Ask the Author: Michael Fienen
Answered Questions (6)
Michael Fienen
Walking was heavily inspired by Night of the Living Dead. Not The Walking Dead, which was just an unfortunate result of timing between the completion of the play and when I got it ready for print. But hey, if the genre's hot, that can't be exactly bad for sales opportunities.
Michael Fienen
I'll watch documentaries or shows on subjects I'm thinking about. I enjoy camping, and find that a good way to get away from the experiences that tend to saturate one's life, so I can go through ideas distraction-free. The stuff you go through every day - while it can serve as a backdrop for a story - tends to be somewhat poor inspiration (for me), since you get desensitized to it.
Michael Fienen
I currently have three blogs I produce content for on a fairly regular basis. I also have another play in the works (a dark comedy), and two more plays in in the research phase on.
Michael Fienen
Just write. Seek out advice and proofreading (if you're personally friends with college professors, they can be a good source of feedback). And if you write something that you feel is done and you're happy with, print it. Don't worry about writing book proposals and sending them everywhere. Most likely, you won't get anywhere. But with services like Lulu.com, you also don't need them. Just learn a little about marketing, attend local and regional events to promote yourself, and if nothing else, just put it out there and see where it goes.
Michael Fienen
That depends a little on the type of writer you are. I write as a means of not doing the other things I consider "work." Which is to say, while I make a few bucks from the couple things I've put out there, it's not really enough to even go to Starbucks on. But by writing, even when it's bad, it makes me better at building narrative, which can be very helpful in day-to-day work settings. It also makes you a better writer, technically, which can equally be important in "real" work communication.
Michael Fienen
Legitimately, sometimes I can't. I have this problem on something I'm working on right now that I haven't been able to break through for a year. Most other things I do are pretty straightforward. Sleep on it. Switch to something else. Do stream of consciousness writing. Have someone read up to the point you're stuck and offer thoughts.
I sometimes find that writer's block, for me, comes from writing myself into a corner. I can't figure out where to go, because there isn't anywhere to go that a reader would think feels natural, so I'll go back and look at the flow to that point and see if maybe I need to bend it a little bit so I end up in a different place that allows the story to continue.
I sometimes find that writer's block, for me, comes from writing myself into a corner. I can't figure out where to go, because there isn't anywhere to go that a reader would think feels natural, so I'll go back and look at the flow to that point and see if maybe I need to bend it a little bit so I end up in a different place that allows the story to continue.
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