Ask the Author: Karen M. Dillon
Answered Questions (7)
Karen M. Dillon
Currently reading The Devil is a Part-Timer series by Satoshi Wagahara
Also on my to read list for this year is:
Pretty Broken Things by Melissa Marr (currently waiting for this one to be released)
The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo
Kizumonogatari by Nisioisin
Also this year I will be alpha-reading, beta-reading, proof-reading and editing a WIP called The Summoner by Josh Brookes
Also on my to read list for this year is:
Pretty Broken Things by Melissa Marr (currently waiting for this one to be released)
The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo
Kizumonogatari by Nisioisin
Also this year I will be alpha-reading, beta-reading, proof-reading and editing a WIP called The Summoner by Josh Brookes
Karen M. Dillon
I think that the best thing about being a writer is always having a full cast of characters (sometimes from various different stories) all living inside your head. It's like having a box overflowing with toys you can constantly play pretend with (but they're also toys that you never have to physically clean up when you're done)
You always have these characters in your mind to play out a story to keep you entertained when you're bored.
Their stories can make you smile when you feel sad.
They keep you company when you're lonely.
And their voices help you plead insanity when you need to get away with murder...
(just kidding about that last part... or am I? =P )
You always have these characters in your mind to play out a story to keep you entertained when you're bored.
Their stories can make you smile when you feel sad.
They keep you company when you're lonely.
And their voices help you plead insanity when you need to get away with murder...
(just kidding about that last part... or am I? =P )
Karen M. Dillon
I don't deal with writer's block very well at all.
I'm the sort of person who feels like if it's too hard to do, I just procrastinate forever until eventually I have nothing left to procrastinate with... then I just take a nap or binge watch TV.
But then the longer I'm stuck on something the less I feel like writing anything at all... and then I just binge watch more TV and feel even less like doing anything... it's a pretty vicious cycle.
Though, the one thing I have learned about dealing with writer's block is that the only way to overcome it is to literally just do it. Sometimes the best thing is to just sit there and force yourself to write through the hard parts, and if it comes out crappy so what, just get it done and fix it later.
And sometimes if you have a good flow going while you’re writing and get stuck on a scene, the best thing to do it not stop writing because that’s when that vicious cycle starts. You just skip on to the next scene (or the next scene you can visualise in your mind) and write on from there, then go back and fill in the blanks later.
There's probably easier ways to deal with it, but those are the only methods I know.
I'm the sort of person who feels like if it's too hard to do, I just procrastinate forever until eventually I have nothing left to procrastinate with... then I just take a nap or binge watch TV.
But then the longer I'm stuck on something the less I feel like writing anything at all... and then I just binge watch more TV and feel even less like doing anything... it's a pretty vicious cycle.
Though, the one thing I have learned about dealing with writer's block is that the only way to overcome it is to literally just do it. Sometimes the best thing is to just sit there and force yourself to write through the hard parts, and if it comes out crappy so what, just get it done and fix it later.
And sometimes if you have a good flow going while you’re writing and get stuck on a scene, the best thing to do it not stop writing because that’s when that vicious cycle starts. You just skip on to the next scene (or the next scene you can visualise in your mind) and write on from there, then go back and fill in the blanks later.
There's probably easier ways to deal with it, but those are the only methods I know.
Karen M. Dillon
I guess I'd say that you should always write for yourself.
Writers write because they have a story to tell and writing is the medium they love to tell it through.
The moment that writing becomes hard, or when you feel like you want to give up, that's the moment when you stopped writing because it was something that you loved.
So don't write for readers (readers are just a bonus if you happen to get some), don't write because you feel obliged to do it, don't write for any reason other than the love of telling stories.
Write because it's what you love to do. Write a book for yourself, and as long as YOU love the story you've become a successful writer.
Writers write because they have a story to tell and writing is the medium they love to tell it through.
The moment that writing becomes hard, or when you feel like you want to give up, that's the moment when you stopped writing because it was something that you loved.
So don't write for readers (readers are just a bonus if you happen to get some), don't write because you feel obliged to do it, don't write for any reason other than the love of telling stories.
Write because it's what you love to do. Write a book for yourself, and as long as YOU love the story you've become a successful writer.
Karen M. Dillon
Sometimes to help me get to sleep I pick some characters from my books and think up weird situations and place them in it just to see how the story pans out.
The most recent scenario I had was, 'What would happen if instead of Jamie being a Vampire and them meeting in Sam's time, if I put Sam in his life when he was still human?' And from there my imagination kinda spiralled out of control and it became this whole new thing where they weren't even themselves anymore and there was this creepy evil monster in the woods thing happening... so yeah. That's where that one came from.
(The story is called Something Wicked, and is currently in the VERY early stages of being written.)
The most recent scenario I had was, 'What would happen if instead of Jamie being a Vampire and them meeting in Sam's time, if I put Sam in his life when he was still human?' And from there my imagination kinda spiralled out of control and it became this whole new thing where they weren't even themselves anymore and there was this creepy evil monster in the woods thing happening... so yeah. That's where that one came from.
(The story is called Something Wicked, and is currently in the VERY early stages of being written.)
Karen M. Dillon
The Immortal Souls series... which is usually always the answer to what I'm working on because there's so much going on in that world I'll probably be working on something in that series until the end of time...
Karen M. Dillon
I don't get inspired to write so much as I get completely overwhelmed with an intense need to clear out space in my head.
The only way I've found to clear my thoughts it to write the jumble down, and a lot of the time there just happens to be a story lurking within the madness.
And once I see the beginnings of a story written down somewhere, I get a little obsessed with the idea of making it complete and tangible, and through a large amount of stubbornness (which is always broken up with long periods of procrastination) I eventually managed to get something finished enough to call a story.
The only way I've found to clear my thoughts it to write the jumble down, and a lot of the time there just happens to be a story lurking within the madness.
And once I see the beginnings of a story written down somewhere, I get a little obsessed with the idea of making it complete and tangible, and through a large amount of stubbornness (which is always broken up with long periods of procrastination) I eventually managed to get something finished enough to call a story.
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