Ask the Author: Elizabeth Hein
Answered Questions (4)
Elizabeth Hein
Not at all. When Overlook was published in 2013, I moved forward with another novel; however, Stacia and Kitty wouldn't stay inside the pages of the first book. The inspiration for Escape Plan came to me while I was taking a shower one afternoon while I was scrubbing the grout in my shower. Perhaps it was the fumes from cleaner, but I imagined Stacia sitting on the vanity flicking her cigarette into my husband's sink. She turned to me and said, "If I hadn't written that editorial, I never would have known that Bitsy wore a fall." I couldn't let a statement like that go. I ended up staying up far too late that night outlining what would become Escape Plan. In the end, I was happy to spend another year in Kitty and Stacia's world.
Elizabeth Hein
I experience writers block more as a sense of fear and uncertainly, than a lack of words. When I hit a rough patch in my writing, it's not because I don't know what to write. I always have several stories floating around in my brain. What stops me cold in my tracks is uncertainty about the direction a novel is heading in. Sometimes my characters take hold of the plot and wrestle it out of my hands. That can be quite disconcerting.
The best way I have found to get over a staled project is to put it aside for a bit and work on something else. While the project is resting, I let the issues I had with the plot steep in my subconscious. Eventually, I get a flash of incite, usually while taking a shower or driving down the highway. From there it is more a question of having the courage to slash chapters and rewrite whole sections of a manuscript. I also rely of my critique partners to help me through rough patches. Sometimes, merely talking out a plot problem or story idea over a cup of coffee is all I need to get back on track.
The best way I have found to get over a staled project is to put it aside for a bit and work on something else. While the project is resting, I let the issues I had with the plot steep in my subconscious. Eventually, I get a flash of incite, usually while taking a shower or driving down the highway. From there it is more a question of having the courage to slash chapters and rewrite whole sections of a manuscript. I also rely of my critique partners to help me through rough patches. Sometimes, merely talking out a plot problem or story idea over a cup of coffee is all I need to get back on track.
Elizabeth Hein
Nice to meet you, C. It's good to know there are other New England ex-pats out there. I grew up in MA, but my husband and I lived in the seacoast region of New Hampshire when we were first married. I ate so many lobsters the summer I was pregnant with our first daughter, we joked that she would be born with elastics around her wrists. We had found a guy in Seabrook that sold culls for $1 a pound.
I miss the beautiful summer weather in NH although I don't miss the pipes freezing in our old farmhouse every winter.
I miss the beautiful summer weather in NH although I don't miss the pipes freezing in our old farmhouse every winter.
Elizabeth Hein
Don't give up. Writing is not an endeavor for the faint of heart. Writing a novel is difficult and fraught with setbacks. It is also one of the most rewarding things I've ever done.
My one biggest piece of advice to aspiring writers is to find a good group of critique partners and listen to what they tell you. Your writing friends can seethings in your work that you can not.
My one biggest piece of advice to aspiring writers is to find a good group of critique partners and listen to what they tell you. Your writing friends can seethings in your work that you can not.
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