Ask the Author: Emily White
Answered Questions (2)
Emily White
Rethink your genre. When I started writing, I was convinced that I should be a novelist. I wrote a lot of short stories that turned out well enough, but left me feeling uninspired. Then I read Nickle and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich, and it was like having a light-bulb go on in my brain. I wasn't supposed to be writing fiction -- I was supposed to be to writing *non-fiction.*
I think a lot of us tell ourselves that we have to be a novelist, or a romance writer. But you don't pick your genre. Your genre picks you. So fiddle around -- try non-fiction, fiction, screenplays. You'll know you've found the right genre when you have that "click" moment, and you suddenly realize that *this* is what you're meant to be writing.
I think a lot of us tell ourselves that we have to be a novelist, or a romance writer. But you don't pick your genre. Your genre picks you. So fiddle around -- try non-fiction, fiction, screenplays. You'll know you've found the right genre when you have that "click" moment, and you suddenly realize that *this* is what you're meant to be writing.
Emily White
As a non-fiction writer, the key is to keep doing research. Even if you *think* you'll never make use what you're reading, the tide will turn and you suddenly will be able to use it.
You have to have that material in place so that -- when you feel inspired again -- you can simply start writing as if you never stopped.
You have to have that material in place so that -- when you feel inspired again -- you can simply start writing as if you never stopped.
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