Ask the Author: Dan Hare
Answered Questions (3)
Dan Hare
The best advice I was given was to allow your writing to become your obsession and find the time to write, above all else. Personally, I stopped watching television completely and devoted that time to writing. I used my commute to develop ideas and used my phone as a Dictaphone to capture them.
I often worry that ideas will be lost if I don't write them down as soon as possible. As soon as I start writing, I find I do so for much longer periods than I thought I had the energy for. I find a trick which works for me when I am lacking motivation is to tell myself I will just write for 15 minutes. Without fail, it turns into a significantly longer writing session.
I use a visual aid in planning my work. I draw events, pieces of dialogue and places I want to write about as circles with links showing a linear progression. That becomes the skeleton of my work, with the plot a vehicle for the themes I want to explore. After that, something else takes over and that is when you, as the writer, get moments of pleasant surprise where you didn't see something coming.
I often worry that ideas will be lost if I don't write them down as soon as possible. As soon as I start writing, I find I do so for much longer periods than I thought I had the energy for. I find a trick which works for me when I am lacking motivation is to tell myself I will just write for 15 minutes. Without fail, it turns into a significantly longer writing session.
I use a visual aid in planning my work. I draw events, pieces of dialogue and places I want to write about as circles with links showing a linear progression. That becomes the skeleton of my work, with the plot a vehicle for the themes I want to explore. After that, something else takes over and that is when you, as the writer, get moments of pleasant surprise where you didn't see something coming.
Dan Hare
I am fleshing out the ending to A Dawning, part two of The Procession. Although I wrote the finale a while ago, and I am happy with it, I wanted to add further contrast between the start and end of the book to highlight the growth, or withering, of my characters.
Dan Hare
I felt I had experienced what could be the basis of one hell of a story.
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