Barbara’s Comments (group member since Sep 21, 2010)

Barbara’s comments from the Q&A with Barbara Richardson group.

I'm sure it is not too late! Truthfully, when you start older the "prep" years compress a bit. You're bringing all of your confidence, relaxation and knowing to the page. And cranky unstoppable-ness. Glad you're off and writing.

Luckily, several of the people in the book knew they were models for characters before I published. Many gave notes to help me with plotting and character development. All of the characters in "Guest House" are composites, so hopefully the negative aspects weren't recognizable to their perps! You have to feel free to let it all hang out. We're all flawed and gifted, so I hope the characters had some sympathetic as well as difficult traits and behaviors. It will be interesting to write a character straight out of life, and then answer your question! Thanks for asking.

Browsing Goodreads, I'm always happy to see other readers who love the writers I love. Books, yes, I fall for them but it is the writer's sensibility that really drives deep for me. It's like I have a permanent crush on them, their tenderness and insight and bravery in being alive.

First in my heart are E.M. Forster, Willa Cather and George Eliot. I swoon. They deliver from beyond the grave.

As for chocolate, whose virtues are many, Chocolove Almonds and Sea Salt. Oh, my.

Where fact and fiction meet. I've posted a great many blogs about the book, but would be happy to answer questions about characters, settings, inspiration. Just ask.

What does the writing life feel like? And when it feels lousy, what do you do?

I'm not sure there are ways to make the learning curve shorter in becoming a fiction writer. It took me 18 years to get a novel published. The first ten years did not feel comic, but I could have made a good comic book spread: clinched woman pouring over antique dictionaries and special collections sources trying to get the period in her period piece. These novels now reside in a box in a closet somewhere. I don't even know which closet!

If you are just setting out to write, give yourself a nice padding of years. I think of the early years as gatekeepers. If you don't push past them, and all of the ferocious demands they make on you, you don't get inside. Inside = pure singing, simple singing, letting your hair down all over the pages.

I am interested in the magic a book creates for readers, and what the main ingredients are for that lovely absorption into the writer's world we all seek when we read.

What elements make a book paradise for you? Introduce yourself and tell us what you love to find when you open a new book.