Ask the Author: Joaquín Ramon Herrera
Answered Questions (3)
Joaquín Ramon Herrera
Practice! Don't think about writing so much, just read a lot, and write a lot. You'll need to push through a few years just feeling it all out, making the mistakes we all need to make to get beyond them. Strive to be honest with yourself about where you are, and about what you achieved in a story vs. what you hoped to. The gap may be wide at first. But with honest appraisal, you can narrow it.
Don't be afraid to choose a mentor or two to give you feedback. Choose people who know how to analyze and write a story, not just friends or wordy people. If you trust them, and their words ring true, don't fear them, even when they hurt. They can serve to make you better at what you are trying to do.
Watch all manner of films. Read different genres. Don't just travel in your comfort zone or your work may get dull and predictable. You can integrate inspiration from anywhere, into any type of story.
Take risks. With your characters. Challenge them. Complicate them. Find out who they are by testing them. They may not be who you think or whom you originally intend them to be. When they begin surprising you, they are coming into their own life.
Never skip back story. Always write pages of back story for each character you feature. Don't include it all in the story! Just write it to know who they are. I write a character's backstory, usually their parents, sometimes even their grandparents; even if these other generations never feature into the book. Really understanding your characters' origins, fears, choices, regrets, hopes etc, will breathe life into them when they speak and act within the boundaries of your told story; it will organically inform all their choices and make them consistent to their character.
Get the clumsy stuff out of the way by writing a lot and letting each piece go. I have revisited earlier work and rewritten it, but that's not usually the case. And in the years that it sits, waiting for me to grow and see it a new way, I am still writing new stuff.
Get your life story out of the way. For a long time, I was trying to insert my own experiences into every main character. I was essentially trying to write my own story over and over. Maybe that's not everyone's challenge; maybe I just was enamored of my own story. But you have to get over that. Else, you'll end up preferencing passages or scenes because they matter to you, even when they aren't what's best for the story. So write it and get it out. Or tell yourself its for later, in your memoirs. It's fine to let your past influence your writing; you won't be able to help it. It's part of being a writer. But let go of telling your particular story as-is through another face. It's better to splinter it all up anyway. You really can find the interesting parts of characters when you let them be who they are.
Always work in service of the story, don't make anything your favorite in that story. Love every element as your own creation, but be ready and able to cut it loose if if threatens the overall integrity or clarity of the story.
Limit your time online! It's easy to bleed out all your need to write for the fast payback of feedback to your tweets or blog posts. But you can waste months, even years, and never give yourself fully to your work. With what to show at the end? That's not to say that all online writing is useless by any means. But if you pay attention to yourself, you will know when you are just goofing off. That's fine, but make sure you give real space and time to your written work that gets no instant feedback.
There's probably a lot more 'advice' I could give. But it tends to get context specific. This is what I thought of easily.
Don't be afraid to choose a mentor or two to give you feedback. Choose people who know how to analyze and write a story, not just friends or wordy people. If you trust them, and their words ring true, don't fear them, even when they hurt. They can serve to make you better at what you are trying to do.
Watch all manner of films. Read different genres. Don't just travel in your comfort zone or your work may get dull and predictable. You can integrate inspiration from anywhere, into any type of story.
Take risks. With your characters. Challenge them. Complicate them. Find out who they are by testing them. They may not be who you think or whom you originally intend them to be. When they begin surprising you, they are coming into their own life.
Never skip back story. Always write pages of back story for each character you feature. Don't include it all in the story! Just write it to know who they are. I write a character's backstory, usually their parents, sometimes even their grandparents; even if these other generations never feature into the book. Really understanding your characters' origins, fears, choices, regrets, hopes etc, will breathe life into them when they speak and act within the boundaries of your told story; it will organically inform all their choices and make them consistent to their character.
Get the clumsy stuff out of the way by writing a lot and letting each piece go. I have revisited earlier work and rewritten it, but that's not usually the case. And in the years that it sits, waiting for me to grow and see it a new way, I am still writing new stuff.
Get your life story out of the way. For a long time, I was trying to insert my own experiences into every main character. I was essentially trying to write my own story over and over. Maybe that's not everyone's challenge; maybe I just was enamored of my own story. But you have to get over that. Else, you'll end up preferencing passages or scenes because they matter to you, even when they aren't what's best for the story. So write it and get it out. Or tell yourself its for later, in your memoirs. It's fine to let your past influence your writing; you won't be able to help it. It's part of being a writer. But let go of telling your particular story as-is through another face. It's better to splinter it all up anyway. You really can find the interesting parts of characters when you let them be who they are.
Always work in service of the story, don't make anything your favorite in that story. Love every element as your own creation, but be ready and able to cut it loose if if threatens the overall integrity or clarity of the story.
Limit your time online! It's easy to bleed out all your need to write for the fast payback of feedback to your tweets or blog posts. But you can waste months, even years, and never give yourself fully to your work. With what to show at the end? That's not to say that all online writing is useless by any means. But if you pay attention to yourself, you will know when you are just goofing off. That's fine, but make sure you give real space and time to your written work that gets no instant feedback.
There's probably a lot more 'advice' I could give. But it tends to get context specific. This is what I thought of easily.
Joaquín Ramon Herrera
I'm sorry I left this unanswered! It's a good question.
I think there is a magic to childhood. Our minds and hearts are so fertile. If I write books that feature children it's more of a re-inhabiting of that magical realm of unlimited possibility. I'm deep into a new Horror/Fantasy novel now; the protagonists are children. I like writing characters like that to transpose their consciousness against adults or older kids. I like to showcase the way our perceptions and beliefs change throughout, and thus change the world we see ourselves a part of.
With SCARY: A Book of Horrible Things for Kids, I just happened into that. I was a designer and illustrator for the publishing company. I did a cover for a book idea they had--a collection of scary and dark factoids that would titillate children. They didn't have an author yet, just an idea for the book. They asked me to do a mockup of the cover. I did two. They were so impressed by the character and art in one of them, that they asked me if I wanted to write and illustrate the whole thing. So I did.
I think there is a magic to childhood. Our minds and hearts are so fertile. If I write books that feature children it's more of a re-inhabiting of that magical realm of unlimited possibility. I'm deep into a new Horror/Fantasy novel now; the protagonists are children. I like writing characters like that to transpose their consciousness against adults or older kids. I like to showcase the way our perceptions and beliefs change throughout, and thus change the world we see ourselves a part of.
With SCARY: A Book of Horrible Things for Kids, I just happened into that. I was a designer and illustrator for the publishing company. I did a cover for a book idea they had--a collection of scary and dark factoids that would titillate children. They didn't have an author yet, just an idea for the book. They asked me to do a mockup of the cover. I did two. They were so impressed by the character and art in one of them, that they asked me if I wanted to write and illustrate the whole thing. So I did.
Joaquín Ramon Herrera
I'm into the 3rd act of a book of a Horror/Fantasy fiction novel now. It's actually a rewrite from the ground up of a novel I wrote in 2005, which was a (bloated) 330pp. It's much leaner now.
I can see where so many elements of the book were fueled and shaped by life events and my experience...but I cannot for the life of me discern nor remember where the central idea—two children who notice the town's kids are being replace by clones—came from. Perhaps just a terror in the human soul. A Twilight Zone type fear. What if everyone around you were changing in ways even they didn't know, into something terrible and nobody admitted or saw it....aside from you?
I can see where so many elements of the book were fueled and shaped by life events and my experience...but I cannot for the life of me discern nor remember where the central idea—two children who notice the town's kids are being replace by clones—came from. Perhaps just a terror in the human soul. A Twilight Zone type fear. What if everyone around you were changing in ways even they didn't know, into something terrible and nobody admitted or saw it....aside from you?
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