Ask the Author: Laura Kelly Robb
Answered Questions (6)
Laura Kelly Robb
A prof in college told us to only read the best books available. "You don't have time to waste," he said. Following his advice, I pick and choose what I read, but read a range of genres and read non-fiction as well. The more I read, the better I write English. The more I write, the more ideas I have for story content and story structure. So those are the two intellectual areas writers need to master: control over the language of the story-telling and the way the story unfolds, and I try to accomplish that by a lot of reading and writing. But I think that still leaves the non-intellectual part of being a writer which is grasping the emotional core of a story. Living with all one's senses attuned to what is going on around one is the only way I know to grow in that area.
Laura Kelly Robb
It's not a huge problem for me, but sure, there are days when it takes longer to get the words down on the page. Sometimes, I re-read my notes on a certain character or on a plot point to try to get back into that space where the story originally came from. Occasionally, it only works to abandon the scene where I'm stuck and go to what I believe will be the next scene or chapter.
Laura Kelly Robb
It's being allowed to exaggerate and even outright lie on the page. The guard rails, if one can call them that, are so far apart for the fiction writer that they might as well not exist.
Laura Kelly Robb
A sequel to The Laguna Shores Research Club - I am not ready to let go of Laila Harrow.
Laura Kelly Robb
I was in Ft. Pierce, Florida, where Zora Neale Hurston, author of Their Eyes Were Watching God, lived her last years. Local hosts introduced me to the art of the Florida Highwaymen, who painted there in the 1950's through to the early 1980's. The 26 artists who made up that informal group created over 100,000 paintings. I wondered how museum curators and art collectors dealt with such an enormous body of work - and that question is the starting point of The Laguna Shores Research Club.
Laura Kelly Robb
Story-telling is something some people just do. The question for a lot of writers is closer to "What doesn't make you want to spin a tale?" As some of my family say, I have a rickety relationship with the truth.
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