Ask the Author: William Goodson
Answered Questions (7)
William Goodson
I don't have a favorite couple since I tend to focus on the interaction of a man and a woman (or a man and a man, or a woman and a woman), not on the couple itself. In THE BLUE EYED GIRL, David is her husband, but he's important for how she relates to him rather than as half of a couple.
The book that I always fall back on is FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS which is where I learned the word "ciao." They were not a couple per se, but they interacted a lot. THE PRINCE OF TIDES again is not so much a couple as their interaction. I like the interaction in GONE GIRL but I'd never think of them as a couple. It was NOT being a couple that created the story.
The book that I always fall back on is FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS which is where I learned the word "ciao." They were not a couple per se, but they interacted a lot. THE PRINCE OF TIDES again is not so much a couple as their interaction. I like the interaction in GONE GIRL but I'd never think of them as a couple. It was NOT being a couple that created the story.
William Goodson
I think I have a different challenge. Working full time, my challenge is to remember the thoughts that fleet through my mind in the middle of other tasks. I always seem to have a backlog of ideas. What is much more difficult is finding words for characters. I find it easiest to create credible dialog if I have a conversation with an imaginary person and listen to what I've said. Often I will write a dialog and then read it quickly. My mind will recognize were I've gotten stilted. I also use the text-to-speech feature on my laptop.
William Goodson
From real life experience as related to me by many of my patients and friends.This is not the single story of one woman, but rather a kind of composite of the experiences of many women. Parts of the story closely parallel truth because some things I just could not make up. Other events are taken from my own life, but in different context. For example, a lot or what happens from his perspective is taken from events I have seen or heard.
William Goodson
I find things I care about and then try to understand how these things affect the lives of people. Then I try to write a story that reflects how the lives of my characters evolved. I start with something I care about because that gives me the license to have characters say things that might be offensive in another context or in isolation.
William Goodson
I'm not certain where it will lead me, but I've got an opening sentence:
"The police showed up at my 16th birthday party and arrested my grandfather for murder." It's a story about growing up and finding flaws in heroes.
"The police showed up at my 16th birthday party and arrested my grandfather for murder." It's a story about growing up and finding flaws in heroes.
William Goodson
Write about anything and everything all the time, but try not to over plan what you write. Write about your commute to work. Write about the line at the grocery store. Write about a time that sex went poorly. You have to learn to let your mind do the work for you. For most of us, our mind does a much better job if we just let it flow. It's like learning to tie a knot in surgery. You're awkward at first, then it becomes something you can do if you concentrate on it while you are dong it, and then it becomes something that your do without thinking about it. You just do it, and in a way it's very difficult to explain what you are doing. Writing is a place that you arrive at by doing it over and over again.
William Goodson
You get to start with a blank piece of paper - or a new file in WORD - and only you get to fill it up. It is what you think, what you feel, and what you perceive to be the truth of how your characters would behave in specific situations.
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