Ask the Author: Emily K. Murphy
Answered Questions (7)
Emily K. Murphy
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, because I've loved the Regency Era for ever so long. I honestly think I would stay out of the way - maybe I'd be a maid at Longbourn or Pemberley. So I'd get to watch the story happen without actually being involved.
Emily K. Murphy
The books I didn't finish throughout the year - summer is my catch up time!
Emily K. Murphy
My favorite fictional couple is probably the classic Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy. Their relationship is not based so much on physical chemistry as it is on mental chemistry. It also isn't idealized - it's work for those two to come together, just as real relationships are work.
Emily K. Murphy
The Kissimmee's Newport series is about a girl growing up in a Gilded Age mansion, with all the trappings and traditions of the rich. But she doesn't like having manners - she'd rather have fun! So she embarks on a quest to "rebel," in which she wears pants, climbs trees, and makes friends with the servants. However mad her mother may get, we still like reading about her adventures!
Mary Hartford is a 16 year old girl keeping a diary of her life in Regency England, on the cusp of the Industrial Revolution. Her life begins to change when the estate she lives on is willed to the next of kin: a family called the Lackneys who are so high above Mary she never need worry about them, right? Her diary proves Mary quite mistaken, in matters of opportunities, of money, and of the heart.
Mary Hartford is a 16 year old girl keeping a diary of her life in Regency England, on the cusp of the Industrial Revolution. Her life begins to change when the estate she lives on is willed to the next of kin: a family called the Lackneys who are so high above Mary she never need worry about them, right? Her diary proves Mary quite mistaken, in matters of opportunities, of money, and of the heart.
Emily K. Murphy
By travelling. Even if I'm just riding in a car through an unfamiliar town, I use houses I pass as inspiration. Who lives there or lived there? What do they like to do? Go to that corner shop down the road? Or is that the sketchy corner shop with the on-edge Vietnam vet?
I also get ideas by watching movies. Then I start imagining that story, but slightly different. For example, Mary Hartford is like a Jane Austen story, but from a tenant's point of view. It's also a Charles Dickens type story, but for a younger audience.
I also get ideas by watching movies. Then I start imagining that story, but slightly different. For example, Mary Hartford is like a Jane Austen story, but from a tenant's point of view. It's also a Charles Dickens type story, but for a younger audience.
Emily K. Murphy
I've dealt with writer's block many ways in the past. One of the most effective ways has been to follow one of the storytelling rules of Pixar (http://io9.com/5916970/the-22-rules-o... "When you're stuck, make a list of what WOULDN'T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up."
Of course, the beginning of the list is silly: "Aliens wouldn't show up." "She wouldn't be able to fly away." But as the list goes on, I'll find legitimate conflict-inducing stuff: "It wouldn't start raining while she's stranded." "The killer wouldn't be in her immediate family." That's helped many a major plot point for me.
If that doesn't work, I have a big gun in reserve: my sister. I just ask her what should happen next with very little context. Sure, getting a dog or having a baby isn't foolproof story magic, but it makes for an interesting plot point to work in. And plus, I have to satisfy my sister :)
Of course, the beginning of the list is silly: "Aliens wouldn't show up." "She wouldn't be able to fly away." But as the list goes on, I'll find legitimate conflict-inducing stuff: "It wouldn't start raining while she's stranded." "The killer wouldn't be in her immediate family." That's helped many a major plot point for me.
If that doesn't work, I have a big gun in reserve: my sister. I just ask her what should happen next with very little context. Sure, getting a dog or having a baby isn't foolproof story magic, but it makes for an interesting plot point to work in. And plus, I have to satisfy my sister :)
Emily K. Murphy
The Kissimmee's Newport series has a long, complicated past. It started with a "mystery ride" when I was twelve. Usually these road trips involved ice cream or the park. This time, it was the mansions in Newport, Rhode Island. And boy, was I pissed off.
"So they were rich, so they had big houses, so what?" I complained.
It wasn't until the last house, Marble House, that I started to learn about something other than stone and furnishings. I learned about the etiquette of the Gilded Age. Being twelve (and quite the angry rebel myself, as you can tell), I thought the rules were silly (like changing seven times a day).
On the way home, I started to make up a character who didn't like the rules either - Kissimmee Parr. I didn't want her adventures to end with just one summer, though, so I wrote a second book. Et voila, Kissimmee's Newport: 1895 - Kassie and her Cousin.
"So they were rich, so they had big houses, so what?" I complained.
It wasn't until the last house, Marble House, that I started to learn about something other than stone and furnishings. I learned about the etiquette of the Gilded Age. Being twelve (and quite the angry rebel myself, as you can tell), I thought the rules were silly (like changing seven times a day).
On the way home, I started to make up a character who didn't like the rules either - Kissimmee Parr. I didn't want her adventures to end with just one summer, though, so I wrote a second book. Et voila, Kissimmee's Newport: 1895 - Kassie and her Cousin.
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