Ask the Author: S.M. Bowles
Answered Questions (6)
S.M. Bowles
I just take a break. As an independent writer I don't have any deadlines or time constraints that I have to live by. If I need an hour, or a day, or a week to think about or to not think about what I'm working on I just take it. I usually do something completely unrelated to writing and sooner or later and idea will come to me and I will find new inspiration just by being away from writing altogether.
S.M. Bowles
For me it's becoming my characters - living a life that I couldn't live anywhere else. Writing for me is like taking a vacation and getting away from the real world one chapter at a time.
S.M. Bowles
Write, get advice, write, rewrite....lol. Seriously though, everyone approaches work differently and I honestly believe that you just need to find a system and style that works for you and produces the best results. I do recommend having a support system in place though; whether it's a writing group, or forum, or friends and family. It is impossible to judge your own work and if you really want to connect with your readers you'll need to know what they're looking for and whether or not you have fulfilled that need. Be receptive to advice and don't be discouraged by criticism; use it as a tool because it really will help make your work better.
S.M. Bowles
I just finished Vivienne: The Lost and Found (or Le Perdu et Retrouve) and now that it has been published I plan to take a little break and enjoy some of the summer. I have written a few pages for my next book and though I haven't decided for sure whether this will be the title or not for now I am calling it Haeven (it is a combination of the main character's name - Daemon, and haven - a safe place).
S.M. Bowles
My first book was intended for my daughter. She had asked me for a book from a similar genre and I just didn't feel like it was appropriate. So I thought I would try my hand at writing something specifically for her. I rushed through it, which I now regret, and hurriedly published it without putting a great deal of thought into it. At some point, though, I wondered if I might have actually written something with a fair amount of potential so I went back and read through it a number of times. I got some advice from some writing groups and carefully combed through the chapters one by one. I rearranged parts of the book, tried to scrape out anything that wasn't completely irrelevant to the plot added some new chapters and rewrote the ending. After republishing it with those edits I got some really nice reviews - praise is a powerful motivator and even having just a handful of fans is a huge inspiration!
S.M. Bowles
I heard a song called Hymn for the Missing by Red on Pandora one day and it was so moving that I couldn't stop thinking about it. After listening to it a number of times the story just unfolded and before I knew it I had the plot pretty much from beginning to end worked out in my mind. From there it was just a matter of finding enough time to write it all down.
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