Ask the Author: Bella Swann
Answered Questions (5)
Bella Swann
Hi Sue, If you are on Twitter, feel free to send me a DM. I will follow you back so that you can. I am @BellaSwannBooks
Bella Swann
I am currently working on a mermaid erotic novella in which a sweet but curious mermaid named Sabrina decides to swim a little too close to human beings and gets to experience humanity in a very up close and personal BDSM way. Watch for The Claiming of Sabrina if you like to see mermaids make a big, sticky splash. ;-)
Bella Swann
1. If you want to be a writer then you must carve out the time necessary for you to write. That might mean saying no to some things that you usually like to spend your time on but sometimes you have to make sacrifices. Most writers don't have the luxury of writing full-time so we have to juggle our "day job" with our passion to write as well as other life commitments.
2. Don't feel that you have to write a specific number of words/day and then beat yourself up if you can't make it because life got in the way. Some people suggest that you make a goal of specific number of words/week. Do what works for you. Sometimes when I am mentally exhausted, I sit down and simply don't feel like writing that day so I take a break and do something else. If writing is your passion, you'll get back to it when you have the energy.
3. It's very important to finish things as even if it's not the best first draft - you cannot edit something that you haven't written yet. If you have problems with grammar and spelling, then find yourself some good editors because it is important to write well.
4. If you find yourself surrounded by complete, grammatically correct stories, but you keep finding reasons to keep rewriting them to make them "perfect," then you need to ask yourself if you are procrastinating putting your work out there because you are afraid of failure. We all get bad reviews - if there's truth in them then fix whatever the problem was but then move on.
5. Don't just write one story and then spend all your time promoting it. Keep writing and don't expect instant success. The more stories out there, the more people will see your work, and the more likely they are to buy and read it.
6. You will get better as a writer the more that you write so write as much as possible. Read books about writing that give you advice about how to be a better writer. Learn from what others have to say because writing is a craft and crafts take time to master.
2. Don't feel that you have to write a specific number of words/day and then beat yourself up if you can't make it because life got in the way. Some people suggest that you make a goal of specific number of words/week. Do what works for you. Sometimes when I am mentally exhausted, I sit down and simply don't feel like writing that day so I take a break and do something else. If writing is your passion, you'll get back to it when you have the energy.
3. It's very important to finish things as even if it's not the best first draft - you cannot edit something that you haven't written yet. If you have problems with grammar and spelling, then find yourself some good editors because it is important to write well.
4. If you find yourself surrounded by complete, grammatically correct stories, but you keep finding reasons to keep rewriting them to make them "perfect," then you need to ask yourself if you are procrastinating putting your work out there because you are afraid of failure. We all get bad reviews - if there's truth in them then fix whatever the problem was but then move on.
5. Don't just write one story and then spend all your time promoting it. Keep writing and don't expect instant success. The more stories out there, the more people will see your work, and the more likely they are to buy and read it.
6. You will get better as a writer the more that you write so write as much as possible. Read books about writing that give you advice about how to be a better writer. Learn from what others have to say because writing is a craft and crafts take time to master.
Bella Swann
The best thing about being a writer is the sense of pure freedom I feel when I am creating a character and stories. I feel as if there is a force moving through me that fills me with joy and gives me energy as I write. When I'm in this moment, I never want to stop writing. It's as if the story is alive and my job is merely to write down what already exists.
Bella Swann
I do sometimes get writer's block. This usually happens when a character refuses to act in the way I want him or her to do. It's frustrating because I want to write a scene in a certain way and the character won't let me. When that happens, I stop writing and go away from my computer a while. I think about the story, the specific scene I'm working on, and my character's personality and motivations. Then I go back and sometimes re-write parts of earlier scenes to give my character the personality or motivation he or she needs to act the way I want him or her to act. However, sometimes, I simply change my ideas about what will happen in the scene and write my character according to his or her whims. That tends to solve the problem of writer's block.
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more