Ask the Author: Ash Night
Answered Questions (15)
Ash Night
I'm no social butterfly, that's for sure, haha! I enjoy talking to people, but I am very introverted. I love my alone time.
Ash Night
No, thankfully not.
Ash Night
I try to focus on one idea at a time, but, as usual, that rarely ever works out. I usually have two projects going on at the same time. I'm getting better at planning a rough plan of how long a project should take from the first sentence to publication so it's easier to deal with more projects as they pop up.
Ash Night
I wouldn't say greatness, but ever since I considered publishing, I knew I was going to make a living being an author.
Ash Night
I really only talk about my projects with my best friend. She's my biggest supporter.
Ash Night
I practically live with headphones in. I have recently starting creating playlists on YouTube with songs that fit my WIPs.
Ash Night
I always find myself rereading Twilight. It's a guilty pleasure read.
Ash Night
My sixth grade language arts teacher asked if I ever thought about getting my work published and from then on, it was all I ever wanted to do.
Ash Night
I would say less. I see people posting work on a popular site for writing and, while there is absolutely amazing work posted, writing of lesser quality in terms of grammar and spelling is more recognized simply because of who or what it's about. Those authors are praised for how steamy they can make a scene or how good-looking a character is even though the character in question is a complete Mary Sue with no flaws whatsoever. As a result, the site is flooded with authors who have no respect for the craft and get insulted when their story flaws are pointed out. It's sad.
Ash Night
My favorite couple is Eli and Clare from a tv show called Degrassi. Clare and Eli start out as your typical good-girl-meets-bad-boy trope but, as their story progresses, they both grow so much as characters. In the final season of their story, they are both making very difficult choices and finding out their lives after high school aren't going exactly as planned. As Eli would say, their story is truly a fairy tale.
Ash Night
I step away from my writing for an hour or two and do other things. I talk to friends, cook, watch TV, go see a movie, read, or go for a walk. I feel that allowing my mind to do something other than write is the key. An author has to go out and experience life to write about it.
Ash Night
For me personally, the best thing about being a writer is interacting with my amazing fans. I'm shy in real life, but if anyone ever wants to come over and just say hi or have me sign something, feel free to talk to me! I love when I hear my work is appreciated. To me, my characters are real people and are almost like my kids so I'm so proud when someone likes them. I think being an indie author gives me more freedom to interact with my fans and I love that. I'd take that over a publishing contract any day.
Ash Night
My advice is to keep writing. I started writing fanfiction, stories based off of characters from books/TV shows/comic books etc, when I was eleven. I gave them to my teacher to read as journal assignments, writing three a week. Most of them were one or two pages at most, but I was very proud of each one. My first original character was a kid named Jake Clue. He was a ripoff of Jigsaw Jones and Nate The Great, but I loved him. He was mine.
I continued writing even after I went from fifth grade to sixth where I gave more stories to my sixth grade English teacher. My English teacher suggested I look into publishing. From there, everything took off. I looked into it from the next three years. My homeroom teacher in eighth grade even let me have a whole class period to myself every day for a few months to devote to it. The class I was supposed to be having, Tech-ed, was difficult because of my disability and having trouble with fine motor skills and this was an amazing substitute!
I tried my hand at traditional publishing for five years, but when that didn't work, I turned to indie, or independent, publishing. Indie publishing makes it harder to get noticed, but it's very rewarding knowing you published something. It took me nine years, but I finally published my first novel and I couldn't be happier!
I continued writing even after I went from fifth grade to sixth where I gave more stories to my sixth grade English teacher. My English teacher suggested I look into publishing. From there, everything took off. I looked into it from the next three years. My homeroom teacher in eighth grade even let me have a whole class period to myself every day for a few months to devote to it. The class I was supposed to be having, Tech-ed, was difficult because of my disability and having trouble with fine motor skills and this was an amazing substitute!
I tried my hand at traditional publishing for five years, but when that didn't work, I turned to indie, or independent, publishing. Indie publishing makes it harder to get noticed, but it's very rewarding knowing you published something. It took me nine years, but I finally published my first novel and I couldn't be happier!
Ash Night
Like many writers, I'm inspired by every day things that happen in my life. I'm also a huge fan of TV and watch for dialogue or even a look one character might give another character that could possibly spark an idea. People-watching is one of my favorite things to do when I'm out in a store or something. Not the creepy-stalkerish kind, but I listen to everything going on around me and try to scout out ideas. I was in a store with my cousin a few moths ago and two men, in their thirties or forties, were stopped in the middle of the store. It was clear they hadn't seen each other in a while and the guy asks the other how he is. The guy responds, "Well, I just found out I'm adopted."
My first thought was what a ridiculous thing to say in the middle of a store! It may have been but it stuck with me. It pays to keep your eyes and ears open.
My first thought was what a ridiculous thing to say in the middle of a store! It may have been but it stuck with me. It pays to keep your eyes and ears open.
Ash Night
My most recent work, a novella continuing Topaz and Juliet's story, was inspired by the song Love Song by Taylor Swift. I was listening to it while at Mcdonalds with a friend a few days ago. In case you don't know, the song centers around a boy falling for a girl named Juliet. It got me thinking about the way Juliet's Lullaby ended so I thought of making an alternate ending to be released next August to celebrate Juliet's Lullaby being published a year later. However, I thought about it, and not wanting to mess with the ending since it's my favorite scene in the book, I decided to make a novella instead. I don't have a release date yet, but I'm just hoping the fans of Topaz and Juliet will like it.
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