Ask the Author: David Clawson
Answered Questions (8)
David Clawson
To be honest, I'm not the expert on this part. I'm also a screenwriter, and my management company in LA handled the selling of the MFGIDQ manuscript. An editor at Sky Pony acquired the book, and they provided the copy editor, cover artist, and such. I may be biased because I'm a professor, but I recommend some sort of writer's group, workshop, or writing class to help you vet the material, then do a little research on the query process. There are tons of resources, and SCBWI is one of the most popular. Good luck!
David Clawson
My immediate thought was Hogwarts. I mean, the invisibility cloak alone. Then I thought the world of Jane Austen. But those characters who are fun to laugh at while reading can be so annoying in real life. So I've ended up on the world created by P.G. Wodehouse. Whether it was Jeeves saving Bertie, or Lord Emsworth worrying over the Empress, I'd grab a beverage and enjoy the hijinks!
David Clawson
Fingers crossed, but I haven't really had to deal with writer's block...yet. Sure, there have been projects that have perplexed and challenged me to no end, but some other idea to try out is usually there, even if it takes me a little time to settle on which to try first. Now finding the focused time for writing...that's a different story. It's challenge #1!
David Clawson
When someone totally gets what you were trying to do.
David Clawson
1) Read. Read. Read. Read. Read. Read. Read. Read. And then read.
2) Write the thing you want to read, especially if you haven't found it yet on the bookshelf.
3) Travel. Try things you're afraid of (within reason!). Understand that everything takes longer than you think it's going to.
4) It's okay to take breaks and try other things, even if you fail miserably at them.
2) Write the thing you want to read, especially if you haven't found it yet on the bookshelf.
3) Travel. Try things you're afraid of (within reason!). Understand that everything takes longer than you think it's going to.
4) It's okay to take breaks and try other things, even if you fail miserably at them.
David Clawson
I have a few things in development, but this summer I'm doing some polishing on a middle grade manuscript called Boo-Humbug (a Halloween reinvention of A Christmas Carol), and outlining a new gay YA rom-com retelling of Pride and Prejudice. And, if there's time, I'm still trying to find the voice for a very different kind of YA project, polish a screenplay, start a second draft of a stage play, and...you get the idea.
David Clawson
My love for reading has to be the biggest inspiration for my writing. That and the ideas that pop into my head -- while driving, hiking, reading...trying to sleep -- that won't go away. I have a terrible memory, even for things I've written, but the odd part is that the forgetting only happens once they get on the page. Until then, they badger me constantly. (Kind of rude, right?)
David Clawson
My Fairy Godmother Is A Drag Queen started as a screenplay called Himderella. I'd been writing romantic comedies with straight protagonists, and I wanted to write a classically structured rom-com with two men falling in love. And since the Cinderella archetype is probably the #1 rom-com jumping off point...Chris, JJ, Coco, and the rest were born.
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