Ask the Author: Bethany Fine
Answered Questions (6)
Bethany Fine
I don't ... at least, not very well. I was blocked most of the day today. On an average day I can get about thirty-six hundred words onto the page. That's roughly ten pages. On some of my "on fire" days, I've hit upwards of twenty-five thousand in a single day. Days like today, however, when I'm distracted by the spring weather, all the contacts I made at my most recent writer's festival, and all the new story ideas that pop into my head I could barely eek out a thousand words.
I took the time to friend those contacts on Facebook and follow them on Twitter. I jotted down all the story ideas on my notebook, I rode my stationary bike for an hour, and I closed the blinds to this beautiful spring day and forced myself to focus. Nothing much came of it, but I know, now that I've set aside all the distractions, tomorrow will be a more normal day.
I took the time to friend those contacts on Facebook and follow them on Twitter. I jotted down all the story ideas on my notebook, I rode my stationary bike for an hour, and I closed the blinds to this beautiful spring day and forced myself to focus. Nothing much came of it, but I know, now that I've set aside all the distractions, tomorrow will be a more normal day.
Bethany Fine
I love to tell stories. I always have. I think that's part of the reason painting drew me in so quickly. I'm a visual person, and they say a picture is worth a thousand words. The stories I could tell through a painting were all my own. Now I tell stories through words. The format might have changed, but the feeling is the same.
Bethany Fine
You just have to do it. Put aside the excuses and carve a time you can sit down and write every day. Even if it's only a half-an-hour, as long as that time is yours and free from the distractions of the world around you (your kids, the bills, that phone call you forgot to make this morning), you'll eventually get there. As John Steinbeck says ... it really is about showing up every day and doing the work. There isn't much more to it than that.
Bethany Fine
I am struggling between two full-length novels at the moment. I don't want to give too much information away, but they are both about half finished. Writing novels is so much more difficult than the one-shot shorts most of us see.
Bethany Fine
I just look around the world. There are so many people doing so many things that I can't help but to think, "What if...?" That's usually all it takes.
Bethany Fine
Past experience. Way back in my teens I had a boyfriend who did to me what Matthew does to Heather. It was such a turn on to be so close to being caught by my parents. Alas, things change in the course of telling a story, but nonetheless, art often imitates life and vice versa.
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