Ask the Author: Raoul Wientzen
Answered Questions (6)
Raoul Wientzen
I'm loathe to say this, but i've never had writer's block. I've written four compete novels (only 2 of which have i shared with anyone to date) and about twenty percent of a fifth, and have not yet run dry. Here's hoping that won't change.
Raoul Wientzen
For me, the best thing about writing is the synthesis it affords. It allows me to bring together, and make sense of, and use, so much of what i have experienced in my life, from family and friends, from work and avocation, from my spiritual journey, everything goes into the writing.
Raoul Wientzen
My advice for aspiring writers is to write or do revision two to four hours most days of the week, or try to write about 1000 new words a day most days of the week. I also would recommend attending workshops that bring aspiring writers together, not only to get professional and lay critiques of your work in progress, but to become part of a writing community. Many states have state-wide writers' associations which in turn often have local chapters. But the most important thing is to write and to think of writing as a long-term commitment, not a short-term goal.
Raoul Wientzen
I have a completed manuscript in the hands of my agent, and right now i and roughly 19,090 words into another novel that has kept me up at night, which is a good thing....
Raoul Wientzen
I either read poetry for a brief while before i begin my day's writing, or sometime i listen to music. When i was writing The Assembler of Parts, every day i listened to the same several songs by Eva Cassidy (and that's where one of the main character's name comes from, in fact! Joe Cassidy.) I find music and poetry exert a concentrating effect on my words, distilling them down to something i hope is like musical notes or poetic phrases.
Raoul Wientzen
The idea for The Assembler of Parts came from my clinical life caring for sick children. For 35 years i dealt with pediatric sickness, pain, death and family sadness on a weekly basis. It made me reflect on the imperfection in creation, this suffering of innocents, much as a college course i took in 1965 or 1966 had, The Problem of God. The Assembler of Parts is an effort to put my constructs into words.
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