Ask the Author: Rolf Margenau
Answered Questions (9)
Rolf Margenau
Classified -- baby shoes for sale. Never used.
Rolf Margenau
The German War, SPQR
Rolf Margenau
I have no single favorite book. If we're talking humor, it's the Jeeves series by P.G. Wodehouse, can't beat Mary Shelley when it comes to horror, John Updike's Rabbit series are terrific social commentary, and for beautifully constructed story telling I like Ian McEwan's Amsterdam and Atonement. But, put a gun to my head and force me to select one author - it would hands down be Bill Shakespeare. He wrote everything first and better than almost anything that came after.
Rolf Margenau
Follow the guidance of good editors like Sol Stein and Bill Walsh (each has two excellent books). Write four pages a day, put them aside for two months and reread to prove to yourself that every first draft needs scrupulous editing.Be lucky.
Rolf Margenau
Being in control and discovering all the things that pour from your head during the writing process.
Rolf Margenau
I hit it on the head, drag it into the shower and drown it.
Rolf Margenau
It's a novel tentatively called National Parks about what happens when Congress decides to privatize our national parks. Basically it's satirical and takes current idiocies in both political parties to task. Of course, lobbyists. legislators and the political fringes are fine fodder for this sort of story. Wylie Cypher's granddaughter, Portia, is a heroine and Wylie, in his early eighties plays a role.
Rolf Margenau
When it is raining and I don't want to go outside, and when I wake up at 3 am with plot lines or characters buzzing in my head. A glass of wine also helps.
Rolf Margenau
I was trying to address the issue of inequality (income, education, future prospects) in the USA and decided to use the situation in Peru in the 1980s as a mirror of what could be happening here soon. I added my perennial hero, Wylie Cypher, to the situation and discovered I was writing an action/adventure/thriller novel. Who knew?
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