Ask the Author: Lorina Stephens
Answered Questions (10)
Lorina Stephens
It was ridiculous to stand here on the other side of the basement door, because everyone knew you don't open the basement door. But she did anyway.
Lorina Stephens
Now, that's a difficult question, because there is a supposition there I'd want to travel elsewhere than where I am. And the answer to that is, no. I have no desire now that I'm well-entrenched in the realm of senior citizen, to travel anywhere, let alone somewhere fictional.
By now I've come to know the world I've created right here at The Old Stone House is rather idyllic, a haven, and that I am privileged and fortunate to not only be able to state that fact, but experience it.
It has been a long road to here. Lots of hard work, some bitter lessons, some remarkable triumphs. This historic house, and historic piece of land, for the next few decades has me and my beloved to act as guardians. I am content.
By now I've come to know the world I've created right here at The Old Stone House is rather idyllic, a haven, and that I am privileged and fortunate to not only be able to state that fact, but experience it.
It has been a long road to here. Lots of hard work, some bitter lessons, some remarkable triumphs. This historic house, and historic piece of land, for the next few decades has me and my beloved to act as guardians. I am content.
Lorina Stephens
Recently finished The 100-Yea-Old Man Who Cimbed Out the Window and Disappeared, by Jonas Jonasson; Above All Things, by Tanis Rideout; And the Mountains Echoed, by Khaled Hosseini, and am currently reading Adult Onset, by Ann-Marie MacDonald.
Lorina Stephens
Anne Elliot and Captain Frederick Wentworth in Jane Austen's Persuasion.
My adoration of the couple isn't based on any sort of literary excellence, rather an indulgence in things romantic, the fact Anne and Frederick have loved each other for so long, without hope, counselled by well-meaning individuals to avoid any sort of romantic liaison. It's their steadfast love and regard of one another I continue to find compelling after all these years.
My adoration of the couple isn't based on any sort of literary excellence, rather an indulgence in things romantic, the fact Anne and Frederick have loved each other for so long, without hope, counselled by well-meaning individuals to avoid any sort of romantic liaison. It's their steadfast love and regard of one another I continue to find compelling after all these years.
Lorina Stephens
Wait. And don't give up. People seem to think if you're not actually physically sitting at a desk, pounding the keyboard or scribbling on paper you're not actually writing. Nerts to that. Thinking is writing. The actual physical process of putting down those thoughts is only the end result, like taking the bread out of the oven after all those hours of mixing, rising, shaping and then finally baking.
Lorina Stephens
There's a best thing? Sweet saints preserve us this is hard work, without glory, with little recompense for the average, done is isolation and through grim determination, in the face of enormous rejection and self-doubt. But when you're done there's that moment which usually comes years later, and you happen upon a passage which seems suddenly fresh and foreign, and you smile, in isolation, because damn that was good.
Lorina Stephens
Stop reading about how to write and just write. Write honestly. Write your own story, not one you think you should write, or you think will sell, or what someone else tells you to write. Write for yourself.
Lorina Stephens
Ah yes. My magnum opus. The answer to that is a novel I've entitled The Rose Guardian. Stripped down to a simple overview, it's about a woman dealing with the death of her mother. But life is rarely simple, and thus the story is told through three narratives, that of the daughter, that of the mother through the journals she leaves her daughter, and a seemingly unrelated dark fantasy from the perspective of a little girl.
Lorina Stephens
Life. It's that simple. Writers who complain about lack of inspiration, in my opinion, simply haven't lived, or lived long enough. Stories abound. The real problem is having time to write it all.
Lorina Stephens
My most recent novel would be From Mountains of Ice. I was fascinated by the concept of a reluctant, middle-aged hero, a man who just wanted to retire into anonymity and forget the troubles of a high-profile life.
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