Ask the Author: Sara Allen
Answered Questions (8)
Sara Allen
Thank you for asking about the finale of We All Fall Down. Its in the works as I'm currently in the final stages of my next book. as soon as thats is completed, I'll be finishing up with the finale to Peter and Val's story.
Sara Allen
Summer reading list.... that's hard. Indie authors bring out books all the time, so there is always something new to choose. I want to read more of Brittany C. Cherry's Elements series. I have yet to be grabbed by a release for this year from mainstream publishers, the reviews are too mixed for me to really decide. I'd like to read The Wish Granter by C.J. Redwine, which is a retelling, that appears interesting, and annoyingly ebook scarce. I'd be happy for suggestions though!
Sara Allen
For one of my current projects, it was a writing prompt that I read on Pinterest. I cant remember the exact wording, but it was about a necromancer who reanimates works with the police to investigate serious crimes like murder or disappearances.
I went off on an tangent with it, because a prompt can only ever be that. Once you start to think about it, the idea developed. yYou have to fill the plot holes, decide how long it's going to be, who will be the main characters, what they will be like ect.
But I get a lot of ideas from photographs. I recently started writing short stories using a photo as the theme. I posted them on my webpage, along with another author friend of mine. there are four at the moment, but I'm hoping to complete at least a hundred.
I went off on an tangent with it, because a prompt can only ever be that. Once you start to think about it, the idea developed. yYou have to fill the plot holes, decide how long it's going to be, who will be the main characters, what they will be like ect.
But I get a lot of ideas from photographs. I recently started writing short stories using a photo as the theme. I posted them on my webpage, along with another author friend of mine. there are four at the moment, but I'm hoping to complete at least a hundred.
Sara Allen
It usually starts with an image. But sometimes it can be a news headline. For example, I recently read a story about an NFL player who commented on black women and I found it very derogatory. I wondered how I would vindicate myself, against what he said. The outline developed and became a thriller: A plot to set off killing nerve gas in London, a secret society intent on furthering their goals, a double agent, who sets out to fulfil the task, then changes his mind because he falls for the NFL players bereaved fiancee, a missing brother-in-law, and the girlfriend of the double agent who realises that he's not going to carry out the plan and goes off to do it alone.
I'm also a big fan of Pinterest, where I usually go to find muses, places and other inspiration.
I'm also a big fan of Pinterest, where I usually go to find muses, places and other inspiration.
Sara Allen
This answer contains spoilers…
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Sara Allen
Don't give up your dream of becoming a writer, don't let rejection put you off, You have something to say, say it, even if no one is listening. And it doesn't matter how old you are either, just make the best story you can, and put it out there. Remember you could change someone's life.
Sara Allen
I don't know if I would say that its the best thing, but it certainly rates right up there next to "things I love doing". I love that I can get into a story, explore it to the end, see where the characters are going, how their experiences that I'm writing about develop them and change them. I like that I can speak to my page, when no one else wants to listen to me ramble, I can do that on a page, and it never gets bored, or wants to change the subject.
Sara Allen
I notebook. If i'm stuck writing and the words just don't want to come, there's no flow, then i find something else to write about. I'll look at pictures, photographs, anything other than the what I'm supposed to be writing and write something small about that. A few paragraphs, maybe just describe the photo. Or go out, leave everything behind.
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