill. It's not that you can create an unpleasant, fictitious character with traits, annoying ticks or a wealth of other characteristics that remind you of someone you loath. It's none of that. The 'best thing' about being a writer is that, after you've created your own little world, populated it with a diverse mix of people and places and put them through all kinds of situations in service of a strong story line or plot, the 'best thing' is that you occasionally get to discuss your creation with others who have read it, and in some way, made it their own. What other job offers you anything close to that?!
Jon Reisfeld
If your question is, "Where do you get your ideas from?" Then, inspiration applies, and it comes from living. Example: my first novel, The Reform Artists, which is a legal-suspense / spy thriller about a man wrongly accused of domestic violence in the run up to his divorce, is about the highly destructive nature of high-conflict divorce tactics and the courts' inability to deal with them in a responsible, constitutional way. Guess where I got the idea for that story? :) Yep, more than a decade ago, I was "that guy" metaphorically speaking. The character and the events are not me and not real. They are fiction. But the opportunity to allow people to experience that particular injustice vicariously, but deeply and intimately, in a way that might cause them to feel, as well as understand the injustice is one of the great transformational powers of writing ... and a great responsibility for authors. (By the way, you can download a free sample of the first 50 pages of that book by going here: http://jonreisfeld.com/List TRA Sample Incentive
Now, if your question actually was "What does it take to inspire you to 'get off your ass and write? My answer would be quite different. As a young man, I operated solely on inspiration, and I wrote in infrequent fits and spurts of creativity. That's no way to approach the task of writing. You write because nothing good can happen to you, as a writer, unless and until you do, and the more you write, the sooner you can get where you're going. The other motivation -- far more powerful than inspiration -- is that the clock is constantly ticking ... and you can never get those missed seconds back!
Now, if your question actually was "What does it take to inspire you to 'get off your ass and write? My answer would be quite different. As a young man, I operated solely on inspiration, and I wrote in infrequent fits and spurts of creativity. That's no way to approach the task of writing. You write because nothing good can happen to you, as a writer, unless and until you do, and the more you write, the sooner you can get where you're going. The other motivation -- far more powerful than inspiration -- is that the clock is constantly ticking ... and you can never get those missed seconds back!
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