Ask the Author: Lorraine Cobcroft
Answered Questions (6)
Lorraine Cobcroft
Sometimes, I just dream a story. I wake up and it's in front of my eyes, as if someone wrote it. and gave it to me to read. But it's just a cloudy vision and I have to run to my office and type as fast as I can to get the important parts down before it disappears. Then I build on it.
Other times, events in my life inspire me to write about the challenges people face and how experiences affect different kinds of people. Or meeting someone and hearing their story might inspire me to write about an imaginary character having a similar experience.
Other times, events in my life inspire me to write about the challenges people face and how experiences affect different kinds of people. Or meeting someone and hearing their story might inspire me to write about an imaginary character having a similar experience.
Lorraine Cobcroft
I walk on the beach. Or I ask my husband for ideas. He is always brilliantly supportive. I never like his story ideas, but hearing them prompts me to think of some of my own.
Lorraine Cobcroft
I just love that people read what I write. I love that people come up to me and say ''I read your book, ----'' and want to talk about it. They tell me it made them think about some issue I wrote about, or changed their perspective, or increased their understanding of another person. I love that I can do that. Writers can ''nudge the world a little''. Hopefully, I can help make it a better place.
Lorraine Cobcroft
Read, read, and read some more. And write, write and write some more. Don't worry whether your writing is good or not. Writers are people who write. Their writing becomes good with practice and learning.
Join a good writers group and/or participate in online critiquing groups to get feedback on your writing. But be thick-skinned! There are some nasty folk out there. Choose carefully who you listen to. They must be both capable of constructive critiquing, and genuinely wanting to help you improve. They should be people who help you build confidence, while giving you honest feedback.
There are loads of good courses out there for would-be writers. Many are free. Look at FutureLearn. Creative Writing Now offers very inexpensive courses and some are excellent.
Finally, get some good writers' software. Don't rely on MS Word. It's great for word-processing, but not for authoring. I love Write It Now, from Ravenshead software. Cheap, excellent quality, well featured and brilliantly supported. Also look at products that do psychological profiles. They are a great help to build believable characters.
Join a good writers group and/or participate in online critiquing groups to get feedback on your writing. But be thick-skinned! There are some nasty folk out there. Choose carefully who you listen to. They must be both capable of constructive critiquing, and genuinely wanting to help you improve. They should be people who help you build confidence, while giving you honest feedback.
There are loads of good courses out there for would-be writers. Many are free. Look at FutureLearn. Creative Writing Now offers very inexpensive courses and some are excellent.
Finally, get some good writers' software. Don't rely on MS Word. It's great for word-processing, but not for authoring. I love Write It Now, from Ravenshead software. Cheap, excellent quality, well featured and brilliantly supported. Also look at products that do psychological profiles. They are a great help to build believable characters.
Lorraine Cobcroft
I'm working on another women's fiction novel, about a young widow whose struggle to find love and happiness leads her through crisis and trauma. Her journey leads her into a dark world from which her only escape is by breaking child protection laws. Enduring poverty, abuse, and terror, she almost gives up on life, only to realize that she could have had it all so easily, if only she had known what she was really seeking.
Lorraine Cobcroft
Two quite separate personal experiences gave me the idea. Though unconnected in real life, I saw potential to create fictional characters who would be involved in both. The first was a legal drama involving a real estate investment I had made. The second was the birth of my grandson, who is a special child. Having close connections to a narcissist, whose passion in live is money and status, I wanted to write about how such people can impact on their loved ones, and how, hopefully, they might be driven to change.
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