Ask the Author: Meg Amor
Answered Questions (3)
Meg Amor
I'm working on several things. I like to have different projects in different stages. I've started writing pieces of Hawaiian Fragrance and Hawaiian Ginger as they filter in from the Muses. I'm also putting The Chi Circle which is Book 2 of the Troika Trilogy into edit for publication soon.
Meg Amor
Don't listen to all the rubbishy 'rules' in writing, otherwise you'll feel defeated before you even start.
"You must write every day as a writer." No, that doesn't work for everyone. Maybe for the plotter writers, but not the pantsers.
Establish early on whether you're a plotter or pantser writer and stick with with works for you. Don't take plotter advice if you're a pantser and vice versa. It's death to your creativity.
Write 'hot.' i.e. If a scene is running hot, don't wait to get it down, or fill in all the 'boring bits.' Just write the 'hot' part of the scene and go back later to fill in around it.
Write when it works best FOR YOU. My best writing hours are always been about 11 at night and 5 in the morning. I don't write well in the daylight.
Don't let one person's stupid opinion be 'the law' on writing. There can be a lot of naysayers out there. I have an author I work with who was recently told her work was 'too dark.' Rubbish. People like Karin Slaughter and Jeffery Deaver write 'dark' stories and they're fabulous.
My favorite story from a 'don't listen to other people' tale.
Years ago, someone I knew in a group I was in (and she was a psychic - so this sort of makes it even funnier in a way. This is one prediction she missed by a mile.) She was in the navy in Britain and she was talking to a young guy she served with. She said to him, "What are you going to do when you get out of the navy?"
He said, "I'm going to be an actor. I'm going to get into films."
She said, "You never are! They won't take you with that accent. You'll have to change it." And practically laughed in his face.
Well, luckily the young guy Sean... didn't listen to her and Sean Connery went on to have a very successful career in the movies. LOL.
Let your characters do their own thing, they know the story better than you do. Just get ready to take dictation really fast. :)
"You must write every day as a writer." No, that doesn't work for everyone. Maybe for the plotter writers, but not the pantsers.
Establish early on whether you're a plotter or pantser writer and stick with with works for you. Don't take plotter advice if you're a pantser and vice versa. It's death to your creativity.
Write 'hot.' i.e. If a scene is running hot, don't wait to get it down, or fill in all the 'boring bits.' Just write the 'hot' part of the scene and go back later to fill in around it.
Write when it works best FOR YOU. My best writing hours are always been about 11 at night and 5 in the morning. I don't write well in the daylight.
Don't let one person's stupid opinion be 'the law' on writing. There can be a lot of naysayers out there. I have an author I work with who was recently told her work was 'too dark.' Rubbish. People like Karin Slaughter and Jeffery Deaver write 'dark' stories and they're fabulous.
My favorite story from a 'don't listen to other people' tale.
Years ago, someone I knew in a group I was in (and she was a psychic - so this sort of makes it even funnier in a way. This is one prediction she missed by a mile.) She was in the navy in Britain and she was talking to a young guy she served with. She said to him, "What are you going to do when you get out of the navy?"
He said, "I'm going to be an actor. I'm going to get into films."
She said, "You never are! They won't take you with that accent. You'll have to change it." And practically laughed in his face.
Well, luckily the young guy Sean... didn't listen to her and Sean Connery went on to have a very successful career in the movies. LOL.
Let your characters do their own thing, they know the story better than you do. Just get ready to take dictation really fast. :)
Meg Amor
I sit back and see if I'm trying to make my characters do something they don't want to do. Or trying to put something in a story that doesn't belong there. Usually, I'm not 'blocked' per se. It's my brain stopping me from doing something in a book that is not right. If I can't figure out what isn't right. I skip around it and write other chapters or scenes and come back to it. But it's usually because I'm trying to make something happen that doesn't work for the story or my characters.
Meg Amor
I sit back and see if I'm trying to make my characters do something they don't want to do. Or trying to put something in a story that doesn't belong there. Usually, I'm not 'blocked' per se. It's my brain stopping me from doing something in a book that is not right. If I can't figure out what isn't right. I skip around it and write other chapters or scenes and come back to it. But it's usually because I'm trying to make something happen that doesn't work for the story or my characters.
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