Ask the Author: Joel Arnold
Answered Questions (5)
Joel Arnold
There's no one answer to this. I get inspired by all sorts of things. But when an idea seems great and then it won't let go, even after a couple years, then I know I better write it, or it will drive me nuts!
Joel Arnold
Get it out on paper (or on the keyboard) and don't worry about it being perfect. Your writing will never be perfect, and striving for perfection in a first draft will make it so that you never finish the thing.
Read a lot.
Go to some writer conventions just to see that there are other like-minded folks out there and that you are not alone.
Write some more.
Read a lot.
Go to some writer conventions just to see that there are other like-minded folks out there and that you are not alone.
Write some more.
Joel Arnold
Although I typically write horror, I'm currently working on a sequel to my YA historical novel Ox Cart Angel. It's going slowly, but surely.
Joel Arnold
It's just fun to come up with plots and characters and situations. It's often hard work doing the actual writing and revising, but it's incredibly satisfying at the same time. Especially when your book or story is finished, and you read it a while later and think, Wow! I wrote that!
Joel Arnold
For me, writer's block is more about procrastination and being overwhelmed by a project. You see all the work a novel will take rolling out before you, and you freeze. The way I get through it is to just try not to think about it like that, but write a page at a time. Just worry about the next page, and after that, worry about the NEXT page. Eventually, you're project will be done.
Otherwise, if it's more of a matter of me being stuck on a certain scene, then I'll just go on to a different scene, and usually when I come back to the scene I was stuck on, something will spark in my brain, and I'll be able to get on with it.
Otherwise, if it's more of a matter of me being stuck on a certain scene, then I'll just go on to a different scene, and usually when I come back to the scene I was stuck on, something will spark in my brain, and I'll be able to get on with it.
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