Ask the Author: Joseph Hannay
Answered Questions (5)
Joseph Hannay
The urge to write has been there ever since I was a painfully shy little boy who took refuge in books.
Joseph Hannay
A thriller featuring a psychoanalyst and an innocent, in 1960s Mitteleuropa.
Joseph Hannay
I recognise two different types of writers' block. The first is simply procrastination: doing other stuff - however mundane - instead of writing. If I realise I'm doing that, I get myself a strong coffee, draw the blinds, and don't allow myself to leave my chair for a set period of time (an hour, say, or half an hour). Then miraculously, some writing gets done! The first five minutes may hurt (a little bit), but after that, something happens.
The second type of writers' block is more difficult to overcome. This is the inability to write due to some problem in the current work that needs working out. Experience tells me that this is rarely resolved through sitting at my desk and writing. In fact, the solution tends to come when deliberating doing something else: mowing the lawn, walking the dog, cleaning the bathroom. The unconscious carries on working when I'm away from my desk, and eventually comes up with the answer.
The second type of writers' block is more difficult to overcome. This is the inability to write due to some problem in the current work that needs working out. Experience tells me that this is rarely resolved through sitting at my desk and writing. In fact, the solution tends to come when deliberating doing something else: mowing the lawn, walking the dog, cleaning the bathroom. The unconscious carries on working when I'm away from my desk, and eventually comes up with the answer.
Joseph Hannay
You get paid (albeit not very much!) to make things up. And creative freedom.
Joseph Hannay
Write. It doesn't matter what you write - at least for the time being - just get into the habit of writing. Trust that interesting things will emerge from that process, which you can then revise.
And read. Read, read, read. Read classics, read new writers, read genre. Learn from other writers: what works and what doesn't.
And read. Read, read, read. Read classics, read new writers, read genre. Learn from other writers: what works and what doesn't.
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