Ask the Author: Bill Pieper
Answered Questions (6)
Bill Pieper
Nothing active at the moment in terms of writing. Promoting my new book, "Borders and Boundaries" especially amid the chaos of coronavirus, requires a good bit of creativity in and of itself. But I do have two stories with contemporary settings about to arrive at my keyboard. Both are psychological in nature, in that the change my characters will undergo, while profound, is internal. Thus, to be effective, I'll need to symbolize it in their actions and not just lay out a boring web of thoughts.
Bill Pieper
Luckily for me, it just happens. Snatches of conversation, things I observe or things I'm told seem to stick in my mind and assemble themselves, often without my really being aware. And once they're ripe, sometimes not till years later, out they come.
Bill Pieper
Start writing. Prticipate in critique groups, Take a few workshops, but be wary of imbibing advice from every direction, because much of it will conflict with what you heard the prior week or month. Pick what's relevant to you and kind of work you seek to do. The book "Tools of the Writer's Craft" by Sands Hall is a great place to begin. Also, try writing stories first, and work at having them published. The web resource Duotrope can be a huge help in finding potential outlets. But if you fail in being published, maybe writing isn't for you, because if you can't get stories published, you're probably not doing journeyman-level work, and absent that, your chances of finding an agent or selling a novel are slim.
Bill Pieper
The fun answer here is that it's cheaper than psychoanalysis. And that's not merely a joke, there's truth to it. Beyond which, giving free rein to one's imagination is a great joy. As is being able to set one's own schedule and work at one's own pace.
Bill Pieper
I'm happy to say that so-called writer's block is an unknown thing to me. When stories are ready to emerge from my brain stem, or wherever it is they originate, they simply force their way out. Moreover, I've been at this long enough to have confidence that something's always cranking in there and trusting it hasn't let me down yet. I've got two new ones gestating at the moment, in fact. I also think that writer's block is not just one thing, even though it has a single name in the popular mind.
Bill Pieper
It evolved by an accident of the subconscious. Borders and Boundaries, my new collection of ten linked stories, began with what is the second story, Never Ever, in 2013. The came Wildflower Season, based on an idea planted in my mind years ago. Both were written and published in literary journals as stand alones. But the women in my critique group kept asking when I was going to bring back Cass, the Wildflower Season protagonist. I said I wasn't, yet when I got into writing Up on Mineral Creek, I needed a female character to round things out. Bingo! Only Cass would do. And with that story published, I realized I was unwittingly channeling western writers like Thomas McGuane or Larry Watson and just let my imagination run with it. Also, grabbing onto a geographical area along the northern California/Nevada border, where little or no fiction has been set before, made it that much more fun.
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