Ask the Author: Sherrill Nilson
Answered Questions (6)
Sherrill Nilson
On my website I have a little poem I wrote a long time ago about reading that applies double to writing:
An apple, a fat chair, a rainy afternoon.
I'll curl up between these covers
And go wandering through your adventures.
Maybe I'll fall into a page with no ladder
And never come back
In Karda I can fly, look down on the clouds from Sidhari's back, feel the hard push into the saddle when she tilts her wings into a tight turn, the little lurch in my stomach when she pulls up from a fast dive, just skimming the ground after a herd of kurga for our dinner. I an feel anew some of the amazing experiences I have had in my life through my characters' eyes as I recreate them, and feel new challenges I imagine as I get lost in this new world in the endless time of creating when I fall into the book and lose the ladder.
An apple, a fat chair, a rainy afternoon.
I'll curl up between these covers
And go wandering through your adventures.
Maybe I'll fall into a page with no ladder
And never come back
In Karda I can fly, look down on the clouds from Sidhari's back, feel the hard push into the saddle when she tilts her wings into a tight turn, the little lurch in my stomach when she pulls up from a fast dive, just skimming the ground after a herd of kurga for our dinner. I an feel anew some of the amazing experiences I have had in my life through my characters' eyes as I recreate them, and feel new challenges I imagine as I get lost in this new world in the endless time of creating when I fall into the book and lose the ladder.
Sherrill Nilson
I wish I had an answer for that question. Though I don't really often have a block, I have a resistance to sitting my but in the chair, turning on the computer and ignoring Google.
I get stuck in the middle of the book sometimes, and then is when my best critique partner (my sister) and my best Beta Readers get to go to work.
That always gets me started again, excited again. Sometimes you really need to bounce your ideas off someone else and have them bounce ideas back.
I get stuck in the middle of the book sometimes, and then is when my best critique partner (my sister) and my best Beta Readers get to go to work.
That always gets me started again, excited again. Sometimes you really need to bounce your ideas off someone else and have them bounce ideas back.
Sherrill Nilson
Work on your craft from the best teachers you can find--from books, from workshops, conferences, seminars. But always remember--this is your book and if the advice doesn't fit, don't use it. I attended a seminar (two, actually) whose instructors were firm believers in plotting. Serious, work-it-all-out-ahead-of-time plotting. I gave myself an F for both classes. I am an extreme right brain seat of the pants writer. I may have a plot floating around up there in all the empty space in my head--I probably do--but it' nebulous, subject to change, and sometimes hard to pin down. When I do try to pin it down the book hares off in a different direction every time.
What I'm trying to say is, find your own process and honor it. But never stop learning from others. I would love to go back and rewrite the first book with all that I know now, but.........
What I'm trying to say is, find your own process and honor it. But never stop learning from others. I would love to go back and rewrite the first book with all that I know now, but.........
Sherrill Nilson
I'm currently working on Austringer: Adalta Vol II. With two new main protagonists--one of whom was a bad guy in the first book, Galen Danvyl. I am finding him a fascinating person with lots of problems and guilt and awakenings he doesn't want to face. The female character is Tessa, whose Talents were blocked at the death of her mother when Tessa was seven and showed great potential as a Healer. But she couldn't save her mother.
The evil protagonist, Readen, is in prison and has discovered...well, I don't want to say too much and have to label the as spoiler. Wait for it.
The evil protagonist, Readen, is in prison and has discovered...well, I don't want to say too much and have to label the as spoiler. Wait for it.
Sherrill Nilson
Unfortunately if I wait till I get inspired to write, it won't happen. Inspiration is part of the process and the more I sit with my computer, the more often inspiration hits, even if my mind is a complete blank when I start. Often I start with going back over what I've written before, just to get myself back in the world I'm creating. (or the world that is creating itself as i write)
Sherrill Nilson
I'm not really sure where the idea came from. I am a compulsive reader, and I read a lot of fantasy books. I mean a lot. One day I put down a book I just finished and had the terrifying thought that I might run out of good books to read. I enjoy living in fantasy worlds at least for the space of a book, so I thought--why not make up my own world the way I would like it. I sat down at the computer and started writing. The scene I wrote ended up in the middle of the finished book, much changed. The first book took several years--I was learning as I went, and being the kind of person I am I 'didn't read the directions' before I started. It's an inherited trait--I can figure this out. I don't need help. But I did, so I started attending workshops, joined SlugTribe-the long running sic fi/fantasy critique group in Austin where I was living at the time. I've learned a lot, and I am still learning and taking classes and seminars and attending writing academies whenever i can. Hopefully Austringer: Adalta Vol II will go a lot faster as I plan to have it out in January of 2015. And it will be even better, I promise.
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