Ask the Author: Merle Nygate
Answered Questions (6)
Merle Nygate
Live a little and make notes. Write a lot and embrace the rewrite.
My technical advice for writers would be to ask what the tangible goal is that your main character wants to achieve by the end of the narrative. This is a very common mistake that I repeatedly see in my script editing work – and a mistake I've made myself once or twice or...
My technical advice for writers would be to ask what the tangible goal is that your main character wants to achieve by the end of the narrative. This is a very common mistake that I repeatedly see in my script editing work – and a mistake I've made myself once or twice or...
Merle Nygate
Be My Friend is a psychological suspense novel that asks the question; how far would you go to protect your best friend if you suspected that she was a murderer.
I got the idea when my best friend went mad. Of course, she didn’t murder anyone but when she was ill everybody around her, particularly me, was crazy with anxiety. Once she started to recover I spent a lot of time thinking about friendship and madness and how close we all are at times to going over the edge.
I got the idea when my best friend went mad. Of course, she didn’t murder anyone but when she was ill everybody around her, particularly me, was crazy with anxiety. Once she started to recover I spent a lot of time thinking about friendship and madness and how close we all are at times to going over the edge.
Merle Nygate
I go to my villa in the South of France for a few months where I write at a table in a walled garden. Every so often, a silent, soft footed, masked minion brings me a tray of refreshments.
This is of course fantasy. To get inspired, I shut the door both physically and metaphorically on everything else in my life. Sometimes I even tidy my desk.
This is of course fantasy. To get inspired, I shut the door both physically and metaphorically on everything else in my life. Sometimes I even tidy my desk.
Merle Nygate
I’m half way through the second novel in the ten novel Darkbridge series. It features Liz Verrall, the commitment phobic psychologist from Be My Friend as well as other Darkbridge characters including bad boy Bob, the entrepreneurial drug dealer from Snap, the first Darkbridge crime thriller short story.
As soon I finish the novel draft and before a mighty edit and rewrite, I will write a couple more Darkbridge short stories that are gnawing away at the edge of my consciousness.
As soon I finish the novel draft and before a mighty edit and rewrite, I will write a couple more Darkbridge short stories that are gnawing away at the edge of my consciousness.
Merle Nygate
What’s the best thing about being a writer
I am torn; there are two contenders for the best thing about being a writer. The first ‘best thing’ is other writers. To paraphrase my muse, the immortal Nigel Molesworth, writers are noble, brave, fearless etc. But it’s not a joke; writers are good people.
The other terrific thing about being a writer is feedback from the people for whom you are writing. When I hear from a reader who has engaged with the characters I’ve created and the themes I’ve explored, it’s deeply satisfying. It’s like getting an answer to a letter and someone saying, ‘I know what you mean, I know people like that, I’ve been in that place, I’ve felt that too.’ I get a real sense of connection.
I am torn; there are two contenders for the best thing about being a writer. The first ‘best thing’ is other writers. To paraphrase my muse, the immortal Nigel Molesworth, writers are noble, brave, fearless etc. But it’s not a joke; writers are good people.
The other terrific thing about being a writer is feedback from the people for whom you are writing. When I hear from a reader who has engaged with the characters I’ve created and the themes I’ve explored, it’s deeply satisfying. It’s like getting an answer to a letter and someone saying, ‘I know what you mean, I know people like that, I’ve been in that place, I’ve felt that too.’ I get a real sense of connection.
Merle Nygate
There was a time when I thought that writer’s block was like the monster chained up in the wardrobe – a scary fairy tale. However, after being bumped off of a TV project that was close to my heart, the monster was unleashed. The next time I sat down to write I was frozen. I couldn’t do it. All the doubts about my writing talent and skill fizzed up to the surface and I repeatedly asked myself why on earth I was doing all this hard work because whatever I did was doomed to failure.
It was an echo of something a teacher said to me at school – that I would be a failure at whatever I did for the rest of my life. I don’t think she liked me.
A writing friend suggested The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. It’s a three-month programme with two basic ideas. The first is you write three pages stream of consciousness every day. And the second is that you do a weekly artist’s date. There’s also lots of other creative exercises plus a liberal smattering of spiritual stuff.
You have to be desperate to do it.
I was desperate. And it worked.
Writer’s block is really writer’s anxiety and mild depression.
Every time I start a new project there’s always a moment or two when I go through an anxiety sequence when I doubt that I can do it, then I doubt that anyone else will like what I’ve done. These days, I recognise the inevitable sequence as part of the writing process.
It was an echo of something a teacher said to me at school – that I would be a failure at whatever I did for the rest of my life. I don’t think she liked me.
A writing friend suggested The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. It’s a three-month programme with two basic ideas. The first is you write three pages stream of consciousness every day. And the second is that you do a weekly artist’s date. There’s also lots of other creative exercises plus a liberal smattering of spiritual stuff.
You have to be desperate to do it.
I was desperate. And it worked.
Writer’s block is really writer’s anxiety and mild depression.
Every time I start a new project there’s always a moment or two when I go through an anxiety sequence when I doubt that I can do it, then I doubt that anyone else will like what I’ve done. These days, I recognise the inevitable sequence as part of the writing process.
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