Ask the Author: Lana Krumwiede
Answered Questions (5)
Lana Krumwiede
This answer contains spoilers…
(view spoiler)
Lana Krumwiede
Hi, Stephanie!
I did think very carefully about how old Taemon should be. When I first conceived of the idea for the story, I wasn't sure if Taemon should be a teenager or a pre-teen. I actually tried writing it both ways, but the teenage Taemon just didn't feel right for a number of reasons. His character begins a certain innocence, a sort of unjaded view of the world that seemed to fit with a pre-teen. I wanted him to be someone who wouldn't be initially thought of as a threat by the adults in his world. Also, the more I wrote, the more I began to feel that the story would work better as a middle-grade novel rather than young-adult. For those reasons, I settled on age twelve for Taemon at the beginning of the trilogy.
The funny thing is that the first time my editor read the manuscript for Freakling, there were a few places where she said Taemon's voice sounded older than in other places. She asked me to rewrite a few things because of that. Those scenes were exactly the places where I had experimented with moving Taemon's age up to a teenager. After I had settled on to having him younger, I made the mistake of not going back and rewriting those portions. I didn't realize that an astute reader would pick up on the nuances in the two voices. I'm not even sure I was aware of the nuances in the two voices--I think I was just writing by instinct. Once my editor pointed them out, I saw what she was getting at. And of course I did rewrite the narration in those scenes to make the voice more consistent throughout.
Thanks for asking such a great question!
I did think very carefully about how old Taemon should be. When I first conceived of the idea for the story, I wasn't sure if Taemon should be a teenager or a pre-teen. I actually tried writing it both ways, but the teenage Taemon just didn't feel right for a number of reasons. His character begins a certain innocence, a sort of unjaded view of the world that seemed to fit with a pre-teen. I wanted him to be someone who wouldn't be initially thought of as a threat by the adults in his world. Also, the more I wrote, the more I began to feel that the story would work better as a middle-grade novel rather than young-adult. For those reasons, I settled on age twelve for Taemon at the beginning of the trilogy.
The funny thing is that the first time my editor read the manuscript for Freakling, there were a few places where she said Taemon's voice sounded older than in other places. She asked me to rewrite a few things because of that. Those scenes were exactly the places where I had experimented with moving Taemon's age up to a teenager. After I had settled on to having him younger, I made the mistake of not going back and rewriting those portions. I didn't realize that an astute reader would pick up on the nuances in the two voices. I'm not even sure I was aware of the nuances in the two voices--I think I was just writing by instinct. Once my editor pointed them out, I saw what she was getting at. And of course I did rewrite the narration in those scenes to make the voice more consistent throughout.
Thanks for asking such a great question!
Lana Krumwiede
I imagine the birth symbols as crude images, kind of like hieroglyphics. When I wrote FREAKLING, I conceived of the birth symbols and the calendar as something that had evolved from the Mayan calendar. It's a very complicated system, and the formula requires more math than I can muster. I have a son who is getting his PhD in mathematics, and he helped me figure out my own birth sign. I'm a knife!
Lana Krumwiede
This is probably the top-ranking FAQ I get at school visits. I never thought much about writer’s block until people started asking me about it. That’s not to say that I never experience it, only that I never really analyzed it before. I’ve heard some writers say there’s no such thing as writer’s block—there’s only writing and not writing. Sounds like something Yoda would say.
Luke: "Master, how do I overcome writer's block?"
Yoda: "Write. Or write not. There is no writer's block."
I’m not foolish enough to argue with Yoda, but the fact that so many people ask about and struggle with writer’s block makes me think there must be something going on. My theory is that writer’s block is not really a block but more like a feedback loop, a message from my subconscious brain to my conscious brain regarding unmet needs. The trick is to find out what my brain is trying to say and then doing something to break the negative loop. Here are the most common messages I get from my brain when I’m struggling to write, along with responses that work for me:
Brain: “This story is not on track. Something is not right.”
Me: “All right then, let’s go back and figure out what went wrong.”
(Alternate response: “Fahgettaboudit! Keep writing.”)
If I’m struggling to write, it could be due to some vague sense that I’ve driven the story into the weeds, or that I’m about to. The reason I’m finding it hard to move forward is that some part of me knows I’m headed in the wrong direction. In that case, I need to spend some time rereading what I’ve written to pinpoint what is making the ground underneath me feel so crumbly. If I can’t figure it out on my own, this might be a time to get feedback from my writing buddies. Over the years, I’ve honed my sense of direction—or in this case, my sense of misdirection—to the point that I can usually determine the nature of the error. If the thing that is off is a big thing (voice or setting, for example), correcting the trajectory now will save time and frustration later. However, if it’s a small thing that’s off, I might be better off having a chat with my brain to reassure myself that it’s all right to keep writing for now. I’ll go back and fix the small stuff later.
My Brain: “We need a break.”
(Please read the entire post on my website: http://www.lanakrumwiede.com/2015/01/...)
Luke: "Master, how do I overcome writer's block?"
Yoda: "Write. Or write not. There is no writer's block."
I’m not foolish enough to argue with Yoda, but the fact that so many people ask about and struggle with writer’s block makes me think there must be something going on. My theory is that writer’s block is not really a block but more like a feedback loop, a message from my subconscious brain to my conscious brain regarding unmet needs. The trick is to find out what my brain is trying to say and then doing something to break the negative loop. Here are the most common messages I get from my brain when I’m struggling to write, along with responses that work for me:
Brain: “This story is not on track. Something is not right.”
Me: “All right then, let’s go back and figure out what went wrong.”
(Alternate response: “Fahgettaboudit! Keep writing.”)
If I’m struggling to write, it could be due to some vague sense that I’ve driven the story into the weeds, or that I’m about to. The reason I’m finding it hard to move forward is that some part of me knows I’m headed in the wrong direction. In that case, I need to spend some time rereading what I’ve written to pinpoint what is making the ground underneath me feel so crumbly. If I can’t figure it out on my own, this might be a time to get feedback from my writing buddies. Over the years, I’ve honed my sense of direction—or in this case, my sense of misdirection—to the point that I can usually determine the nature of the error. If the thing that is off is a big thing (voice or setting, for example), correcting the trajectory now will save time and frustration later. However, if it’s a small thing that’s off, I might be better off having a chat with my brain to reassure myself that it’s all right to keep writing for now. I’ll go back and fix the small stuff later.
My Brain: “We need a break.”
(Please read the entire post on my website: http://www.lanakrumwiede.com/2015/01/...)
Lana Krumwiede
My Top Five Things About Being A Writer:
1. Hanging around with other writers. So fun!
2. Friendships with imaginary people (my characters).
3. Always being on the hunt for new ideas I can use. Keeps things interesting!
4. When a reader tells me how much they enjoyed one of my books or it made them think or it helped them somehow. That makes my day!
1. Hanging around with other writers. So fun!
2. Friendships with imaginary people (my characters).
3. Always being on the hunt for new ideas I can use. Keeps things interesting!
4. When a reader tells me how much they enjoyed one of my books or it made them think or it helped them somehow. That makes my day!
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