Ask the Author: Michele Callahan
Answered Questions (7)
Michele Callahan
Hi Anita,
Thank you so much. I apologize for taking so long to write back to you. I'm not very good at this goodreads website yet. :) I love Derek. He is, by far, the most complex of the brothers. I'm working on his story right now. I got sidetracked by some other projects, but I'm working as fast as I can. He breaks my heart and totally deserves his own Happily-Ever-After! Don't you think? And, yes, depending on how things go, I do believe the band Castillo needs to get their heart strings tangled up with some trouble, too. ;) Fingers crossed I get Derek's story out of my head and into your hands in the next couple months.
Thank you so much for writing such encouraging words. If I could jump through this screen and hug you right now, I would!
HUGS!
Michele
Thank you so much. I apologize for taking so long to write back to you. I'm not very good at this goodreads website yet. :) I love Derek. He is, by far, the most complex of the brothers. I'm working on his story right now. I got sidetracked by some other projects, but I'm working as fast as I can. He breaks my heart and totally deserves his own Happily-Ever-After! Don't you think? And, yes, depending on how things go, I do believe the band Castillo needs to get their heart strings tangled up with some trouble, too. ;) Fingers crossed I get Derek's story out of my head and into your hands in the next couple months.
Thank you so much for writing such encouraging words. If I could jump through this screen and hug you right now, I would!
HUGS!
Michele
Michele Callahan
Hi Teni. How do you start? Well, if you're like most writers, you get an idea for either a really amazing story/event, OR you have a character in your head that you'd like to take on an adventure. I get an idea, write down about 20-25 scene ideas that I can patch together to write the story, and then I start writing. The story will change and evolve as you write. And the most important thing to remember, in my opinion, is that the first draft is NOT going to be good. It's going to be terrible. Horrible. Embrace that truth and then edit it like crazy AFTER you're done with the first draft. :) Good luck!
p.s. If you haven't read a lot of science fiction, I highly recommend you do that as well. :)
p.s. If you haven't read a lot of science fiction, I highly recommend you do that as well. :)
Michele Callahan
Hearing from readers. I never feel like a story is finished. I never feel like the story is good enough. There is SO much in my mind that doesn't make it onto the page that I feel like there is no way I could have done the story justice. When a reader reaches out to tell me they liked my book, it is like being struck by lightning! I wanted to leap out of my chair and scream, "Yes! I really did it! I don't suck!"
I have finally made peace with "good enough" thanks to something Orson Scott Card wrote in the opener to a reprint of Ender's Game. He basically said that the world he creates when he writes a book isn't his world, it's not the world he sees in his head as an author. Each reader creates their own world by interacting with the words he gave them, and for every reader that world will be unique and unknowable by anyone else. I found that to be profound, and beautiful. And I decided to stop worrying about writing a 'perfect' book. I decided to simply write the best story I could and trust each person who reads my books to make the story into a unique and worthwhile experience for themselves. Knowing that I've reached someone, and the world they created with my words made them happy? That's the absolute best.
I have finally made peace with "good enough" thanks to something Orson Scott Card wrote in the opener to a reprint of Ender's Game. He basically said that the world he creates when he writes a book isn't his world, it's not the world he sees in his head as an author. Each reader creates their own world by interacting with the words he gave them, and for every reader that world will be unique and unknowable by anyone else. I found that to be profound, and beautiful. And I decided to stop worrying about writing a 'perfect' book. I decided to simply write the best story I could and trust each person who reads my books to make the story into a unique and worthwhile experience for themselves. Knowing that I've reached someone, and the world they created with my words made them happy? That's the absolute best.
Michele Callahan
Right now I'm working on my Walker Brothers - Love You Like A Love Song contemporary romance series with the first 4 books (and original songs!) coming out early 2016 followed by at least five more stories (and songs!). I've got my next Timewalker romance in the queue (this one's for Holly N. - a reader who tracked me down at a conference and demanded the next book!). And I'm editing the first 7 Timewalker romances for re-release this summer. So, pretty busy around here. Which keeps me...Squirrel!
(Did anyone else see that?)
What was I saying????
(Did anyone else see that?)
What was I saying????
Michele Callahan
I read. A lot. :) A good book will inspire me all over again. A great book will bring me total bliss. And a terrible book will make me determined to write something better than the horrible book I just read. So, no matter what kind of book I read, it always pushes me back to the keyboard. A great movie or fascinating news story will inspire me as well. But I don't think "inspire" is the right word, not if a writer wants to get a book done. Authors can't wait for inspiration. They have to sit down and write, even when they don't feel like doing it.
Michele Callahan
My answer has changed over the last year. I've evolved. These days writer's block only happens to me when I don't know one of my characters well enough. They have a secret I don't know, or they don't want to do what I think they should. When I get writer's block I sit down with a notebook and create a "details" page about each of my characters and just start writing stuff down. History. Education. Parents. Dreams. Fears. Whatever pops into my head. They'll reveal something that will get my plot moving again. For me, it's the characters every time.
Michele Callahan
I am totally stealing this answer from Nora Roberts, who spoke at a conference I attended this summer. She said, "Writing is a habit. Don't break it." Write every day. I you don't make time, MAKE TIME, you won't ever finish your book.
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