Ask the Author: Deborah Leigh
Answered Questions (7)
Deborah Leigh
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Deborah Leigh
I so wish I could answer this! Alas, there's no way around major spoilers if I do. What I can share, though, is that once I felt "bitten" to tell this story, I felt I had to see it through and am happy I did.
Deborah Leigh
Like many writers, I think the craft chose me more than I chose it. I just get a hankering to express myself in writing, and it presents itself in many ways, whether through snail mail letters to friends, long e-mails, or full-length novels.
Deborah Leigh
I'm working on a standalone sequel to Wake Not the Hangman. We'll see familiar characters, but both books will be able to be read without knowledge of the other.
Deborah Leigh
Not only does being a writer give you a legitimate space to stow all those scenarios that float around in your Writer Head, but, for better or worse, you decide the trajectory of the story. If you don't like a character, you can do more than kill him off. You can just not write him and write somebody else instead. You decide whodunit, in what universe we travel, and why we're...anywhere...in the first place. Within the confines of craft, it is the ultimate freedom.
Deborah Leigh
It's cliché, but write, write, write. Finish your first novel, no matter how discouraged you may get along the way. There's nothing like having a finished product to work with to hone your craft. Finishing also affirms that you can, at a minimum, tell a complete story, one with a beginning, middle, and end. Writing your novel to its natural end is a great confidence booster.
Deborah Leigh
Before I write a story, I know how it will end. I just keep my eyes on the road and aim for that end. Along the way, the road signs keep the story on track.
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