Ask the Author: Christa MacDonald
Answered Questions (6)
Christa MacDonald
In college I wrote what was probably one of the best short-stories in my life. It was one of those strange. serendipity things. The story came to me as I was writing something else. I started a fresh document and boom, out came the words. I was in an intensive workshop at the time with a professor I loved and I ended up submitting that story instead of the one I'd been working on for weeks. It was peer reviewed first and it floored my fellow students. The prof was effusive in her praise and I was thrilled. At the time I didn't back up my stuff. This was the dark ages of the 90s so we used shared computers and you turned in actual paper copies, not disks. (yes, at the time we had disks, not drives). Somehow I had failed to save an electronic copy of it and only had three paper copies. One got lost in the shuffle of class, the other two were supposed to be in my prof's office. When I let her know I'd lost it she helped me look and found the folder, the exact spot where they should be, but it was empty. No one else's was missing, just mine.
Devastation.
I've tried to recreate that dang story for years. It's gone. It's so strange that it came to me unbidden and then disappeared as if it never existed. I've thought that could make an interesting plot if it was a business plan or some other kind of high-stakes document like the Naval plans in that Holmes story.
It kind of haunts me still. Garrison Keillor wrote about losing work he'd been contracted by the New Yorker to write "The lost story shone so brilliantly in dim memory that every new attempt at it looked pale and impoverished before I got to the first sentence."
That about sums it up.
Devastation.
I've tried to recreate that dang story for years. It's gone. It's so strange that it came to me unbidden and then disappeared as if it never existed. I've thought that could make an interesting plot if it was a business plan or some other kind of high-stakes document like the Naval plans in that Holmes story.
It kind of haunts me still. Garrison Keillor wrote about losing work he'd been contracted by the New Yorker to write "The lost story shone so brilliantly in dim memory that every new attempt at it looked pale and impoverished before I got to the first sentence."
That about sums it up.
Christa MacDonald
Tough one. But, I'd probably say Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth from Persuasion. Anne has a strength of character that too few admire. Wentworth, besides being a self-made man, was constant in his affection even when he thought it wasn't returned. Sure he acted like an idiot with the Musgrove girl, but I can forgive that.
Christa MacDonald
The sequel to The Broken Trail. It's going to have one of my favorite quotes in it - "No Reserves, No Retreats, No Regrets" - William Borden.
Christa MacDonald
Read everything in your genre. Get on social media and follow other authors, editors, and agents. Pay attention when they are dispensing advice. It's like going to a writer's conference for free.
Christa MacDonald
I write my way out of it. It's the only thing that works for me. Putting my fingers on the keyboard and tapping out whatever occurs to me, even if it's abject poo. Eventually the muse comes back and I'm on a tear again.
Christa MacDonald
It's usually out of the blue. I'll be in line at Market Basket, zoning out while watching the total climb (I have teenagers) and boom, in comes an idea. The tricky bit is holding onto it until I have a chance to write it down. Sometimes ideas stew in my head for weeks before I bother getting them on paper.
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Oct 12, 2017 11:01AM · flag
Oct 12, 2017 11:39AM · flag