Ask the Author: Lucy Leitner
Answered Questions (5)
Lucy Leitner
When I was in college, I had a friend who was a huge Phish fan. I gave him an oil painting of Trey Anastasio for his birthday that we celebrated at another friend's house. The paint wasn't dry yet, so he planned to leave it there for a couple days before taking it home. Well, the next night a roommate threw a party at the house and the painting disappeared. I was a victim of an art theft, probably a crime of opportunity by a drunk person rather than an elaborate heist. For the next two years of college, we all scoured every house near campus when attending parties, hoping to catch a glimpse of the painting. We never did. What Phish fan stole the painting?
Lucy Leitner
Get as much experience as possible. Find freelance work writing in different disciplines. Even if it's technical writing and not fiction — or the genre about which you're passionate — it's still getting the reps in. You'll learn to control wordiness and to ensure you're using active voice by writing ad copy or SEO articles. It's all helpful.
Write what you know, especially in your first book. That lets you focus on the writing.
And read. A lot.
Write what you know, especially in your first book. That lets you focus on the writing.
And read. A lot.
Lucy Leitner
I write every night before falling asleep, as that is apparently the time that I'm most creative. As soon as the words stop flowing and I hold my pen idly, I stop for the night. The next night, the words are back and I write until they disappear again.
Lucy Leitner
I notice something that may be the germ of a story. Working Stiffs came out of a workplace safety meeting. A current project came from a conversation about how a local gym looks like a cult compound. You never know how ideas will come.
Lucy Leitner
I didn't! My most recent book, Nemesis Selection, is a collaboration with my dad. He wrote the first draft of the book in 1996 while a strategic trade analyst at the Department of Defense. Twenty years later, it was time to finish it, and I helped him turn it into more of a novel.
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