Ask the Author: Avril Sabine
Answered Questions (5)
Avril Sabine
I don't get writer's block. Part of this is because when I'm deciding what story to write next, I assess it to be certain it's one that will keep me interested the full length of time it takes to write it. Then while I'm writing it, I'm always looking at all the possible exits from each scene so I don't write myself into a corner. I also don't necessarily write my scenes in order. If a scene from further into the book appears fully formed in my mind, I write it. Then I'm keen to get my characters from the current scene to that future scene. When I reach about halfway through each of my books, I take a short break, sometimes only half a day, sometimes a handful of days. After my break I read the story over from the start. This not only reminds me of the direction I'm headed with my story, but I sometimes pick up seemingly unimportant things that have occurred or notice items that appeared in earlier scenes that suddenly become significant for later scenes. I've had a lot of, "Wow! Why didn't I realise that earlier?" moments while doing a read through when I'm halfway through the story.
Avril Sabine
Discovering the story, learning about the characters and finding out what will happen are some of my favourite parts about being a writer. I love it when my stories surprise me and some of the little bits of information throughout the story, that I'm beginning to think will need to be removed in the edits, suddenly all make sense and I'm left staring at the screen saying, "Well I didn't expect that."
Avril Sabine
Read and write. It might sound simple, but you need to do both. A lot! For a more detailed answer, I wrote a blog post on my website about my journey of learning to be a writer when I was a kid. http://www.avrilsabine.com/2014/01/27...
Avril Sabine
Inspiration has never been a problem for me. I'm being bombarded with ideas, and new scenes for the stories I'm working on, nearly all the time. Even in my sleep. Sometimes, when I'm working out the direction of a story or deciding which of the many paths the story is going to take, I'll often play computer or console games or watch a movie and let the ideas percolate in the background. I rarely do this when reading because I become more immersed in words than I do in games and movies.
Avril Sabine
I'm writing the first draft in my Dragon Blood series. As soon as I finish re-reading the first four books, I'll write the fifth book. The books will be available once all the first drafts have been written and nearly all of them have been edited. I dislike waiting ages for books in a continuing series as a reader, especially if there are any cliff hangers, so I'm not about to make other readers endure something I myself don't like.
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