Ask the Author: R.F. Bright
Answered Questions (6)
R.F. Bright
I don't believe writer's block is a general condition. I get stuck in a certain spot because I've created a problem for which I cannot see a solution. Usually due to not having truly fleshed out the character associated with that problem. And here's where the fix is.
Because I take notes, make extensive outlines, I can skip the spot where I'm stuck in the manuscript and go to the outline a see where I might jump in ahead of the sticking point, and continue. My story is all worked out in the outline. I can start or stop anywhere along the line.
And if that doesn't work, I start to review and edit so as not to lose any time.
Because I take notes, make extensive outlines, I can skip the spot where I'm stuck in the manuscript and go to the outline a see where I might jump in ahead of the sticking point, and continue. My story is all worked out in the outline. I can start or stop anywhere along the line.
And if that doesn't work, I start to review and edit so as not to lose any time.
R.F. Bright
I can choose who I spend my days with. The people in my head are as real to me as the ones on the street.
R.F. Bright
Sit down and spew. If you're at all talented, you'll see your shortcomings and do the research necessary to get it right. I still have my first 3 novels in a drawer where they cannot embarrass me.
R.F. Bright
A five-part mystery series called: The Gatekeeper's Daughter.
A writer of polite mysteries names a character Clotiel L'Clemont, who's a stripper, then murders her. The author is sued by an actual stripper named Clotiel L'Clemont for loss of revenue. When prospective clients google her they're lead to believe she's dead. Also, if they drill down they come to the author's page and see that the author is not very attractive.
When the stripper's sister is kidnapped, she comes to the author for help, since she's the only person she knows who's capable of puzzling out the crime and bringing the bad guys justice. Along the way, the author is transformed and eventually take over the persona, and name of . . . Clotiel L'Clemont.
I thought it would be a polite mystery, but they're already killing each off and I can't seem to stop them.
A writer of polite mysteries names a character Clotiel L'Clemont, who's a stripper, then murders her. The author is sued by an actual stripper named Clotiel L'Clemont for loss of revenue. When prospective clients google her they're lead to believe she's dead. Also, if they drill down they come to the author's page and see that the author is not very attractive.
When the stripper's sister is kidnapped, she comes to the author for help, since she's the only person she knows who's capable of puzzling out the crime and bringing the bad guys justice. Along the way, the author is transformed and eventually take over the persona, and name of . . . Clotiel L'Clemont.
I thought it would be a polite mystery, but they're already killing each off and I can't seem to stop them.
R.F. Bright
I'm a 2,000 word per day devotee. I write in Scrivener and outline in Scrapple. I constantly 'lift things' from daily life (and TV) and write it down a note book, or right into its place within the Scrivener work flow, so when I arrive at tomorrow's session, I have something to work with.
I get up at 6:00am, coffee and NPR to 7:00. Sit down and go over yesterday's session, taking the momentum to launch today's session. So I don't have to depend on 'inspiration'. I'm an independent author.
I get up at 6:00am, coffee and NPR to 7:00. Sit down and go over yesterday's session, taking the momentum to launch today's session. So I don't have to depend on 'inspiration'. I'm an independent author.
R.F. Bright
I was sued. The trial ended with the judge saying, "You'll be notified in thirty days." I nearly fainted. The only thing that would calm me was to write. So I sat down and spewed as much venom as I could onto the page for thirty days. It was just a rant about injustice and so on.
The rant took shape while attending my Friday night pinball league, at a huge bowling alley. My son had introduced me to the league three years earlier, but tonight a league official asked me to tell my son to stop slamming the machines around when he lost. My son's a Pennsylvania State Trooper and is often stressed to the max, but he always has a Glock on his ankle. So I slapped him on the head and told him to stop. It was awkward and embarrassing.
The official patted me on the back and launched into the history of bad sportsmanship and the violent reactions to losing to an inanimate object; a pinball machine. The lightbulb came on when he explained that in the ultimate of poor loser evil deeds was -- The Dead Slam.
The Dead Slam requires the overwrought player to lift the machine, often by the rails or ball plunger, and slam it to the floor hard enough to kill it.
So there it is. A cathartic rant (I won the suit) and an obscure pinball trope.
The rant took shape while attending my Friday night pinball league, at a huge bowling alley. My son had introduced me to the league three years earlier, but tonight a league official asked me to tell my son to stop slamming the machines around when he lost. My son's a Pennsylvania State Trooper and is often stressed to the max, but he always has a Glock on his ankle. So I slapped him on the head and told him to stop. It was awkward and embarrassing.
The official patted me on the back and launched into the history of bad sportsmanship and the violent reactions to losing to an inanimate object; a pinball machine. The lightbulb came on when he explained that in the ultimate of poor loser evil deeds was -- The Dead Slam.
The Dead Slam requires the overwrought player to lift the machine, often by the rails or ball plunger, and slam it to the floor hard enough to kill it.
So there it is. A cathartic rant (I won the suit) and an obscure pinball trope.
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