Ask the Author: Azita Crerar
Answered Questions (5)
Azita Crerar
An idea will pop into my head unannounced, but it is only a kernel. The idea grows without my trying. Sometimes I'll be out for a walk and the idea will be in my head, but with added dimensions. Sometimes other ideas are added to the initial idea. At one point, they have enough meat and juice to hold a plot together. And once I get excited about it, I start to write.
Azita Crerar
My most recent book came about in a roundabout way. My two older kids were in school, I decided to give writing a pause and do some research on Macau, a place I've called home since 1999. But suddenly I really wanted to know about it - this far-flung place at the southernmost point of China that was a Portuguese colony for 400 years. What were all the churches and forts dotted all over the place? Did Macau ever go to war? I found out a lot, and decided to put some of the interesting historical tidbits into a book of ghosts. The ghosts are mostly my own creation; the history is not.
Azita Crerar
Read a lot. Read intelligent books that will increase your vocabulary. Read all sorts of books, and re-read the ones you really liked. What did you like about them? What drew you to them? Try to emulate this in your own writing, while staying true to your own voice and the stories that need to be told.
Azita Crerar
Being my own boss, having the freedom to write about what I want, completely on my own schedule. If the kids are sick, if I have to attend a field trip or what-have-you, then the writing simply pauses.
Azita Crerar
Writer's block has never been a problem for me. If anything, the opposite holds true, with so many ideas pouring in that I have to stem the tide because I don't have time for them all. Once I start a story, it just flows. Occasionally the story dies because the plot doesn't advance, and then I shrug my shoulders and move on to a story that really wants to be told.
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