Ask the Author: Julia Webb
Answered Questions (6)
Julia Webb
I was interested in exploring the way that people (especially children and families) relate to each other. One of the sequences in the book was inspired by a book of paintings and photos of early American circuses. Some of the paintings were quite odd - this inspired me to write about a family relationship using circus as the theme.
Julia Webb
I have been working on a series of new and more experimental poems, which I quite excited about. I am also about to become writer in residence at a local market for a month and hopefully this will generate some new and interesting work.
Julia Webb
I am lucky that I don't get writer's block that often, but when I do I do morning pages. Morning pages was a technique that I learned from Julia Cameron's book The Artist's Way - basically you just write several pages of freehand writing when you get up in the morning (I sometimes do it later in the day if I am busy). It doesn't matter what you write - sometimes I write to do lists, sometimes I rant or moan, sometimes I write affirmations, sometimes I write about books I have been reading - the idea is to just keep the hand moving. I don't know how or why it works, but for me morning pages are a kind of magic - I do them for a few days and I suddenly find myself writing at other times of day as well.
My other tried and tested technique is to read something inspiring - I have particular poets and collections that I go to when I feel the need. I also find that for some reason if I am reading a lot of fiction it can make my creative well dry up - no idea why.
My other tried and tested technique is to read something inspiring - I have particular poets and collections that I go to when I feel the need. I also find that for some reason if I am reading a lot of fiction it can make my creative well dry up - no idea why.
Julia Webb
I just love writing, and (and this may sound cliched), I would write whether I was published or not. I wrote for years and years without being published. It was only about ten years ago that I began to write more seriously and started going on courses and workshops. I suppose for me the best thing is the actual initial creative burst where I write my ideas - this is the exciting bit - then comes the hard work: typing up, editing, workshopping, re-editing and sending the work out. It is also lovely when you do a reading and some one tells you they love your work.
Julia Webb
Don't be too keen to get into print straight away. Get as much experience as you can. Practice your craft, learn from other writers, if you can afford it go to workshops, read books about how to write and edit. Editing is skill everyone should learn - it can turn a good poem into a great one. My main advice though is read, read, read - read widely - if you want to write poetry read as much and as many different types of poetry as you can. Read cover to cover, observe styles used, how the words and lines work together, the internal rhythms, and look at how the poems in a collection work together - collections aren't just thrown together - the writer will usually have worked hard on finding the right order and the poems may riff off of each other, work chronologically, or explore particular themes.
Julia Webb
Lots of different things inspire me to write, but one of my main sources of inspiration is reading. Reading a really exciting poetry collection can make me want to write myself. There are lots of other things that inspire me too of course - art, places, stories I've heard, family, workshops I've been on - the list is endless.
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