Ask the Author: Rivera Sun
Answered Questions (7)
Rivera Sun
Hi Renata, you'll love it. (I hope.) I write the books for everyone, and with an eye to making them also enjoyable for young readers. I've had parents read them aloud with their 4-7 year olds. I've also heard from Veterans for Peace in their 60s read them and love them. Go for it!
Rivera Sun
I don't get writer's block. When I feel stumped, I go for a long walk and mull on the scene. If I'm feeling weary, I just ignore the manuscript for a period of time. I stop watching movies and reading books and sooner or later, boredom sends me back to the manuscript with new ideas and renewed enthusiasm.
Sometimes, writer's block is about not knowing where to go next. If that happens, I recommend stepping back and daydreaming about your scene or thinking about your plot. When it becomes clear where you want to go with the story, ground in the scene. Do a free write on what your characters sense/smell/touch/taste/hear/see. That often "unblocks" the dam that writers can feel.
Sometimes, writer's block is about not knowing where to go next. If that happens, I recommend stepping back and daydreaming about your scene or thinking about your plot. When it becomes clear where you want to go with the story, ground in the scene. Do a free write on what your characters sense/smell/touch/taste/hear/see. That often "unblocks" the dam that writers can feel.
Rivera Sun
The excuse to daydream and wander around in a daze.
Rivera Sun
Write for the love of writing. Be passionate about your stories, and ruthlessly disciplined in your revision and editing process. Challenge yourself. Listen to feedback from a circle of beta-readers. Oh, and go for the less-told stories. When I was working on The Dandelion Insurrection, I got my characters into all sorts of trouble (hidden corporate dictatorships, mass surveillance, extreme censorship) and I didn't know how to get them out of that mess. So I googled, "how to bring down dictators, nonviolently" and found out that people around the world have been using nonviolent action to address the very predicaments my characters were in. That launched an intense period of studying nonviolent struggle, a field of political science that continues to fascinate me - and impact my novels - to this day. Be willing to learn in the process of writing. You won't regret it. It might even change your life.
Rivera Sun
I'm currently working on the third book in Ari Ara's Series. Oh, and the rough outline for the third (long awaited) part of The Dandelion Trilogy. I always have a few projects going at once, particularly as I'm getting a manuscript to print. While I'm editing typos, I work on the rough draft of a new story.
Rivera Sun
Writing is one of my greatest joys. It's a delight to sit down in the mornings with a cup of tea, light a stick of incense, and clear my mind to make space for the story to emerge. Writing is a practice. It takes equal measures persistence and inspiration. But the stories are what inspire me to pick up the pen. A good story begs to be shared, and that's what I do with my novels.
Rivera Sun
The Lost Heir is the second book in Ari Ara's series (after The Way Between). It's a tale of a wonderfully wild, rural child arriving in the intrigues and plots of Mariana Capital. I knew from the start that Ari Ara would turn the city upside down as she saw the injustices of the nobles' society. The idea for the Water Exchange, the water workers, and the tensions with the street urchins came from real life water justice struggles. I live in the Southwest, where water scarcity is a major issue. However, even in water-rich areas, the need to protect and defend the water from pollution, contamination, and overuse is increasing. Novels are a great chance to explore the issues we are facing in our real world, to share ideas, and start to question what's going on.
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Feb 28, 2023 11:16PM · flag