Ask the Author: Jeanne Felfe
Answered Questions (9)
Jeanne Felfe
Wow, long time. I sent you a PM.
Jeanne Felfe
Right now it would be Edisto in South Carolina because that's what I'm currently reading (Murder on Edisto) and am dire need of a beach. So it's a real world, not a fictional world, but since I can't get there right now it may as well be fictional.
Jeanne Felfe
I finished Things You Save in a Fire a bit ago and loved it. Now I'm reading Murder on Edisto by C. Hope Clark. It's a thriller and I' loving it as well.
I also listed to a LOT of audio books. I just finished Sharp Objects - OMG! Amazing. Listened to Turtles All the Way Down - loved it.
I also listed to a LOT of audio books. I just finished Sharp Objects - OMG! Amazing. Listened to Turtles All the Way Down - loved it.
Jeanne Felfe
I love creating characters and telling their stories. Well, I say "creating" but it's usually more of a process of allowing them to come to life. I often have no idea where they come from, but when they appear, they are ready to tell their story - often loudly. And I must write them.
Jeanne Felfe
My published novel, The Art of Healing, came from a short story I wrote in 2003 for a Writer's Digest contest. I finally pulled it out of the files 10 years later and completed this second chances love story.
My current WIP is actually two completely unique novels, both with connections to Africa.
The first came to me in a flash of an image of a missing teenage boy. When I asked "what happened" the voice of a 14 year old female Somali refugee came in loud and clear. She began telling me her story and I was hooked. I'm about 1/3 of the way through writing "The Things We Do Not Speak Of".
The 2nd was inspired by a trip to Rwanda. While there, the main character's name came to me, but not her story. I had to wait until I'd be home for about 2 weeks before she revealed her story. It begins during the genocide that happened in Rwanda in 1994, but mostly happens in current day. The MC's experience during the genocide are what drives her actions and emotions in current day. I've only just begun this novel with the working title of "Beyond The Mist"
My current WIP is actually two completely unique novels, both with connections to Africa.
The first came to me in a flash of an image of a missing teenage boy. When I asked "what happened" the voice of a 14 year old female Somali refugee came in loud and clear. She began telling me her story and I was hooked. I'm about 1/3 of the way through writing "The Things We Do Not Speak Of".
The 2nd was inspired by a trip to Rwanda. While there, the main character's name came to me, but not her story. I had to wait until I'd be home for about 2 weeks before she revealed her story. It begins during the genocide that happened in Rwanda in 1994, but mostly happens in current day. The MC's experience during the genocide are what drives her actions and emotions in current day. I've only just begun this novel with the working title of "Beyond The Mist"
Jeanne Felfe
Allow yourself to write badly. If you get caught up in making in perfect from the get-go, you'll get stuck and perhaps never finish a piece. There's a thought among writers that anything can be fixed once written, but if nothing is written it can't be fixed.
So bottom line - write, a lot. And READ a lot... not only in the genre(s) you think you'll write in, but in genres removed from what you normally read. You need to read a broad spectrum of writing in order to fully understand pacing, dialogue, plot, character development, etc.
So bottom line - write, a lot. And READ a lot... not only in the genre(s) you think you'll write in, but in genres removed from what you normally read. You need to read a broad spectrum of writing in order to fully understand pacing, dialogue, plot, character development, etc.
Jeanne Felfe
In a number of ways. I belong to a local writers guild and we host contests 6 months out of the year. I make it a goal to entry all of the short story contests and often write a story the day before it's due, but the theme will have been percolating for weeks. By doing this, I'm always writing something even if I'm stalled on my novel.
I've had story ideas come from songs on the radio, from overheard conversations, and basically asking "what if".
I've had story ideas come from songs on the radio, from overheard conversations, and basically asking "what if".
Jeanne Felfe
My current WIP entitled "The Things We Do Not Speak Of" is the story of 14 year old Cadey (pronounced Key-ai-dee) Farmer, a Somali refugee, who finds herself living in the deep south, in a (fictional) small, mostly white, mostly Southern Baptist town. One choice, one decision, changes not only her life but the lives of her family and everyone living in Savannah Falls, South Carolina. A cascade of events stemming from that one decision threatens to destroy the fabric of the community and causes the townspeople to question everything they thought they believed and understood to be true. The struggle for truth, for justice, and for compassion, guide the town to a new way of being.
Jeanne Felfe
If I'm already working on a story and I've stalled, often doing something physical - showering, gardening, walking - will get me unstuck. I often have conversations between characters while digging in the dirt. It just works for me.
If I'm trying to think of a story to write, often I'll let the prompt (I write from story prompts at lot) settle into my brain and do just about anything other than try to force a story. I wrote a short last year that ended up winning 2nd place on the theme of touch. It was a couple of days before the due date and I had nothing, nadda, zip. I walked around the corner of my house and saw a neighbor teen girl hugging another girl and I thought, "What if?" and my story "The Silent Lie" was born. It's a highly emotional story I've dedicated to an older cousin who passed decades ago from what we now know of as Aids.
If I'm trying to think of a story to write, often I'll let the prompt (I write from story prompts at lot) settle into my brain and do just about anything other than try to force a story. I wrote a short last year that ended up winning 2nd place on the theme of touch. It was a couple of days before the due date and I had nothing, nadda, zip. I walked around the corner of my house and saw a neighbor teen girl hugging another girl and I thought, "What if?" and my story "The Silent Lie" was born. It's a highly emotional story I've dedicated to an older cousin who passed decades ago from what we now know of as Aids.
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