Ask the Author: Ariel Atwell
Answered Questions (6)
Ariel Atwell
I honestly have no idea, although if I had a nickel for every time where someone has said "you should write about" this or that...and then given me a really bad idea!!
Ideas come to me everywhere. Which is really awkward when driving or taking a shower, let me tell you! My creative moment can come at any time. Just ask my girlfriends who were out with me at concert last week, and found me at the bar frantically scribbling dialogue on a napkin. LOL. I don't know where it comes from, but I do know that the more I write, the more I write. Like all the muscles in my body, my creativity is benefits from frequent work outs. I need a Fitbit for my brain...
Ideas come to me everywhere. Which is really awkward when driving or taking a shower, let me tell you! My creative moment can come at any time. Just ask my girlfriends who were out with me at concert last week, and found me at the bar frantically scribbling dialogue on a napkin. LOL. I don't know where it comes from, but I do know that the more I write, the more I write. Like all the muscles in my body, my creativity is benefits from frequent work outs. I need a Fitbit for my brain...
Ariel Atwell
At any given moment, I am working on several projects. Currently, a top priority is the second book in the Cavanaugh Trilogy: Twenty-One Nights, the sequel (stand-alone) to Seven Days.
I am also dabbling with the third book in the trilogy, as yet unnamed. (And no, the next book isn't going to be called Forty-Two Seconds...although I can think of some past boyfriends who might inspire such a title...LOL)
I am also working on a contemporary novel about a woman whose boyfriend breaks up with her via email (inflight wifi!) while she's on an airplane on her way to visit him in Vegas. During the flight, she meets a surfer dude in the seat next to hers who turns out to be a very hot millionaire. As they say, what happens in Vegas...
I am also dabbling with the third book in the trilogy, as yet unnamed. (And no, the next book isn't going to be called Forty-Two Seconds...although I can think of some past boyfriends who might inspire such a title...LOL)
I am also working on a contemporary novel about a woman whose boyfriend breaks up with her via email (inflight wifi!) while she's on an airplane on her way to visit him in Vegas. During the flight, she meets a surfer dude in the seat next to hers who turns out to be a very hot millionaire. As they say, what happens in Vegas...
Ariel Atwell
Just do it. As often as possible. It's like anything....the more you write, the better you will get. And once you've done it, read it out loud. To yourself. To your best friend. To your dog. It's amazing how much you pick up about your writing hearing the written words spoken.
Ariel Atwell
I've been a writer my entire life--first a journalist, then in public relations and today fiction. Writing has allowed me to earn a living which is always a good thing. For me writing is like breathing...a necessity. And there is nothing more satisfying than turning out a paragraph or even a chapter that just works. And nothing more frustrating than not being able to make the words sing the way they should. I try to write books I would enjoy reading. Hopefully others will enjoy as well!
Ariel Atwell
The marketing director of my publisher Loose Id was giving me ideas for ways to generate more interest in my first book Seven Days and suggested I write a promotional short story about a minor character. To say anything more would be too much of a spoiler. I will say that Laurence Heath was one of those characters who wouldn't get out of my head and demanded a story. I really love this character and this book. I hope readers do to. I think it would make a great mini-series!
Ariel Atwell
When I really hit a wall, I put down my pen (or laptop) and do something different that will refill my creativity well. Last week I was having trouble with the opening section of my next book Twenty-One Nights. The hero and heroine were not cooperating. So I took a break and read one of the classic Regencies of all time--Jane Eyre. Of course if JE were written today, Bronte's editor would have made her kill the first third of the book. The story would have started with Jane and Mr. Rochester meeting at the side of the road, or more likely in bed! lol. But in those days readers needed lots of back story and descriptions. They didn't have TV or movies to paint pictures in their minds. Some would not have known what an ocean or a mountain even looked like if they hadn't seen a painting--no photos, no video, no Google. Words were need to tell the stories and paint the pictures of places and things and images we take for granted today.
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